The University of Gothenburg, Sweden, conducted a research on the levels of carbon dioxide in Arctic coastal seas and reached a conclusion that the level of absorption of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide by the Arctic coastal seas is continually decreasing.
This in turn leads to an increase in the Arctic’s warming rate and an increase in the atmospheric level.
This research stated that a large number of scientists consider that the increase in the greenhouse gases released by humans causes changes in the Earth’s climate. The release of greenhouse gases takes place through the combustion of fossil fuels.
The oceans absorbed almost half the emission of carbon dioxide from combustion of fossil fuels till 1994. The ocean capacity to absorb carbon dioxide begins to fall as the level of carbon dioxide in the oceans increase. The carbon dioxide that cannot be absorbed by the ocean stays back in the atmosphere.
Iréne Wåhlström, researcher in marine chemistry, stated that the increase in the Earth’s temperature caused by the greenhouse gases can be observed in the Arctic. This increase in temperature is a lot more noticeable in Siberia and the coastal seas of Siberia and it creates an impact on the Arctic’s environment. This impact results in an increase in coastal erosion and water supply from the rivers and melting of permafrost.
Iréne Wåhlström investigated the East Siberian Sea through a ship-borne expedition and the Laptev Sea by mathematical modeling. Water from the Pacific Ocean flows into the East Siberian Sea through an eastern part and a western part.
Wåhlström stated that the level of marine photosynthesis in these waters is high in summer and carbon dioxide is consumed, thus leading to the absorption of carbon dioxide in the air by the sea. Organic material in the river is broken down as a result of which carbon dioxide is formed in the sea and in turn the level in the sea becomes higher in comparison with that in the air. This causes carbon dioxide to flow from the sea into the air.
In the summer of 2008 the Laptev Sea had an abundance of carbon dioxide with a magnitude similar to that of the western East Siberian Sea. Breaking down of organic material from the land resulted in this abundance of carbon dioxide. The Laptev Sea has now become a source of carbon dioxide and this will lead to an increase in the rate of the Earth’s temperature.
Source: http://www.gu.se
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