An iceberg broken off from a melting glacier floats in Lake Argentino, which holds runoff water from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the third largest ice field in the world. A new study indicates icebergs may hold a key role in carbon trapping in the ocean. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

When icebergs enter the global warming debate, it's usually related to their melting — and resulting contribution to global sea-level rise. But a new study sheds light on another key climatic function of these giant structures.

Researchers from the University of Sheffield's Department of Geography examined 175 colored satellite images of phytoplankton on the ocean's surface. The images, collected from 2003 to 2013, showed that vast amounts of nutrients — over areas 4 to 10 times the icebergs' length — were released into the ocean surrounding icebergs. These phytoplankton positively contribute to carbon storage, lessening the impact of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Here's how: When phytoplanktonreleases into the ocean, the organisms, similar to plants on land, trap and store carbon dioxide as fuel. “When the phytoplankton dies, it sinks to the ocean floor, locking away the carbon it ... absorbed,” .

This discovery could have ramifications for climate change models, the researchers said.

"If giant iceberg calving increases this century as expected, this negative feedback on the carbon cycle [in the southern ocean] may become more important than we previously thought,” investigator , Ph.D., said in a press release. However, previous smaller studies have found the iceberg-driven impact on the carbon cycle to be relatively small.

In August 2015, glacier calving when a chunk large enough to “cover the whole of Manhattan Island by a layer of ice [nearly 1,000 feet] thick” broke away from a Greenland glacier. As ice loss on this scale is projected to continue, further study will be needed to understand the giant icebergs' role in carbon trapping.

The paper, “Enhanced Southern Ocean marine productivity due to fertilization by giant icebergs,” was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

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