Study Sheds Light on Earth’s CO2 Cycles, Possible Impacts of Climate Change

The new study showed carbon that had built up in the ocean over millennia was released in two big pulses at about 18,000 years ago and 13,000 years ago, says Dr. Thomas Marchitto of the University of Colorado at Boulder, who jointly led the study with colleague Dr. Scott Lehman. While scientists had long known as much as 600 billion metric tons of carbon were released into the atmosphere after the last ice age, the new study is the first to clearly track CO2 from the deep ocean to upper ocean and atmosphere and should help scientists better understand natural CO2 cycles and possible impacts of human-caused climate change.

“This study provides strong indicators of just how intimately coupled the connection between the ocean and atmosphere can be,” Ortiz says. “The findings should give us pause to consider the impact that fossil fuel release will have on ocean circulation and future climate change.”

yubanet