Global Ocean Data Analysis Project The Global Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP) is a synthesis project bringing together oceanographic data collected during the 1990s by research cruises on the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE), Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) and Ocean-Atmosphere Exchange Study (OACES) programmes. The central goal of GLODAP is to generate a global climatology of the World Ocean's carbon cycle for use in studies of both its natural and anthropogenically-forced states. GLODAP is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Dataset[edit] Additionally, analysis has attempted to separate natural from anthropogenic DIC, to produce fields of pre-industrial (18th century) DIC and "present day" anthropogenic CO2. Gallery[edit] The following panels show sea surface concentrations of the fields prepared by GLODAP. See also[edit] References[edit] External links[edit] GLODAP website
Why the world is running out of helium - Science - News Scientists have warned that the world's most commonly used inert gas is being depleted at an astonishing rate because of a law passed in the United States in 1996 which has effectively made helium too cheap to recycle. The law stipulates that the US National Helium Reserve, which is kept in a disused underground gas field near Amarillo, Texas – by far the biggest store of helium in the world – must all be sold off by 2015, irrespective of the market price. The experts warn that the world could run out of helium within 25 to 30 years, potentially spelling disaster for hospitals, whose MRI scanners are cooled by the gas in liquid form, and anti-terrorist authorities who rely on helium for their radiation monitors, as well as the millions of children who love to watch their helium-filled balloons float into the sky. Liquid helium is critical for cooling cooling infrared detectors, nuclear reactors and the machinery of wind tunnels. What helium is used for *Airships *MRI scanners *Rockets *Dating
Carbonate compensation depth Calcite compensation depth (CCD) is the depth in the oceans below which the rate of supply of calcite (calcium carbonate) lags behind the rate of solvation, such that no calcite is preserved. Aragonite compensation depth (hence ACD) describes the same behaviour in reference to aragonitic carbonates. Aragonite is more soluble than calcite, so the aragonite compensation depth is generally shallower than the calcite compensation depth. Calcium carbonate is essentially insoluble in sea surface waters today. Shells of dead calcareous plankton sinking to deeper waters are practically unaltered until reaching the lysocline where the solubility increases dramatically. By the time the CCD is reached all calcium carbonate has dissolved according to this equation: Calcareous plankton and sediment particles can be found in the water column above the CCD. Variations in value of the CCD[edit] In the geological past the depth of the CCD has shown significant variation. See also[edit] References[edit]
Can civilisation reboot without fossil fuels? – Lewis Dartnell Imagine that the world as we know it ends tomorrow. There’s a global catastrophe: a pandemic virus, an asteroid strike, or perhaps a nuclear holocaust. The vast majority of the human race perishes. Our civilisation collapses. The post-apocalyptic survivors find themselves in a devastated world of decaying, deserted cities and roving gangs of bandits looting and taking by force. Bad as things sound, that’s not the end for humanity. Popular now Could we make our home on a rogue planet without a Sun? Should we be suspicious of the Anthropocene idea? What can we do to save the Universe from certain death? Let’s make the basis of this thought experiment a little more specific. So, would a society starting over on a planet stripped of its fossil fuel deposits have the chance to progress through its own Industrial Revolution? It’s easy to underestimate our current dependence on fossil fuels. In fact, the problem is even worse than that. But my topic here is not what we should do now. Related video
Biological pump Air-sea exchange of CO2 The biological pump, in its simplest form, is the ocean’s biologically driven sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere to the deep sea.[1] It is the part of the oceanic carbon cycle responsible for the cycling of organic matter formed by phytoplankton during photosynthesis (soft-tissue pump), as well as the cycling of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) formed by certain plankton and mollusks as a protective coating (carbonate pump). Overview[edit] The biological pump can be divided into three distinct phases,[2] the first of which is the production of fixed carbon by planktonic phototrophs in the euphotic (Sunlit) surface region of the ocean. In these surface waters, phytoplankton use carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and other trace elements (barium, iron, zinc, etc.) during photosynthesis to make carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. Primary Production[edit] CO2 + H2O + light → CH2O + O2 Calcium Carbonate[edit] Ca2+ + 2HCO3- → CaCO3 + CO2 + H2O
Solutions Summit Continental shelf pump In oceanic biogeochemistry, the continental shelf pump is proposed to operate in the shallow waters of the continental shelves, acting as a mechanism to transport carbon (as either dissolved or particulate material) from surface waters to the interior of the adjacent deep ocean.[1] Overview[edit] Originally formulated by Tsunogai et al. (1999),[1] the pump is believed to occur where the solubility and biological pumps interact with a local hydrography that feeds dense water from the shelf floor into sub-surface (at least subthermocline) waters in the neighbouring deep ocean. Tsunogai et al.'s (1999)[1] original work focused on the East China Sea, and the observation that, averaged over the year, its surface waters represented a sink for carbon dioxide. This observation was combined with others of the distribution of dissolved carbonate and alkalinity and explained as follows : Significance[edit] References[edit] Rippeth TP, Scourse JD, Uehara, K (2008). See also[edit]
These Skyscrapers Will Clean Pollution From The Surrounding Water And Air Two towers almost a kilometer high have been announced for Wuhan, China. But they won't just be special because of their height - the towers will actually clean the polluted lake next to which they will sit. At 830m high the Burj Khalifa has been the world's tallest building since 2010. Tall buildings require a lot of power, particularly for lifts, but Adele Peters of business magazine Fast Company reports “Wind turbines, lightweight solar cladding, and hydrogen fuel cells running on the buildings’ waste will generate all of the power used by the towers, plus a little extra for the rest of the neighbourhood.” Moreover, the designers propose to tackle Wuhan's notorious pollution. “The water goes up through a series of filters,” explains architect Laurie Chetwood. Only the taller tower will have a wind turbine, allowing it to not only meet its own energy needs, but supply power to the other tower as well.
