Coastal seas form a complex transition zone between the two largest CO2 sinks in the global carbon cycle: land and ocean. Ocean researchers have now succeeded for the first time in investigating the role of the coastal ocean in a seamless model representation.
Coastal seas form a complex transition zone between the two largest CO2 sinks in the global carbon cycle: land and ocean. Ocean researchers have now succeeded for the first time in investigating the role of the coastal ocean in a seamless model representation.
The team led by Dr. Moritz Mathis from the Cluster of Excellence for Climate Research CLICCS at Universität Hamburg and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon was able to show that the intensity of CO2 uptake is higher in coastal seas than in the open ocean. This is evidenced by a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
To counteract ongoing climate change, it is important to understand how CO2 emissions are distributed. And which exchange processes between the atmosphere, ocean and land regulate the distribution. Methodological developments in recent years have allowed for a more flexible inclusion of physical and biogeochemical processes in climate models and for capturing individual regions with higher resolution.
