Tag Archives: atmospheric carbon dioxide

Newly discovered ocean plume could be major source of iron

By Guest PostAugust 20, 2013Environmentabigail noble, atmospheric carbon dioxide, brazil, carbon cycle, carl lamborg, chad hammerschmidt, climate, cloud of nutrients, coffee mug, earth crust, fissure, growth of phytoplankton, gyre, helium, hydrothermal vents, iron flux, mak saito, mantle, mid atlantic ridge, mid atlantic vents, namibia, ocean plume, pacific ocean, rv knorr, seawater samples, source of iron, south atlantic ocean, tyler goepfert, uk, university of liverpool, whoi researchers

Study reveals micronutrient riches rising from the Southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Scientists have discovered a vast plume of iron and other micronutrients more than 1,000 km long billowing from hydrothermal vents in the South Atlantic Ocean. The finding, soon to be published in the journal Nature Geoscience, calls past estimates of iron abundances into question, and may challenge researchers’ assumptions about iron sources in the world’s seas.

“This study and other studies like it are going to force the scientific community to reevaluate how much iron is really being contributed by hydrothermal vents and to increase those estimates, and that has implications for not only iron geochemistry but a number of other disciplines as well,” says Mak Saito, a WHOI associate scientist and lead author of the study. (more…)

Testing Artificial Photosynthesis

By Guest PostJuly 3, 2013Scienceanode, artificial photosynthesis, atmospheric carbon dioxide, berkeley lab, caltech, camilo diaz botia, cathode, charge carriers, diesel, earth abundant elements, energy conversion, fossil fuel energy, gasoline, h2, hydrocarbon, hydrogen, jcap, jcap north, jcap south, joel ager, mean concentration, membrane cap, micro scale, microfluidic test bed, miguel modestino, o2, optimization, rachel segalman, rafael gomez sjoberg, sophia haussener

Berkeley Lab Researchers Develop Fully Integrated Microfluidic Test-bed for Solar-driven Electrochemical Energy Conversion Systems

With the daily mean concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide having reached 400 parts-per-million for the first time in human history, the need for carbon-neutral alternatives to fossil fuel energy has never been more compelling. With enough energy in one hour’s worth of global sunlight to meet all human needs for a year, solar technologies are an ideal solution. However, a major challenge is to develop efficient ways to convert solar energy into electrochemical energy on a massive-scale. A key to meeting this challenge may lie in the ability to test such energy conversion schemes on the micro-scale.

Berkeley Lab researchers, working at the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), have developed the first fully integrated microfluidic test-bed for evaluating and optimizing solar-driven electrochemical energy conversion systems. This test-bed system has already been used to study schemes for photovoltaic electrolysis of water, and can be readily adapted to study proposed artificial photosynthesis and fuel cell technologies. (more…)

U-M ecologist: Future Forests May Soak up More Carbon Dioxide than Previously Believed, Helping to Buffer Climate Change

By Guest PostOctober 16, 2011Environmentandrew burton, aspects of biological diversity, atmospheric carbon dioxide, biodiversity, carbon dioxide, climate change, co2 soaked trees, components of an ecosystem, donald zak, ecosystem, ecosystem modelers, experimental forest, experimental forest in rhinelander, fertilizing effect on trees, forage, genetic diversity, ground-level ozone, heat trapping carbon dioxide gas, human caused climate warming, kurt pregitzer, mark kubiske, nitrogen, north american forests, northeastern wisconsin, paper birch, photosynthesis, projected climate warming, rhinelander, simulate atmospheric conditions, smog, soil, sugar maple, trembling aspen, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— North American forests appear to have a greater capacity to soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas than researchers had previously anticipated.

As a result, they could help slow the pace of human-caused climate warming more than most scientists had thought, a U-M ecologist and his colleagues have concluded. (more…)

Bacterial Communication Could Affect Earth’s Climate

By Guest PostOctober 15, 2011Environmentatmospheric carbon dioxide, bacteria, bacterial communication, benjamin van mooy, british columbia, canada, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, clayoquot sound, climate, heat trapping greenhouse gas, laura hmelo, marine plants, microscopic bacteria, ocean, particles, particles of carbon rich detritus, phytoplankton, planet, rose kantor, source of carbon, tiny marine animals, tracy mincer, university of washington, vancouver island, vessel barnes, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution, zooplankton

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists have discovered that bacterial communication could have a significant impact on the planet’s climate.

