by Scientists exploring the Northern California Coast have found, for the first time, a deposit of carbon that has been condensed on the seabed – a discovery that could help unlock the ocean’s power to combat climate change.
A reserve spanning 6,000 square miles of sanctuary from Point Arena in Mendocino County south to Point Año Nuevo in San Mateo County stores 9 million metric tons of carbon on the surface of the seafloor, according to study released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.
The amount of carbon found sitting on the first four inches of the seabed is equivalent to the CO² emissions generated by 7.3 million gas-powered vehicles for a year or used to power 6.4 million homes for a year, of according to the Environmental Protection Agencies’. Greenhouse gas equivalent calculator.
Researchers pointed out that while this is a significant discovery, it is critical to leave it undisturbed to allow further carbon accumulation.
“This is not a resource to be used up, but to be preserved,” said Doug George, an ocean scientist at NOAA and co-author of the study.
The findings confirm that the ocean is the final resting place for dead vegetation and wildlife washed up from rivers, as well as marine life that dies and sinks to the seabed. As a result, more carbon is locked up in the oceans, which helps correct the CO² imbalance in the atmosphere, according to the study.
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The lead author of the study, Sara Hutto, explained that the Earth has a fixed amount of carbon. Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have been mining vast amounts of fossil fuels that took thousands of years to form underground. Doing so removes carbon from the planet and burns it, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and changing the carbon-to-carbon dioxide balance.
“We want to make sure that we are not contributing to the climate problem but that we are doing everything we can to enhance the natural ability of the ocean sponge to absorb carbon dioxide,” Hutto said in an interview.
She believes that her team’s study proves that the ocean cannot be ignored when discussing climate solutions. She said the sea is vital, because of its ability to hold most of the world’s carbon, absorb the heat created by emissions, and produce one-third of the world’s oxygen.
“The ocean is a victim of climate change, but it’s one of the many solutions we need to focus on to get ourselves out of this mess,” Hutto said.
Several years ago, Hutto and her team tried to better understand the role experts call “blue carbon” processing to address climate change, the first such study in the United States “Blue Carbon” refers to the carbon captured and stored. through marine and coastal ecosystems.
Researchers sifted through data samples of seafloor sediments in protected waters dating back to the 1950s, mapping carbon hotspots. The report showed significant amounts of carbon, particularly in muddy deltas where the river meets the ocean.
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Although the study of carbon hotspots is limited to Northern California, the finding prompts speculation from researchers about the potential abundance of carbon stored in sediment-rich regions, such as the Gulf Coast, that are influenced by runoff from the Mississippi Delta.
“The Gulf Coast is a very muddy place, so understanding how the ocean stabilizes our climate is a valuable aspect,” George said.
Hutto emphasized that scientists have recently begun to explore seabed carbon in greater depth, and research into seabed carbon may lead to the formulation of regulations to protect the seabed ecosystem. sea within potential havens.
Hutto’s team says that blue carbon is often overlooked in climate mitigation policies because the science behind it is in its infancy and because nature-based solutions to climate change are far more unsettled and less straightforward than solutions that comes from technology.
“This information provides a glimmer of hope that the ocean is playing this really important role for us, that we may be underappreciating, and that there are opportunities to protect that role,” Hutto said. .
While the discovery may lead some to think the newly discovered carbon is ripe for extraction, Hutto said, the carbon-rich mud is only surface level and useless for burning fossil fuels deeper down. because it wasn’t. compacted enough over time like large fossil fuel reservoirs.
As long as the carbon is untouched, it is stable, but if it is stirred up, it can react with oxygen, resurface and interact with the atmosphere, creating a CO² emissions issue.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
