ISTANBUL TEKNIK UNIVERSITESI

HSS 351 ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY

LINK BETWEEN CLIMATE AND THE OCEANS

SEDAT CEM AKARCALI 820150814

BURCU ZSOY EK

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 CONTENT

1 - What is the oceans role in earths climate ?............3

2 - What is Thermohaline Circulation ?.........................4
3 - Historical background of THC..6
4 - Climate change and the oceans.8
5 - 6 Ways Climate Change Is Affecting Our Oceans..10
5.1 Coral Reef Bleaching.............10
5.2 Fish Migration .............12
5.3 - Melting Ice Caps ..........12
5.4- Drowning Wetlands13
5.5- Ocean Acidifiaction.15
5.6- Distastrious Positive Feedback Loop......16
6 - Climate changes effect on THC.....18
7 - Shutdown of THC......19

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1-WHAT IS THE OCEANS ROLE IN EARTHS
CLIMATE ?

Earth is often called the blue planet because the Atlantic,

Pacific, Indian, Arctic and Southern oceans cover 71
percent of it.The Pacific alone covers more than half the
planet, and more than all the land areas combined.Oceans
contain nearly 1.34 billion km3 of water, and Earths waters
are overwhelmingly salt water97 percentplus 2 percent
ice and 1 percent fresh water. The ocean is our planets
largest heat sink.By absorbing, storing and then slowly
releasing large quantities of heat, the ocean buffers the
climate of the nearby land and, over time, the entire planet.
(1)
Through their fluid motions, their high heat capacity, and
their ecosystems, the oceans play a central role in shaping
the Earth's climate and its variability. Changes in sea level
have major impacts on coastal regions and storm surges.
Accordingly, it is vital to monitor and understand changes
in the oceans and their effects on weather and climate, and
improve the verisimilitude of model ocean simulations. (2)

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2-WHAT IS THERMOHALINE CIRCULATION ?

Winds drive ocean currents in the upper 100 meters of the

oceans surface. However, ocean currents also flow thousands
of meters below the surface.These deep-ocean currents are
driven by differences in the waters density, which is
controlled by temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline). This
process is known as thermohaline circulation.THC completes
its circulation in 1000 years.
In the Earth's polar regions ocean water gets very cold,
forming sea ice. As a consequence the surrounding seawater
gets saltier, because when sea ice forms, the salt is left behind.
As the seawater gets saltier, its density increases, and it starts
to sink. Surface water is pulled in to replace the sinking water,
which in turn eventually becomes cold and salty enough to
sink. This initiates the deep-ocean currents driving the global
conveyer belt.
Thermohaline circulation begins in the Earth's polar
regions. When ocean water in these areas gets very cold, sea
ice forms. The surrounding seawater gets saltier, increases in
density and sinks.Cold water is denser than warm water.Water
gets colder when it loses heat to the atmosphere, especially at
high latitudes.Water gets warmer when it is heated by
incoming solar energy, especially at low latitudes.Saltier water
is denser than less salty water.Water gets saltier if rate of
evaporation is high.Water gets less salty if there is an influx of

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freshwater either from melting ice or precipitation and runoff
from land. (3) (4)

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 3- HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF
THC

THC was one of the factors that caused ice age

and Younger dryas event. The Younger Dryas is one of
the most well-known examples of abrupt change. About
14,500 years ago, the Earth's climate began to shift from
a cold glacial world to a warmer interglacial state.
Partway through this transition, temperatures in the
Northern Hemisphere suddenly returned to near-glacial
conditions (Figure 1). This near-glacial period is called
the Younger Dryas, named after a flower (Dryas
octopetala) that grows in cold conditions and became
common in Europe during this time. The end of the
Younger Dryas, about 11,500 years ago, was
particularly abrupt. In Greenland, temperatures rose 10
C (18 F) in a decade (Figure 1) (5)
The Younger Dryas occurred during the transition from
the last glacial period into the present interglacial (the
Holocene). During this time, the continental ice sheets
were rapidly melting and adding freshwater to the North
Atlantic. Figure 1 shows the reconstructed freshwater
flux from the melting Laurentide ice sheet through the
St. Lawrence River. Just prior to the Younger Dryas,
meltwater fluxes into the North Atlantic increased
dramatically. In addition, there was probably a short-

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lived period of particularly high freshwater flux about
13,000 years ago that is not shown in this figure,
resulting from a large discharge of freshwater from a
glacial lake in North America. Scientists have
hypothesized that meltwater floods reduced the salinity
and density of the surface ocean in the North Atlantic,
causing a reduction in the ocean's thermohaline
circulation and climate changes around the world.
Eventually, as the meltwater flux abated,
the thermohaline circulation strengthened again and
climate recovered..

Figure 1 :Climate changes associated with the Younger Dryas, highlighedhere by the light
blue bar, include (from top to bottom): cooling and decreased snow accumulation in
Greenland, cooling in the tropical Cariaco Basin, and warming in Antarctica. Also shown is
the flux of meltwater from the Laurentide Ice Sheet down the St. Lawrence River. (6) (7) (8)
(9) (10)

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Figure 2 : Shows where Younger Dryas event happened. (10)

Although it is generally accepted that the cold event

resulted from a slowing Atlantic meridional overturning
circulation (AMOC), the forcing of this AMOC
reduction remains intensely debated.The most common
means of slowing AMOC involves the reduction of
oceanic surface water density via an increase in
freshwater discharge to the North Atlantic. (11)

4-CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE OCEANS

The oceans are a logical place to start to understand how

climate change is affecting our planet. The oceans have
a central role in protecting Earth, but ocean acidification
rising sea levels, and melting ice caps particularly in the
polar region are endangering our planet. Since water
circulates over the globe in a predictable pattern,

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changes in the great ocean conveyor belt affect
worldwide climate and the oceans inhabitants.Dramatic
climate change can occur from the reduction of large-
scale mixing of water thermohaline circulation
throughout the ocean. Increased precipitation and
widespread melting of ice caused by global warming
could create a larger layer of fresh water that would
slow or prevent normal thermohaline mixing and would
affect the currents offshore from Greenland and
Newfoundland. Even small temperature increases can
significantly increase the frequency and severity of
extreme weather events, such as hurricanes or high-
precipitation rainstorms. Warming of the tropical sea-
surface by 0.5 C during recent decades may explain the
fact that hurricane energy has increased globally by
about 70%. The IPCC report of 2007 considers it likely
that global warming will increase intense tropical
cyclone activity through most of the 21st century and
very likely will increase the frequency of heavy
precipitation over most areas.
The increasing cost of hurricane damage is primarily
due to the increased amount and monetary value of
rapid development that has taken place in coastal areas.
The high winds and waves associated with intense
storms cause severe physical damage to shorelines and
shallow water marine communities including beaches,
mangrove forests, sea grass communities, coral reefs

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and shallow bottom-dwelling communities. High
rainfall can cause temporary flooding, erosion and
decreased salinity, as well as runoff of nutrients and
silt.Global warming is predicted to increase the
frequency of severe storms at the same time that sea
level rise magnifies their impact on low-lying coastlines
and islands. New England is particularly vulnerable to
extreme weather events from noreasters and hurricanes
to flooding low-lying coastlines and islands due to sea
level rise. (12)

5 - 6 WAYS CLIMATE CHANGE IS

AFFECTING OUR OCEANS

5.1. Coral bleaching

When corals are stressed by changes in conditions such
as temperature, light, or nutrients, they expel the
symbiotic algae living in their tissues, causing them to
turn completely white.Mass coral bleaching results in
the starvation, shrinkage and death of the corals that
support the thousands of species that live on coral reefs.
Warmer water temperatures can result in coral
bleaching. When water is too warm, corals will expel
the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing
the coral to turn completely white. This is called coral
bleaching. When a coral bleaches, it is not dead. Corals
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can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more
stress and are subject to mortality.In 2005, the U.S. lost
half of its coral reefs in the Caribbean in one year due to
a massive bleaching event. The warm waters centered
around the northern Antilles near the Virgin Islands and
Puerto Rico expanded southward. Comparison of
satellite data from the previous 20 years confirmed that
thermal stress from the 2005 event was greater than the
previous 20 years combined.
Not all bleaching events are due to warm water.
In January 2010, cold water temperatures in the Florida
Keys caused a coral bleaching event that resulted in
some coral death. Water temperatures dropped 12.06
degrees Fahrenheit lower than the typical temperatures
observed at this time of year. Researchers will evaluate
if this cold-stress event will make corals more
susceptible to disease in the same way that warmer
waters impact corals. (13)

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5.2. Fish migration

In addition, many fish species have moved toward the

poles in response to ocean warming, disrupting fisheries
around the world. In a warming world, fish that find the
sea temperatures too hot for comfort could move north
or south, away from the tropics, or to deeper and
therefore cooler waters. (14)

Figure-3 : The warming ocean is prompting fishes to move from their

current habitat to cooler Arctic and Antarctic waters. The migration could have
unwanted impacts particularly on communities in the tropics that rely on
fisheries. ( U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Home Page )

5.3-Melting ice caps

Over the past century, sea level has slowly been rising.
This is in part due to the addition of water to the oceans
through either the melting of or the "calving" off of
icebergs from the world's land ice. Many individual
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mountain glaciers and ice caps are known to have been
retreating, contributing to the rising sea levels. It is
uncertain, however, whether the world's two major ice
sheets-Greenland and Antarctica-have been growing or
diminishing. This is of particular importance because of
the huge size of these ice sheets, with their great
potential for changing sea level. Together, Greenland
and Antarctica contain about 75% of the world's fresh
water, enough to raise sea level by over 75 meters, if all
the ice were returned to the oceans. Measurements of
ice elevations are now being made by satellite radar
altimeters for a portion of the polar ice sheets, and in the
future they will be made by a laser altimeter as part of
NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS). The laser
altimeter will provide more accurate measurements over
a wider area.
The Greenland ice sheet is warmer than the Antarctic
ice sheet and as a result, global warming could produce
serious melting on Greenland while having less effect in
the Antarctic. In the Antarctic, temperatures are far
enough below freezing that even with some global
warming, temperatures could remain sufficiently cold to
prevent extensive surface melting.
Where ice sheets extend outward to the ocean, the ice
tends to move out over the surrounding water, forming
"ice shelves." There is concern that, with global
warming, the water under the ice shelves would be
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warmer and cause them to break up more readily,
forming very large icebergs. If the ice shelves of West
Antarctica were to break up, this would release more
inland ice in an irreversible process, possibly leading to
sea level rises of several meters. (15)

Figure 4 : Melting glaciers caused forming of new trade routes to

Merchant marine. (16)

5.4- Drowning wetlands

It is concerned with melting ice caps.Rising sea levels,
partly the result of heat absorbed by the ocean, is also
drowning wetlands. Wetlands normally grow
vertically fast enough to keep up with sea level rise, but
recently the sea has been rising too fast for wetlands to
keep their blades above water.They are one of the most
productive habitats on earth- they are biologically rich
and hugely abundant and diverse in terms of organisms
that inhabit them. They are home to an abundance of
mammals, birds, fish and invertebrates and are also
nurseries. Wetlands also support the cultivation of rice
which forms a large part of the diet of half the worlds
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population. Without the ability to grow rice people
would starve. There are also other benefits of wetlands
to humans such as their ability to filter water, protection
from storms, flood control and recreation.Coral reefs
and sea grass meadows are also in danger of
drowning since they can only photosynthesize in
relatively shallow water. (14) (17)

Figure 5 : Drowning wetlands.

