Skip to main content

Home/ COSEE-West/ Group items tagged surface

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Gwen Noda

Know Your Ocean | Science and Technology | Ocean Today - 0 views

  •  
    NARRATOR: Even though the ocean covers seventy percent of the Earth's surface, people tend to know more information about land than the sea. As a result, our understanding of the ocean is often incomplete or full of misconceptions. How well do you know the ocean? You may think Earth has five separate oceans. They're clearly labeled on our maps. But, in actuality, these are all connected, and part of one global ocean system. Ever wonder why the ocean is blue? You may have heard its because the water reflects the color of the sky. Not quite. Sunlight contains all the colors of the rainbow. When it hits the ocean, it gets scattered by the water molecules. Blue light is scattered the most, which is why the ocean appears blue. Even more interesting is that floating plants and sediments in the water can cause light to bounce in such a way for the ocean to appear green, yellow, and even red! Another idea some people have is that the sea floor is flat. Actually, just like land, the sea floor has canyons, plains, and mountain ranges. And many of these features are even bigger than those found on land. You may also think that our ocean's saltwater is just a mix of water and table salt. Not so. Seawater's "salt" is actually made of dissolved minerals from surface runoff. That is, excess water from rain and melting snow flowing over land and into the sea. This is why the ocean doesn't have the same level of salinity everywhere. Salinity varies by location and season. Finally, you may have heard that melting sea ice will cause sea levels to rise. In reality, sea ice is just frozen seawater, and because it routinely freezes and melts, its volume is already accounted for in the ocean. Sea levels can rise, however, from ice that melts off land and into the ocean. Understanding basic facts about the ocean is important since it affects everything from our atmosphere to our ecosystems. By knowing your ocean, you are better prepared to help protect it.
Gwen Noda

The Ten Best Ocean Stories of 2012 | Surprising Science - 0 views

  •  
    December 18, 2012 The Ten Best Ocean Stories of 2012 | | | Share on redditReddit | Share on diggDigg | Share on stumbleuponStumble | Share on emailEmail | More Sharing ServicesMore Two market squids mating 2012 was a big year for squid science. Photo Credit: © Brian Skerry, www.brianskerry.com Despite covering 70 percent of the earth's surface, the ocean doesn't often make it into the news. But when it does, it makes quite a splash (so to speak). Here are the top ten ocean stories we couldn't stop talking about this year, in no particular order. Add your own in the comments! 2012: The Year of the Squid From the giant squid's giant eyes (the better to see predatory sperm whales, my dear), to the vampire squid's eerie diet of remains and feces, the strange adaptations and behavior of these cephalopods amazed us all year. Scientists found a deep-sea squid that dismembers its own glowing arm to distract predators and make a daring escape. But fascinating findings weren't relegated to the deep: at the surface, some squids will rocket themselves above the waves to fly long distances at top speeds. James Cameron Explores the Deep Sea Filmmaker James Cameron has never shied away from marine movie plots (See: Titanic, The Abyss), but this year he showed he was truly fearless, becoming the first person to hit the deepest point on the seafloor (35,804 feet) in a solo submarine. While he only managed to bring up a single mud sample from the deepest region, he found thriving biodiversity in the other deep-sea areas his expedition explored, including giant versions of organisms found in shallow water. Schooling sardines form a "bait ball." Small fish, such as these schooling sardines, received well-deserved attention for being an important part of the food chain in 2012. Photo Credit: © Erwin Poliakoff, Flickr Small Fish Make a Big Impact Forage fish-small, schooling fish that are gulped down by predators-should be left in the ocean for larger fish, marin
Gwen Noda

Random Sample - 0 views

  •  
    Science 25 November 2011: Vol. 334 no. 6059 p. 1039 DOI: 10.1126/science.334.6059.1039-b * News of the Week Random Sample Mongolia's 'Ice Shield' Figure View larger version: * In this page * In a new window Hot zone. Flanked by desert, Ulan Bator will be cooled in summer by an "ice shield." "CREDIT: BRÜCKE-OSTEUROPA/WIKIPEDIA" As the coldest capital on Earth, you might think the last thing Ulan Bator needs is more ice. But that is just what it's about to get under a geoengineering trial aimed at "storing" freezing winter temperatures to cool and water the city during the summer. At the end of this month, engineers will drill a series of bores through the ice on the Tuul River, pump up water from below, and spray it on the surface where it will freeze. This process will be repeated throughout the winter, adding layer after layer to create a chunk of ice that will be 7 or 8 meters thick by the spring. It's an attempt to artificially create the ultra-thick slabs-known as naleds in Russian-that occur naturally in far northern climes when rivers or springs push through surface cracks. Nomads have long made their summer camps near such phenomena, which melt much later than normal ice. Flanked by desert and plagued by summer temperatures that can rise close to 40°C, Ulan Bator's municipal government hopes the $724,000 experiment will create a cool microclimate and provide fresh water as the naled melts. ECOS & EMI, the Anglo-Mongolian company behind the plan, has still greater ambitions. "Everyone is panicking about melting glaciers and icecaps, but nobody has yet found a cheap, environmentally friendly alternative," says Robin Grayson, a geologist in Ulan Bator for ECOS & EMI. "If you know how to manipulate them, naled ice shields can repair permafrost and build cool parks in cities." The process, Grayson says, can be replicated anywhere where winter temperatures fall below −5°C for at least a couple of months.
Gwen Noda