Solubility pump Air-sea exchange of CO2 In oceanic biogeochemistry, the solubility pump is a physico-chemical process that transports carbon (as dissolved inorganic carbon) from the ocean's surface to its interior. Overview[edit] The solubility pump is driven by the coincidence of two processes in the ocean : The solubility of carbon dioxide is a strong inverse function of seawater temperature (i.e. solubility is greater in cooler water)The thermohaline circulation is driven by the formation of deep water at high latitudes where seawater is usually cooler and denser Since deep water (that is, seawater in the ocean's interior) is formed under the same surface conditions that promote carbon dioxide solubility, it contains a higher concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon than one might otherwise expect. One consequence of this is that when deep water upwells in warmer, equatorial latitudes, it strongly outgasses carbon dioxide to the atmosphere because of the reduced solubility of the gas. CO2 (aq) + H2O
Further evidence that nature is not the opposite of technology Clearly they should grind up the xylem into pure water, and dilute it several times over until the whole of the water as absorbed the cleansing essence of the wood. Now that's real science. Now you are on the right track. But it still leaves the essence of the wood on the particles of the water. That is even more deadly because now the toxins have been transferred to all of the water in your solution, not just what you wanted to drink. Because of you you just killed everyone on the planet. Everyone knows that hand washing gets rid of all of the germs on your hand. Simple really. /s /hypocrisy /iwouldnotbersurprisedsomeoneactuallythoughtofthisasarealthing
Shutdown of thermohaline circulation A summary of the path of the thermohaline circulation. Blue paths represent deep-water currents, while red paths represent surface currents A shutdown or slowdown of the thermohaline circulation is a postulated effect of global warming. Thermohaline circulation and fresh water[edit] The red end of the spectrum indicates slowing in this presentation of the trend of velocities derived from NASA Pathfinder altimeter data from May 1992 to June 2002. Some even fear that global warming may be able to trigger the type of abrupt massive temperature shifts which occurred during the last glacial period: a series of Dansgaard-Oeschger events – rapid climate fluctuations – may be attributed to freshwater forcing at high latitude interrupting the THC. Studies of the Florida Current suggest that the Gulf Stream weakens with cooling, being weakest (by ~10%) during the Little Ice Age.[13] Measurements in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2010[edit] Bryden measurements reported late 2005[edit] See also[edit]
The economic impacts of carbon pricing When you start talking about economics, the eyes of many a climate science geek (present company included) begin to glaze over. However, this is a critical subject. When you ask a climate contrarian why they won't support climate action just in case they are wrong, the contrarians will invariably assert that pricing and reducing carbon emissions will harm the economy. However, this assertion is in direct contradiction with the body of climate economics literature, which actually shows the opposite is true. For example, a new paper by Johnson and Hope 2012 evaluates the overall cost of carbon emissions via climate change damages, and finds that when these costs are taken into consideration: The social cost of carbon (SCC) is effectively an estimate of the direct effects of carbon emissions on the economy - it estimates how much damage our emissions cause via climate change, or how much it will cost us to adapt to climate change. Johnson and Hope 2012 (JH12) notes that the U.S. Summary
Sea surface temperature This graph shows how the average surface temperature of the world's oceans has changed since 1880. This graph uses the 1971 to 2000 average as a baseline for depicting change. Choosing a different baseline period would not change the shape of the data over time. This is a daily, global Sea Surface Temperature (SST) data set produced on December 20th, 2013 at 1-km (also known as ultra-high resolution) by the JPL ROMS (Regional Ocean Modeling System) group Weekly average sea surface temperature for the World Ocean during the first week of February 2011, during a period of La Niña. Sea surface temperature and flows. Sea surface temperature (SST) is the water temperature close to the ocean's surface. Measurement[edit] Temperature profile of the surface layer of the ocean (a) at night and (b) during the day There are a variety of techniques for measuring this parameter that can potentially yield different results because different things are actually being measured. Thermometers[edit]