The Southern Ocean is still swallowing large amounts of humans’ carbon dioxide emissions
Aircraft data counter ocean float studies suggesting the ocean stores less CO2 than thought
![image of sea ice in the Southern Ocean taken from the window of an airplane](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/120221_CG_southern-ocean_feat.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
Equipped with sensors to measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, this airplane winged across sea ice in the Southern Ocean (shown) during a 2016 field campaign to measure how much gas the waters were emitting.
Rebecca Hornbrook/NCAR