Ahead of major climate talks at COP21 this year in Paris, scientists are offering insights to the far-reaching effects of rising carbon dioxide levels on the ocean. Spearheaded by the Oceans 2015 Initiative, which brought together 22 scientists and policy experts from nine different countries, the results were published this week in the journal Science and focus on how warming waters, rising seas, and ocean acidification drive changes to the global ocean.
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Tiny drifting algae called diatoms generate about 20 percent of the oxygen produced on Earth each year—more than all of the world’s rainforests. A new study from the College of the Environment’s School of Oceanography and Seattle’s Institute for Systems Biology looked at how common species of diatoms will adjust to sudden and long-term increases in carbon dioxide. The scientists found that when CO2 spikes, as might happen during a sudden change in ocean currents, the diatoms produce a signaling molecule that reduces the energy-intensive process required to concentrate the carbon dioxide.
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“A New History of Life” by Earth and Space Sciences’ Peter Ward and Joseph L. Kirschvink from the California Institute of Technology draws on their years of experience in paleontology, biology, chemistry, and astrobiology to illuminate recent scientific developments about the evolution of life on Earth. More than 150 years after Darwin published his evolutionary theories, Ward and Kirschvink argue that chaos and catastrophe shaped the evolution of life on Earth; that it was not an elegant, gradual process.
Read more at The Wall Street Journal »
New research from the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences suggests that the choices we make about how we use our lands —such as for agriculture or development—has an impact on a landscape’s ability to effectively store carbon. Published in Nature Geoscience, the authors find that disturbance reintroduces carbon that is locked up on land back into the carbon cycle, often through runoff that deposits it into our rivers and wetlands.
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The Research Vessel Thomas G. Thompson —UW’s 274-foot-ship capable of accessing the world’s oceans—provided a platform for research and a home to several oceanography students as they wrapped up their quarter’s research in mid-December. Sending scientific instruments overboard to capture and record all sorts of ocean data, the students blogged about their adventures along the west coast of Canada and shared what they learned.
Read more at UW Today »
