Category:Ocean Science

Impacts of Ocean Warming /AGU Science - Geophysics

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2018RG000620

Molecular Basis for Understanding the Impacts of Ocean Warming

Peter G. Brewer

Published: 31 July 2019

A grand challenge for ocean chemists in the years ahead lies in the need to tackle the chemical consequences of ocean warming with the same rigor and intensity that has been brought to bear on the physical chemistry of ocean acidification...

The ocean absorbs some 93% of all greenhouse gas‐generated heat, and ocean warming is already creating observable impacts on marine life. To make reliable projections for the future, we cannot rely on Ptolemy‐like rules, built as something to match field observations, to apply in the years to come. Instead, we will need to apply the laws of chemical physics to calculate and predict the changes that ocean warming will have on the physical properties of sea water and the associated impacts on marine life. This includes treating water as a fluid with defined temperature‐and pressure‐dependent chemical structures.

Sea water is 96.5% water, and some 78–85% of water in the oceans has a form with a much higher molecular weight than the water molecule that typically comes to mind, with a single oxygen and two hydrogens. These varied structures are now directly relatable to the high heat capacity of water, why the speed of sound is faster in warmer water, and the viscosity of sea water that provides constraints on microbial motion. Microbial activity is a key driver to the amount of oxygen in different parts of the ocean, and if their activity is affected by increased warmth, it seems quite possible that large regions may exist with no oxygen at all. Marine life responds strongly to changing oxygen status. This is because both warmer waters can hold less oxygen, and because warming drives higher rates of microbial growth.

Marine fisheries, and the great majority of all marine species, are already responding to these forces and are migrating toward cooler waters near the poles. Using known laws of science to connect chemistry, physics, and ocean warming would allow the ocean sciences to proceed on firmer footing and to improve future projections of the impact of ocean warming. The ocean is now experiencing the twinned invasions of heat and fossil fuel carbon dioxide that drive up its acid level. It is the combined impact of these two great waves, both resulting from our use of fossil fuels, that will be critical...

Monitoring Earth's Oceans from Space

How Satellites and Big Data Can Help to Save the Oceans

Will the new availability of sophisticated, satellite-based technologies, coupled with the democratization of online data about the health of our environment, help ensure that these positive advancements live up to their potential to protect the oceans?

https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Right_Now

https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_and_Space,_Politics

https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Science_Research_from_Space

"What percentage of the Earth is covered by oceans?"'

71% -- Via http://www.noaa.gov/oceans-coasts

Ocean Ecosystems

Ocean Sustainability

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Science on the Seas (SOS)

https://www.tinybluegreen.com

https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Sea-Level_Rise

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Join in Planet Scientists, do some difference-making Citizen Science

https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Planet_Citizens,_Planet_Scientists

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Mapping & Tracking

Virtual Earth

Google Earth Outreach

Global Fishing Watch

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Open Science Access to Ocean Research

http://www.ocean-science.net/

http://oceansci.ucsc.edu/

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Global Impacts of Ocean Acidification and Warming

Reefscape

To gather a more comprehensive understanding of the condition of global reef ecosystems, we need a way to assess and monitor them on a large geographic scale.

The Reefscape project aims to improve our understanding of the condition of coral reefs worldwide, while simultaneously developing spectral libraries needed to advance the development of a new satellite mission.

New satellites, such as those from Planet (formerly Planet Labs), are, as of 2017, able to capture near-daily imagery of coral reefs worldwide. Planet’s high-resolution imagery of reef locations provides new imaging, science and understanding of the composition and extent of shallow, horizontally oriented reefs.