Tag Archives: carbon dioxide

New Study by WHOI Scientists Provides Baseline Measurements of Carbon in Arctic Ocean

By Guest PostMay 21, 2012Environmentalaska, arctic ocean, biogeosciences, canada basin, canadian coast guard, carbon, carbon 13, carbon atoms, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, CO2, david griffith, fiona mclaughlin, global climate, icebreaker, li xu, marine ecosystem, organic carbon, pacific, pathway, robie macdonald, sea ice melt, Siberia, temperatures, whoi

Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have conducted a new study to measure levels of carbon at various depths in the Arctic Ocean. The study, recently published in the journal Biogeosciences, provides data that will help researchers better understand the Arctic Ocean’s carbon cycle—the pathway through which carbon enters and is used by the marine ecosystem. It will also offer an important point of reference for determining how those levels of carbon change over time, and how the ecosystem responds to rising global temperatures.

“Carbon is the currency of life. Where carbon is coming from, which organisms are using it, how they’re giving off carbon themselves—these things say a lot about how an ocean ecosystem works,” says David Griffith, the lead author on the study. “If warming temperatures perturb the Arctic Ocean, the way that carbon cycles through that system may change.” (more…)

A NASA Weather ‘Eye in the Sky’ Marks 10 Years

By Guest PostMay 7, 2012Environment, Scienceairs, amsu a, atmosphere, atmospheric infrared sounder, bae systems, boston, carbon dioxide, climate change, climate research, earth, energy cycle, eric fetzer, eye, global water, greenhouse gases, hyperspectral sounding, instrument, jet propulsion laboratory, model, monster, moustafa chahine, NASA, sky, tom pagano, water vapor, weather forecasting, weather satellites

For 10 years, it has silently swooped through space in its orbital perch 438 miles (705 kilometers) above Earth, its nearly 2,400 spectral “eyes” peering into Earth’s atmosphere, watching. But there’s nothing alien about NASA’s Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, or AIRS, instrument, a “monster” of weather and climate research that celebrates its 10th birthday in orbit May 4.

AIRS, built by BAE Systems, Boston, under the direction of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., is one of six instruments flying on NASA’s Aqua spacecraft as part of NASA’s Earth Observing System. AIRS, along with its partner microwave instrument, the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-A), has faithfully measured our planet’s atmospheric temperature, water vapor, clouds and greenhouse gases with unprecedented accuracy and stability. Over the past decade, AIRS and AMSU-A have improved our understanding of Earth’s global water and energy cycles, climate change and trends and how Earth’s climate system is responding to increased greenhouse gases. (more…)

Handful of Heavyweight Trees Per Acre Are Forest Champs

By Guest PostMay 5, 2012Natureandrew larson, biomass, carbon dioxide, dynamic process, fir, incense cedars, james freund, james lutz, little ice age, mark swanson, photosynthesis, plant tissue, sandra hines, sugar, temperate forest, trees, trunk, university of montana, university of washington, washington state university, yosemite national park

Big trees three or more feet in diameter accounted for nearly half the biomass measured at a Yosemite National Park site, yet represented only 1 percent of the trees growing there.

This means just a few towering white fir, sugar pine and incense cedars per acre at the Yosemite site are disproportionately responsible for photosynthesis, converting carbon dioxide into plant tissue and sequestering that carbon in the forest, sometimes for centuries, according to James Lutz, a University of Washington research scientist in environmental and forest sciences. He’s lead author of a paper on the largest quantitative study yet of the importance of big trees in temperate forests being published online May 2 on PLoS ONE. (more…)

Not Your Parents’ Chem Labs

By Guest PostApril 25, 2012Educationacetone, anti-inflammatory, balance, benzene, borneol, carbon dioxide, carbon trachloride, catalyst, chalcone, chemical industry, chemistry, cloves, cookbook chemistry, cylindrical container, deane morrison, density, environmental problem, extract, fluid, general chemistry labs, graduated cylinder, grams per milliliter, greener, hazardous, industry, inorganic chemistry, james wollack, jane wissinger, josh jansen, lindsay nevalainen, liquid, marc hillmyer, michelle driessen, molecule, oil, organic chem, organic molecule, plastic, renewable resources, scale, sodium bromide, solution, solvent, university of minnesota, volume

‘Greener’ and more engaging experiments draw students in

As a college student, Michelle Driessen had an all-too-typical experience.

“I hated general chemistry,” she says. “I thought it was terribly boring.”

She had plenty of company. Experiments were all laid out in advance, and the goal seemed to be to get to a predetermined result without blowing up the glassware.