YouTube - NASA: Climate Change And the Global Ocean [720p] - 2 views

  •  
    We know climate change can affect us, but does climate change alter something as vast, deep and mysterious as our oceans? For years, scientists have studied the world's oceans by sending out ships and divers, deploying data-gathering buoys, and by taking aerial measurements from planes. But one of the better ways to understand oceans is to gain an even broader perspective - the view from space. NASA's Earth observing satellites do more than just take pictures of our planet. High-tech sensors gather data, including ocean surface temperature, surface winds, sea level, circulation, and even marine life. Information the satellites obtain help us understand the complex interactions driving the world's oceans today - and gain valuable insight into how the impacts of climate change on oceans might affect us on dry land.
Gwen Noda

Science On a Sphere - 0 views

  •  
    Science On a Sphere Well-crafted visualizations provide unique and powerful teaching tools Science On a Sphere® is a large visualization system that uses computers and video projectors to display animated data onto the outside of a sphere. Researchers at NOAA developed Science On a Sphere® as an educational tool to help illustrate Earth System science to people of all ages. Animated images of complex processes such as ocean currents, sea level rise, and ocean acidification are used to to enhance the public's understanding of our dynamic environment. Ocean Acidification on Science On a Sphere® The movies below were developed for use on Science On a Sphere® and show computer model simulations of surface ocean pH and carbonate mineral saturation state for the years 1895 to 2094. The first movie shows a computer recreation of surface ocean pH from 1895 to the present, and it forecasts how ocean pH will drop even more between now and 2094. Dark gray dots show cold-water coral reefs. Medium gray dots show warm-water coral reefs. You can see that ocean acidification was slow at the beginning of the movie, but it speeds up as time goes on. This is because humans are releasing carbon dioxide faster than the atmosphere-ocean system can handle.
Gwen Noda

Ocean Life | Ocean Today - 0 views

  •  
    Life beneath the sea is amazing! Features spectacular imagery and video of life beneath the ocean surface (e.g., Sounds from the Sea, Whale Rescue, Coral Forests of the Deep).
Gwen Noda

ScienceDirect.com - Earth-Science Reviews - Recognising ocean acidification in deep tim... - 0 views

  •  
    "Recognising ocean acidification in deep time: An evaluation of the evidence for acidification across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary Sarah E. GreeneCorresponding author contact information, 1, E-mail the corresponding author, Rowan C. Martindale1, E-mail the corresponding author, Kathleen A. Ritterbush E-mail the corresponding author, David J. Bottjer E-mail the corresponding author, Frank A. Corsetti E-mail the corresponding author, William M. Berelson E-mail the corresponding author Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA 90089 Received 22 July 2011. Accepted 17 March 2012. Available online 5 April 2012. While demonstrating ocean acidification in the modern is relatively straightforward (measure increase in atmospheric CO2 and corresponding ocean chemistry change), identifying palaeo-ocean acidification is problematic. The crux of this problem is that the rock record is a constructive archive while ocean acidification is essentially a destructive (and/or inhibitory) phenomenon. This is exacerbated in deep time without the benefit of a deep ocean record. Here, we discuss the feasibility of, and potential criteria for, identifying an acidification event in deep time. Furthermore, we investigate the evidence for ocean acidification during the Triassic-Jurassic (T-J) boundary interval, an excellent test case because 1) it occurs in deep time, beyond the reach of deep sea drilling coverage; 2) a potential trigger for acidification is known; and 3) it is associated with one of the 'Big Five' mass extinctions which disproportionately affected modern-style invertebrates. Three main criteria suggest that acidification may have occurred across the T-J transition. 1) The eruption of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) and the associated massive and rapid release of CO2 coincident with the end-Triassic mass extinction provide a suitable trigger for an acidification event (
Gwen Noda

The Southern Ocean's Role in Carbon Exchange During the Last Deglaciation - 0 views

  •  
    Abstract Changes in the upwelling and degassing of carbon from the Southern Ocean form one of the leading hypotheses for the cause of glacial-interglacial changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide. We present a 25,000-year-long Southern Ocean radiocarbon record reconstructed from deep-sea corals, which shows radiocarbon-depleted waters during the glacial period and through the early deglaciation. This depletion and associated deep stratification disappeared by ~14.6 ka (thousand years ago), consistent with the transfer of carbon from the deep ocean to the surface ocean and atmosphere via a Southern Ocean ventilation event. Given this evidence for carbon exchange in the Southern Ocean, we show that existing deep-ocean radiocarbon records from the glacial period are sufficiently depleted to explain the ~190 per mil drop in atmospheric radiocarbon between ~17 and 14.5 ka.
Gwen Noda

