NYTimes, VofA, TIME mag, etc: In Nature, a report that oceanic carbon sponge is reaching its limit
Kudos to TIME Magazine‘s headline: Are the Earth’s Oceans Hitting their Carbon Cap? which manages to be clever, funny, trendy, and disturbing at once. Its Bryan Walsh is among several reporters who relay news from the journal Nature that the acceleration by oceans in sopping up fossil carbon has lost pace with the rate at which fossil carbon is rising in the atmosphere. For decades, this carbon sink’s efficiency had stayed roughly constant but a team led by a Columbia – Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory researcher says it recently appears to be flagging. That’s not good for climate forecasts – it means a bigger percentage of CO2 emissions are lately staying in the air. At least, perhaps, ocean acidification won’t arrive as intensely and soon as otherwise, one thinks.
The news complements the bigger surge in the last two days that followed publication in Nature Geoscience and by The Carbon Project (see yesterday’s post) on CO2′s rise. That report also cited a wane in carbon sinks, an aspect that often got lost as reporter’s scrambled to tell a coherent story about a wide-ranging and very long report.
Other Stories:
- National Geographic News – Christine Dell’Amore: Ocean Losing Its Appetite for Carbon ;
- Voice of America – Jessica Berman : Oceans’ Ability to Mop-Up Greenhouse Gas Declines ; A source tells her the acidification of the ocean is itself a reason it is losing capacity to absorb CO2 quickly.
- NYTimes – Sindya N. Bhanoo – Seas Grow Less Effective at Absorbing Emissions ;
Grist for the Mill: Columbia U. Earth Institute Press Release ; PLus extra background info ;
- Charlie Petit
