A team of researchers from the Department of Geography at the University of Sheffield, in the United Kingdom, coordinated by the Earth science expert Grant Bigg, has found that the large icebergs that dot the Antarctic Ocean play a key role in the cycle of the carbon in that region. In fact, some of these structures, more than 18 kilometers long , retain large amounts of CO2 and prevent it from reaching the atmosphere.
To do this, they have analyzed 175 satellite images between 2003 and 2013 that show the color changes in the sea near these ice masses. This phenomenon reflects the activity of phytoplankton, a community of tiny photosynthetic aquatic organisms that fix carbon and form the base of the oceanic food chain. Thus, they have observed that the water that melts from large icebergs, loaded with iron and other nutrients, drives the development of these microorganisms even more than previously believed, even hundreds of kilometers away .
Until now, it was thought that this fertilization process did not contribute especially to the sea retaining more or less carbon. However, Bigg and his colleagues, who have published their findings in the journal Nature Geoscience , believe that it actually determines the storage of up to 20% of this element throughout the Antarctic Ocean .
Image: Liam Quinn / CC
