Substantial amounts of organic carbon are accumulated and stored in surface sediments of the Norwegian continental margin

To keep the global average temperature rise well below 2°C requires drastic emission reductions and a removal of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere. It has been suggested that part of the CO₂ removal could be achieved by nature itself, if ecosystems that remove substantial amounts of carbon from the atmosphere are protected, managed, or restored. In the marine environment, the focus has so far been placed on coastal ecosystems with rooted vegetation (saltmarshes, mangroves, and seagrass beds), as they sequester carbon at high rates, are threatened by human activities and are amenable to management. Collectively, these are called actionable Blue Carbon ecosystems. More recently, other ecosystems such as marine sediments have been put forward, but these are currently considered emerging Blue Carbon ecosystems, as knowledge gaps do not allow us to decide yet, whether they are actionable or not. To help close some of the existing knowledge gaps we applied machine learning to spatially predict the amount of organic carbon that is stored in sediments of the Norwegian continental margin and the rates at which it is accumulated. We found that Norway has 100 times more organic carbon stored in its surficial (0 – 0.1 m sediment depth) seabed sediments than in its vegetated coastal ecosystems (0 – 1 m sediment depth). Rates of organic carbon accumulation vary spatially and are highest in depressions of the continental shelf that were carved out by glaciers during the last ice age. These so-called glacial troughs are found on the formerly glaciated continental margins of North America, Eurasia, south America, and Antarctica, covering an area ten times larger than that we mapped and might be important places of organic carbon accumulation globally. To improve our estimates of how much carbon accumulates in marine sediments at a global scale will require a) data on organic carbon content, dry bulk density and sediment accumulation rates of sufficient quality and quantity, b) relevant predictor variables of global coverage and sufficient resolution, and c) predictive spatial models that consider the complex nature of continental margins, where centres of organic carbon accumulation and cycling might be found in close proximity to each other. Based on improved global estimates of organic carbon stocks, accumulation rates and the release of CO₂ due to anthropogenic disturbance (demersal fisheries, seafloor cables, offshore wind farms, deep-sea mining etc.) it should be possible to decide whether marine sediments can be considered actionable Blue Carbon ecosystems.