Global Warming
Implications for the Ocean
Recently, a sign of climate change was seen in Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence. There was not enough ice to provide necessary habitat for thousands of baby harp seals, and nearly 100% of all pups born this year drowned. In Tasmania over the past 50 years, 20-80% of the east coast kelp forests have disappeared as they're surrounded by warmer, nutrient-poor waters. Scientists recently predicted that Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the only biological structure that can be seen by the naked eye from space, will be virtually dead within 30 years. As mentioned earlier, Arctic polar bears are facing extinction due to dramatic reductions of Arctic ice, a problem that will also threaten all Arctic wildlife. These terrible events, as they say, are merely the tip of the iceberg.
Bigger, more terrifying events are taking place. For example, corals are already under serious threat right now due to “bleaching” due to the seas growing warmer. A coral is a living animal, 80% of its energy is generated by photosynthesis via tiny algae within its body known as zoozanthellae. If environmental conditions change, the coral's defense is to expel the algae, which results in death of the coral. But this is not the only "hot water" corals face.
Global warming may also impact ocean life and life on earth by altering the ocean's circulatory patterns and the flow of surface currents and local areas of upwelling and downwelling, which can affect nutrient and oxygen delivery over large areas. As Arctic ice melts, it dilutes the deep nutrient-rich ocean currents that move throughout the Atlantic and reduces their ability to sink, a process necessary for the normal circular path of these deep currents which transfers 85% of the world's heat around the world. If melting continues at an alarming rate, the Atlantic Ocean's ability to maintain the weather as we know it might collapse. Giant storms, breeding in unstable conditions, could grow in intensity and numbers as they pummel the coastlines of Northern Europe and North America.
Scripps Researchers Find Clear Evidence of Human-Produced Warming in World's Oceans - Climate warming likely to impact water resources in regions around the globe
Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and their colleagues have produced the first clear evidence of human-produced warming in the world's oceans, a finding they say removes much of the uncertainty associated with global warming.
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Human Impact on Climate Change
Whether or not the planet is warming at accelerated rates, likely caused by human activity, is no longer a topic of debate. The data can no longer be disputed.
The terms "global warming" and "climate change" are used interchangeably. However, "global warming" implies the warming of our planet due to a direct human influence while "climate change" is more accurately used to describe changes in climate due to natural fluctuations, such as the processes that produced the Ice Ages.
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The scientific evidence in support of global warming continues to mount and the media is increasingly highlighting the topic to inform us of the very real dangers involved in global warming. Common media images include polar bears that are no longer able to find enough ice to survive and often drown in search of food. Glaciers in the Arctic and Greenland are breaking apart at unprecedented speed, causing sea levels to rise. The ocean's temperature is rising; as a result, we are witnessing marine species forced to migrate from habitats they have lived in for at least thousands of years in search of more hospitable areas.
Recently, some island nations and communities have actually begun evacuation procedures as rising seas flood their homes and land. Rising sea levels caused by the expansion of sea water as it warms and the melting of glaciers has caused a one mm increase in sea level, which translates to a shoreline retreat of about 1.5 m. This has been seen in the U.S. along the Atlantic Coast where erosion has narrowed beaches and washed out houses. In other countries, such as the Tuvalu Islands in the Pacific, communities are planning their moves as their homelands are slowly submerged. Other currently threatened nations include the Cook and the Marshall Islands, where one island (Majuro) has lost up to 20% of its beachfront already.
Scientists have recently discovered that the basic chemistry of the ocean is being altered by excess carbon dioxide absorption, which threatens marine organisms by increasing acidification. Acidification is caused by a reaction between CO2 and H2O, which forms carbonic acid (H2CO3). Carbonic acid increases the acidity of ocean waters by lowering the pH which inhibits the reaction organisms (e.g., coccolithophores - one of the most abundant phytoplankton in the ocean, corals, foraminifera, echinoderms, crustaceans, and some mollusks, especially pteropods) use to secrete skeletal structures and shells made of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). With increasing acidity, every marine species that constructs skeletons and shells of CaCO3 will find it more difficult to survive in the future. The impact of such a widespread decline in shell-producing marine organisms could be disastrous for nearly all ocean ecosystems. Increasing acidity will also undoubtedly affect numerous reproductive and/or physiological processes in other marine species with unknown consequences.Scientists Launch First Buoy To Monitor Ocean Acidification, Exchange Of Carbon Dioxide, Oxygen And Nitrogen Gas -
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Global Warming News
Urban CO2 domes increase deaths, poke hole in cap-and-trade proposal
In the first study ever done on the local health effects of the domes of carbon dioxide that develop above cities, researchers found that the domes increase the local death rate. The result provides a scientific basis for regulating CO2 emissions at the local level and points out a significant oversight in the carbon dioxide "cap-and-trade" proposal that was passed by the House of Representatives in June 2009.
Earlier butterfly emergence linked to climate change
Butterflies are emerging in spring over 10 days earlier than they did 65 years ago, a shift that has been linked to regional human-induced climate change in an Australian-led study. The work reveals a causal link between increasing greenhouse gases, regional warming and the change in timing of a natural event.
High Arctic species on thin ice
A new assessment of the Arctic's biodiversity reports a 26 percent decline in species populations in the high Arctic.
