A study carried out by researchers from the IUniversity Institute for Water Research and the Department of Ecology of the University of Granada shows that the contribution of dust from the Sahara desert is capable of increasing the role of the Mediterranean Sea as a CO2 sink.
What is a CO2 sink? It is an area that is able to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and not return it to the cycle again, but that CO2 leaves the atmospheric circulation.
This research carried out within the project GOALS demonstrates that the Mediterranean Sea acts as a sink for atmospheric CO2 in open ocean areas. It is responsible for eliminating CO2 from the cycle in these areas, but serves as a source of CO2 on the coasts where it is capable of generating it.
From this discovery, an attempt has been made to test how these ecosystems that serve as sinks and sources of CO2 would respond to increases in dust intrusions from the Sahara and to ultraviolet radiation. The importance of verifying the response of these ecosystems to these variables lies in the fact that they are the most important global change factors affecting the Mediterranean region.
The results of experiments that have been carried out , evidences the ability of algae to be able to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and therefore act as a sink. The author of this report is Marco Jabalera Cabrerizo, and he works in the Department of Ecology at the University of Granada.
The researcher has highlighted that during the last decades the intrusions of Saharan dust together with the increase in exposure to ultraviolet rays can accentuate the role of the Mediterranean Sea as a regulator of CO2 levels in the very near future. That is why the results of these studies are very relevant if we put them in the context of current climate change since they can tell us if marine ecosystems are going to behave as sinks of CO2 or as a source in the future.