The Invisible Ocean Engine That Controls Earth’s Climate

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Every year the ocean removes billions of

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tons of carbon

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dioxide from the atmosphere

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Most people assume that this happens

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because of whales, mangroves or seagrass

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But the biggest carbon capture system on

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Earth is microscopic.

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It is powered by microbes

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Invisible organisms drifting in the water

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column quietly

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regulate the Earth's climate

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This is the how to protect the ocean your

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weekly ocean news update if you care

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about staying informed on the ocean

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Every weekday hit that follow button

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right now. So you

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don't miss tomorrow's story

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Alright, let's just talk about it for a

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second ocean microbes help regulate the

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global climate by capturing carbon and

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Transporting it into the deep ocean. This

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process is known as the biological carbon

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pump without this system

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Scientists estimate atmospheric co2

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concentrations would be roughly 50%

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higher than they are today

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Let's think about that 50% higher than

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they are today. The ocean does not simply

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absorb carbon like a sponge

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life in the ocean actively moves carbon

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from the atmosphere to the deep sea and

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Microbes drive that system. So the key

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question here is how do organisms

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Smaller than a grain of sand help

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regulate the entire planet's

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climate. Here's the problem

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Let's be honest climate change is

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accelerating human activities have

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dramatically increased

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atmospheric carbon dioxide

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Anybody tells you differently is

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absolutely wrong today co2

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concentrations have exceeded

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420 parts per million the highest levels

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seen in the last three million years

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The ocean helps buffer the

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planet from this rapid increase

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Scientists estimate that the ocean

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absorbs about 25 to 30 percent of the co2

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humans emit each year

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This buffer effect slows climate change

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without the ocean absorbing carbon

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Earth's climate would be warming

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significantly faster than it is already

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But the ocean doesn't

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simply absorb carbon passively

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it's not just sitting there as carbon

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dioxide floats above the water and just

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kind of absorbs it a

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large portion of the carbon is

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moved into deeper waters through

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biological processes driven by microbes

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to hear some of the

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science of people research on the

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Biological carbon pump. It's one of the

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most important processes

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regulating there's climate

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So there's a lot of research on it step

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one begins with phytoplankton

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This microscopic algae live near the

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ocean surface where sunlight penetrates

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the water like plants on land

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And phytoplankton use photosynthesis to

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convert carbon

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dioxide into organic carbon

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Scientists estimate that marine

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phytoplankton produce roughly half of the

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oxygen of the earth and fix

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about 50 gigatons of carbon

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annually comparable to all

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terrestrial plants combined once

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phytoplankton converts carbon into

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biomass the carbon begins

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moving through the food web

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zooplankton grays on

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phytoplankton fish consume zooplankton

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But the key step in the carbon pump

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happens when organic matter begins

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sinking this happens

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through several pathways one

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We call marine snow

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particles of dead phytoplankton

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fecal pellets from zooplankton and

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fragments of organic material clumped

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together into drifting

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aggregates known as marine snow

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These particles slowly sink through the

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water column some sink hundreds of

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thousands of meters into the deep

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Microbes colonize these particles as they

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sink they break down the organic material

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Transforming it chemically some carbon is

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recycled back into the surface waters

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But a fraction continues sinking deeper

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when carbon reaches waters below a

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thousand meters it can remain isolated

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From the atmosphere for

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hundreds of thousands of years

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Globally scientists estimate the

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biological carbon pump transfers about 10

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gigatons of carbon per year from the

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surface waters towards

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the deep of the ocean

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That is a massive climate regulating

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process driven largely

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by microscopic organisms

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Let's talk about cyanobacteria amongst

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the most important carbon capturing

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microbes in the ocean are cyanobacteria

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These organisms are photosynthetic

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bacteria that evolved more

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than 2.5 billion years ago

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And we're responsible for producing much

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of the oxygen that transformed the

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Earth's early atmosphere

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Two of the most abundant species in the

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ocean are chlorochlorococcus and

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Sinocorococcus sorry about the

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pronunciation of trouble reading these

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chlorochlorococcus is

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especially remarkable

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It is believed to be the most abundant

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photosynthetic organism on Earth

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scientists estimate

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there may be around three

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Octillion cells globally

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meaning a three followed by

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27 zeros in some tropical ocean regions a

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single millimeter of seawater may contain

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a hundred thousand or more

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chlorochlorococcus cells these organisms

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capture carbon dioxide using sunlight and

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Convert it into organic carbon although

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each cell is tiny their collective

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activity is enormous together

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Plurico caucus and sinoco caucus

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contribute a significant

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portion of photosynthesis

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They form a foundation of many marine

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food webs supporting everything from

