<
https://phys.org/news/2024-05-microplastics-carbon-sea-surface-depths.html>
'It turns out plastics in the ocean do more than suffocate turtles, fish and
other marine life.
A new study co-authored by Northeastern researcher Aron Stubbins shows that
microplastics may reduce the ability of the ocean to help offset the climate
crisis by slowing down the rate at which carbon is taken from the sea surface
to the depths.
For millennia, the ocean has been part of a carbon sink process in which dead
phytoplankton clump together and fall into the deep ocean in showers of what
look like "marine snow," says Stubbins, a professor of marine and environmental
science.
The resulting carbon sequestration is a marine version of how trees and plants
on terrestrial Earth take carbon from the atmosphere and store it in soil, he
says.
But research by Northeastern shows that microplastics in the ocean are slowing
the process down by making the "marine snow" more buoyant, Stubbins says.
"Plastics want to float. If phytoplanktons grow on microplastics in biofilms,
instead of as free living organisms, that changes the buoyancy of the
phytoplankton when they die," Stubbins says.
"Basically, the plastics are slowing down the sinking rate of the marine snow,
which is potentially reducing the efficiency with which the ocean can remove
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," he says.'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
