Oceanic water best absorbs CO2 when: (Select one)

A) the seawater is warm and atmospheric CO2 concentration is low (relative to oceanic CO2)

B) the seawater is warm and atmospheric CO2 concentration is high (relative to oceanic CO2)

C) the seawater is cold and atmospheric CO2 concentration is low (relative to oceanic CO2)

D) the seawater is cold and atmospheric CO2 concentration is high (relative to oceanic CO2)

D) the seawater is cold and atmospheric CO2 concentration is high (relative to oceanic CO2)

D) the seawater is cold and atmospheric CO2 concentration is high (relative to oceanic CO2)

Explanation:

The oceans have captured 34 gigatons (billions of metric tons) of man-made carbon dioxide from the atmosphere between 1994 and 2007. This figure corresponds to 31% of all anthropogenic CO2 emitted during that time.

The oceans function as a large CO2 sink. This oceanic sink is crucial for the atmospheric levels of this gas; Without this sink, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere and the extent of anthropogenic climate change would be considerably higher. Therefore, determining what part of the human-generated CO2 is absorbed by the ocean has been a priority for climate researchers.

This percentage of CO2 captured by the oceans has remained relatively stable compared to the previous 200 years, but the total amount has increased substantially. This is because while the atmospheric concentration of CO2 increases, the oceanic sink is reinforced more or less proportionally: the more CO2 there is in the atmosphere, the more it is absorbed by the oceans; until in the end it becomes saturated.

Warmer temperatures are affecting how the ocean can absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. While the ocean acts as a natural carbon sink, global climate change is decreasing its ability to absorb CO2

Over the past three decades, increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide have been largely equated by corresponding increases in dissolved carbon dioxide in seawater. The researchers found that rising temperatures are decreasing carbon absorption. and therefore cannot contain so much carbon dioxide, so the ocean's carbon capacity is decreasing as it heats up