A thin layer at the ocean surface called the “ocean skin” increases CO₂ uptake by about 7%. That’s equivalent to the CO₂ absorbed by the entire Amazon rainforest each year.

In our recent journal paper in Nature Geoscience, we show that a thin layer at the ocean surface called the “ocean skin”, a layer thinner than a human hair, increases this ocean CO₂ uptake by about 7%. That sounds like a small difference, but this additional uptake is equivalent to the CO₂ absorbed by the entire Amazon rainforest each year.

As the need to reduce emissions and meet reduction targets ramps up, insights about how the ocean skin works will help scientists understand how the ocean will respond to our emissions.