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Author Topic: Arctic Ocean is Venting CO2 in ESS  (Read 3795 times)

Apocalypse4Real

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Arctic Ocean is Venting CO2 in ESS
« on: August 07, 2014, 01:37:23 PM »
Here is an update from the SWERUS-C3 Expedition that also reports CO2 venting into the atmosphere from the Laptev/East Siberian Sea.

See: http://a4rglobalmethanetracking.blogspot.com/2014/08/swerus-c-3-more-arctic-methane-found.html


notjonathon

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Re: Arctic Ocean is Venting CO2 in ESS
« Reply #1 on: August 08, 2014, 02:33:35 AM »
I know this is another "we're f*ed" moment, but will there be a way to quantify just how much additional CO2 this source might add to the atmosphere? Also, does it mean that these arctic waters are already so saturated with carbon dioxide that they can't hold any more? Or is it a matter of CO2 escaping so fast that it just bubbles to the surface?

DoomInTheUK

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Re: Arctic Ocean is Venting CO2 in ESS
« Reply #2 on: August 08, 2014, 10:49:08 AM »
Notjonathon,

Yes the sea in those areas is supersaturated with CO2 and so the excess is vented from the surface. It's not in bubble form, but the water and air are trying to get into an equilibrium. Not only does this add extra CO2 but it means that less of the additional human contributed gas will be scrubbed from the atmosphere. It's a double whammy.

The more of these sinks turn into sources the faster that atmospheric CO2 concentration will rise.

As for quantifying it, I don't suspect the value will be huge at the moment. It will be seasonal (only when the ice isn't there), but if, as suggested, the CO2 is coming from the melting permafrost on the seabed then it could be sourcing for thousands of years.....or until we get a major methane blowout in which case it would be a long way down our list of things to worry about.

Gray-Wolf

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Re: Arctic Ocean is Venting CO2 in ESS
« Reply #3 on: August 10, 2014, 11:00:41 AM »
I think the problem lies with all the worlds oceans? Should we start to see any of the major oceans reduce their role as CO2 sinks then that really does impact our futures. At the moment we appear to be producing CO2 at B,A,U, levels ( or worse) so the amount we can 'safely' put into the atmosphere would need recalculating ( downsizing?) .

The impacts of the anomalous trades extend as far south as the southern oceans and this , in turn, could be impacting the ability of that huge sink to take down CO2.
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notjonathon

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Re: Arctic Ocean is Venting CO2 in ESS
« Reply #4 on: August 10, 2014, 11:23:06 AM »
That's what I thought. We're f****ed.

DoomInTheUK

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Re: Arctic Ocean is Venting CO2 in ESS
« Reply #5 on: August 10, 2014, 12:45:29 PM »
This seems to be a very much localised issue, more than likely caused by the breakdown of the permafrost in the ESS, which in itself is certainly something to put into the "bad things" column.

The worlds oceans are centuries to millenia away from equalising their CO2 content, especially as we keep upping the ante by releasing more of it. The acidity will coninue to rise too.

So for the foreseeable future the oceans will continue to be a CO2 sink, declining slightly with time and with some localised regions even becoming a source due to upwelling or other factors.

The long term outlook for the oceans is currently on the wrong side of f@@ked.