Sea life's importance to the climate
Does the marine biosphere mix the ocean? A group of oceanographers led by W.K. Dewar of Florida State University argue that the swimming action of fish and other marine organisms may play a critical role in driving ocean currents. If true, large-scale over-fishing or the collapse of the marine food chain due to pollution or ocean acidification may cause significant changes in ocean currents--and Earth's climate.
Figure 1. Rainbow made From a sperm whale using his blowhole. Image taken June 17, 2006 in Kaikora, New Zealand by wunderphotographer jhfelder.
The Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) or Thermohaline Circulation is a well-known feature of the ocean circulation. In the Atlantic, the Gulf Stream current forms a portion of the MOC. Gulf Stream waters flow to the region near Greenland, where an input of fresh, denser water from melting ice and river run-off creates a downward flow of water that then moves southward along the ocean bottom towards the Equator. This deep water eventually returns to the surface in the mid-Atlantic to complete a cell of the MOC. Scientists have long thought that the energy needed to drive the MOC came from winds and tides--about two terrawatts of energy (Munk and Wunsch, 1998). However, Dewar et al. show that the mechanical energy added to the ocean by the swimming action of whales is about 1% of this total, and the swimming action of other marine organisms (primarily zooplankton) adds up to 50% of this total--one terrawatt of energy. While the authors admit that their calculations may have large errors, this research shows that marine life may have a heretofore unappreciated large impact on Earth's climate. Our climate is intimately connected to the sun, life on land, life in the ocean, and human activities in an incredibly complex web of interconnections. It is our challenge to understand this system, even as we change it and it changes of its own accord.
My next blog will be Thursday afternoon, when the new Dr. Bill Gray/Phil Klotzbach Atlantic hurricane season forecast will be released.
Jeff Masters
Dewar, W.K., R.J. Bingham, R.L. Iverson, D.P. Nowacek, L.C. St. Laurent, and P.H. Wiebe, 2006, "Does the marine biosphere mix the ocean?", Journal of Marine Research, 64, 541-561.
Munk, W., and C. Wunsch, 1998, "Abyssal recipes II: Energetics of tidal and wind mixing", Deep-Sea Res., 45, 1976-2009.
Reader Comments
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 — Blog Index
The Caribbean Sea...
a sfc trough remains in the Caribbean along 20n81w 12n80w. A
weak 1010 mb low is along the trough near 15n81w which is
expected to dissipate through Wed. Scattered showers and
isolated tstms are within 150nm either side of the trough axis.
Upper diffluence around ridging is supporting isolated moderate
convection off the Colombian coast S of 15n between 70w-80w.
The NHC have finally placed the low where I indicated it was from late this morning. It remains to be seen whether it dissipates or not. Other than that not much else going on for now
Come to my blog on the top of my page after you click my name. It has a lot of information that's going on with this caribbean system. It'll explain everything that's going on. Thanks!
-Justin~
Ummm...I didn't see the Miss Universe pageant and don't quote me on this, but one of my friends told me not to drink Coronas anymore because because uh, they...(Hint: It's the same color as beer.) Why do you think you add the lime?:)
Getting back to the weather, was there a La Nina in 2004?
No, actually it was a weak El Nino.
Do the storms in the earlier part of the season usually come up from the Caribbean and then later on come off of Africa?
Just for you LOL
...Thanks, Weatherblog. Because that was the year we got hit 4 times in Central Florida, after years of pretty much being left alone.
Do the storms in the earlier part of the season usually come up from the Caribbean and then later on come off of Africa?
Essentially that is correct. From the start of the season until mid to late July most storms have their genesis in the Caribbean or the GOM. From mid to late July until the end of Sept we have what is known as the Cape Verde storms that start off as waves of low pressure on the West African coast and then traverse the Atlantic, often becoming very intense hurricanes of cat 4 or 5. The reason for this is that those are the months when all the conditions are just about right in the tropical Atlantic and, furthermore, the systems have thousands of miles of open warm water to strenghten on. Come Oct and Nov we revert to the Caribbean for the breeding ground of tropical systems as wind shear tends to be too strong across the Atlantic by then
Evening everyone. Just finished a dinner party. What's up?
Hi Nash
Not much going on. We have had some of everything on here today. I guess that happens when everyone is waiting for something to happen on this side of the tropics
looks like everyone has wound down for the evening
VIRTUALLY EVERY AVBL MODEL(NAM/GFS/UKM/ECM/CMC/NGP) AND EVEN SOME
OF LESSER KNOWN ONES (JMA/KMA-GDAPS) SHOW A DISCRETE LOW PRES SYSTEM GRADUALLY SPINNING UP ACROSS THE NW CARIBBEAN OVER THE NEXT 2-3 DAYS... THEN TURNING N/NEWD AND MOVING ACROSS FL OR VERY NEARLY SO...WITH THE SAT DAYTIME PD...GIVE OR TAKE A BIT...BEING THE BROAD CONSENSUS ON TIME FRAME FOR POTENTIAL EFFECTS ON SENSIBLE WX.
HOWEVER...EVEN WITH THIS LOOSE CONSENSUS...AND THE FACT THAT THIS IS NOW GETTING INTO THE DAY 3 TO 4 FCST TIME FRAME...CAVEATS STILL ABOUND.
NOTWITHSTANDING THE PREVIOUS MODEL "FALSE ALARMS"...THERE REMAIN SIGNIFICANT DIFFS BETWEEN THE MODELS - ENOUGH SO TO REMAIN WARY OF COMPLETELY BUYING INTO A HIGH POP/QPF EVENT FOR AT LEAST PART OF THE
CWA. FOR INSTANCE...SOME OF THE GUIDANCE (ECM/NGP/GFS) STILL KEEP THE SYSTEM FAR ENOUGH SOUTH/EAST SUCH THAT MUCH OF THE PRECIP MISSES ECFL...ALBEIT NOT BY MUCH. OTHERS (UKM/CMC/JMA...WITH THE H84 NAM
HINTING AS SUCH) BRING THE LOW FAR ENOUGH NORTH ACROSS THE ERN GOMEX TO GIVE THE CTRL PENINSULA HIGH POPS/DECENT QPF.
Hardcoreweather.com
Link
-Justin~
Forum Giant
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/flt/t7/loop-avn.html
I believe this system will bring devastating flooding and mudslides to portions of Mexico, that's in the near future, however, as for the potential for devastating winds as well, we'll have to wait and see.
Forum Giant- Weather Forum
With that said, My simple point was that Dr. Master's post was not directly associated with Global Warming, it was more of a post regarding another newly discovered Natural Climatic Element that humans could inadvertently manipulate.
Oh and Weatherboykris- You do realize you stated the a slowing of the Thermohaline Circulation would result in a cooling of the earth. That's not Global Warming.
what if i got ran overe by a train
what if FL got 15' of rain in 2 hrs time
lol
Link
what if Long Valley Caldera Eruption
what if a cat 5 hurricane hit FL with out Warning
what if a cat 5 hit new york with out Warning
Viewing: 351 - 401
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 — Blog Index