5.5- Ocean acidification

When carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed by seawater,
chemical reactions occur that reduce seawater pH,
carbonate ion concentration, and saturation states of
biologically important calcium carbonate minerals.
These chemical reactions are termed "ocean
acidification" or "OA" for short. Calcium carbonate
minerals are the building blocks for the skeletons and
shells of many marine organisms. In areas where most
life now congregates in the ocean, the seawater is
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supersaturated with respect to calcium carbonate
minerals. This means there are abundant building blocks
for calcifying organisms to build their skeletons and
shells. However, continued ocean acidification is
causing many parts of the ocean to become
undersaturated with these minerals, which is likely to
affect the ability of some organisms to produce and
maintain their shells.Since the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution, the pH of surface ocean waters
has fallen by 0.1 pH units. Since the pH scale, like the
Richter scale, is logarithmic, this change represents
approximately a 30 percent increase in acidity. Future
predictions indicate that the oceans will continue to
absorb carbon dioxide and become even more acidic.
Estimates of future carbon dioxide levels, based on
business as usual emission scenarios, indicate that by
the end of this century the surface waters of the ocean
could be nearly 150 percent more acidic, resulting in a
pH that the oceans havent experienced for more than
20 million years.
The Biological Impacts; Ocean acidification is
expected to impact ocean species to varying degrees.
Photosynthetic algae and seagrasses may benefit from
higher CO2 conditions in the ocean, as they require
CO2 to live just like plants on land. On the other hand,
studies have shown that a more acidic environment has
a dramatic effect on some calcifying species, including
oysters, clams, sea urchins, shallow water corals, deep
sea corals, and calcareous plankton. When shelled
organisms are at risk, the entire food web may also be at
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risk. Today, more than a billion people worldwide rely
on food from the ocean as their primary source of
protein. Many jobs and economies in the U.S. and
around the world depend on the fish and shellfish in our
oceans.
Ocean acidification is an emerging global problem.
Over the last decade, there has been much focus in the
ocean science community on studying the potential
impacts of ocean acidification. Since sustained efforts to
monitor ocean acidification worldwide are only
beginning, it is currently impossible to predict exactly
how ocean acidification impacts will cascade
throughout the marine food chain and affect the overall
structure of marine ecosystems. With the pace of ocean
acidification accelerating, scientists, resource managers,
and policymakers recognize the urgent need to
strengthen the science as a basis for sound decision
making and action. (18)

Figure 6 : Shows how ocean acidification process occurs

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5.6 - A disastrous positive feedback loop
Finally, acidification also appears to be reducing the
amount of sulfur flowing out of the ocean into the
atmosphere. This reduces reflection of solar radiation
back into space, resulting in even more warming.
This is the kind of positive feedback loop that could
result in run-away climate change and of course, even
more disastrous effects on the ocean. (14)

6-CLIMATE CHANGES EFFECT ON THC

Higher temperatures under global warming

Increasing the precipitation, melting nearby sea

ice mountain galciers and Greenland ice sheet

Add freshwater to the northern oceans

The influx of fresh water reduce the surface salinity

and density

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 Dense water then sinks and slowly travels through
the deep Southern Hemisphere

Lead to the significant slowing of the thermohaline

circulation

7-SHUTDOWN OF THERMOHALINE
CIRCULATION

Global warming could, via a shutdown of

the thermohaline circulation, trigger cooling in the
North Atlantic, Europe, and North America.
This would particularly affect areas such as the British
Isles, France and the Nordic countries, which are
warmed by the North Atlantic drift.
Major consequences apart from regional cooling, also
could include an increase in major floods and storms, a
collapse of plankton stocks, warming or rainfall changes
in the tropics or Alaska and Antarctica.
Another Younger Dryas event and Little ice age may
occur. (19) (20) (21) (22)

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