In 2018, researchers from the Norwegian Blue Forests Network carried out a groundbreaking research project to increase the understanding of what happens within the world’s kelp forests when the kelp leaf detaches at the end of the growing season. This research has shown that one of the largest global consumers of kelp, the sea urchin, eats the kelp and converts it to tiny fragments with high dispersal abilities. This is of great global interest as it provides further insights into the role of the world’s kelp forests in the global carbon cycle. The findings of the study, reported in Scientific Reports, published by Nature, show kelp carbon’s potential to spread to other ecosystems, such as the deep sea, and is accumulated there and then becomes a part of the global carbon sink.