Poll of the Day > If the ocean absorbs CO2, and sea levels are rising

(+) Yeah! (+)

Surely thatll slow the effect of the sea levels rising due to CO2 in the atmosphere?

But would they still keep rising because of the presence of other gases causing the greenhouse effect?

Or is the rate of absorption of CO2 by the oceans not as high as the rate of sea level rise so wouldnt make any impact?

Not trying to be a smartass genuinely wondering
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Consider the math. It's primarily the surface of the ocean that absorbs CO2 (photosynthetic algae need the sun, plus atmospheric CO2 just doesn't go that deep). At present, ~70% of the earth's surface is covered by ocean, leaving ~30% as land. To increase the ocean's CO2 absorption capacity by, say, 20%, that split would change to 84/16, meaning we'd have lost almost half of our land in exchange for that increase.

Will rising sea levels increase the ocean's ability to store CO2? Probably, presuming that all of the new ocean surface is suitable for algal growth (the exact ecology gets more complicated than that, but this'll work as a simplification). That's not really something we can rely on, though, because by the time that makes a difference, most of the land we care about would be underwater.

If the oceans absorb enough CO2, they'll get bubbly like a Pepsi.
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Well the ocean is rising inches at a time, and it's miles deep, so the mass is relatively the same. It's surface area will also be roughly the same. I'd say that idea... Holds no water.
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