Video - Changing Earth: How Dead Zones Form
http://www.livescience.com/common/media/video/player.php?videoRef=LS_080714_killer_phytoplankton
---------------
A very useful Video by NASA
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Dead Zones Doubling Every Decade
http://www.livescience.com/environment/etc/091008-dead-zones-doubling-every-decade.html
Dead Zones Doubling Every Decade
Submitted by LiveScience Staff
posted: 08 October 2009 03:04 pm ET
Global distribution of the more than 400 marine systems with dead zones caused by increased nutrient runoff. Their distribution matches the current human "footprint" in the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere, dead zones have only been reported recently.
Earth's oceans currently have more than 400 dead zones, oxygen-starved areas that are hundreds or thousands of square miles and virtually devoid of life during summer months.
The tally is doubling every decade, according to the National Science Foundation.
Most dead zones, including one in the Gulf of Mexico, are caused by pollution that is dumped into oceans by rivers. It works like this:
Each year, spring runoff washes nitrogen-rich fertilizers from farms in the Mississippi River basin and carries them into the river and the streams that feed it. The nitrogen eventually empties out of the mouth of the Mississippi and into the Gulf of Mexico, where tiny phytoplankton feed off of it and spread into an enormous bloom.
When these creatures die, they sink to the ocean floor, and their decomposition strips the water of oxygen. This condition, called hypoxia, prevents animals that depend on oxygen, such as fish or shrimp, from living in those waters. In recent years, this so-called "dead zone" has grown to the size of New Jersey—about 20,000 square kilometers (7,700 square miles)—each summer.
But there's another emerging culprit, the NSF explains in a new special report. Every summer since 2002, the Pacific Northwest's coastal waters -- one of the U.S.'s most important fisheries -- has seen massive dead zones believed to be caused by an entirely different and surprising phenomena: changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulation that may, in turn, be caused by climate change.
Dead Zones Doubling Every Decade
Submitted by LiveScience Staff
posted: 08 October 2009 03:04 pm ET
Global distribution of the more than 400 marine systems with dead zones caused by increased nutrient runoff. Their distribution matches the current human "footprint" in the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere, dead zones have only been reported recently.
Earth's oceans currently have more than 400 dead zones, oxygen-starved areas that are hundreds or thousands of square miles and virtually devoid of life during summer months.
The tally is doubling every decade, according to the National Science Foundation.
Most dead zones, including one in the Gulf of Mexico, are caused by pollution that is dumped into oceans by rivers. It works like this:
Each year, spring runoff washes nitrogen-rich fertilizers from farms in the Mississippi River basin and carries them into the river and the streams that feed it. The nitrogen eventually empties out of the mouth of the Mississippi and into the Gulf of Mexico, where tiny phytoplankton feed off of it and spread into an enormous bloom.
When these creatures die, they sink to the ocean floor, and their decomposition strips the water of oxygen. This condition, called hypoxia, prevents animals that depend on oxygen, such as fish or shrimp, from living in those waters. In recent years, this so-called "dead zone" has grown to the size of New Jersey—about 20,000 square kilometers (7,700 square miles)—each summer.
But there's another emerging culprit, the NSF explains in a new special report. Every summer since 2002, the Pacific Northwest's coastal waters -- one of the U.S.'s most important fisheries -- has seen massive dead zones believed to be caused by an entirely different and surprising phenomena: changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulation that may, in turn, be caused by climate change.
World must cut CO2 to India levels - David King, UK
http://renewenergy.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/world-must-cut-co2-to-india-levels-top-scientist/
World must cut CO2 to India levels: top scientist
2008-05-29 by renewenergy
Rich nations need to cut per-capita greenhouse gas emissions to India’s current levels by mid-century to avoid devastating climate change, Britain’s former chief scientific adviser said on Wednesday.
Global carbon dioxide (CO2) levels from burning fossil fuels were already rising quickly and rich nations needed to quickly figure out how to maintain economic growth while committing to deep cuts in emissions, said David King.
