Small marine ecosystems that form around the ice blocks with melted water mixed with sea water, can serve to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and plunging into the ocean, since the algae absorb carbon -releasing oxygen through photosynthesis and then pass the food chain. They become a focal point for small fish, algae and even birds. One of the main consequences of climate change has been the increase in temperature, which has led to multiply the appearance of icebergs in the southern waters, chunks of ice ranging from a few inches square that protrude from the surface to others as large as European countries. To try to assess the influence of the open sea ecosystems of these icebergs, the team of scientists led by Kenneth Lawrence Smith, Marine Research Institute of Monterrey, studied various icebergs adrift in the Weddell Sea and the waters around him. The findings, published this week the journal Science, has surprised the scientific community, because the waters near the icebergs have chlorophyll, krill and seabirds in much greater numbers than the water where no floating ice floes . This trend is visible in waters up to four miles from the icebergs. In the study area the researchers detected 89 icebergs in a roughly similar size, and estimated that about 40% of the surface water had been influenced by the ice that was melting and drifting, so that, according to the authors of the study, these blocks of ice help increase production, capture and storage of organic carbon in these areas, and its effect extends as heating rates and increased production of icebergs.
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