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According to the researchers from the University of Sheffield, the melted water that comes from giant icebergs contains essential nutrients such as iron which is encouraging high levels of phytoplankton growth, also known as the process of carbon sequestration. The researchers believe that this process may be helping global warming by storing atmospheric carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases responsible stimulating global warming, for long term, reported HNGN

For the purpose of study, the scientists analyzed 175 satellite images of the color of ocean, a phenomenon that indicates the phytoplankton productivity, from many icebergs located in the Southern Ocean, that are all 18 kms in length. As per the findings of the team, the heightened activity of phytoplankton, that directly affects the carbon storage in the ocean, expands from icebergs for over a hundred kilometers and its effects can last for at least a month after the iceberg is melted. "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, reports CBC News

The findings of this study are opposed to the previous ones that say that the fertilization of oceans from the icebergs is a very small contributor to the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the phytoplankton. However, it does help the scientists better understand the way Southern Ocean is contributing to carbon cycle and subsequently, global warming, says The Guardian