Can carbon storage in West Antarctic fjords have an impact on climate change, following glacier retreat?

• Main Author: Hunter, Billy
• Other Authors: Environmental Protection
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2021
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctic
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12518/387; https://doi-org.queens.ezp1.qub.ac.uk/10.1111/gcb.16047

Publication history: Accepted - 10 December 2021; Published online - 19 December 2021. Zwerschke et al’s (2021) paper ‘Quantification of blue carbon pathways contributing to negative feedback on climate change following glacier retreat in West Antarctic fjords’ provides an interesting insight into the potential for Antarctic fjords to store carbon, following glacial retreat. The authors used ash free dry mass (AFDM) as a proxy for carbon content in the carbon content of sediments and microbenthic infauna within the fjords to estimate their carbon sequestration potential. This equates to between 0.05 and 0.19 % of the estimated carbon buried at the seafloor. Consequently, the paper’s assertion that these fjords could provide a negative feedback against climate change is tenuous when considered against the wider impacts of Antarctic deglaciation.