“If you (don’t want) run-away climate change, you need to be at about 350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 … We’re currently at 387 ppm CO2, going up at 2 per annum,” said King, director at Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise and Environment.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most common greenhouse gas, and atmospheric levels are sometimes measured as CO2 in parts per million. Collectively, all greenhouse gases can also be expressed as CO2 equivalent (CO2e).
King said that maintaining atmospheric CO2 levels at 450 ppm risked a 20 percent chance of global temperatures rising nearly 4 degrees Celsius.
“If you include all greenhouse gases, we’re at around 420 ppm CO2e,” he said, speaking at a climate change workshop hosted by Thomson Reuters in London.
He said Europe needed to reduce its annual per-capita emissions by 80 percent, or from 11 tons of CO2e, to India’s current level of 2.2 tons per person by 2050.
The United States, emitting an average of 27 tons of CO2e per person every year, also needs to fall to these levels if the world is to avoid a dramatic rise in temperatures, he said.
“I think that encapsulates the challenge, to move from where we are now to where the Indians are today, while growing the global economy at the same time,” said King.
RISKING DISASTER
Failure to do so courted environmental disaster, he said, explaining that melting Arctic sea ice heated up the ocean in the far north much faster because ice reflects a large portion of the sun’s radiation, while open ocean absorbs the sun’s heat.
A rise of several degrees Celsius could also mean the Amazon rainforest drying out, turning it into a big source of carbon dioxide emissions rather than a vast sink for the gas as it is now.
The first round of the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol, which seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions from 37 industrialized nations, expires in 2012 and governments are scrambling to agree a successor agreement by the end of 2009 at a U.N. meeting in Copenhagen.
If governments fail to reach consensus, King thinks another solution to climate change might be so-called geo-engineering, which uses technology to deliberately modify the environment and to promote human habitability.
“We need to remove the carbon dioxide, I suspect not from the atmosphere because it’s too expensive … but possibly from the oceans as they are acidifying,” King said.
Oceans absorb large amounts of CO2 but increasing levels of the gas in the atmosphere is causing oceans to become more acidic, threatening the food chain and marine ecosystems such as coral reefs.
Making geo-engineering profitable for the private sector by establishing a market price for carbon dioxide might promote research and development in the new technology.
“I haven’t worked out what the price of carbon dioxide would have to be to encourage companies to start pumping it out of the oceans, but that is the way we need to move forward.”
---------------------------------
Nualgi and Diatom Algae can remove CO2 from the Oceans very easily and economically
World must cut CO2 to India levels: top scientist
2008-05-29 by renewenergy
Rich nations need to cut per-capita greenhouse gas emissions to India’s current levels by mid-century to avoid devastating climate change, Britain’s former chief scientific adviser said on Wednesday.
Global carbon dioxide (CO2) levels from burning fossil fuels were already rising quickly and rich nations needed to quickly figure out how to maintain economic growth while committing to deep cuts in emissions, said David King.
“If you (don’t want) run-away climate change, you need to be at about 350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 … We’re currently at 387 ppm CO2, going up at 2 per annum,” said King, director at Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise and Environment.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most common greenhouse gas, and atmospheric levels are sometimes measured as CO2 in parts per million. Collectively, all greenhouse gases can also be expressed as CO2 equivalent (CO2e).
King said that maintaining atmospheric CO2 levels at 450 ppm risked a 20 percent chance of global temperatures rising nearly 4 degrees Celsius.
“If you include all greenhouse gases, we’re at around 420 ppm CO2e,” he said, speaking at a climate change workshop hosted by Thomson Reuters in London.
He said Europe needed to reduce its annual per-capita emissions by 80 percent, or from 11 tons of CO2e, to India’s current level of 2.2 tons per person by 2050.
The United States, emitting an average of 27 tons of CO2e per person every year, also needs to fall to these levels if the world is to avoid a dramatic rise in temperatures, he said.
“I think that encapsulates the challenge, to move from where we are now to where the Indians are today, while growing the global economy at the same time,” said King.
RISKING DISASTER
Failure to do so courted environmental disaster, he said, explaining that melting Arctic sea ice heated up the ocean in the far north much faster because ice reflects a large portion of the sun’s radiation, while open ocean absorbs the sun’s heat.
