Since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; about 21,000
years ago) sea level has risen by 130 meters (430 feet), resulting in
continental shelf submergence and a massive expansion of the surface area of
shelf seas. Although shelf seas only account for 7 percent of the oceanic
surface area, recent observations demonstrate that they host significant fluxes
of carbon dioxide (CO2) between the ocean and atmosphere.
A scientific report endorsed by the United Nations states that unless
greenhouse gas emissions are curtailed, average global temperatures may
rise between one and three degrees Celsius (two and six degrees
Fahrenheit) in the next hundred years. The ramifications of a
temperature change at just the low end of this range would be severe. A
one-degree Celsius (two-degree-Fahrenheit) change in temperature is
predicted to result in a one-meter (three-foot) rise in sea level, which
would displace millions of people in coastal cities and low-lying
islands. For example, virtually all of the agricultural land in
Bangladesh would be covered in seawater and rendered unusable. Another
consequence of increased global temperatures would be an acceleration of
glacial melt in mountain valleys, which would in turn result in massive
flooding in their drainage basins.
Further, dissolved and particulate carbon is
thought to be transported from shelf areas into sinks in the deep ocean through
a mechanism called the "continental shelf pump." Through
reconstructions of shelf geography stretching to the LGM, Rippeth et al.
analyze the effect of sea level rise and consequent flooding of continental
shelves on the growth of the continental shelf pump.
Combining these reconstructions with contemporary
estimates of carbon flux between the ocean and atmosphere allows the authors to
conclude that expanding shelf seas have significantly influenced the global
carbon cycle via the continental shelf pump, with weaker pumping during times
when shallower shelf seas were present.
More at: Tom P. Rippeth et al. Impact of
sea-level rise over the last deglacial transition on the strength of the
continental shelf CO2 pump. Geophysical Research Letters,
DOI: 10.1029/2008GL035880
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090102100236.htm
http://serc.carleton.edu/eslabs/cryosphere/7a.html
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