“#Nature has so far balanced our abuse. This is coming to an end,” - #JohanRockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for #ClimateImpact Research.
#Trees and #land absorbed almost no #CO2 last year. Is nature’s #CarbonSink failing?
The sudden collapse of carbon sinks was not factored into #ClimateModels – and could rapidly accelerate #GlobalHeating
by Patrick Greenfield, October 14, 2024
"It begins each day at nightfall. As the light disappears, billions of #zooplankton, #crustaceans and other marine organisms rise to the ocean surface to feed on microscopic #algae, returning to the depths at sunrise. The waste from this frenzy – Earth’s largest migration of creatures – sinks to the #ocean floor, removing millions of tonnes of #carbon from the atmosphere each year.
"This activity is one of thousands of natural processes that regulate the Earth’s climate. Together, the planet’s oceans, forests, soils and other natural carbon sinks absorb about half of all #HumanEmissions.
"But as the Earth heats up, scientists are increasingly concerned that those crucial processes are breaking down.
"In 2023, the hottest year ever recorded, preliminary findings by an international team of researchers show the amount of carbon absorbed by land has temporarily collapsed. The final result was that #forest, plants and soil – as a net category – absorbed almost no carbon.
"There are warning signs at sea, too. #Greenland’s Glaciers and #ArcticIceSheets are melting faster than expected, which is disrupting the #GulfStream ocean current and slows the rate at which oceans absorb carbon. For the algae-eating zooplankton, melting sea ice is exposing them to more sunlight – a shift scientists say could keep them in the depths for longer, disrupting the vertical migration that stores carbon on the ocean floor."
Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/14/nature-carbon-sink-collapse-global-heating-models-emissions-targets-evidence-aoe
