The Growing Potential of Antarctic Blue Carbon

• Published in: Oceanography
• Main Authors: Sands, Chester J., Zwerschke, Nadescha, Bax, Narissa, Barnes, David K.A., Moreau, Camille, Downey, Rachel, Moreno, Bernabé, Held, Christoph, Paulsen, Maria
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Oceanography Society 2023
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/534189/; https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/534189/1/ocean-observing-2023-sands.pdf; https://tos.org/oceanography/article/perspective-the-growing-potential-of-antarctic-blue-carbon

The removal of carbon from the atmosphere for a long period (sequestration) is an increasingly pressing societal need in order to mitigate the negative effects of climate change. Investment and technology solutions are moving in the direction of industrial carbon capture and storage. To date, this technology is inefficient, expensive, and in some cases, not even net carbon zero. Optimistic estimates suggesting huge investment in infrastructure, which requires resources that include land and fresh water, will only marginally contribute toward the reductions in atmospheric CO2 required to minimize the impact of climate change over the next 50 years (Hankin et al., 2019).