Global warming: Want to see Northwest impacts? Just look around

Living in a corner of America powered, irrigated and inspired by water, we ought to treat Tuesday’s report released by the White House, Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, as a wake-up call and cold shower.
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“Climate change and ocean acidification are already having major impacts on Washington: Our $100 million shellfish industry is in crisis after four years of oyster reproductive failure from ocean acidification,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

If oyster beds are in peril, so are salmon-spawning streams. One third of current habitat for Northwest salmon and other cold-water fish will be lost in this century, or so finds the report.

OCB to host ocean acidification short course in fall 2009

Ocean acidification is a high-priority OCB research topic that has recently been the focus of multiple workshops, white papers, and reports, and there is great urgency among members of the national and international research communities to plan and conduct viable and compelling experiments that will improve our understanding of the potential biogeochemical and ecological impacts of ocean acidification. The OCB Project Office and the Ocean Acidification Subcommittee are developing a hands-on ocean acidification short course that will convene members of the biological and chemical oceanography research communities to gain mutual insights on optimal ocean acidification experimental design. The short course will build on the recommendations from the Guide to Best Practices in Ocean Acidification Research and Data Reporting, and would provide a mechanism for educating scientists on appropriate chemical and biological techniques and protocols related to ocean acidification.

Exploring the feasibility of an in situ mesoscale carbon addition experiment

A workshop to explore the scientific justification and logistical feasibility of an in situ open ocean mesoscale CO2 perturbation experiment was held at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University (LDEO) on 23-24 March, 2009 in Palisades, New York (see Appendix I for agenda). The objective of the workshop was to assess the current understanding of the potential effects on open ocean ecosystems and biogeochemical cycling resulting from CO2 increases in ocean in response to increased atmospheric pCO2 and to determine the feasibility of an in situ open ocean mesoscale CO2 perturbation experiment. Support was provided by three sources: 1) LDEO Climate Center; 2) LDEO Advisory Board Innovation Fund; and 3) NSF – ADVANCE of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Approximately 15 people attended over the course of the two meeting days. Participants included both LDEO and outside scientists representing the fields of modeling and physical, geochemical and biological oceanography (see Appendix II for participant list). The meeting format was interactive and strong on discussions and calculations. Products of the meeting included: 1) scientific justification of a large scale open ocean experiment 2) a vision of a semi- enclosed experimental design; 3) prioritization of two potential experimental locations along with justifications for each site; 4) anticipated biological and geochemical responses; 5) appropriate observations and measurements necessary to document experimental responses.

The EPOCA ocean acidification blog now available on Twitter

The EPOCA ocean acidification blog is now available on Twitter.

Coral growth rates revisited after 31 years: What is causing lower extension rates in Acropora Palmata?

Linear extension of branches in the same Acropora palmata (Lamarck, 1816) population in Curaçao was measured, employing exactly the same methods, in 1971-1973 and in 2002-2004, and the resulting coral growth rates are compared. Linear growth shows the same pattern over seasons in both periods with growth being significantly higher in summer than in winter. Growth in the 2002-2004 time interval was significantly slower than in 1971-1973. Mean monthly growth ranged from 0.69 cm (winter) to 0.81 cm (summer) in 1971-1973 and from 0.62 cm (winter) to 0.75 cm (summer) in 2002-2004. This means that linear growth rates in 2002-2004 were 7.2% lower in summer and 10.7% lower in winter compared with 1971-1973. Considering possible causative environmental factors relating to these decreases in growth rate, we cannot preclude the possibility that a change in ocean pH could be responsible for the drop in extension rate.

The MATLAB-version of the original Program Developed for CO2 System Calculations (CO2SYS for DOS)

The program is now available from CDIAC: http://cdiac.ornl.gov/oceans/co2rprt.html

This is a MATLAB-version of the original CO2SYS for DOS. CO2SYS calculates and returns a detailed state of the carbonate system of oceanographic water samples, if supplied with enough input. It is also used to convert between different pH scales. Use this function as you would use any other Matlab inline function: a=func(b,c). For extended details on using the function, please refer to the enclosed help by typing “help CO2SYS” in Matlab.

EPA, do something about ocean acidification!

MCBI and 31 other organizations wrote a letter to the EPA asking them to address ocean acidification through their powers under the Clean Water Act:

On behalf of the American Fisheries Society, Blue Ocean Institute, California Coastkeeper Alliance, Campaign to Safeguard America’s Waters, Center for Biological Diversity, Clean Water Network, CORALations, Coral Reef Alliance, Environmental Defense Center, EPIC (Environmental Protection Information Center), Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace USA, Gulf Restoration Network, Humboldt Baykeeper, International Center for Technology Assessment, KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, Marine Conservation Biology Institute, Niijii Films (producers of A Sea Change: Imagine a World without Fish), Northcoast Environmental Center, Oceana, Pacific Environment, Palm Beach County Reef Rescue, People for Puget Sound, Reef Relief, Sailors for the Sea, San Francisco Baykeeper, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Turtle Island Restoration Network, Western Nebraska Resources Council, Wildcoast, and Xerces Society, we thank you for the opportunity to submit information on ocean acidification for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consider during its review of water quality criteria under the Clean Water Act. We support EPA’s call for data and information and urge EPA to adopt stringent water quality criteria that adequately protect marine life from ocean acidification.

CO2 higher today than last 2.1 million years

Study offers detailed look at past greenhouse gas levels

Researchers have reconstructed atmospheric carbon dioxide levels over the past 2.1 million years in the sharpest detail yet, shedding new light on its role in the earth’s cycles of cooling and warming.

The study, in the June 19 issue of the journal Science, is the latest to rule out a drop in CO2 as the cause for earth’s ice ages growing longer and more intense some 850,000 years ago. But it also confirms many researchers’ suspicion that higher carbon dioxide levels coincided with warmer intervals during the study period.

The authors show that peak CO2 levels over the last 2.1 million years averaged only 280 parts per million; but today, CO2 is at 385 parts per million, or 38% higher. This finding means that researchers will need to look back further in time for an analog to modern day climate change.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration across the mid-pleistocene transition

The dominant period of Pleistocene glacial cycles changed during the mid-Pleistocene from 40,000 years to 100,000 years, for as yet unknown reasons. Here we present a 2.1-million-year record of sea surface partial pressure of CO2 (PCO2), based on boron isotopes in planktic foraminifer shells, which suggests that the atmospheric partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) was relatively stable before the mid-Pleistocene climate transition. Glacial PCO2 was ~31 microatmospheres higher before the transition (more than 1 million years ago), but interglacial PCO2 was similar to that of late Pleistocene interglacial cycles (<450,000 years ago). These estimates are consistent with a close linkage between atmospheric CO2 concentration and global climate, but the lack of a gradual decrease in interglacial PCO2 does not support the suggestion that a long-term drawdown of atmospheric CO2 was the main cause of the climate transition.