Climate Change Pollution Rising—Thanks to Overwhelmed Oceans and Plants: Scientific American

Climate Change Pollution Rising—Thanks to Overwhelmed Oceans and Plants: Scientific American

Oceans play a critical role in absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. 70-80% of the carbon dioxide will end up in the oceans. Oceans are far more important than terrestrial systems such as forests, which may not even be a net sink for carbon in temperate regions. So evidence that the rate of absorption is slowing down is a real cause for concern. The rate of decline is much faster than anyone might have anticipated, so this study is going to be subject to very close scrutiny. The backdrop is that emissions have risen from 8.4 to 9.9 billion metric tonnes between 2000 and 2006.