Oceanography

Byrd Station Temperature Data Shows Warming On West Antarctic Ice Sheet

A new paper that uses the temperature record from Byrd Station, a scientific outpost in the center of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS),  says that the western part of the ice sheet is experiencing nearly twice as much warming as previously thought. The ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 24 2012 - 5:31am

40 Million Year Examination Of The Relationship Between CO2 And Sea Level

Reconstructions of atmospheric CO2 concentrations and sea level over the past 40 million years show that greenhouse gas concentrations similar to the present (nearly 400 parts per million) were associated with sea levels at least nine meters above current ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 2 2013 - 2:30pm

Thinner, Younger: Melt Ponds Cause Arctic Sea Ice To Melt More Rapidly

Arctic sea ice has not only declined over the past decade but has also become distinctly thinner and younger- mainly thin, first-year ice floes which are extensively covered with melt ponds in the summer months where once meter-thick, multi-year ice used ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 20 2013 - 11:32am

Greenland Ice Cores Show It's Less Sensitive To Warming Than Believed- But There Is Still A Caution

A new study details changes in Earth's climate from more than 100,000 years ago and indicates that the last interglacial, the term for the periods between "ice ages", was warmer than previously thought.  The research findings also indicate ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 25 2013 - 4:00pm

Corals Do Just Fine In The Hottest Reefs On The Planet

There are projections that coral reefs will decline due to global warming but evolution disagrees. A number of coral species survive at seawater temperatures far higher than estimates for the tropics during the next century.  We associate coral reefs with ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 1 2013 - 12:20pm

Sunlight Stimulates Release Of Ancient Carbon In Melting Arctic Permafrost

Ancient carbon trapped in Arctic permafrost is extremely sensitive to sunlight and can release climate-warming carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere faster than previously thought if exposed to the surface when long-frozen soils melt and collapse.. They ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 11 2013 - 11:00pm

Simulation: Global Sea-Level Change May Be Uneven

Sea-level rise over the coming century could affect some regions far more than others, according to a numerical model which projects that parts of the Pacific will see the highest rates of rise while some polar regions will experience falls in relative se ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 19 2013 - 12:39pm

Numerical Model Predicts A Greener Arctic

Rising temperatures will lead to a "greening" of the Arctic by mid-century, according to a new numerical model.  The greening not only will have effects on plant life, the researchers noted, but also on the wildlife that depends on vegetation fo ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 9 2013 - 2:35pm

Cutting 4 Pollutants Would Slow Sea Level Rise

 Average sea level changes have averaged about 3 millimeters annually in recent years, leading the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report to estimate that sea levels could rise between 18 and 59 centimeters (7 to 23 inches) this century.   ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 15 2013 - 9:26am

Arctic Snowpack's Role In Atmospheric Cleaning And Ozone Depletion

The climate just got a little more complex.  Researchers have found that sunlit snow is a major source of atmospheric bromine in the Arctic and that the surface snowpack above Arctic sea ice plays a previously unknown role in the bromine cycle. Bromine is ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 26 2013 - 8:58am