Vanishing Ocean Buffer
The heating of the surface waters of the western North Atlantic under climate change has caused that important layer to shrink, which an international team of researchers says has crippled the water’s ability to absorb the atmosphere’s excess carbon dioxide and heat.
The North Atlantic Subtropical Mode Water has historically been about 800 feet thick. But more than 90% of that layer has been lost due to the warming of the past decade, according to a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The loss is said to also threaten the region’s phytoplankton, the base of the marine food chain near the ocean’s surface.
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