Coral Bleaching: A White Hot Problem (COSEE-NOW) - 0 views

  •  
    "Some of the planet's most beautiful and diverse ecosystems are at risk. With temperatures on the rise, coral reefs are at greater risk for coral bleaching. Using ocean observing system data from NOAA's National Data Buoy Center, this classroom activity examines ocean temperatures off Puerto Rico to see how coral reefs are being impacted and predict what's on the horizon. Brought to you by Sea Grant's Bridge website and COSEE-NOW. This activity was developed in response to the 2005 massive coral bleaching event in the Caribbean caused by high sea surface temperatures. Using ocean observing system data, water temperatures can be monitored to evaluate the likeliness of other bleaching events. Via the COSEE-NOW online community, we were able to receive valuable feedback on making the graph of water temperature more user-friendly and expanding the discussion questions to evoke some higher level thinking from students. This activity has been demonstrated to teachers at the National Marine Educators Association conference and Virginia Sea Grant professional development institutes; and to graduate students in several different settings. http://www2.vims.edu/bridge/DATA.cfm?Bridge_Location=archive0406.html"
Gwen Noda

Joint Expedition Discovers Deep-Sea Biodiversity, New Volcanoes - 0 views

  •  
    The shallow water reefs of the Coral Triangle, which stretches across Indonesia and north through the Philippines, host the world's greatest diversity of corals, fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and marine plant species. Now preliminary results from a joint Indonesian-U.S. marine survey indicate that the biodiversity runs deep. A remotely operated vehicle has captured stunning images of massive corals, as well as unusual crustaceans and fish living at depths never before surveyed, thousands of meters below the surface. And mapping of that sea floor has turned up a huge, previously unknown volcano.
Gwen Noda

Coral Reefs and Climate Change - How does climate change affect coral reefs - Cosee Coa... - 0 views

  •  
    How does climate change affect coral reefs? The warmer air and ocean surface temperatures brought on by climate change impact corals and alter coral reef communities by prompting coral bleaching events and altering ocean chemistry. These impacts affect corals and the many organisms that use coral reefs as habitat.
Gwen Noda

Carboschools library - Material for experiments - 0 views

  •  
    How is global temperature regulated? An experimental representation - Simple experiments to help pupils understand how different parameters regulate temperature at the Earth's surface. Interaction at the Air-Water Interface, part 1 - A very simple experiment to demonstrate gas exchange and equilibration at the boundary layer between air and water. Pupils will also observe acidification of water due to CO2 introduced directly in the water. Interaction at the Air-Water Interface, part 2 - A second set of experiment to demonstrate gas exchange and equilibration at the boundary layer between air and water. Pupils observe a high atmospheric CO2 concentration will produce water acidification. Uptake of Carbon Dioxide from the Water by Plants - The following experiments will demonstrate the role of plants in mitigating the acidification caused when CO2 is dissolved in water. Carbon Dioxide Fertilization of Marine Microalgae (Dunalliela sp.) Cultures: Marine microalgae in different atmospheric CO2 concentration - An experiment designed to illustrate the impact of carbon dioxide on microalgal growth in the aquatic environment. Introduction to the principles of climate modelling - Working with real data in spreadsheets to create a climate model, students discover the global carbon budget and make their own predictions for the next century. Global carbon budget between 1958 and 2007 - Working with real global carbon budget data, students produce graphs to find the best representation of the data to make predictions about human CO2 emissions for the next century. This activity is also a nice application of percentages. Estimation of natural carbon sinks - Working with real global carbon budget data, students estimate how much of the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere as a result of human activities is absorbed naturally each year. How does temperature affect the solubility of CO2 en the water? - The following experiments will explore effects of water temperature on sol
Gwen Noda

http://www.oceanacidification.org.uk - 0 views

  •  
    The term ocean acidification is used to describe the ongoing decrease in ocean pH caused by human CO2 emissions, such as the burning of fossil fuels. It is the little known consequence of living in a high CO2 world, dubbed at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) as the "evil twin of climate change". The oceans currently absorb approximately half of the CO2 produced by burning fossil fuel; put simply, climate change would be far worse if it were not for the oceans. However, there is a cost to the oceans - when CO2 dissolves in seawater it forms carbonic acid and as more CO2 is taken up by the oceans surface, the pH decreases, moving towards a less alkaline and therefore more acidic state. Already ocean pH has decreased by about 30% and if we continue emitting CO2 at the same rate by 2100 ocean acidity will increase by about 150%, a rate that has not been experienced for at least 400,000 years. Such a monumental alteration in basic ocean chemistry is likely to have wide implications for ocean life, especially for those organisms that require calcium carbonate to build shells or skeletons. Ocean acidification is a relatively new field of research, with most of the studies having been conducted over the last decade. While it is gaining some attention among policy makers, international leaders and the media, scientists find there is still a lack of understanding.
1 - 20 of 34 Next ›
Showing 20 items per page