A paper published by NASA in the journal Science states.
From 2009-2018, experts monitored the amount of carbon contained in the atmosphere three times using aerial techniques, and the analysis revealed that the net annual carbon flux in the Southern Ocean south of 45°S skyrocketed, with lower levels of carbon dioxide over the lower layers of the region in summer than in the other three seasons, and even less carbon released in winter.
Research data shows that the amount of carbon absorbed in this region is 0.53 petagrams higher than the amount of carbon released, about 530 million tons, accounting for 40% of the total carbon absorbed by the ocean, making it a natural "carbon sink".
Previously, research published in Nature Communications by researchers from the University of Cambridge and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore suggested that collisions between plates could cause "carbon swallowing".
The activity between the plates locks up CO2, the Southern Ocean is sucking up carbon like crazy, is the Earth in a self-healing cycle?
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, and there is a "carbon sink" that absorbs so much carbon that some believe it will have a significant hedging effect on the greenhouse effect.
So, there are only four major oceans in the world, which region is the Southern Ocean? Why does it absorb carbon dioxide like crazy? Will the future climate be warming or cooling, and is warming a hoax?
The Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Arctic Ocean are the world's four most recognized oceans, but at the southernmost point of the Earth, on the periphery of Antarctica, there exists the only ocean that completely surrounds the Earth and is not divided by a continent.
Oceanographic studies have found that there is an ocean current flowing west to east around Antarctica, creating a "roaring westerly band" of extremely strong winds near the current boundary and 40°S.
In 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization, based on ocean currents, established "the sea south of 50°S in the Indian Ocean and between 55°S-62°S in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans" as a new independent ocean - the Southern Ice Ocean, and in 2021 the National Geographic Society officially listed the Southern Ice Ocean as the fifth largest ocean in the world.
The Southern Ice Ocean, also called the Southern Ocean, covers an area of about 20,327,000 square kilometers, with seawater temperatures ranging from -2°C to -10°C. It does not border any continents, and the Drake Passage is the narrowest part of it, about 1,000 kilometers wide.
However, many people still insist on the "four oceans" and do not recognize the status of the Southern Ocean as the fifth largest ocean in the world, because its boundaries are not as obvious as those of the other oceans based on the continents, so there are no words related to the Southern Ocean on the map.
Why does the Southern Ocean absorb CO2 like crazy?
The main reason why the Southern Ocean can absorb carbon is the turbulent currents and strong westerly winds around the seawater convergence effect to form a huge "vortex".
- "Roaring Westerlies" and "Closed Currents".
Under the action of cold air and sinking winds from the Antarctic continent, the Southern Ocean corresponds to a "roaring westerly belt", also known as the "Antarctic storm zone".
The Antarctic Surrounding Current is the strongest current on the planet, and with the violent westerly winds and turbulent "closed" currents, the sea is constantly churning and wave after wave of carbon dioxide in the air is constantly being swept into the surface waters and transported deeper into the ocean.
The study data show that the carbon content in the surface waters of the Southern Ocean accounts for 9% of the total carbon absorption, and the carbon absorption is significant.
- Seawater irradiation.
The cold water sinking in the Southern Ocean flows northward at the bottom of the sea, and the warm water flowing southward in the other four oceans collides and is replaced, forming the Antarctic Convergence Zone at the intersection and the phenomenon of seawater convergence.
In line with the role of seawater, the surface of the Southern Ocean formed a diameter of about 100,000 meters and counterclockwise rotation of the whirlpool, like a giant "funnel" crazy water absorption.
Driven by the vortex and the counter-current of the ocean, the seawater of the Southern Ocean sinks near 55°S, and the absorbed carbon dioxide sinks to a depth of 1000 meters and then flows northward with the current to reach the subtropical waters or near the equator, where the phytoplankton in the subtropical waters can absorb the carbon dioxide in the water and convert it into oxygen.
Scientists believe that seawater releases carbon dioxide, but eventually absorbs it all on its own, and also absorbs 25 percent of the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of all types of fossil fuels and forests, with the Southern Ocean accounting for 40 percent of the total.
Does the fact that such large amounts of greenhouse gases are being sucked into the oceans mean that warming is a "hoax"? Will there be new changes in the climate or not?
Is the Earth going to cool down or warm up? Is climate change a "hoax"?
On climate change, there has been disagreement in the academic community.
- Warming: excessive emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, from industrial development and a warming climate.
- Cooling: The Little Ice Age is approaching and the Earth will face a 30-year period of major cooling.
While carbon absorption in the Southern Ocean is a good sign, scientists remain concerned about climate issues.
- Law of conservation.
From the point of view of heat conservation, the Southern Ocean crazy carbon absorption does not mean that the greenhouse gases are reduced, but rather that the carbon content of the atmosphere is also growing wildly, and the carriers of carbon only become the ocean for a short period of time, and eventually they will all cycle back to the atmosphere.
Some studies show that it takes about 1,000 years for CO2 to sink in the Southern Ocean as the ocean currents head north and then be absorbed and transformed by greenery.
Carbon dioxide is not decreasing and the cycle of conversion is long, so warming is still the general trend.
- Localized carbon absorption cannot reverse the result of overall carbon emission overloads.
The Southern Ocean is only a very small region of the Earth, and its crazy carbon absorption cannot change the state of "carbon emission overload" in other regions, and cannot reverse the situation of global warming.
The declining area of the Amazon rainforest and the fires that have been burning for months in Australia, combined with emissions from human activities and industrial production, are increasing the amount of carbon in the air, and the ability of the oceans between Australia and Antarctica to absorb carbon is diminishing.
With global CO2 concentrations reaching record levels in May 2021, the overall temperature direction of the planet is not looking good.
- Global temperatures are still rising.
The data show that global temperatures in 2021 alone are about 1.09°C higher than they were from 1850 to 1900, with areas such as Kuwait reaching up to 70°C and some extremely cold regions reaching 38°C in summer.
The China Blue Book on Climate Change (2022) shows that China's average in 2021 is 1°C higher than previous years, various meteorological disasters are frequent, and climate change is becoming increasingly severe.
The Chinese edition of the Lancet Countdown Report on Population Health and Climate Change (2021) shows that from 2000-2019, the number of floods in China increased significantly in the context of global climate change.
Cai Wenjia said: If we do not take timely countermeasures, the global once-in-a-century period of major floods will accelerate, China may be the first to bear the brunt of the disaster, the largest impact
In fact, the ocean bears more than 90% of the consequences and negative energy of all human evils, and these will eventually be fulfilled in human beings through the cycle, such as seawater pollution, the emergence of plastics, sea level rise, etc., which will cause large and unusual meteorological disasters.
Humankind is taking climate change very seriously, and countries are actively fulfilling their responsibilities as major powers and have succeeded in keeping global temperature rise within the 1.5°C range, but the threat to humanity from climate change will only increase in the coming decades, and extreme weather will become more frequent.
The Southern Ocean absorbs a lot of carbon, which seems to be able to alleviate the global warming trend, but this is only an "illusion", behind which lies a deeper crisis, climate warming may not be a hoax, energy saving and emission reduction is still a long way to go.
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