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The power of marine carbon pumps: How to bring CO2 in the atmosphere into the deep sea?
As the impact of global warming continues to expand, the ocean has become a key absorber of carbon dioxide (CO2) and plays an important environmental and ecological function.As the core mechanism in the global carbon cycle, marine carbon pumps introduce CO2 in the atmosphere into the deep sea, effectively alleviating the pressure brought by climate change.How these complex processes are carried out is worth our in-depth discussion.
Ocean carbon pumps transfer carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the deep ocean in different ways, which is not only a part of nature, but also an important means to deal with climate change.
This process is mainly driven by three types of carbon pumps: dissolution pump, carbonate pump and biological pump.The dissolution pump starts by dissolving the CO2 in the atmosphere into seawater.During this process, carbon dioxide will be converted into carbonate after entering the ocean, and then circulates with the help of ocean currents and distributed throughout the ocean.This mechanism releases a large amount of carbonate and bicarbonate, which plays an important role in the pH balance of seawater.
This process releases a large amount of carbonate and bicarbonate, which plays an important role in the pH balance of seawater.
Next, the carbonate pump is generated by marine organisms.Many marine organisms, such as pore animals and corals, use this calcium carbonate to build their own skeletons or shells.The existence of these organisms makes the system called a "carbonate pump" because it reuses and stores CO2 in the atmosphere and eventually captures it on the seabed through a deposition process.
The calcium carbonate produced by marine organisms is called a carbonate pump, which reuses and stores CO2 in the atmosphere.
In addition, biological pumps involve the mechanism by which phytoplankton and other organisms in water convert carbon dioxide into organic matter through photosynthetic processes.These organic matter quickly sink to the bottom of the ocean as organisms die, forming sediments, further promoting long-term carbon storage.About 20 gigatons of carbon enter the seabed through this mechanism a year.
However, while marine carbon pumps play a role in mitigating carbon hydroxide growth, global warming has changed their function.According to the latest research, the ocean's ability to absorb CO2 is affected by rising water temperatures, which in turn may reduce the ocean's future carbon throughput capacity.
According to the latest research, the ocean's ability to absorb CO2 is affected by the increase in water temperature.
In this context, ocean acidification has become the focus of the problem.As the concentration of carbon dioxide caused by human activities continues to increase, acidification in seawater continues to intensify, which has long-term impacts on marine ecosystems and societies that rely on healthy oceans.Acidification makes it more difficult for organisms such as corals and shellfish to build and maintain their hard shells, thus weakening the "carbon pump" function of the ocean.
Recognizing the seriousness of these problems, we need to think about: What can we do to protect this ecosystem in the face of the importance and vulnerability of marine carbon pumps?
