A study by the University of East Anglia found that oceans cool the climate more than previously thought.
The research found that oceans emit sulfur produced by marine mammals, which in turn has a strong cooling effect on the climate. The study found that the effect is particularly strong in the Southern Ocean.
The study adds a new component to the issue of climate cooling and heating, bringing the gas methanethiol into play. Due to the difficulty in measuring this gas, it has largely been ignored in the wider climate change debate.
According to one of the study’s lead authors, Dr. Charel Whol from the University of East Anglia Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences:
“This is the climatic element with the greatest cooling capacity, but also the least understood. We knew methanethiol was coming out of the ocean, but we had no idea about how much and where. We also did not know it had such an impact on climate. Climate models have greatly overestimated the solar radiation actually reaching the Southern Ocean, largely because they are not capable of correctly simulating clouds. The work done here partially closes the longstanding knowledge gap between models and observations. Today, thanks to the evolution of measurement techniques, we know that plankton also emit methanethiol, and we have found a way to quantify, on a global scale, where, when and in what quantity this emission occurs. Knowing the emissions of this compound will help us to more accurately represent clouds over the Southern Ocean and calculate more realistically their cooling effect.”
