Global warming: how marine snow allows CO2 to be stored at the bottom of the oceans

The oceans have a major role in limiting the damage from global warming. Present on the set of 20 Heures, Thursday December 7, the journalist Lorraine Gublin returns to the sea snow. These are small white dots that seem to be twirling at the bottom of the sea. This marine snow “is valuable because it allows carbon to be stored at the bottom of the oceans”, explains the journalist. It is formed “from phytoplankton”she adds. “These are plants, tiny plants invisible to the naked eye that live on the surface of the oceans”specifies Lorraine Gublin.

CO2 “stored for tens of thousands of years”

“Like all plants on the surface of the planet, phytoplankton absorb CO2 through photosynthesis, and when these plankton die, they slowly fall to the bottom of the oceans, and this is how the CO2 also falls and is stored for tens of thousands of years at the bottom of the water”explains the journalist. “This marine snow would store 20% more carbon than previously estimated. Unfortunately, this will not be enough to compensate for the quantities of CO2 that we emit, so we must preserve this marine biodiversity.”she concludes.