Search Here

It is amazing that giant icebergs are slowing down global warming in a major way, according to researchers from the University of Sheffield.

They have discovered that the water that melts from the icebergs contains iron and various beneficial nutrients. Hence, it stokes the growth of phytoplankton in a process called carbon sequestration. By storing the atmospheric carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases, it might help to slow down global warming.

After analysing 175 satellite images of ocean color that are indicators of phytoplankton productivity from Southern Ocean icebergs at least 18 kilometers long, the team found high levels of phytoplankton productivity. Hence, it is affecting carbon storage in the ocean.

It extends from icebergs for hundreds of kilometres, which remains in place even after the iceberg melts.

"We detected substantially enhanced chlorophyll levels, typically over a radius of at least four - 10 times the iceberg's length," said Grant Bigg, who headed the research, in a press release. "The evidence suggests that assuming carbon export increases by a factor of five-10 over the area of influence and up to a fifth of the Southern Ocean's downward carbon flux originates with giant iceberg fertilization."

"If giant iceberg calving increases this century as expected, this negative feedback on the carbon cycle may become more important than we previously thought," he added.

Earlier, researchers thought that ocean fertilization from icebergs contributes in just a minor way to the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by phytoplankton. The new research can help researchers to understand how the Southern Ocean reduces global warming.

The findings were published in Jan.11,2016 issue of Nature Geoscience.