Reserva Nacional de Paracas, Peru. Photo source: ©© Martin Garcia
Excerpts;
For the first time, researchers have successfully demonstrated an interaction between ocean currents and bacteria: The unexpected interaction leads to the production of vast amounts of nitrogen gas in the Pacific Ocean. This takes place in one of the largest oxygen free water masses in the world, and these zones are expanding. This can ultimately weaken the ocean’s ability to absorb CO2.
Three places in the world harbor extensive oxygen free water masses, called Oxygen Minimum Zones. In these zones, microbes produce atmospheric nitrogen gas, the gas that accounts for almost 80 per cent of Earth’s atmosphere. Researchers from the University of Southern Denmark now report to have found the reason behind the huge nitrogen gas production in the largest of the three Minimum Oxygen Zones, located in the Pacific Ocean off Chile and Peru…
