Tiny ocean organisms missing from climate models may hold the key to Earth’s carbon future, say researchers

The oceanic carbon cycle [credit: IAEA]

” data-image-caption=”" data-medium-file=”https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ocean_co2.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ocean_co2.jpg?w=614″ src=”https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ocean_co2.jpg?w=614″ alt=”Ocean carbon cycle” width=”614″ height=”346″ class=”aligncenter size-large wp-image-47465″ srcset=”https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ocean_co2.jpg?w=614 614w, https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ocean_co2.jpg?w=150 150w, https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ocean_co2.jpg?w=300 300w, https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ocean_co2.jpg?w=768 768w, https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ocean_co2.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ocean_co2.jpg 1160w” sizes=”(max-width: 614px) 100vw, 614px” />
Once again we’re told inadequate models can be used to predict Earth’s climate future. But if the models are falling short, as models inevitably do (since if everything was known they wouldn’t be needed any more), they can’t be relied on to predict anything accurately. Here they chop and change between saying climate affects CO2 and CO2 affects climate, which doesn’t help matters either. It gives the impression they’re trying to have it both ways.
– – –
The ocean’s smallest engineers, calcifying plankton, quietly regulate Earth’s thermostat by capturing and cycling carbon, claims Phys.org.

However, a new review published in Science by an international team led by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) (Spain) finds that these organisms, coccolithophores, foraminifers, and pteropods, are oversimplified in the climate models used to predict our planet’s future. [Talkshop comment – models aren’t good for that].

By omitting these plankton, current models may underestimate key processes in the global carbon cycle and the ocean’s capacity to respond to climate change. Calcifying plankton build minute shells of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), a critical component of the ocean’s carbon cycle.

These organisms influence seawater chemistry and facilitate the transfer of carbon from the atmosphere to the deep ocean. This “carbon pump” helps regulate Earth’s climate and influences everything from ocean chemistry to the fossil record.

“Plankton shells are tiny, but together they shape the chemistry of our oceans and the climate of our planet,” said Patrizia Ziveri, ICREA research professor at ICTA-UAB and lead author of the study.

“By leaving them out of climate models, we risk overlooking fundamental processes that determine how the Earth system responds to climate change.”
[Talkshop comment – the shells ‘shape the climate’ *and* ‘respond to climate change’??]
. . .
“If we ignore the ocean’s smallest organisms, we might miss important climate dynamics,” says Dr. Ziveri. “Integrating calcifying plankton into climate models could offer sharper predictions and deeper insights into how ecosystems and societies may be affected.”

The researchers conclude that addressing these knowledge gaps is critical to developing a new generation of climate models that better capture the biological complexity of the oceans. [Talkshop comment – more like the real purpose of models?].

Full article here.
– – –
Image: The oceanic carbon cycle [credit: IAEA]