Antarctica Versus Global Warming

Based on last year study, despite some past evidence to the contrary, the continent of Antarctica is warming together with the rest of the planet. The study took into account satellite measurements and found that between 1957 and 2006, temperatures in Antarctica rose an average of 0.18 degrees Fahrenheit. This could be a real problem in the future because the ice sheets hold enough water to raise sea levels by 187 feet if they will melt.

“We now see warming is taking place on all seven of the earth’s continents in accord with what models predict as a response to greenhouse gases,” said Eric J. Steig, a professor of earth and space sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle, who is the lead author of a paper published in the journal Nature in 2009. Because the climate record is still short, more work needs to be done to determine how much of the warming results from natural climate swings and how much from the warming effects of carbon dioxide released by the burning of fossil fuels, Dr. Steig said.

Credit: NASA, The dark red shows the area that has warmed the most.

Source: nytimes.com

Global Warming will Wipe Out Plankton from Oceans

Plankton is the most prevalent life and food source in the ocean. Phytoplankton, which carries on photosynthesis near the ocean surface, serves as food for the zooplankton and fish.
The microscopic plants that underpin all life in the oceans are likely to be destroyed by global warming. Scientists have discovered a way that the vital plankton of the oceans can be starved of nutrients as a result of the seas getting warmer. They believe the findings have catastrophic implications for the entire marine habitat, which ultimately relies on plankton at the base of the food chain.

Plankton are microscopic animals (zooplankton) and algae (phytoplankton) that live in the ocean. They drift on currents and provide food for many ocean residents.

“A larger temperature difference between two water layers implies less mixing of chemicals between these water layers,” he said. “Global warming of the surface layers of the oceans, owing to climate change, strengthens the stratification and thereby reduces the upward mixing of nutrients.”

Scientists had believed phytoplankton, which survives best at depths of about 100 metres, is largely stable and immune from the impact of global warming. “This model prediction was rather unexpected,” Professor Huisman said.

“Reduced stability of the plankton, caused by global warming of the oceans, may result in a decline of oceanic production and reduced sequestration of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the oceans.”

Phytoplankton therefore acts as a carbon “sink” which takes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and deposits the carbon in long-term stores that can remain undisturbed for thousands of years. If the growth of phytoplankton is interrupted by global warming, this ability to act as a buffer against global warming is also affected – leading to a much-feared positive feedback.

Source: Independent News and Media Limited