A rise of several degrees Celsius could also mean the Amazon rainforest drying out, turning it into a big source of carbon dioxide emissions rather than a vast sink for the gas as it is now.
The first round of the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol, which seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions from 37 industrialized nations, expires in 2012 and governments are scrambling to agree a successor agreement by the end of 2009 at a U.N. meeting in Copenhagen.
If governments fail to reach consensus, King thinks another solution to climate change might be so-called geo-engineering, which uses technology to deliberately modify the environment and to promote human habitability.
“We need to remove the carbon dioxide, I suspect not from the atmosphere because it’s too expensive … but possibly from the oceans as they are acidifying,” King said.
Oceans absorb large amounts of CO2 but increasing levels of the gas in the atmosphere is causing oceans to become more acidic, threatening the food chain and marine ecosystems such as coral reefs.
Making geo-engineering profitable for the private sector by establishing a market price for carbon dioxide might promote research and development in the new technology.
“I haven’t worked out what the price of carbon dioxide would have to be to encourage companies to start pumping it out of the oceans, but that is the way we need to move forward.”
---------------------------------
Nualgi and Diatom Algae can remove CO2 from the Oceans very easily and economically
Friday, October 23, 2009
Dead Zones contribute to Nitrous Oxide
'Dead-zone' microbe measures ocean health
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/10/22/tech-climate-ocean-dead-zone-microbe.html
"Specifically, SUP05 removes toxic sulphides from the water and fixes carbon dioxide, but we also think it's producing nitrous oxide, which is a more potent greenhouse gas than either carbon dioxide or methane," Hallam said.
------------------------------------
there are over 400 dead zones in all the oceans of the world.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/10/22/tech-climate-ocean-dead-zone-microbe.html
"Specifically, SUP05 removes toxic sulphides from the water and fixes carbon dioxide, but we also think it's producing nitrous oxide, which is a more potent greenhouse gas than either carbon dioxide or methane," Hallam said.
------------------------------------
there are over 400 dead zones in all the oceans of the world.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Nitrogen Cycle: Key Ingredient In Climate Model Refines Global Predictions
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091009204032.htm
To date, climate models ignored the nutrient requirements for new vegetation growth, assuming that all plants on earth had access to as much "plant food" as they needed. But by taking the natural demand for nutrients into account, the authors have shown that the stimulation of plant growth over the coming century may be two to three times smaller than previously predicted. Since less growth implies less CO2 absorbed by vegetation, the CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere are expected to increase.
However, this reduction in growth is partially offset by another effect on the nitrogen cycle: an increase in the availability of nutrients resulting from an accelerated rate of decomposition – the rotting of dead plants and other organic matter – that occurs with a rise in temperature.
Combining these two effects, the authors discovered that the increased availability of nutrients from more rapid decomposition did not counterbalance the reduced level of plant growth calculated by natural nutrient limitations; therefore less new growth and higher atmospheric CO2 concentrations are expected.
http://www.greencitizens.net/blogs/1article.php?b_id=8528907504
--------------------------------------------
This is precisely the problem that Nualgi and Diatoms can tackle very well, by increasing growth of Diatom Algae in any waterbody.
This will take up the excess nutrients and will also capture CO2 and prevent water pollution due to decomposition of plant matter in water and from harmful algal blooms.
To date, climate models ignored the nutrient requirements for new vegetation growth, assuming that all plants on earth had access to as much "plant food" as they needed. But by taking the natural demand for nutrients into account, the authors have shown that the stimulation of plant growth over the coming century may be two to three times smaller than previously predicted. Since less growth implies less CO2 absorbed by vegetation, the CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere are expected to increase.
However, this reduction in growth is partially offset by another effect on the nitrogen cycle: an increase in the availability of nutrients resulting from an accelerated rate of decomposition – the rotting of dead plants and other organic matter – that occurs with a rise in temperature.
