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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Lucy Sherriff in Los Angeles

The hidden underwater forests that could help tackle the climate crisis

Rays of sunlight penetrate a dense underwater forest of kelp
A kelp forest off Anacapa Island, California. Researchers have found that underwater forests cover an area comparable to the Amazon basin. Photograph: Douglas Klug/Getty Images

Bubbles stream furiously behind Frank Hurd as he gently parts the curtains of giant kelp. Green and gold ribbons reach upwards through the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean towards the sun.

Hurd, a marine biologist with environmental organisation the Nature Conservancy, is diving in a kelp forest off Anacapa Island, one of the protected rocky volcanic islets that form the Channel Islands national park, an archipelago off the coast of southern California.

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