Climate Change And The Oceanic Carbon Cycle

Our desire to understand the global carbon cycle and its link to the climate system represents a huge challenge. These overarching questions have driven a great deal of scientific endeavour in recent years: What are the basic oceanic mechanisms which control the oceanic carbon reservoirs and the partitioning of carbon between ocean and atmosphere? How do these mechanisms depend on the state of the climate system and how does the carbon cycle feed back on climate? What is the current rate at which fossil fuel carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans and how might this change in the future? To begin to answer these questions we must first understand the distribution of carbon in the ocean, its partitioning between different ocean reservoirs (the "solubility" and "biological" pumps of carbon), the mechanisms controlling these reservoirs, and the relationship of the significant physical and biological processes to the physical environment. The recent surveys from the JGOFS and WOCE (Joint Global Ocean Flux Study and World Ocean Circulation Ex periment) programs have given us a first truly global survey of the physical and biogeochemical properties of the ocean. These new, high quality data provide the opportunity to better quantify the present oceans reservoirs of carbon and the changes due to fossil fuel burning. In addition, diverse process studies and time-series observations have clearly revealed the complexity of interactions between nutrient cycles, ecosystems, the carbon-cycle and the physical envi ronment.

The carbon cycle in the Earth System constitutes a fundamental, pressing research topic in modern Earth system science. The greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) provide an important forcing factor of the global climate, which, on the other hand, controls the sources and sinks of these gases. In addition, the carbon cycle is currently being seriously perturbed by direct and indirect emissions from human activities. Unraveling and quantifying these interactions and feedbacks is essential to understand the climate history of the Earth, but also to predict its evolution in the future. The ocean is important to climate change and global warming-as a storer and transporter of heat and carbon-but our understanding of the operative processes is inadequate to make predictions with the required skill. CO2 increases will lead to the increased carbon storage by the land and ocean. Climate change will reduce the land and ocean's capacity to absorb atmospheric CO2 due to the increasing temperatures of both the land and ocean and increasing oceanic stratification. The ocean, which has absorbed 27.9% of the anthropogenic CO2 in the past 200 years, plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle. Climate Change and the Oceanic Carbon Cycle provides complete understanding of the variables and consequences of oceanic carbon cycling in the context of climate change. It reviews the ocean's role in the global CO2 cycle and climate change; describe the importance of mesoscale processes in the ocean; examine the main pathways of carbon exchange between the ocean surface layer and the ocean interior; analyze the scales of the physical processes involved in nutrient limitation of the "biological pump"; and review the implications for climate change. The contributed chapters explores the importance of marine plankton in carbon processing as well as the effects of rising CO2 and temperature in their functioning.

While a number of gases are implicated in global warming, carbon dioxide is the most important contributor, and in one sense the entire phenomena can be seen as a human-induced perturbation of the carbon cycle. The Global Carbon Cycle offers a scientific assessment of the state of current knowledge of the carbon cycle by the world's leading scientists sponsored by SCOPE and the Global Carbon Project, and other international partners. It gives an introductory over-view of the carbon cycle, with multidisciplinary contributions covering biological, physical, and social science aspects. Included are 29 chapters covering topics including: an assessment of carbon-climate-human interactions; a portfolio of carbon management options; spatial and temporal distribution of sources and sinks of carbon dioxide; socio-economic driving forces of emissions scenarios. Throughout, contributors emphasize that all parts of the carbon cycle are interrelated, and only by developing a framework that considers the full set of feedbacks will we be able to achieve a thorough understanding and develop effective management strategies. The Global Carbon Cycle edited by Christopher B. Field and Michael R. Raupach is part of the Rapid Assessment Publication series produced by the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), in an effort to quickly disseminate the collective knowledge of the world's leading experts on topics of pressing environmental concern.

This title includes a number of Open Access chapters. This valuable compendium provides an overview of the variables and consequences of oceanic carbon cycling in the context of climate change. The chapters highlight the importance of marine plankton in carbon processing as well as the effects of rising CO2 and temperature in their functioning. Marine ecosystems are being increasingly threatened by growing human pressures, including climate change. Understanding the consequences that climate change may have is crucial to predict the future of our oceans. Rising temperatures and ocean acidification may profoundly alter the mode of matter and energy transformation in marine ecosystems, which could have irreversible consequences for our planet on ecological timescales. For that reason, the scientific community has engaged in the grand challenge of studying the variables and consequences of oceanic carbon cycling in the context of climate change, which has emerged as a relevant field of science. The book is broken into four sections: Understanding the Importance of Ocean Biogeochemistry Quantifying Oceanic Carbon Variables Phytoplankton and Oceanic Carbon Cycle Ocean Acidification Edited by a researcher with many years of experience and with contributions from scientists from around the world, this volume explores the most important topics on climate change and oceanic carbon cycling.

