Methods to enhance the ocean’s uptake of carbon dioxide (CO₂) are being explored to help tackle the climate crisis. However, some of these approaches could significantly exacerbate ocean deoxygenation.Their potential impact on
Methods to enhance the ocean’s uptake of carbon dioxide (CO₂) are being explored to help tackle the climate crisis. However, some of these approaches could significantly exacerbate ocean deoxygenation.
Their potential impact on marine oxygen must therefore be systematically considered when assessing their suitability, according to an international team of researchers led by Prof. Dr Andreas Oschlies from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel.
Global warming is the primary cause of the dramatic loss of oxygen in the ocean — approximately two percent of the ocean’s oxygen inventory has been lost over the past decades, and additional warming will lead to additional oxygen loss.
The new study reveals that many proposed marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) methods – especially those based on biological processes – could intensify this oxygen loss.
“What helps the climate is not automatically good for the ocean,” says Oschlies. Together with an international team that is part of the UNESCO Global Ocean Oxygen Network (GO2NE), he conducted a comprehensive assessment using idealized global model simulations to analyze both the direct impacts of various mCDR approaches on ocean oxygen and their indirect effects through climate mitigation. The results have now been published in Environmental Research Letters.
Content Original Link:
" target="_blank">
