Marine sediments play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle due to the oxygen consumption and CO2 respiration of the organisms that live in and on the ocean floor.
To help predict the changing contribution of this respiration to the carbon cycle in a warming world, researchers from the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ) and universities in Taiwan have compiled the largest open-access database available of the sediment community oxygen consumption and CO2 respiration. Their findings are published in Nature Scientific Data on 29 October 2019.
The oceans play an important role in the global carbon cycle, with nearly 98% of the CO2 being dissolved in sea water. Also, the burial of carbon at the sea floor is an important component of the global carbon cycle. “This large data-base is valuable. In-depth knowledge of the processes involved and the rates helps other scientists predict future scenarios for ongoing changes in climate and the oceans.”, says Professor Gert-Jan Reichart of NIOZ and University of Utrecht, and coordinator of a multi-stakeholder CO2-to-Ocean research coalition about the publication, in which he did not take part.
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