Prescribed burns may help reduce US carbon footprint
The use of prescribed burns to manage Western forests may help the United States reduce its carbon footprint. A new study finds that such burns, often used by forest managers to reduce underbrush and protect bigger trees, release substantially less carbon dioxide emissions than wildfires of the same size.
China and India: Neighbors need to collaborate for sake of global environment
With large and growing economies and populations, China and India will strongly influence the quality of the global environment for years to come. While their political relationship is strained, it's critical the two countries work together to slow global warming, deforestation, water shortages and other environmental issues, say scientists.
Rapid increases in tree growth found in US
Rapid increases in tree growth in the US, slower tree growth in the tropics, new ideas about biodiversity, new methods for monitoring forest carbon stocks: These are among the mid-term results from the HSBC Climate Partnership.
Surprise Shrimp Under Antarctic Ice
At a depth of 600 feet beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet, a small shrimp-like creature managed to brighten up an otherwise gray polar day.
Southern Ocean winds open window to the deep sea
Scientists have discovered how changes in winds blowing on the Southern Ocean drive variations in the depth of the surface layer of sea water responsible for regulating exchanges of heat and carbon dioxide between the ocean and the atmosphere.
Chemicals that eased one environmental problem may worsen another
Chemicals that helped solve a global environmental crisis in the 1990s -- the hole in Earth's protective ozone layer -- may be making another problem -- acid rain -- worse, scientists are reporting. A new study analyzes the effect of chemicals that replaced the ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons once used in aerosol spray cans, air conditioners, refrigerators, and other products.
Protected forest areas may be critical strategy for slowing climate change
A new study states that forest protection offers one of the most effective, practical, and immediate strategies to combat climate change. The study makes specific recommendations for incorporating protected areas into overall strategies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses from deforestation and degradation (nicknamed REDD).
Fossil of early terrestrial amphibian discovered
Researchers have described a new carnivorous amphibian from western Pennsylvania. The 300-million-year-old remarkably preserved fossil is one of few amphibians displaying evidence of a land-based life history so early in time. The rocks where Fedexia was found are nearly 20 million years older than those of its fossil relatives, suggesting that the group's expansion occurred much earlier than previously thought.
Carbon emissions 'outsourced' to developing countries
Scientists report that over a third of carbon dioxide emissions associated with consumption of goods and services in many developed countries are actually emitted outside their borders. The study finds that, per person, about 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide are consumed in the US but produced somewhere else. For Europeans, the figure can exceed four tons per person. Most of these emissions are outsourced to developing countries, especially China.
Prehistoric response to global warming informs human planning today
Since 2004, University at Buffalo anthropologist Ezra Zubrow has worked intensively with teams of scientists in the Arctic regions of St. James Bay, Quebec, northern Finland and Kamchatka to understand how humans living 4,000 to 6,000 years ago reacted to climate changes.
More maize ethanol may boost greenhouse gas emissions
Mandated increases in the production of maize-derived ethanol will lead to land-use changes that boost carbon dioxide emissions enough to make the fuel a worse environmental option than burning gasoline, according to a new analysis.
Aquatic 'dead zones' contributing to climate change
The increased frequency and intensity of oxygen-deprived "dead zones" along the world's coasts can negatively impact environmental conditions in far more than local waters. Scientists explain that the increased amount of nitrous oxide produced in hypoxic waters can elevate concentrations in the atmosphere, further exacerbating the impacts of global warming and contributing to ozone "holes" that increase our exposure to harmful UV radiation.
Impacts of changing climate on ocean biology
A three-year field program now underway is measuring carbon distributions and primary productivity in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean to help scientists worldwide determine the impacts of a changing climate on ocean biology and biogeochemistry.
Predicting future climate: Networking initiative to support interdisciplinary research
Specialists from various Earth system science disciplines recently gathered to address a major question: what will our environment look like in the future? Of course, possible answers to this question raise even more questions. For instance, if changing climatic conditions were to alter local vegetation, how would this new landscape react to future climatic trends? Answering these questions with certainty would allow us to manage better our natural resources by defining appropriate planning and mitigation actions.
Ever-changing Earth: How the atmosphere can affect planet's shape, rotation, gravitational field
Researchers in Austria are investigating the effects of the Earth's atmosphere on our planet's shape, its rotation and its gravitational field. The researchers' aim is to develop a better understanding of the Earth's system and to support the development of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS).
Learning from nature: Scientists break down carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide using visible light
A recent discovery in understanding how to chemically break down the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into a useful form opens the doors for scientists to wonder what organism is out there -- or could be created -- to accomplish the task. Scientists have figured out a way to efficiently turn carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide using visible light, like sunlight.
Increased solar radiation requires additional CO2 reduction of 50 million tonnes, analysis finds
The recently observed reduction in air pollution implies that more solar radiation reaches Earth’s surface. This could lead to a far more rapid increase in Earth’s temperature in the coming decades than has previously been expected. In order to successfully combat global warming, it is crucial that scientists incorporate increases in CO2 emissions reductions as well as reductions in air pollution in the calculations, according to a new analysis based on unique solar radiation data collected from weather stations between 1959 and 2002.
