Scientists claim ocean absorbing less carbon dioxide

Thank God for the oceans.  They're carbon sinks, absorbing up to one third of all the anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  And the planet would be in considerably more trouble than it is now had these carbon sinks not been functioning.  Current models for required CO2 emission reductions are based on the oceans working as efficient sinks.

But a recent study in the Sea of Japan indicates the efficacy of the oceans may be changing radically.

Kitack Lee, an associate professor at Pohang University of Science and Technology, who led the research, says the discovery is the "very first observation that directly relates ocean CO2 uptake change to ocean warming".

He says the warmer conditions disrupt a process known as "ventilation" - the way seawater flows and mixes and drags absorbed CO2 from surface waters to the depths. He warns that the effect is probably not confined to the Sea of Japan. It could also affect CO2 uptake in the Atlantic and Southern oceans.

"Our result in the (Sea of Japan) unequivocally demonstrated that oceanic uptake of CO2 has been directly affected by warming-induced weakening of vertical ventilation," he says.

Lee adds: "In other words, the increase in atmospheric temperature due to global warming can profoundly influence the ocean ventilation, thereby decreasing the uptake rate of CO2."

The implications are significant here.  If it's determined the seas are being impacted by global warming and now functioning sub-optimally, the restrictions on those anthropogenic emissions will need to be tightened that much more.