Our desire to understand the global carbon cycle and its link to the climate system represents a huge challenge. These overarching questions have driven a great deal of scientific endeavour in recent years: What are the basic oceanic mechanisms which control the oceanic carbon reservoirs and the partitioning of carbon between ocean and atmosphere? How do these mechanisms depend on the state of the climate system and how does the carbon cycle feed back on climate? What is the current rate at which fossil fuel carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans and how might this change in the future? To begin to answer these questions we must first understand the distribution of carbon in the ocean, its partitioning between different ocean reservoirs (the "solubility" and "biological" pumps of carbon), the mechanisms controlling these reservoirs, and the relationship of the significant physical and biological processes to the physical environment. The recent surveys from the JGOFS and WOCE (Joint Global Ocean Flux Study and World Ocean Circulation Ex periment) programs have given us a first truly global survey of the physical and biogeochemical properties of the ocean. These new, high quality data provide the opportunity to better quantify the present oceans reservoirs of carbon and the changes due to fossil fuel burning. In addition, diverse process studies and time-series observations have clearly revealed the complexity of interactions between nutrient cycles, ecosystems, the carbon-cycle and the physical envi ronment.

Oceans account for 50% of the anthropogenic CO2 released into the atmosphere. During the past 15 years an international programme, the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), has been studying the ocean carbon cycle to quantify and model the biological and physical processes whereby CO2 is pumped from the ocean's surface to the depths of the ocean, where it can remain for hundreds of years. This project is one of the largest multi-disciplinary studies of the oceans ever carried out and this book synthesises the results. It covers all aspects of the topic ranging from air-sea exchange with CO2, the role of physical mixing, the uptake of CO2 by marine algae, the fluxes of carbon and nitrogen through the marine food chain to the subsequent export of carbon to the depths of the ocean. Special emphasis is laid on predicting future climatic change.

A comprehensive progress report on the multi-disciplinary field of ocean and climate change research is given. It compiles introductory background papers and leading scientific results on the ocean-atmosphere carbon cycle with emphasis on the ocean's carbon inventory and the various components involved. The relationship between plankton productivity, carbon fixation, oceanic PCO2 and climate change is investigated from the viewpoint of long-term climatic change during the late Quaternary cycles of ice ages and warm ages. The various approaches range from micropaleontology over organic and trace element geochemistry to molecular isotope geochemistry.

To understand the global warming mechanism, global mapping of primary production was carried out under the GCMAPS program. The program was concerned with marine and terrestrial environmental changes, which affect carbon cycle on the regional and global scales. On the regional scale, warm phase of ENSO (El Niño / Southern Oscillation) has been shown to affect economic activities in many countries. The keyword for understanding mechanism of global warming is ‘primary productivity’. The earth observation satellites (EOS) like the ADEOS of Japan, and the SeaWiFS, Sea Star and Terra of the U.S.A. provided much required data for modeling and verification of primary production estimates on both land and ocean. The knowledge gained during the GCMAPS program has been documented in this book. Interpretation of the data suggests that global warming, which causes temperature and sea level rise, and changes in climate and ecosystems, is likely to have the largest influence on mankind. The first half of this book discuss changes in marine environments. Physical and chemical oceanographic properties of the equatorial Pacific and Indian Oceans are presented. Changes in partial pressure of carbon dioxide, flux and composition of settling particles and biological communities in the surface ocean have also been discussed. In addition to this, over hundred years of environmental records based upon coral skeletons are presented. Estimations of primary production and its utilization in validating satellite imagery data were conducted in the western North Pacific. Primary productivity estimates based upon the validated satellite imagery are presented on the global scale. Climate change modeling of primary production in global oceans is also presented. The latter half of this book deals with changes in terrestrial environments. Primary productivity estimates for different types of ecosystems (e.g., forest, grassland) are presented together with soil carbon dynamics. Also, biomass and productivity estimation and environmental monitoring based upon remote sensing techniques are presented with a model analysis of the relationship between climate perturbations and carbon budget anomalies in global terrestrial ecosystems. This book elucidates integrated aspects of the global carbon cycle involving marine and terrestrial environments. Discusses a current understanding of the biogeochemical processes on land and ocean Provides global mapping of primary production based on satellite imagery data and modelling Presents the latest interpretations of relationships between carbon cycle and climatic change