"One of the planet’s most vital #CarbonSinks i.e. SOUTHERN OCEAN (SO) (absorbs ~40% of C) is revealing its secrets as tiny organisms in the SO play an outsized role in moderating Earth’s #climate."
Details from the recent research are discussed in a🧵⬇️ 1/8
"Based on 107 independent observations of the seasonal cycle from 63 #biogeochemical profiling floats, new study conducted by scientists from #NOAA & University of Hawai'i provide the basin-scale estimate of distinct biogenic #CarbonPool production at Southern Ocean." 2/8
Researchers find "significant meridional variability with enhanced #ParticulateOrganicCarbon production in the subantarctic & polar Antarctic sectors & enhanced #DissolvedOrganicCarbon production in the subtropical & sea-ice-dominated sectors." 3/8
"#ParticulateInorganicCarbon production peaks between 47°S and 57°S near the “great calcite belt.” Relative to an abiotic Southern Ocean (SO), organic C production enhances CO2 uptake by 2.80 ± 0.28 Pg C y−1, while PIC production reduces CO2 uptake by 0.27 ± 0.21 Pg C y−1." 4/8
"Without organic C production, the SO would be a CO2 source to the atm. The findings of this study emphasize the importance of #DOC & #PIC production, in addition to the well-recognized role of #POC production, in shaping the influence of C export on air–sea CO2 exchange." 5/8
IN SIMPLE WORDS ⬇️
🌊 "Researchers discovered that if the amount of #carbon produced by tiny organisms in Southern Ocean decreased by 30%, the Southern Ocean would release carbon dioxide instead of #absorbing it, which could worsen the #GreenhouseEffect on our planet." 6/8
Read the open-access paper entitled: "Biogenic carbon pool production maintains the Southern Ocean carbon sink" here ⬇️ pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…
📰 Here's your round-up of top #CarbonDioxideRemoval News / Developments from this week (31 March - 06 April 2025):
🔗:
🧵0/21
Frontier signed $31.6M offtake with Hafslund Celsio to remove 100,000 tons of CO₂ (2029–2030)—via the first-ever carbon removal retrofit of a waste-to-energy plant at Celsio’s Oslo facility.
🚨 @UKRI_News & @NERCscience is investing £10 million in four NEW research projects, launching this month as part of a 5-year programme—Modelling Environmental Responses to Solar Radiation Management (#SRM)—to assess the risks, limitations & trade-offs of SRM.
DETAILS:🧵1/8
2/ Project 1: Holistic Risk Assessment of SRM
Led by @imperialcollege, @BristolUni, @UniversityLeeds & @UniofExeter
The team will develop a new framework combining Earth system modelling with social & political analysis to better assess risks & trade-offs of SRM—especially #SAI
3/ Project 2:Marine CLOUD Brightening
Led by Uni of Exeter, Leeds, Reading, Manchester & Oxford
MACLOUD will model how spraying sea salt to brighten marine clouds could influence weather patterns, climate & ecosystems—looking closely at how cloud behavior changes at diff scales
🚨🌋 A new UCLA-led study reveals surprising findings about the 2022 Hunga Tonga—Hunga Haʻapai underwater volcanic eruption. Despite fears it would push global temps past 1.5°C, it actually cooled the Southern Hemisphere by 0.1°C!
Here's why:🧵1/8
#SolarGeoengineering #Aerosols
2/ When Hunga Tonga erupted in January 2022, scientists expected the massive release of water vapor to trigger warming, but a key factor shifted: The eruption produced smaller sulfate aerosols that unexpectedly cooled the atmosphere!
3/ Traditionally, sulfate aerosols cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight, while water vapor warms it. The eruption's aerosols were 50% smaller than those from previous eruptions (like Pinatubo, 1991), which made them more efficient at cooling!
📰 Here's your round-up of top #CarbonDioxideRemoval News / Developments from this week (24 March - 30 March 2025):
🔗:
🧵0/20
Stockholm Exergi announced its decision to build one of the world’s largest BECCS facilities, a $1.3B project set to remove ~800,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually and be operational by 2028.
Enhanced rock weathering startup @EionCarbon secured $33M carbon removal offtake deal with Frontier to remove 78,707 tons of CO₂ (2027–2030) by applying olivine on U.S. Midwest and South farmland.
🚨How do political affiliations shape attitudes toward #SolarGeoengineering?🚨
A conjoint experiment with 2,123 US voters finds that partisanship outweighs message framing—meaning who delivers the message matters more than what the message says.
DETAILS🧵1/9
2/ The discourse on SG as a climate solution is evolving, but public perceptions—especially in the polarized US landscape—remain underexplored. This study () examines how different narratives & partisan sources influence attitudes.nature.com/articles/s4416…
3/Researchers tested 3 SG narratives:
-Complementary: SG as an add-on to emissions cuts
-Substitutive: SG as a standalone climate solution
-Moral hazard: SG as a risky distraction
& the source(Democratic or Republican, researcher or podcaster) to simulate a realistic info env