Will Global Warming Result In Europe Cooling Down?

CONVEYOR BELT Rising temperatures could shut down the Atlantic Ocean current (depicted here) that helps warm northwestern Europe, a new simulation shows.

Science News: Warming could disrupt Atlantic Ocean current

New simulations revise freshwater impact on circulation’s stability.

Spewing too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere could shut down the major ocean current that ferries warm water to the North Atlantic, new climate simulations suggest. While not as extreme as the doomsday scenario portrayed in the movie The Day After Tomorrow, such a shutdown could cause wintertime temperatures to plummet by an estimated 7 degrees Celsius or more in northwestern Europe and shift rainfall patterns across the globe.

Many previous climate simulations predicted that the Atlantic circulation would remain largely stable under future climate change. But those simulations failed to accurately portray how relatively freshwater flows between the Atlantic and Southern oceans, an important mechanism as the climate warms. After fixing that inaccuracy, Yale University climate scientist Wei Liu and colleagues set up an extreme climate scenario to test the current’s robustness. Doubling CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere shuttered the Atlantic current in 300 years, the researchers’ simulation showed.

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CSN Editor: So the argument now is .... global warming will cause catastrophic cooling in Europe.

The Most Detailed View Of The Earth's Seafloor To Date Has Been Released

This map shows a global view of gravity changes. Shades of orange and red represent areas where seafloor gravity is stronger than the global average, a phenomenon that mostly coincides with the location of underwater ridges, seamounts, and the edges of Earth’s tectonic plates. Shades of blue represent areas of lower gravity, corresponding largely with the deepest troughs in the ocean

Daily Mail: The most accurate ocean floor map ever made: Scientists reveal the alien landscape beneath the sea in incredible detail

* The map was created by measuring the shape and gravity field of Earth using a series of satellites
* Shades of orange and red represent areas where seafloor gravity is stronger than the global average
* This phenomenon mostly coincides with the location of underwater ridges, seamounts and tectonic plates
* Shades of blue represent areas of lower gravity, corresponding largely with the deepest troughs in the ocean

We have more complete maps of the surface of Mars than we do of some areas on Earth.
In an effort to change this, scientists have created the most detailed view of the Earth's seafloor to date, revealing huge mountains and giant crevices beneath the ocean.
The map was created by measuring the shape and gravity field of Earth, a relatively-new discipline known as geodesy. It provides gives an accurate picture of seafloor topography at a scale of 3.1 miles (5km) per pixel.

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CSN Editor: A smart concept .... using gravity as a means to map out the sea-floor.

A Better Map Of The Ocean Floor Has Been Produced

The new gravity data gives us our clearest view yet of the shape of the ocean floor

Satellites Detect 'Thousands' Of New Ocean-Bottom Mountains -- BBC

It is not every day you can announce the discovery of thousands of new mountains on Earth, but that is what a US-European research team has done.

What is more, these peaks are all at least 1.5km high.

The reason they have gone unrecognised until now is because they are at the bottom of the ocean.
Dave Sandwell and colleagues used radar satellites to discern the mountains' presence under water and report their findings in Science Magazine.

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My Comment: The oceans are still a mystery .... but more is being discovered about the oceans everyday.

Ocean's Carbon Capture Secrets Becoming Known

Making waves: The Southern Ocean(Source: British Antarctic Survey)

Ocean's Deep Carbon Secrets Revealed -- ABC News (Australia)

New light has been shed on the Southern Ocean's ability to store carbon through an international study that pinpoints where carbon capture is most efficient.

The finding by Australian and British researchers also shows absorption of carbon is not uniform and is slower than previously thought.

The Southern Ocean is a particularly important oceanic carbon sink as it absorbs more than 40 per cent of the CO2 that is sequestered by the oceans.

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Staying Sane On A Research Ship In The Middle Of The Ocean

How To Stay Sane On A Ship In The Middle Of The Ocean -- Scientific American

The Knorr is a big ship as far as research vessels go – but there’s still no getting around the fact that you’re in a little metal box in the middle of the ocean with 47 other people for a month. Add to that the fact that most people are doing highly repetitive experiments all day (and I do mean all day, people get up at 5 am and work until 11 pm) and you’ve got a recipe for madness.

For the first week or so, everyone was calm and collected. They got up, they did the CTD casts, they worked, filtered, sequenced and experimented. There was chatter and laughter, but it always came in between long periods of intense science-doing late into the night. But the times, they are a changin’, and people are starting to loosen up (or perhaps go nuts, I don’t know).

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My Comment: I rather stay on a luxury yacht where my primary focus is on what to eat that day.

Oceans Have Been Warming For 135 Years Ago

The researchers compared ocean-temperature data collected in the 1870s by the Challenger vessel with modern data collected by the Argo project, which uses 3,500 free-drifting floats (one of which is shown here) to measure temperature and salinity. CREDIT: Argo Project

Oceans Started Warming 135 Years Ago, Study Suggests -- Live Science

The world's oceans have been warming for more than 100 years, twice as long as previously believed, new research suggests.

