Researchers hope to learn more about carbon levels on ocean surface with $2M investment

May 30 (UPI) -- Federal agencies will invest $2.1 million to measure carbon on the ocean's surface, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday.

The funding is expected to improve scientists' ability to forecast carbon dioxide levels on the ocean's surface and the surrounding atmosphere.

The administration said the investment will help NOAA conduct research it wouldn't otherwise be able to do. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the investment will help America continue to lead the way on climate change research as it relates to carbon levels on the ocean's surface.

"Monitoring changes in surface ocean and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is key to understanding the impact of human-caused emissions on climate change and ocean health," read a statement from NOAA . "The ocean naturally absorbs approximately a quarter of carbon dioxide released by fossil fuel burning and other human activities."

The money will be used to deploy CO2 sensors in climate-critical regions, part of a worldwide network of automated atmospheric and surface ocean CO2 concentration measurements.

NOAA said tracking carbon on the ocean's surface is part of the effort to understand the effects of greenhouse gasses, as well as to be able to track the effects of carbon on international ocean health. That will enable scientists to measure things such as ocean acidification, which can help researchers better manage fisheries and ecosystems.

The administration said the measurements also will be used to estimate the amount of atmospheric CO2 that is absorbed by the ocean.

"Increased data will improve the accuracy of climate forecasting tools," NOAA added.

Recent research from NASA shows that fossil fuel emissions continue to rise and are having a dramatic effect on temperatures, including on the ocean's surface.

A recent assessment by scientists found the rise in emissions from the burning of oil, coal, and natural gas burning is impeding progress to limit global warming.

In the assessment, scientists quantify how much carbon was added to the atmosphere and how much was removed and stored on land and in the ocean.

"Though the land and ocean are both carbon sinks -- which means they store more carbon than they emit by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere -- they can be sources at certain times and places," the scientists reported in the assessment. Data from 2023 show that emissions from fossil fuels rose 1.1 percent in 2023 compared to 2022 levels, bringing fossil emissions in 2023 to 36.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide.