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Coastal sea change

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2013Environmentanthropogenic factors, atmosphere, balance, carbon cycling, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide sink, ceoe, climate change, coastal ocean functions, coastal sea change, global models, global warming, greenhouse gas, industrial age, industrial revolution, james bauer, ocean acidification, peter a raymond, sink, source, thomas s bianchi, variables, wei jun cai, yale university

UD oceanographer reports on human-caused changes to carbon cycling

Carbon dioxide pumped into the air since the Industrial Revolution appears to have changed the way the coastal ocean functions, according to a new analysis published this week in Nature.

A comprehensive review of research on carbon cycling in rivers, estuaries and continental shelves suggests that collectively this coastal zone now takes in more carbon dioxide than it releases. The shift could impact global models of carbon’s flow through the environment and future predictions related to climate change. (more…)

Arctic study shows key marine food web species at risk from increasing CO2

By Guest PostDecember 10, 2013Environmentarctic marine life, arctic ocean, arctic regions, arctic study, atmosphere, carbon dioxide, catlin arctic survey, ceri lewis, changing climatic, copepods, crustaceans, helen findlay, increasing co2, marine food web, novel data, ocean acidity, oceanic conditions, pnas, range of ph, risk, university of exeter

A research expedition to the Arctic, as part of the Catlin Arctic Survey, has revealed that tiny crustaceans, known as copepods, that live just beneath the ocean surface are likely to battle for survival if ocean acidity continues to rise.

The study found that copepods that move large distances, migrating vertically across a wide range of pH conditions, have a better chance of surviving.

The increasing level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is changing ocean chemistry leading to seawater moving down the pH scale towards acidity. Some areas of the Arctic Ocean are already experiencing the fastest rates of acidification on the planet and, combined with sea-ice loss and warming temperatures, the impacts of climate change are likely to hit Arctic marine life first. (more…)

NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Obtains Best Views of Saturn Hexagon

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2013Scienceandrew ingersoll, antarctic ozone hole, atmosphere, ball of gas, best views, cassini spacecraft, cloud structures, earth, european space agency, hampton university, hexagon boundary, hurricane, ice caps, italian space agency, kunio sayanagi, motion, NASA, north pole, ozone destroying chemical, rotating storm, saturn, saturn hexagon, saturn summer, scott edgington, solar system, the hexagon, types of particles, virginia, weather patterns

Embedded video from
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has obtained the highest-resolution movie yet of a unique six-sided jet stream, known as the hexagon, around Saturn’s north pole. (more…)

Study: Greenhouse gas might have warmed early Mars enough to allow liquid water

By Guest PostDecember 3, 2013Scienceastronomer, atmosphere, carbon dioxide, computer climate model, computer models, early mars, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gas, hydrogen, james kasting, liquid water, michael e zugger, mystery, pennsylvania state university, ramses ramirez, ravi kopparapu, sunlight, surface of mars, temperature, tyler robinson, university of washington

The mystery of how the surface of Mars, long dead and dry, could have flowed with water billions of years ago may have been solved by research that included a University of Washington astronomer.

There is evidence that Mars had water at its surface 3.8 billion years ago or before, but scientists are divided on how that might have happened, especially since the sun was about 30 percent fainter back then, thus less able to melt water ice on Mars. (more…)

Carbon hotspots: Rivers and streams leak more CO2 than thought

By Guest PostNovember 22, 2013EnvironmentAmazon, annual rainfall, atmosphere, carbon budget, carbon dioxide, carbon hotspots, central america, CO2, co2 evasion rate, concentration of co2, david butman, ecosystem, field data, flux of co2, global carbon cycle, global dataset, global resource, human activity, hydrochemical database, jens hartmann, percentage of emission, peter a raymond, southeast asia, university of hamburg

The amount of carbon dioxide escaping from rivers and streams into the atmosphere is much larger than previously thought, according to a new study that maps for the first time the flux of CO₂ from inland waters worldwide. Published in the journal Nature, the research reveals the major role these waterways play in the global carbon cycle, the authors said.

“This study solidifies the significance of inland waters as conduits of exchange and provides a framework for inclusion of this exchange in regional and global studies,” said lead author Peter A. Raymond, a professor of ecosystem ecology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES). “Understanding how ecosystems exchange carbon is important, as they currently offset a significant percentage of emissions caused by human activity.” (more…)

Redwood trees reveal history of West Coast rain, fog, ocean conditions

By Guest PostNovember 3, 2013Environmentatmosphere, climate change, coastal redwoods, coastline, dendrochronology, earth, fog, foggy surrounding, historic fires, human caused, jim johnstone, john roden, molecules, natural variability cycles, northern california, ocean condition, oxygen, reconstructing historic climate, redwood trees, redwoods lifetime, southern oregon university, todd dawson, university of california, university of washington, west coast rain

Many people use tree ring records to see into the past. But redwoods – the iconic trees that are the world’s tallest living things – have so far proven too erratic in their growth patterns to help with reconstructing historic climate.

A University of Washington researcher has developed a way to use the trees as a window into coastal conditions, using oxygen and carbon atoms in the wood to detect fog and rainfall in previous seasons. (more…)

Watching Earth’s Winds, On a Shoestring

By Guest PostOctober 30, 2013Scienceatmosphere, climate, earth, earth science mission, el niño, ernesto rodríguez, european ascat scatterometer, hazard for populations, hurricane, interaction, international space station, iss rapidscat, low energy microwave, michael suffredini, microwave energy, NASA, ocean, rapid scatterometer, scatterometer satellite mission, seasat satellite, simon collins, sun synchronous orbit, tropical cyclone

Built with spare parts and without a moment to spare, the International Space Station (ISS)-RapidScat isn’t your average NASA Earth science mission.

Short for Rapid Scatterometer, ISS-RapidScat will monitor ocean winds from the vantage point of the space station . It will join a handful of other satellite scatterometer missions that make essential measurements used to support weather and marine forecasting, including the tracking of storms and hurricanes. It will also help improve our understanding of how interactions between Earth’s ocean and atmosphere influence our climate. (more…)

Stronger winds explain puzzling growth of sea ice in Antarctica

By Guest PostOctober 9, 2013Environmentantarctic sea ice, Antarctica, atmosphere, axel schweiger, dynamic change, global climate models, jinlun zhang, model experiment, modeling study, natural cycle, ozone depletion, puzzling growth, sea ice, south pole, southern hemisphere, Southern Ocean, stronger winds, thick ice, university of washington, variability, warming climate

Much attention is paid to melting sea ice in the Arctic. But less clear is the situation on the other side of the planet. Despite warmer air and oceans, there’s more sea ice in Antarctica now than in the 1970s – a fact often pounced on by global warming skeptics. The latest numbers suggest the Antarctic sea ice may be heading toward a record high this year.

While changes in weather may play a big role in short-term changes in sea ice seen in the past couple of months, changes in winds have apparently led to the more general upward sea ice trend during the past few decades, according to University of Washington research. A new modeling study to be published in the Journal of Climate shows that stronger polar winds lead to an increase in Antarctic sea ice, even in a warming climate. (more…)

Tag Archives: atmosphere