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zooplankton to large fish in

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many parts of the open ocean

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Nutrients are scarce these microbes

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dominate primary production their

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activity is a major component of the

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biological carbon pump

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Climate change has the potential to

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disrupt the microbial systems that

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regulate carbon in the ocean

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One major risk is ocean warming warmer

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water tends to increase stratification

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meaning the ocean becomes more layered

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surface waters warm and become less dense

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reducing mixing with

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colder nutrient rich water

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Phytoplankton rely on nutrients such as

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nitrogen phosphorus and iron that often

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come from deeper waters

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When mixing weakens fewer nutrients reach

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the surface. This can reduce

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phytoplankton productivity

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Another risk is change in plankton

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community composition climate-driven

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warming often favors smaller

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phytoplankton species including tiny

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Pecoplankton smaller cells tend to sink

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more slowly than

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larger plankton like diatoms

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Diatoms have silica cells that make them

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heavier and they sink a

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lot quicker when they die

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If the ocean shifts towards smaller

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plankton communities less carbon may be

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exported to deeper waters

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This could weaken the

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biological carbon pump

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A large globe analysis found that warming

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oceans may reduce the efficiency of

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carbon export in some regions

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Which means that more carbon will remain

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near the surface and

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eventually return to the atmosphere

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So what does success look like when we're

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talking about protecting

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the biological carbon pump?

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Well, this will require protecting the

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conditions that allow microbial

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ecosystems to function one

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major factor is nutrient balance

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So excess nutrient pollution from

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agriculture can trigger harmful algal

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blooms that disrupt marine ecosystems

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So think about everything that's

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happening in florida when florida the

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state of florida moved to best practices

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in terms of regulating nutrients

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That come out of big sugar and it went

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into lake oak ochibi. I

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think that's how you pronounce it

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I always forget how you pronounce it and

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they go into those two rivers one goes to

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the atlantic one goes to the gulf

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A lot of times when you have excess

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nutrients in those rivers and the heat

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kind of heats it up at the right time

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All those nutrients and phytoplankton go

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into the ocean in a

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heavy heavy concentration

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You get cyanobacteria you get all this

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other algal blooms and then you get these

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red tides that we

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discussed in yesterday's episode

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Where you have this mixing of you know

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The right amount of nutrients the right

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amount of wind the right amount of

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currents driven in the right

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way and the right amount of

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dinoflagellates which cause red tide and

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can kill a lot of other species and cause

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a nasty smell and just

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the smothering of reefs

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as well as

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Sea grasses that can help feed the entire

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food web and so not having being able to

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balance these nutrients

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and being able to monitor

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These nutrients is really important

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So when governments and policymakers try

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to go to best practices, these companies

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are not using best practices

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They're just using whatever they want to

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use. It's a ploy. That's how

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they get it. So at the same time

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Some open ocean regions are nutrient

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limited understanding. This balance is

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critical for managing coastal ecosystems

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So another key strategy is long-term

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plankton monitoring which can

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be really easy to do programs

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Like the continuous plankton recorder

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survey which has been operating since the

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1930s helped scientists track changes in

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plankton communities

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across the entire ocean

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Basins these long-term data sets allow

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researchers to detect climate driven

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shifts in ocean ecosystems

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Finally scientists are increasingly

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working to incorporate microbial

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processes into global climate models for

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decades many climate models

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simplified ocean biology

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But new research is improving how models

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represent microbial food

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webs and carbon export processes

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Understanding microbes is essential if we

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want to predict how the ocean will

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regulate climate in the future

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If you love the way this show breaks down

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science information and

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you're learning from this

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Please consider following the podcast by

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hitting that follow button and of course

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share it to someone that you

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think will benefit from this

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So let's look into the final thoughts

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when we imagine climate solutions

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We often picture forests renewable energy

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and carbon capture technology

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But the ocean is already running one of

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the most powerful carbon

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capture systems on earth

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It's been doing so for millions of years

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and it is powered by

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organisms too small to see

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Tomorrow we're going to look at another

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microbial ability how microbes can help

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clean pollution from the ocean

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That's it for today's episode. If you

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have any questions or comments, please

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Let me know by going to speak up for

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blue.com forward slash feedback that

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speak up for blue.com

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Forward slash feedback. You can leave a

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voicemail or you can just type some stuff

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out questions comments

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Whatever you want to do

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feedback. I would love to hear it

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Like I always say this is a podcast where

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I start the conversation

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But i'd love for you to continue that

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conversation and let's talk oceans

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I want to thank you for joining me on

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today's episode of the how to protect the

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ocean podcast. Have a great day

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We'll talk to you next

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time and happy conservation