MUCH OF the research into global warming involves conditions in the atmosphere, but geologist Paul Loubere reported that what is going on under the waves is just as important. Loubere likened the equatorial current 300 to 400 feet below the surface to a secret river that delivers nutrients to tropical marine life, such as plankton, in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The microscopic plants absorb carbon dioxide and help to regulate its release into the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide is a key greenhouse gas that many scientists feel is warming Earth.
The planet naturally releases and absorbs carbon dioxide, but humans also create it by burning coal and oil. My research presents the first evidence that there s something else to seriously consider here. And it demonstrates how the climates of different regions of the Earth in this case the South Pole and the Pacific equator are intrinsically linked, he said. Loubere and his students unearthed the current s secrets by taking hundreds of sediment samples from the ocean floor at four sites near the Galapagos Islands. Those samples allowed him to reconstruct a picture of marine life during the past 130,000 years.