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A groundbreaking study from the UK National Oceanography Centre (NOC) has challenged long-held assumptions about how carbon is stored in the ocean. Researchers have discovered that the role of diatoms, microscopic plants crucial to the ocean’s carbon cycle, may not be as significant as previously believed.
Diatoms, with their silica-based skeletons, were thought to sink readily, transporting carbon to the deep ocean. However, new research based on data collected from the Southern Ocean’s twilight zone reveals that these skeletons often remain near the surface while carbon reaches the depths through other, yet unidentified, mechanisms.
“The surprising discovery that diatoms’ silica skeletons stay near the surface while carbon makes it down to the deep ocean forces us to rethink the ecological process in what we call the biological carbon pump,” said Dr. Sari Giering, research lead at NOC.
This unexpected finding has significant implications for climate science. While it suggests that ocean warming may not drastically impact Southern Ocean carbon storage as previously feared, it also highlights the critical need to understand the “unknown” processes driving carbon transport in the deep ocean.
Firstly, this research challenges the long-standing assumption that diatoms, with their silica shells, are the primary drivers of carbon export to the deep sea. This necessitates reassessing existing ocean carbon cycle models, which may have overestimated the role of diatoms in carbon sequestration.
Secondly, identifying “unknown” processes driving carbon transport underscores our limited understanding of deep-sea ecosystems. Further research is crucial to identifying these processes, quantifying their contribution to carbon sequestration, and understanding their potential vulnerability to climate change.
This includes exploring the role of other microorganisms, such as bacteria and viruses, in carbon cycling and investigating the potential impacts of ocean acidification and deoxygenation on these processes.
Finally, this research highlights the importance of multidisciplinary approaches to oceanographic research. By combining observations, experiments, and sophisticated modelling techniques, scientists can better understand the complex interactions within the ocean and their implications for the global carbon cycle.
The study, published in Nature Geoscience, underscores the complexity of the ocean’s carbon cycle and the ongoing need for further research to accurately predict future carbon storage in this vital ecosystem.
