-----image(”Dave O’Gorman prepares to deploy a PMEL Argo float off of the R/V Wecoma in 2007.-Credit: ARGO/NOAA”) : 同リリースより
" Scientists can now remotely monitor the ocean’s changing chemistry with help from some of the five-foot-tall Argo floats that drift with deep ocean currents and transmit data via satellite back to land. A new and innovative method shows how readings of the acidity (pH) and total carbon dioxide (CO2) content of seawater can help scientists understand changes in the chemistry of the world’s ocean.
A U.S.-based research team and their Canadian colleagues developed the new approach by determining the relationships between seawater temperature, oxygen, pH and CO2 from observations collected on previous ship-based expeditions in the region in the last five years. These relationships were then applied to high-resolution observations of temperature and oxygen collected by an Argo float deployed in the North Pacific in early 2010.
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The journal Geophysical Research Letters published the new method today. The authors are from NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, JISAO, and colleagues from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in British Columbia and Quebec, Canada.
To determine pH and total CO2 content, scientists need measurements of dissolved oxygen concentration; about 10 percent of the floats have the sensors that can measure dissolved oxygen.
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The ocean’s absorption of CO2 causes the level of acidity in seawater to rise. This process, called ocean acidification, can have adverse effects on organisms that form calcium carbonate shells, such as corals, mussels, oysters, and feed stock for salmon like pteropods. The NOAA scientists and researchers at the University of Washington will continue investigating how organisms are impacted by these conditions.
-----image(”NOAA scientists use data from some of the floats in the Argo array to monitor changes in ocean chemistry.”-Credit: NOAA) : 同リリースより "
" Initiative to provide unprecedented level of water risk information for business and government
Recent water-related events - from extreme droughts across the southwestern United States to flooding in central China - provide vivid examples of the potential impacts of water on people, businesses, and local infrastructure. To assess and respond to increasing water risk globally, the World Resources Institute (WRI) is launching the Aqueduct Alliance, a consortium of leading water experts from the private and public sectors, NGOs, and academia. Founded by WRI, Goldman Sachs and General Electric, the alliance has added Bloomberg, The Dow Chemical Company, Talisman Energy, and United Technologies. The Coca-Cola Company is also engaged and will be providing an extensive global database of once proprietary water risk information to support Aqueduct’s work.
In a survey of 150 large corporations conducted by CDP Water Disclosure, nearly 40 percent of responding companies indicated that they had already experienced disruptions in operations, increases in expenses, and other detrimental impacts related to water. Against a backdrop of rapid population growth and climate change, government entities charged with managing water resources are also increasingly concerned with water-related disruptions and seeking viable approaches for mitigating risks.
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・Arctic sea ice at record low for July-----National Snow and Ice Data Center(NSIDC),August 3, 2011
-----image(”Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center”) : 上記リリースより
" Figure 2. The graph above shows daily Arctic sea ice extent as of August 2, 2011, along with daily ice extents for previous low-ice-extent years. Light blue indicates 2011, dashed green shows 2007, dark blue shows 2010, purple shows 2008, and dark gray shows the 1979 to 2000 average. The gray area around the average line shows the two standard deviation range of the data. Sea Ice Index data. "
海洋研究国際計画(International Programme on the State of the Ocean=IPSO)は、今年の4月にオックスフォード大学で開催された海洋専門家による最近研究の成果をまとめた報告書「International Earth system expert workshop on ocean stresses and impacts」を公開しました。このリポートでは、海の環境を悪化させる要因は温暖化、酸性化、低酸素化の三つだとし、いずれも人間活動が直接的にもたらしたものだとしている。これらの複合的な研究は、近年行われたもので、それにより、現在の海洋生物のおかれた状況は、深海ですでに発生している種の絶滅に象徴されるように、かつてない規模での海洋生物の大量死の危機を警告するものとなった。地球の歴史において、こうした海洋生物の大量死は、5500万年前にもあり、深海生物の50％以上が死滅したそうです。
An international panel of marine experts warns in a report released today that the world’s ocean is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.The preliminary report arises from the first ever interdisciplinary international workshop to consider the cumulative impact of all stressors affecting the ocean. Considering the latest research across all areas of marine science, the workshop examined the combined effects of pollution, acidification, ocean warming, overEfishing and hypoxia (deoxygenation).
The scientific panel concluded that:
-The combination of stressors on the ocean is creating the conditions associated with every previous major extinction of species in Earth’s history
-The speed and rate of degeneration in the ocean is far faster than anyone has predicted
-Many of the negative impacts previously identified are greater than the worst predictions.
-Although difficult to assess because of the unprecedented speed of change,the first steps to globally significant extinction may have begun with a rise in the extinction threat to marine species such as reefEforming corals
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" A high-level international workshop convened by IPSO met at the University of Oxford earlier this year. It was the first inter-disciplinary international meeting of marine scientists of its kind and was designed to consider the cumulative impact of multiple stressors on the ocean, including warming, acidification, and overfishing.
The 3 day workshop, co-sponsored by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), looked at the latest science across different disciplines.
The 27 participants from 18 organisations in 6 countries produced a grave assessment of current threats ? and a stark conclusion about future risks to marine and human life if the current trajectory of damage continues: that the world's ocean is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.
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Report Summary: long version / shorter version
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Case Study 1: The potentially deadly trio of factors ? warming, acidification and anoxia ? affecting today's oceans, by Professor Jelle Bijma, Marine Biogeosciences, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. Watch his explanation, beginning with the growing problem of anoxia, or dead zones, in the ocean.
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Case Study 2: End of paradise: Coral reefs facing multiple attacks, by Ove Hoegh-Guldberg , Director, Global Change Institute, University of Queensland
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Case Study 3: Pollution and Marine Species: new challenges of an old problem by Professor Tom Hutchinson, Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (CEFAS)
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Case Study 4: Vanishing Resource: The Tale of the Chinese Bahaba by Dr William Cheung, Lecturer in Marine Ecosystem Services, School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia
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