Microbes on Marine Snow May Limit How Deep Carbon Actually Sinks
A new study adds another wrinkle to ocean carbon removal: the microbes riding sinking particles may be dissolving the very minerals that help carbon reach the deep ocean. The Finding Researchers discovered that bacteria attached to marine snow — the shower of organic debris that carries carbon from the ocean surface toward the deep — can accelerate the dissolution of calcium carbonate. These aren’t unusual organisms doing something exotic. They’re common ocean bacteria whose metabolic waste creates acidic microenvironments around the particles they colonize. ...