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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…)

Tracking Sediments’ Fate in Largest-Ever Dam Removal

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2013Environmentaerial photos, andrea ogston, beautiful plume, charles nittrouer, chemicals, dam removal, dam removal project, elwha dam, elwha river, elwha river mouth, flow downstream, geologic deposits, geologic event, glines canyon dam, global carbon cycle, juan de fuca, marine geologists, national science foundation, ocean, ocean floor, ocean water, olympic coast, pesticides, port angeles, salmon, sediments fate, strait, university of washington, washington sea grant, water treatment plant

Salmon are beginning to swim up the Elwha River for the first time in more than a century. But University of Washington marine geologists are watching what’s beginning to flow downstream — sediments from the largest dam-removal project ever undertaken.

The 108-foot Elwha Dam was built in 1910, and after decades of debate it was finally dismantled last year. Roughly a third of the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam still stands, holding back a mountain of silt, sand and gravel. (more…)

Scientists Discover New Trigger for Immense North Atlantic Ocean Spring Plankton Bloom

By Guest PostJuly 7, 2012Environmentadam huxtable, amala mahadevan, atlantic ocean, biological pump, bjarni saemundsson, carbon dioxide, climate, climate on earth, CO2, craig lee, diatoms, don rice, eddies, emily kallin, eric d asaro, fossil fuel, global carbon cycle, holiday fireworks, mary jane perry, michael ohmart, microscopic plants, modulate, north atlantic bloom, not sunlight, nsf, ocean physics, oceanic cycling, oxygen, photosynthesis, physical biological model, phytoplankton, research vessel, silica, sun, surface warming, university of maine, university of washington, us beachgoers, whirlpools, whoi, zooplankton

Ocean eddies help jump-start plankton blooms that spread across hundreds of square miles

On this July 4^th week, U.S. beachgoers are thronging their way to seaside resorts and parks to celebrate with holiday fireworks. But across the horizon and miles out to sea toward the north, the Atlantic Ocean’s own spring and summer ritual unfolds. It entails the blooming of countless microscopic plants, or phytoplankton.

In what’s known as the North Atlantic Bloom, an immense number of phytoplankton burst into existence, first “greening,” then “whitening” the sea as one or more species take the place of others.

What turns on this huge bloom, what starts these ocean fireworks? Is it the Sun’s warmth? (more…)

Long-Term Carbon Storage in Ganges Basin May Portend Global Warming Worsening

By Guest PostNovember 9, 2011Environment4 degree c warming, atmosphere, Bangladesh, basin, brahmaputra river, carbon, carbon residence time, climate projections, CO2, co2 release into the atmosphere, earth, environmental changes, ganges brahmaputra system, ganges system, gangetic floodplain, global carbon cycle, global warming, himalayan range, himalayas, indian ocean, intergovernmental panel on climate change, ipcc, kali gandaki river, low latitude, monsoon floods, nature geoscience, nepal, ocean, organic carbon, pool of carbon, radiocarbon content of river sediments, rates of physical erosion and sediment transport, sediments of the ganges brahmaputra basin, soils, sources of terrestrial biospheric carbon, southern flank of the himalayas, summer monsoon, timothy eglinton, tropical system, valier galy, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists have found that carbon is stored in the soils and sediments of the Ganges-Brahmaputra basin for a surprisingly long time, making it likely that global warming could destabilize the pool of carbon there and in similar places on Earth, potentially increasing the rate of CO₂ release into the atmosphere.

The study, published in the current online edition of Nature Geoscience, examined the radiocarbon content of river sediments collected from the Ganges-Brahmaputra system draining the Himalayas. The basin, the scientists say, “represents one of the largest sources of terrestrial biospheric carbon to the ocean.” (more…)

Identical Virus, Host Populations Can Prevail for Centuries, WHOI Researcher Reports

By Guest PostJuly 23, 2011Environmentalgae ecosystems, algal host cells, ancient plankton dna signatures, andrew w mellon foundation, atmosphere, benjamin van mooy, black sea, calcium carbonate shell, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, climate, CO2, coccolithovirus, e huxleyi, ecological significance of viruses, emiliania huxleyi, fresh water, genetic populations of a virus, geological records, global carbon cycle, greenhouse emissions, marco coolen, marine algae, microbial ecologists, microscopic analysis, ocean, photosynthesis, phytoplankton, sediments, viral host dynamics in the ocean, viral pathogens, viruses, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

A Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientist, analyzing ancient plankton DNA signatures in sediments of the Black Sea, has found for the first time that the same genetic populations of a virus and its algal host can persist and coexist for centuries. The findings have implications for the ecological significance of viruses in shaping algae ecosystems in the ocean, and perhaps fresh water as well.

“The finding that the DNA of viruses and algal host cells can be preserved in the geological records is of great interest to microbial ecologists,” said Marco Coolen of WHOI’s Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry department and author of the study, which appears in the July 22 issue of Science. “This offers unprecedented insights into long-term algal, viral, and host population dynamics between globally important algae and their viral pathogens in the ocean.” (more…)

War, Plague No Match for Deforestation in Driving CO2 Buildup

By Guest PostJanuary 22, 2011Environmentagriculture, Antarctica, atmosphere, black death, black death in europe, burning of coal and oil, carbon dioxide, China, conquest of the americas, deforestation, demand for gasoline, earth, Environment, fall of the ming dynasty, forests, genghis khan, global carbon budget, global carbon cycle, greenland, human impact on climate, industrial era, julia pongratz, ken caldeira, mongol hordes, mongol invasions in asia, vegetation cover

Stanford, CA — Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes had an impact on the global carbon cycle as big as today’s annual demand for gasoline. The Black Death, on the other hand, came and went too quickly for it to cause much of a blip in the global carbon budget. Dwarfing both of these events, however, has been the historical trend towards increasing deforestation, which over centuries has released vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as crop and pasture lands expanded to feed growing human populations. Even Genghis Kahn couldn’t stop it for long. (more…)

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