Planetary science experts have been observing for decades that our activities induce certain alterations in the Earth’s carbon cycle, for example, producing an increase in the acidification of the oceans , which negatively affects many marine species, such as corals. .
Now, an international team of researchers coordinated by oceanographer David Karl of the University of Hawaii has found that, in addition, industrial and agricultural processes have a significant impact on the nitrogen cycle of the oceans .
According to these scientists in the journal Science , in the last hundred years the rate at which reactive nitrogen present in the atmosphere is deposited in the seas has doubled. This is integrated, for example, by nitrogen oxides generated by the burning of fossil fuels and ammonia compounds that are used as fertilizer.
In essence, humans have added so much nitrogen that it could equal half of what the oceans naturally fix , a process that ends up serving as a nutrient for many organisms.
The study by Karl and his collaborators, focused on the North Pacific for the last 30 years, shows that this phenomenon has unpredictable ramifications capable of affecting the environment in different ways. On the one hand, photosynthesis at the surface is likely to increase and more carbon-rich organic materials reach the depths. Over time, all this will end up affecting the marine food chain and perhaps the structure of the entire ecosystem.
