New Internationalist – September 2019

CLIMATE REGULATOR

Without the ocean, climate change

would be happening much faster.

The seas help regulate the weather.

The atmosphere and ocean are linked

by a self-balancing gradient. When the

concentration of CO 2 in the atmosphere

rises, the ocean absorbs more to restore

the balance. The colder the seawater,

the more effective the process.

High seas marine life drives this

process, capturing carbon at the

surface and storing it deep below –

without this essential service, our world

would be uninhabitably hot.

But now the balance is being

disturbed. The oceans absorb nearly

all the additional warmth resulting from

human CO 2 emissions (largely caused

by fossil-fuel use). The sea is getting

hotter – by 2 ̊C – in some places, and

less able to absorb CO 2.

And as glaciers melt the sea level

rises, too.

So, if we want to safeguard the

ocean’s function as climate regulator,

we need to get serious about reducing

CO 2 emissions.

WHERE DOES THE CO 2 GO?

CHANGES IN GLOBAL SEA LEVEL

• 100-YEAR TREND

Atmosphere ca. 45%

Biosphere ca. 28%

Ocean ca. 27%

CO 2 emissions 100%

Ocean

93 .4%

Atmosphere 2. 3 %

Greenland Ice Sheet 0. 2 %

Glaciers and Ice Caps 0.9%

Antarctic Sea Ice 0. 2 %

Arctic Sea Ice 0.8%

Continents 2 .1% Sources:

Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Ocean Atlas: Facts and Figures on the

Threats to Our Marine Ecosystem, 2017, nin.tl/ocean-atlas

Scripps University of San Diego nin.tl/ocean-takeup

NOAA nin.tl/ocean-atmosphere-exchange

Visuals reproduced and adapted from Ocean Atlas, Heinrich Böll

Stiftung, 2017, under Creative Commons licence, nin.tl/ocean-atlas

150

0

mm

1920 2000

WHERE DOES THE EXTRA

WARMTH GO?

SEPTEMBER- OCTOBER 2019 21