Ikaite is a special form of limestone that often forms in very cold seawater, in the polar oceans. A study led by Stockholm University researchers suggests that this highly unknown mineral plays an important role in the ocean's uptake of carbon dioxide.
Ikaite is a special form of limestone that often forms in very cold seawater, in the polar oceans. A study led by Stockholm University researchers suggests that this highly unknown mineral plays an important role in the ocean's uptake of carbon dioxide.
The ocean is crucial to our planet's carbon cycle – and therefore to the climate. 20–30 per cent of the carbon dioxide emitted by humans since the 1980s has been absorbed by the ocean, which thereby mitigates the ongoing climate warming.
Next to sedimentary rocks in the Earth's crust, the deep oceans are the most carbon-rich part of our planet. Only a fraction of the Earth’s total carbon stock can be found in the air, or sequestered in plants and animals on land. Without the long-term storage of carbon in the deep ocean, the average temperature of the Earth would not be 15 degrees Celsius, as it is now, but around 50 degrees Celsius.
Read more at: Stockholm University
Photo Credit: Michael Tjernström