The findings could help scientists better understand the Earth's record of sea-level rise, which is partly due to the expansion of water that happens as it heats up, researchers added.

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James Cameron's Successfully Completes Mariana Trench Pacific Dive

James Cameron Describes Mariana Trench After Pacific Dive -- ABC News

In 1997 James Cameron famously sent the RMS Titanic to the ocean floor. Now he has made an even deeper trip himself: in a submersible called the Deepsea Challenger, he descended to the bottom of the Mariana Trench -- seven miles beneath the western Pacific Ocean, deeper than Mt. Everest is high.

And he lived to tell about it. Today, on a conference call to reporters from the research vessel Mermaid Sapphire, he enthused about the mystery and adventure of being all alone in the darkness, 35,576 feet beneath the surface of the sea.

"I just sat there looking out the window, looking at this barren, desolate lunar plain, appreciating," Cameron said.

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More News On James Cameron's Mariana Trench Pacific Dive

James Cameron Completes Record-Breaking Mariana Trench Dive -- National Geographic
James Cameron on Earth's Deepest Spot: Desolate, Lunar-Like -- National Geographic
Cameron's Historic Dive Cut Short by Leak; Few Signs of Life Seen -- National Geographic
'To hell and back': James Cameron is first solo diver to reach deepest point on Earth - but has to race back to surface after hydraulic failure seven miles down -- Daily Mail
'Titanic' and 'Avatar' director James Cameron reaches ocean's deepest point [Updated] -- L.A. Times
Why James Cameron was forced to surface early -- Christian Science Monitor
James Cameron back on surface after deepest ocean dive -- BBC
James Cameron: 'desolate, lunar landscape' of Mariana Trench after record-breaking dive -- The Telegraph
In Photos: James Cameron’s solo deep dive -- Stark Insider

James Cameron Heading To The Bottom Of The Mariana Trench

James Cameron emerges from the hatch of Deepsea Challenger during testing of the submersible in Jervis Bay, south of Sydney, Australia in 2012. Photo: AFP

James Cameron Descends To The Bottom Of The Mariana Trench -- The Telegraph

James Cameron, the multi-millionaire Hollywood film director behind Titanic and Avatar, is heading to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in person armed with hi-tech 3D cameras and lights that will capture the moment for cinemagoers.

Fewer people have reached the deepest point in the world's oceans than have walked on the moon, but the obscure worms and tiny crustaceans that reside there are receiving an unlikely visitor.

Cameron set out from the tiny Pacific island of Guam for the Mariana Trench, and is descending more than seven miles straight down in a lime green reinforced submersible, the first ever solo mission to the lowest point on Earth.

Cameron’s 24ft long vertical capsule, The Deepsea Challenger, weighs 11 tons and was built amid great secrecy in Australia over the last eight years.

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My Comment: Good luck.

Preparing To Dive To The Deepest Part Of The Ocean

The sub is designed for one person and is fitted with 3D cameras

James Cameron Close To Diving To Deepest Ocean -- BBC

Director James Cameron has said that he is close to diving 11km (seven miles) down to the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific.

He has just successfully completed a test-dive 8km (five miles) down off the coast of Papua New Guinea.

He now hopes to reach the world's deepest point in his one-man submersible in the coming weeks.

Only two people have been to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, back in 1960.

Mr Cameron said: "The deep trenches are the last unexplored frontier on our planet, with scientific riches enough to fill 100 years of exploration."

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My Comment: I wish Cameron the best.

Oceans Acidifying At A Faster Rate Than At Any Time In The Last 300 Million Years

Will they survive? (Image: Reinhard Dirscherl/Waterframe/Getty Images)

Oceans Acidifying At Unprecedented Speed -- New Scientist

Humanity's greenhouse gas emissions may be acidifying the oceans at a faster rate than at any time in the last 300 million years. The sheer speed of change means we do not know how severe the consequences will be.

As well as warming the planet, carbon dioxide seeps into the oceans and forms carbonic acid. As a result the water becomes more acidic.

The pH is currently dropping by about 0.1 per century. This ocean acidification harms organisms such as corals that rely on dissolved carbonate to make their shells. It also disrupts behaviour in some animals.

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My Comment: This data is significant .... and scary to think about.

Marine Life Census Charts Vast Undersea World

This new copepod, Ceratonotus steiningeri, was first discovered 5,400 metres deep in the Angola Basin in 2006. It was also collected in the southeastern Atlantic, as well as some 13,000 kilometres away in the central Pacific Ocean. Scientists are puzzled about how it achieved such widespread distribution and avoided detection for so long. Credit: Jan Michels

From Cosmos:

LONDON: Results of the first ever global marine life census have been unveiled, revealing a startling overview after a decade-long trawl through the murky depths.

The Census of Marine Life estimated there are more than one million species in the oceans, with at least three-quarters of them yet to be discovered.

The US $650-million international study discovered more than 6,000 potentially new species, and found some species considered rare were actually common.

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Study Identifies More Than A Million Ocean Species

Photograph: British Antarctic Survey

From The Guardian:

The Census of Marine Life is finally complete after a decade of work by 2,700 scientists from 80 countries.