In the ocean, bacteria coalesce on tiny particles of carbon-rich detritus sinking through the depths. WHOI marine biogeochemists Laura Hmelo, Benjamin Van Mooy, and Tracy Mincer found that these bacteria send out chemical signals to discern if other bacteria are in the neighborhood. If enough of their cohorts are nearby, then bacteria en masse commence secreting enzymes that break up the carbon-containing molecules within the particles into more digestible bits. It has been suggested that coordinated expression of enzymes is very advantageous for bacteria on sinking particles, and Hmelo and her colleagues have uncovered the first proof of this in the ocean. (more…)

UF Study Shows Tundra Fires Could Accelerate Climate Warming

By Guest PostJuly 31, 2011Environmentanaktuvuk river fire, arctic carbon cycle, arctic fires, arctic tundra, atmosphere, atmospheric carbon dioxide, canada, carbon, city of miami, ecologist, ecosystem ecology, global climate, global climate warming, greenhouse gases, michelle mack, Nature, north slope of alaska brooks range, organic matter, permafrost, radiocarbon dating, russia, smoke, soil bound carbon, ted schuur, terry chapin, tundra, university of alaska, university of florida, wildfires

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — After a 10,000-year absence, wildfires have returned to the Arctic tundra, and a University of Florida study shows that their impact could extend far beyond the areas blackened by flames.

In a study published in the July 28 issue of the journal Nature, UF ecologist Michelle Mack and a team of scientists including fellow UF ecologist Ted Schuur quantified the amount of soil-bound carbon released into the atmosphere in the 2007 Anaktuvuk River fire, which covered more than 400 square miles on the North Slope of Alaska’s Brooks Range. The 2.1 million metric tons of carbon released in the fire — roughly twice the amount of greenhouse gases put out by the city of Miami in a year — is significant enough to suggest that Arctic fires could impact the global climate, said Mack, an associate professor of ecosystem ecology in UF’s department of biology. (more…)

Main Culprit of Deadly Russian Heat Wave? Natural Variability

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2011Environmentatmospheric blocking pattern, atmospheric carbon dioxide, atmospheric models, boulder, climate change, climate surprise, computer climate models, concentration, crop failures, daily average temperatures, early summer of 2010, earth system research laboratory, esrl, greenhouse gas concentrations, heat wave, judith perlwitz, martin hoerling, mio matsueda, moscow, munich reinsurance, natural atmospheric phenomenon, randall dole, russia, russian heat wave, signal of a warming climate, summer storms, temperatures, warming hole, weather extremes

WASHINGTON — The deadly Russian heat wave of 2010 was due to a natural atmospheric phenomenon often associated with weather extremes, according to a new study. And while the scientists could not attribute the intensity of this particular heat wave to climate change, they found that extreme heat waves are likely to become increasingly frequent in the region in coming decades.

The research team drew from scientific observations and computer climate models to evaluate the possible roles of natural and human-caused climate influences on the severity of the heat wave. The study has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. (more…)

Tropical Forest Diversity Increased During Ancient Global Warming Event

By Guest PostNovember 18, 20101 commentEnvironment, Nature, Scienceangiosperm pollen, atmospheric carbon dioxide, carlos jaramillo, century, Colombia, eldredge bermingham, global warming, joe wright, outcrops, paleocene-eocene thermal maximum, panama, rainforests, scanning electron microscopy image, taxa, temperature increase, tropical areas, Venezuela

The steamiest places on the planet are getting warmer. Conservative estimates suggest that tropical areas can expect temperature increases of 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. Does global warming spell doom for rainforests? Maybe not. Carlos Jaramillo, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and colleagues report in the journal Science that nearly 60 million years ago rainforests prospered at temperatures that were 3-5 degrees higher and at atmospheric carbon dioxide levels 2.5 times today’s levels.

About the image: This is a scanning electron microscopy image of characteristic angiosperm pollen taxa from the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Image credit: Francy Carvajal, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (more…)

Listen Up: Ocean Acidification Poses Little Threat to Whales’ Hearing

By Guest PostOctober 13, 2010Environmentabsorption, acidic, animals, atmospheric carbon dioxide, boric acid, CO2, decibel, hearing, ilya udovydchenkov, ivan lima, mathematical models, noise levels, ocean, ocean acidification, scott doney, seawater, sound propagation, sound waves, tim duda, whales, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

Contrary to some previous, highly publicized, reports, ocean acidification is not likely to worsen the hearing of whales and other animals, according to a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientist who studies sound propagation in the ocean. (more…)