Via SciTechDaily, January 14:
Scientists discover a new pathway for the movement of carbon-rich materials from productive Arctic coastal waters to the deep ocean.
Every year, the transfer of carbon-rich particles across the shelf in the Barents and Kara Seas could trap as much as 3.6 million metric tons of CO2 in the deep Arctic ocean for thousands of years. According to researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute and other institutions, this previously unknown transport route uses the biological carbon pump and ocean currents to absorb atmospheric CO2 on a scale equivalent to Iceland’s total annual emissions. They recently published their findings in the journal Nature Geoscience.
The central Arctic Ocean has limited biological productivity when compared to other oceans. This is due to the limited sunlight caused by the Polar Night or sea-ice cover, as well as the scarcity of available nutrient sources. As a result, microalgae or phytoplankton in the upper water layers have less access to energy than their counterparts in other waters.
As such, the surprise was great when, on the expedition ARCTIC2018 in August and September 2018 on board the Russian research vessel Akademik Tryoshnikov, large quantities of particulate – i.e., stored in plant remains – carbon was discovered in the Nansen Basin of the central Arctic.
Subsequent analyses revealed a body of water with large amounts of particulate carbon to depths of up to two kilometers (1.2 miles), composed of bottom water from the Barents Sea. The latter is produced when sea ice forms in winter, then cold and heavy water sinks, and subsequently flows from the shallow coastal shelf down the continental slope and into the deep Arctic Basin....
....MUCH MORE
Interesting but what you want is to get the carbon as deep as possible:
Sedalam Apakah Lautan Kita?
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And for that purpose the Southern Ocean (average depth 10,728 feet [-3,270 metres] maximum depth 24,383 feet [-7,432 metres]), from 60 degrees south to Antarctica, is a tremendous carbon sink.
The numbers for the Arctic Ocean are average depth 3,953 feet [-1,205 m] maximum (in the Fram Strait), 18,297 feet [-5,577 m]
If interested see also:Along with the plankton and the kelp there are other ways to try to make a nautical buck-o in the carbon biz. We have been down this rather obscure trail a few times.
