The Carbon Cycle Upwelling Ocean Currents Abrupt Climate Change Global Patterns The Carbon Cycle Upwelling Ocean Currents Abrupt Climate Change

Carbon Storage (sinks)

Carbon Cycle Carbon moves LAND: Plants and trees use carbon from the air (CO2, photosynthesis) - they grow, and store carbon. Plants also do respiration - in the dark. Animals too. Releasing CO2 Decomposition - plants and animals bodies. Can be compacted & become fossil fuels. WATER: Diffusion: gasses move between ocean surface and the atmosphere. Plus other processes like on land: respiration, photosynthesis, decomposition “Marine Snow”.. Rain of decomposing materials that end up on the bottom for hundreds/thousands of years. Sea creatures remove carbon from water to make shells. Can become rocks - stored for a very long time. Circulation: Water moving between deep ocean and surface can carry carbon (nutrients) back to surface. Can move to atmosphere too.

Human Impact Extraction of fossil fuels from the ground. Burning - called combustion. Deforestation - cutting & burning trees Trees can no longer remove carbon from the air Burning trees releases CO2 into the air Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas

Upwelling Deep, cold and nutrient rich water rises up through the water column. Happens along the eastern margins of oceanic basins Wind and water current directions tend to be caused by the rotation of the planet

Most ocean water and some lakes is stratified Caused by a sharp temperature change called the thermocline There is little or no mixing of waters above and below the thermocline. There is water in deep areas of some oceans that has not been to the surface in thousands of years.

Upwelling Animation (NASA)

El Niño Happens in the Pacific, along the equator. Caused by a change in the wind pattern Changes how the Pacific distributes heat to other parts of Earth A redistribution of rainfall around the Pacific Ocean Can alter the weather in places far from the Pacific.

Normal conditions Upwelling Animals & plants Winds Water temperature

El Niño Upwelling Animals & plants Winds Water temperature

The Impact of El Niño A global connection Normal Winter El Nino Winter

The El Niño years A weak, warm current annually around Christmas time along the coast of Ecuador and Peru and lasting only a few weeks Every three to seven years, an El Niño event may last for many months, During the past forty years, ten of these major El Niño events have been recorded, the worst of which occurred in 1997-1998. 1982-1983 was the strongest. Some of the El Niño events have persisted more than one year.

La Niña La Niña (female child) refers to an anomaly of unusually cold sea surface temperatures found in the eastern tropical Pacific. La Niña occurs roughly half as often as El Niño.

Global Ocean Currents (Surface)

Conveyor Belt A vast ocean current system (Deep water) Transports heat and moisture around the Planet Conveyor is delicately balanced Has shut down or changed direction many times in Earth's history

Ocean conveyor belt Driven by salt and temperature differences Sea ice is made of fresh water - It leaves salt behind Salty water is Heavier so it sinks. What happens if there Is less sea ice?

Impact of Conveyor changes Winter temperatures in the North Atlantic region would fall by 20 or more degrees Dublin would acquire the climate of Spitsbergen, 600 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Significant global temperature changes within decades, as well as large-scale wind shifts, dramatic fluctuations in atmospheric dust levels, glacial advances or retreats and other changes over many regions of the Earth. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/23/11/13.html

The Day After Tomorrow! the first "climate disaster movie" Can it really happen? http://www.thedayaftertomorrow.com/

Abrupt Climate Change “Abrupt climate change" describes changes in climate that occur over the span of years to decades Human-caused changes in climate that are occurring over the time span of decades to centuries. http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/pi/arch/

See the Movie but remember what you learned in Earth System Science! Earth: It’s all connected