Ocean Acidification in Earth’s Past: Insights to the Future – James Zachos

Presented by James Zachos, Ph.D., University of California at Santa Cruz, at the 2013 Metcalf Institute Annual Public Lecture Series, June 13, 2013. Related Long-term legacy of massive carbon input to the Earthsystem: Anthropocene versus Eocene

Global warming could change strength of El Nino

Via Phys.org September 11, 2013: Global warming could impact the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), altering the cycles of El Niño and La Niña events that bring extreme drought and flooding to Australia and many other Pacific-rim countries. New research published in Nature Geoscience using coral samples from Kiribati has revealed how the ENSO cycle has changed…

Methane hydrate destabilization a potential scenario

Excerpts from an episode of History Channel’s “Mega Disasters” series. This explores the paper published by Northwestern University’s Gregory Ryskin. His thesis: the oceans can produce massive eruptions of explosive methane gas. Methane distribution in the water column: Once released into the water column, methane is distributed by currents and aerobic methane oxidation by bacteria…

Estimating northern polar CH4 flux

A compilation of related science with some commentary. Microbes in thawing permafrost: the unknown variable in the climate change equation David E Graham, Matthew D Wallenstein, Tatiana A Vishnivetskaya, Mark P Waldrop,Tommy J Phelps, Susan M Pfiffner, Tullis C Onstott, Lyle G Whyte, Elizaveta M Rivkina,David A Gilichinsky, Dwayne A Elias, Rachel Mackelprang, Nathan C…

World ocean heat content and thermosteric sea level change (0 – 2000 m), 1955 – 2010

S. Levitus, J. I. Antonov, T. P. Boyer,O. K. Baranova,H. E. Garcia,R. A. Locarnini,A. V. Mishonov,J. R. Reagan,D. Seidov,E. S. Yarosh, and M. M. Zweng | published 17 May 2012 Abstract We provide updated estimates of the change of ocean heat content(OHC) and the thermosteric component of sea level change of the 0–700 and 0–2000…

The Ocean Is Going To Start Confusing Fish And Dissolving Seashells

Climate Progress August 27, 2013: Ocean acidification driven by increasing atmospheric carbon levels is a substantial threat to marine life, a new study has confirmed. The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, analyzed 167 studies on the effects of ocean acidification on corals, crustaceans, mollusks, fishes and echinoderms, a group which includes starfish…

Dissolving brittle stars hint at implications of ocean acidification

Image: At the GeoSoilEnviroCARS beamline at the Advanced Photon Source, scientists mapped slices of 24 brittle starfish skeletons in 3 dimensions using X-ray tomography to find out how much volume the eroded skeletons had lost, and to reconstruct their structures. Credit: Shawn Harper Phys.org — Under the sea ice of Explorers Cove, Antarctica, is a startling…