A study conducted by a team of international scientists has revealed that carbon dioxide growth hit a record high in 2023, driven largely by an inability for vegetation and land to absorb as much as it used to.

According to the study, which was published on July 17, forests, plants, and other "land and ocean sinks" absorbed nearly no carbon in 2023.

"This result is alarming as temperatures continue to keep very high values in 2024," the report reads. "It is too early to conclude on a durable collapse of the land sink in the aftermath of 2023."

Of particular note are the disruptions created by the melting of glaciers and ice sheets, which, by way of changing zooplankton vertical migration patterns, could cause the collapse of ocean-based carbon sinks.

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"The models project that, in about three decades, the total time spent by zooplankton in the under-ice habitat could be reduced by up to one month, depending on geographic region," an August 2023 study published in Nature Climate Change says.

"This will impact zooplankton winter survival, the Arctic food web, and carbon and nutrient fluxes."

"We're seeing cracks in the resilience of the Earth’s systems," Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, was cited by The Guardian as saying.

"We're seeing massive cracks on land – terrestrial ecosystems are losing their carbon store and carbon uptake capacity, but the oceans are also showing signs of instability."

It is believed that the ability of natural land sinks to absorb carbon dioxide has been stymied by natural disasters such as wildfires and increases in extreme weather.

Scientists are warning that this discovery, if continued, could spell severe impacts on global ecosystems and is a significant worsening of climate change.

"If very high warming rates continue in the next decade and negatively impact the land sink as they did in 2023, it calls for urgent action to enhance carbon sequestration and reduce greenhouse gasses emissions to net-zero," the carbon sink research paper stated.