It is the culmination of a decade of work by 2,700 scientists from 80 countries, who went on more than 540 expeditions into the farthest reaches of the most mysterious realm on the planet – the world's oceans.

Today, the US$650m Census of Marine Life (COML) project announced the culmination of its work, concluding that the deep is home to more than a million species – of which less than a quarter are described in the scientific literature.

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The Robotic Otter: Underwater Robot That Swims With Flippers And Can Be Controlled With A Tablet Computer

The AQUA robot uses flippers to move and now will no longer need to be tethered

From The Daily Mail:

Scientists have developed a remote-controlled robot that can receive and carry out commands while underwater.

AQUA is small and nimble, with flippers rather than propellers, and is designed for intricate data collection from shipwrecks and reefs.

The robot, designed by a team of universities from Canada, can be controlled wirelessly using a waterproof tablet computer.

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Ocean Cooling Contributed to Mid-20th Century Global Warming Hiatus

Iceberg in the icefjord near the city of Ilulissat in Greenland. While the temperature drop was evident in data from all Northern Hemisphere oceans, it was most pronounced in the northern North Atlantic, a region of the world ocean thought to be climatically dynamic. (Credit: iStockphoto/Anders Peter Amsnæs)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Sep. 23, 2010) — The hiatus of global warming in the Northern Hemisphere during the mid-20th century may have been due to an abrupt cooling event centered over the North Atlantic around 1970, rather than the cooling effects of tropospheric pollution, according to a new paper appearing Sept. 22 in Nature.

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Warming In Deep Southern Ocean Linked To Sea-Level Rise

From Live Science:

Warming waters in the deep ocean surrounding Antarctica has contributed to sea-level rise over the past two decades, scientists report today (Sept. 20).

The study, published in the Journal of Climate, draws on temperature trends between the 1990s and 2000s in the deep Southern Ocean. Though there are no continental boundaries, and all oceans contribute water to the Southern Ocean, its distinct circulation makes the area a separate water body.

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Only Two Men Have Reached The Deepest Part Of The Sea

Explorers Jacques Picard and Don Walsh reached the very deepest point of the ocean on January 23, 1960

As Director James Cameron Plans To Film Avatar Sequel Seven Miles Below The Sea's Surface, We Go Into The Deadly Deep With The Only Two Men Who've Been There -- The Daily Mail

Five thousand fathoms under the waves, a deafening clang rang out through the cramped, freezing submarine, causing the whole ­vessel to shake like a leaf.

Squinting through their tiny Plexiglas window into the abyss, the two explorers’ hearts missed
a beat.

‘It was a pretty hairy experience,’ they said afterwards with some understatement. The outer
layer of their porthole had cracked under the ­unimaginable weight of six miles of seawater — and they still had more than a mile to descend.

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Dry Regions Becoming Drier: Ocean Salinities Show an Intensified Water Cycle

An Argo robotic profiling instrument being deployed from the research vessel, Southern Surveyor. (Credit: Alicia Navidad)

From Live Science:

ScienceDaily (Apr. 18, 2010) — The stronger water cycle means arid regions have become drier and high rainfall regions wetter as atmospheric temperature increases.

The study, co-authored by CSIRO scientists Paul Durack and Dr Susan Wijffels, shows the surface ocean beneath rainfall-dominated regions has freshened, whereas ocean regions dominated by evaporation are saltier. The paper also confirms that surface warming of the world's oceans over the past 50 years has penetrated into the oceans' interior changing deep-ocean salinity patterns.

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Hawaiian Submarine Canyons Are Hotspots Of Biodiversity And Biomass For Seafloor Animal Communities

Large gorgonian observed at 650 m off the North Coast of Moloka i, dubbed "Cousin It." (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Hawaii at Manoa)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Apr. 11, 2010) — Underwater canyons have long been considered important habitats for marine life, but until recently, only canyons on continental margins had been intensively studied. Researchers from Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) and the Universtiy of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) have now conducted the first extensive study of canyons in the oceanic Hawaiian Archipelago and found that these submarine canyons support especially abundant and unique communities of megafauna (large animals such as fish, shrimp, crabs, sea cucumbers, and sea urchins) including 41 species not observed in other habitats in the Hawaiian Islands.

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Oceanology: Robot 'Gliders' Swim The Undersea World

Engage the wave drive (Image: Liquid Robotics)

From New Scientist:

THE way we study oceans could be transformed by a high-tech "surfboard" that generates its own power from sunlight and water waves. The device is capable of navigating at sea for months at a time and recently completed a 4000-kilometre trip from Hawaii to San Diego, California.

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Gulf Stream 'Is Not Slowing Down'

From The BBC:

The Gulf Stream does not appear to be slowing down, say US scientists who have used satellites to monitor tell-tale changes in the height of the sea.

Confirming work by other scientists using different methodologies, they found dramatic short-term variability but no longer-term trend.

A slow-down - dramatised in the movie The Day After Tomorrow - is projected by some models of climate change.

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