This might look like any ordinary patch of underwater seaweed, but it’s not. It is what experts say is a patch of maerl, a rare and ancient type of seaweed and they have just discovered an enormous amount of it just off the coast of the UK. Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.
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00:00This might look like any ordinary patch of underwater seaweed, but it's not.
00:04This is what experts say is a patch of marl, a rare and ancient type of seaweed,
00:09and they have just discovered an enormous amount of it just off the coast of the UK.
00:13According to experts, the patch is larger than 900 football fields,
00:17and they believe it's been there for more than 4,000 years.
00:20So why is it important?
00:21Well, marl is extremely good at taking in carbon.
00:24Experts estimate it can store some 841 metric tons of CO2 every year.
00:29That's the equivalent of the amount of CO2 released by around 4 million miles driven by cars.
00:34And the researchers say seaweed forests like this one could be key in tackling climate change,
00:39though better understanding their resilience to it is also of great import.
00:43They say that while cultivating seabed marl growths could be a natural way to help
00:47sequester more carbon from the atmosphere,
00:49they're not yet sure if the organism can survive in warmer, less salty, acidified oceans.
00:54Previous studies have found that lower oceanic pH may alter the way seaweed grows
00:58and how it undergoes photosynthesis.
01:00Though many believe that seaweed farms might be a big part of the solution
01:04to our planet's CO2 problem.