Melting Tundra a Problem for the Arctic Ocean
The growth in temperature in the Arctic Zone has already caused the sea-ice there to melt. According to research carried out by the University of Gothenburg, if the Arctic tundra also melts down, immense quantities of organic material will be channeled by the rivers straight into the Arctic Ocean, resulting in further discharges of carbon dioxide.
Various Russian rivers enter the Arctic Ocean especially in the Laptev Sea north of Siberia. One of the primary rivers flowing into the Laptev Sea is the Lena, which in terms of its drainage area and length is one of the ten largest rivers in the world. The river water channels organic carbon from the tundra, and research from the University of Gothenburg shows that this adds a considerable amount of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere when it is degraded in the coastal waters.
The increment in temperature in the Arctic Zone, which has already had an effect in the form of reduced sea-ice cover during the summer, may also cause the permafrost to melt. Large amounts of organic carbon are currently stored within the permafrost and if this is discharged and gets carried by the rivers out into the coastal waters, then it will result in an enhanced release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere,” says Sofia Hjalmarsson, native of Falkenberg and postgraduate student at the Department of Chemistry.
In her thesis, Sofia Hjalmarsson has studied the carbon system in two different geographical regions: partly in the Baltic Sea, the Kattegat and the Skagerrak, and partly in the coastal waters north of Siberia (the Laptev Sea, the East Siberian Sea and the Chukchi Sea). The two regions have in common the fact that they receive large volumes of river water containing organic carbon and nutrients, primarily nitrogen.
See Related Report: Carbon Reduction and Climate Stabilization
