Earth's natural defences against climate change beginning to fail

Buh-bye!

Earth's natural defences against climate change 'beginning to fail' - Independent Online Edition > Climate Change:

The earth's ability to soak up the gases causing global warming is beginning to fail because of rising temperatures, in a long-feared sign of 'positive feedback,' new research reveals today.

Climate change itself is weakening one of the principal 'sinks' absorbing carbon dioxide - the Southern Ocean around Antarctica - a new study has found.

As a result, atmospheric CO2 levels may rise faster and bring about rising temperatures more quickly than previously anticipated. Stabilizing the CO2 level, which must be done to bring the warming under control, is likely to become much more difficult, even if the world community agrees to do it.