CANBERRA, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Researchers in Australia have released a new ocean carbon cycle model built to help scientists understand how carbon moves through the ocean, a key process for improving climate change predictions.
The model, called WOMBATlite, is a streamlined version of the World Ocean Model of Biogeochemistry and Trophic Dynamics (WOMBAT), which simulates nutrients, plankton, oxygen and carbon in the ocean, according to a statement released Thursday by the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator-National Research Infrastructure.
As the ocean absorbs roughly a quarter of humanity's carbon dioxide emissions each year, understanding the biological and chemical processes that move carbon through the water is essential for predicting the future climate, the statement said.
"We need a carbon cycle model, because climate change is a carbon cycle problem," said Pearse Buchanan, research scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia's national science agency.
"WOMBATlite is designed to integrate the physical, chemical, and biological processes by which carbon enters and exits the ocean," said Buchanan, co-developer of the model. ■
