Rapid plankton growth in North Atlantic suggests a swift environmental change [1]

An unusual plankton growth has been discovered in the North Atlantic, in contrast to the scientific predictions for the area. The discovery suggests a swift environmental change as a result of increased amounts of carbon dioxide may be underway.

A team of researchers [2] has conducted a study to investigate the microscopic algae growth in North Atlantic and the results have, to their surprise, showed a major increase of certain species. For example, in a period between 1965 and 2010, the abundance of single-cell organism coccolithophores showed a tenfold increase with sharp peaking during the late 1990s.

Coccolithophores are single-cell algae organisms that cloak themselves in a distinctive cluster of pale disks made of calcium carbonate, or chalk. They play a role in cycling calcium carbonate, a factor in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. In the short term they make it more difficult to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but in the long term - tens and hundreds of thousands of years - they help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and oceans and confine it in the deep ocean.