Scientists have conducted a study that helped determine the location of the huge amounts of carbon dioxide on our planet.
This discovery was made by an international group of researchers, led by a scientist from the Institute of Polar and Marine Research Alfred Wegener, writes Nature Communication.
Experts came to the conclusion that during the period of decrease in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which occurred during the ice age, it accumulated in the depths of the Pacific Ocean.
The process of reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide took place over 800 thousand years. During this period, the concentration of carbon dioxide decreased from 280 to 180 ppm. But this gas could not just disappear. Therefore, scientists began to search for the reservoir in which it is located. According to scientists, the deep-sea layers of the South Pacific Ocean at a depth of 2-4 kilometers from the surface and stored water saturated with carbon dioxide.
Experts have also recreated the dynamics of the formation and existence of this huge gas storage facility. As the scientists say, the Pacific currents previously raised water saturated with carbon, which is then released into the atmosphere, which leads to an increase in the greenhouse effect.
But in the last ice age, this ventilation window closed, trapping the gas. The amount of water saturated with carbon dioxide, which rose from great depths, decreased, which made it possible to maintain a stable concentration of carbon in the atmosphere. All this time, the remains of plants and animals rich in carbon were washed by rivers into the sea, and there they were stored in the form of sedimentary deposits.
Only by the end of the ice age, when the ice cover of Atlantis dropped, the circulation of water resumed. Therefore, carbon-rich waters began to rise to the sea surface again, saturating the atmosphere with this gas and increasing the greenhouse effect.
