The document contains summaries of multiple articles and studies related to environmental events:
1) Ocean acidification is increasing as the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at unprecedented rates, threatening calcifying organisms.
2) A NASA expedition is studying how ocean salinity relates to climate change and how it can provide insights into rainfall patterns and fluctuations in the water cycle.
3) A study found that Arctic winds have changed direction, transporting warmer air into the Arctic and contributing to record ice loss in recent years with potential impacts on Northern hemisphere climate.
1. Sample Environmental Events Log Entries
Ocean Acidification
This article from the Environmental News Network caught my
attention because I rarely hear
about the oceanic events beyond comments concerning the
ocean's temperature. The article
draws attention to the acidification of the ocean that occurs
when the waters absorb carbon
dioxide. In history, the ocean's pH balance changed with
pollutant CO2, but the rate and amount
of change was less than current increases. If the rate of
pollution continues, calcifiers already
struggling may go extinct as some species did in historically
when the chemical changes were
less dramatic. This item relates directly to what we covered in
Chapter 7.
Source: Winter, Allison. "Ocean Acidification Occurring at
Unprecedented rates".ENN. Sept.
25,2012 http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/45006!
Ocean Salinity and Climate Change
NASA is taking an expedition to the saltiest part of the North
Atlantic to study how the saltiness
of the ocean relates to climate change as a part of their Salinity
Processes in the Upper Ocean
Regional Study (SPURS). I find this interesting because
biologists already use pH as a
measurement of health for aquatic biomes, why not test salt-to-
2. water variation to view oceanic
changes? This voyage will increase knowledge of the
acceleration of the Earth's water cycle.
Oceanographers claim that the ocean records rainfall better than
landmasses and translates these
fluctuations in to salinity changes. Along with recording new
salinity levels, the researchers are
delving into the drivers of these changes. Hopefully, the results
of the SPURS expedition will
yield information that helps studies of other areas with major
salinity changes and how they will
affect the water cycle in surrounding areas. This topic relates
to material in Chapter 11.
Source: Cole, Steve. NASA - NASA Voyage Set To Explore
Link Between Sea Saltiness And
Climate. (n.d.). Retrieved October 6, 2012, from
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/sep/HQ_12-
305_Ocean_Salinity_SPURS.html
Changes in Arctic Winds
According to a study by "scientists from Rutgers University in
New Jersey, the University of
Sheffield in the United Kingdom, and the Joint Institute for the
Study of the Atmosphere and
Ocean, a partnership of NOAA and the University of
Washington.", Arctic winds that normally
travel west to east circulating the cold air are now moving south
to north. This change further
warms the Arctic from the warmer air currents. Since 2007, the
air currents from the south are
increasing contributing the record ice loss this summer. The
article caught my eye because the
change in air currents and their immediate results of ice loss
will dramatically affect the Northern
hemisphere causing drastic climate changes. This topic relates
17. If polar sea ice shrinks as predicted by 2050, the zone of
continuous permafrost will____.
a. increase in area
b. decrease in area
c. move farther south
d. remain the same
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