Tiny beings of the gorge, become greasy and close the carbon that warms the planet

According to new studies, a tiny, incomprehensible animal, which is often sold as an aquarium food, calmly protects our planet from global warming, starting epic migration.

These “ill -wing heroes” are called the gorge of the zaplankton and grow fat in the spring before immersing hundreds of meters into a deep ocean in Antarctica where they burn fat.

According to the researchers, this closes as much as throwing carbon, how many annual emissions of approximately 55 million gasoline vehicles, stopping it further warming our atmosphere.

This is much more than scientists expected. But just as the researchers reveal this service of our planet, the threats of zaaplanthon are growing.

For many years, scientists have carried out an annual animal migration in Antarctic waters, or in the Southern Ocean, and what it means to change climates.

The conclusions are “wonderful,” says Dr. Guang’s lead author of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, adding that it makes you rethink how much carbon in the Southern Ocean stores.

“Animals are an unclean hero, because they have such a cool lifestyle,” says co-author Dr. Jennifer Freier of the British Antarctic poll.

But compared to the most popular Antarctic animals such as a whale or penguin, a small but powerful zaplankton is not notified.

If anyone has heard about them, it’s probably as a type of fish food available to buy online.

But their life cycle is amazing and entertaining. Take a COPEPOD, the type of zaaplankton, which is a distant relative of crabs and lobsters.

Just 1-10 mm in size they spend most of their lives, which sing from 500 m to 2 km depth in the ocean.

In the pictures taken under the microscope, you can see long fat sausages inside your bodies and greasy bubbles in the head, explains Professor Daniel Mayor, who photographed them in Antarctica.

Without them, the atmosphere of our planet would be much warmer.

On the oceans, 90% of the excess heat created by people, burning fishery species, absorbed the oceans. From this figure, the Southern Ocean is responsible for about 40%, and much is located to the plan.

Millions of pounds are spent worldwide to understand exactly how they store carbon.

Scientists already knew that Zaaplankton contributed to the storage of carbon in the daily process, when animals rich in carbon were dropped into a deep ocean.

But what happened when animals migrate in the South Ocean was not quantitatively rated.

The latest study was focused on Copepods as well as on other types of Zooplankton called Krill and Salps.

Creatures eat phytoplankton on the ocean surface, which grow by turning carbon dioxide into live matter through photosynthesis. It turns into fat into a melon.

“Their fat is similar to a battery.

“It releases carbon dioxide. From the way the oceans work, if you put carbon really down, it will take decades or even centuries, so that this CO2 came out and contributed to atmospheric warming,” he says.

The research team estimated that this process is called a seasonal vertical migration pump – transports 65 million tons of carbon annually at least 500 m below the ocean surface.

From this it turned out that Copepods contributes the most, and behind it wings and sailing.

This is approximately equivalent to driving 55 million diesel for a year, According to the EPA Green gas emissions.

The last study considered the data that stretched back to the 1920s to quantify this carbon shelter, also called carbon sequestration.

But the scientific discovery continues, as researchers seek to understand more information about the migration cycle.

Earlier this year, D -Frir and Professor Mayor spent two months on the polar scientific and research ship Sir David Attenbar near the island of South Arkne and South Georgia.

Using large networks, scientists caught Zooplankton and brought animals on board.

“We worked in full darkness under the red light so that we do not interfere,” says D -Frer.

“Others worked in rooms stored in 3-4 ° C. You wear a great protection to stay there for hours at a time looking down the microscope,” she adds.

But the warming of wit as well as the commercial cleaning of the wing can threaten the future Zooplankton.

“Climate change, oceanic violations and extreme weather are all threats,” Professor Atkinson explains.

This can reduce the amount of zaplankton in Antarctica and limit the carbon stored in the deep ocean.

Krill Fisheries Company collected nearly half a million wing in 2020, According to the UN.

It is allowed in accordance with international law, but it is criticized by environmental companies, including in David Attenbar’s recent documentary.

Scientists say their new conclusions should be included in the climatic models that predict how much our planet will warm up.

“If this biological pump did not exist, the atmospheric CO2 level would be about twice as much as they are, as in the moment. Thus, the oceans do a pretty good work to expose CO2 and get rid of it,” explains the co-author.

The study is published in the Limnology and Oceanography.