Dr. Brad Rosenheim has moved!Global fjord carbon reservoirs can dampen natural global cooling during glacial-interglacial cycles. Collaborative work from my laboratory led by @twitter@XingqianCui and featuring @twitter@DrJoFaust @twitter@alainfplante @twitter@Ding_Oliver_HE @twitter@FreezingLiz (All on Twitter but not here in the #fediverse, yet) as well as some non-social network authors. #carboncycle #climatechange
How? Despite a small surface area on Earth, fjords can accumulate a lot of organic carbon when climate is warm and sea level is high. During glacial periods, this buried carbon can be returned to the atmosphere as CO2, releasing up to 50ppm of CO2! #carboncycle #climatechange
This is a large amount of dampening from a depositional system that is not physically dominant on Earth's surface! Luckily, the systematic are such that this fjord carbon 'battery' cannot release its energy while sea level is high, hence it will not result in positive feedback with anthropogenic warming (runaway warming). #climatefeedback #climatechange