In the old days, “very few students appreciated the point of most general chemistry labs,” adds Driessen. “With cookbook chemistry, you couldn’t have anything go wrong or deviate [from what’s supposed to happen], but I find those things to be the most interesting part of science.” (more…)

Ocean Acidification Linked With Larval Oyster Failure in Hatcheries

By Guest PostApril 13, 2012Environmentaslo, burke hales, carbon dioxide, chris langdon, co2 level, corrosive, david garrison, fluctuation, george waldbusser, larval mortality, national science foundation, netarts bay, noaa, North America, ocean acidification, ocean water, oregon, oregon state university, osu, oyster, oyster hatchery, oyster production, pacific northwest, pathogenic bacteria, richard feely, seed production, whiskey creek shellfish hatchery

*Increase in ocean acidification led to collapse of oyster seed production at Oregon hatchery*

Marine researchers have definitively linked the collapse of oyster seed production at a commercial oyster hatchery in Oregon to an increase in ocean acidification.

Larval growth at the hatchery declined to a level considered by the owners to be “non-economically viable.”

A study by the scientists found that increased seawater carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels, resulting in more corrosive ocean water, inhibited the larval oysters from developing their shells and growing at a pace that would make commercial production cost-effective. (more…)

Which Plants Will Survive Droughts, Climate Change?

By Guest PostApril 9, 2012Environmentagaves, alahee, cacti, california, carbon dioxide, cell level loss, chaparral shrubs, China, christine scoffoni, climate change, desert plants, drought tolerance, ecosystems, extinction, faith inman narahari, hawaiian drought, lawren sack, megan bartlett, photosynthesis, plant species, psydrax odorata, sandalwood, santalum paniculatum, stiff cell wall, stomata, sunflower, tropical botanical gardens, turgor loss point, turgor pressure, xishuangbanna, yuccas, yunnan

New research by UCLA life scientists could lead to predictions of which plant species will escape extinction from climate change.

Droughts are worsening around the world, posing a great challenge to plants in all ecosystems, said Lawren Sack, a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and senior author of the research. Scientists have debated for more than a century how to predict which species are most vulnerable.

Sack and two members of his laboratory have made a fundamental discovery that resolves this debate and allows for the prediction of how diverse plant species and vegetation types worldwide will tolerate drought, which is critical given the threats posed by climate change, he said. (more…)

UCLA Engineering Researchers Use Electricity to Generate Alternative Fuel

By Guest PostApril 3, 2012Sciencecar, carbon dioxide, carbon source, chemical batteries, chemical energy, CO2, co2 fixation, dark reaction, electric vehicle, electrical energy, electricity, electro bioreactor, hydraulic pumping, hydrogen, isobutanol, james liao, liquid fuel, lithoautotrophic microorganism, photosynthesis, ralstonia eutropha h16, solar panels

Imagine being able to use electricity to power your car — even if it’s not an electric vehicle. Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have for the first time demonstrated a method for converting carbon dioxide into liquid fuel isobutanol using electricity.

Today, electrical energy generated by various methods is still difficult to store efficiently. Chemical batteries, hydraulic pumping and water splitting suffer from low energy-density storage or incompatibility with current transportation infrastructure. (more…)

Mesquite Trees Displacing Southwestern Grasslands

By Guest PostMarch 21, 2012Environment, Natureatmosphere, biochemical pathway, bouteloua eriopoda, carbon dioxide, catalina mountains, changing climate, climate, climate data, desert, ecohydrology, ecosystems, eddy covariance tower, grama grass, grassland, greg barron gafford, groundwater, groundwater pool, mesquite tree, muhlenbergia porter, muhly, photosynthesis, predictions, prosopis velutina, rainfall, root system, san pedro river riparian area, santa rita mountains, seasonal precipitation, southeastern arizona, southwest, southwestern climate, sugars, temperature, university of arizona, warming climate, water resource, woody shrub

Mesquite trees and woody shrubs are better adapted than grasslands to a Southwestern climate predicted to shift toward higher temperatures and greater variability in rainfall, UA ecologists have discovered.

As the desert Southwest becomes hotter and drier, semi-arid grasslands are slowly being replaced by a landscape dominated by mesquite trees, such as Prosopis velutina, and other woody shrubs, a team of University of Arizona researchers has found.

In a “leaf-to-landscape” approach, the team combined physiological experiments on individual plants and measurements across entire ecosystems to quantify how well grasslands, compared to mesquite trees and woody shrubs, cope with heat and water stress across seasonal precipitation periods. (more…)