Combining these two effects, the authors discovered that the increased availability of nutrients from more rapid decomposition did not counterbalance the reduced level of plant growth calculated by natural nutrient limitations; therefore less new growth and higher atmospheric CO2 concentrations are expected.
http://www.greencitizens.net/blogs/1article.php?b_id=8528907504
--------------------------------------------
This is precisely the problem that Nualgi and Diatoms can tackle very well, by increasing growth of Diatom Algae in any waterbody.
This will take up the excess nutrients and will also capture CO2 and prevent water pollution due to decomposition of plant matter in water and from harmful algal blooms.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
SOS: Is Climate Change Suffocating Our Seas?
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1767833/sos_is_climate_change_suffocating_our_seas/
SOS: Is Climate Change Suffocating Our Seas?
Posted on: Saturday, 10 October 2009, 08:36 CDT
Scientists work to explain why massive "dead zones" have been invading the Pacific Northwest's near-shore waters since 2002
Yet another ecological scourge may earn a place on the ever-lengthening list of problems potentially caused by climate change: the formation of some so-called "dead zones"—huge expanses of ocean that lose virtually all of their marine life at depth during the summer.
Possible connections between climate change and the relatively recent formation of dead zones in the Pacific Northwest's coastal waters are currently being studied by a research team that is funded by the National Science Foundation and co-led by Jack Barth of Oregon State University (OSU) and Francis Chan of OSU. (Jane Lubchenco, who is currently on leave from OSU while serving as the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, also previously co-led the team.)
WORLDWIDE DEAD ZONES
The Earth currently has more than 400 oceanic dead zones, with the count doubling every decade. A single dead zone may cover tens of thousands of square miles.
Dead zones form where microscopic plants, known as phytoplankton, are fertilized by excess nutrients, such as fertilizers and sewage, that are generated by human activities and dumped into the ocean by rivers, or more rarely, where they are fertilized by naturally occurring nutrients. The result: blooms of organic matter that ultimately decompose through processes that rob the ocean of life-sustaining oxygen. Animals that fail to flee dead zones either suffocate or suffer severe stress.
--------------------------
The reference to Phytoplankton is not entirely correct - Cyanobacteria and Dinoflagalletes may lead to fall in DO level, but Diatom Algae leads to increase in DO level. They do not die and decompose, they are consumed by zooplankton or fall to the ocean floor.
This distinction is not being made by most people.
The solution is to get the right type of Phytoplankton to bloom - Diatom Algae.
SOS: Is Climate Change Suffocating Our Seas?
Posted on: Saturday, 10 October 2009, 08:36 CDT
Scientists work to explain why massive "dead zones" have been invading the Pacific Northwest's near-shore waters since 2002
Yet another ecological scourge may earn a place on the ever-lengthening list of problems potentially caused by climate change: the formation of some so-called "dead zones"—huge expanses of ocean that lose virtually all of their marine life at depth during the summer.
Possible connections between climate change and the relatively recent formation of dead zones in the Pacific Northwest's coastal waters are currently being studied by a research team that is funded by the National Science Foundation and co-led by Jack Barth of Oregon State University (OSU) and Francis Chan of OSU. (Jane Lubchenco, who is currently on leave from OSU while serving as the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, also previously co-led the team.)
WORLDWIDE DEAD ZONES
The Earth currently has more than 400 oceanic dead zones, with the count doubling every decade. A single dead zone may cover tens of thousands of square miles.
Dead zones form where microscopic plants, known as phytoplankton, are fertilized by excess nutrients, such as fertilizers and sewage, that are generated by human activities and dumped into the ocean by rivers, or more rarely, where they are fertilized by naturally occurring nutrients. The result: blooms of organic matter that ultimately decompose through processes that rob the ocean of life-sustaining oxygen. Animals that fail to flee dead zones either suffocate or suffer severe stress.
--------------------------
The reference to Phytoplankton is not entirely correct - Cyanobacteria and Dinoflagalletes may lead to fall in DO level, but Diatom Algae leads to increase in DO level. They do not die and decompose, they are consumed by zooplankton or fall to the ocean floor.
This distinction is not being made by most people.
The solution is to get the right type of Phytoplankton to bloom - Diatom Algae.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
