I like your combinational thinking. I hope you find time to provide us with more facts about climate change.... May I ask you to think about one more topic? :) AI - what will our world look like in twenty years, if the artificial intelligence revolution actually takes place? Best regards and many thanks for your time and your commitment!
Could you add a paragraph about CO2 and temperature on surface ocean pH? Higher disolved CO2 in the water at higher temperatures, equals more carbonic acid and a lower pH in the Ocean's surface. A lower pH can be catastropic to phytoplankton, which is responsible for the most O2 production, more than any other living thing on the planet.
I had always heard about this but never read anything about it, so thanks for calling my attention to it. I've spent 7m on this, so I need to understand it better. But from what I understand the acidification might have some local effects, but probably no massive effects? For most of the Earth's history CO2 in the air was higher but there were plenty of shells in the ocean. All our limestone is basically layers of ancient ocean shells compressed into stone. So based on this very very light assessment, it seems like something to keep an eye on but that isn't about to kill us all any more than the CO2 in the atmosphere?
Most shellfish live where in the Ocean? On the ocean floor in the north, and along the coasts. ALL algae and phytoplankton live only in the surface layers of the ocean. These are very simple organisms and being simple may not be as reslient to changing temperatures and suble pH fluctuations as higher order organisms.
You touched on the thermocline and its effects. Temperature has an effect of keeping things separated, even pH. I encourage you to learn more about this and how it could integrate into your posts to maximize the understanding for so many. We all appricate your work and writing. All life comes from and is dependent on the ocean. We don't think about it, maybe because we humans have only lived on the land. Read about any coastal fishing culture and speak to fishermen and marine biologists. Your curiosity will be rewarded.
CO2 and Carbonic Acid concentrations in the surface water are critical to understanding the ocean's food chain, as well as O2 production for all life on earth. Both will have an effect on all life large and small, known and more unknown. Think of both natural fisheries and the air we and all life breathe. CO2 is not just a climate issue. Like a lot of misinterpretations of any science, the issue of "isn't about to kill us anytime soon" is not the point. It is a component of change and like any change, can present new challenges. "And when things get hard, we need to change''-Blind Melon
In the case of ocean temps and chemistry, these changes are first be observed by the fisherman. A current example: This was the first year in history that Alaska Fish and Game suspended the Snow Crab season entirely because marine biologists couldn't find any of the billion plus snow crabs in that immense fishery off Alaska. Where did they go? And why? Did they all die or migrate to colder waters? Is there absence due to temperatures or the surface pH? Snow Crabs live at the bottom of the ocean but they rely on a food chain that begins at the surface and ends at the bottom. The basis of biology is that we are connected in very simple and extremely complex ways.
Wow Tomas. What a brilliantly simple and very interesting way to tell a complex story to us simple layman. And yes, I think you are on to something with regard to a major cooling threat to Europe.
To say "tropical waters are dead" is an oversimplification. If you look at the map of chlorophyll you have in your article you'll see a band of chlorophyll at the equator. That's because there's upwelling of nutrient rich water there ("equatorial upwelling"). Also in tropical waters where the water is very clear but there are lots of animals, there is plenty of chlorophyll, but not as loose phytoplankton. Instead it's phytoplankton (specifically dinoflagellates) living symbiotically within tissues of coral.
Thanks for another great article! On this topic of human-caused environmental destruction hurting humans, I just remembered a great report by ProPublica that just came out and it's worth paying attention to as we just (sort of) came out of Covid although Long Covid is still a risk.
Estupendo y alarmante artículo con la explicación detallada y alarmante del posible futuro. De todos modos, no es bueno hacer como el avestruz y los que gobiernan deben enterarse para parar el deterioro trágico. Gracias¡¡
I have observed that hurricanes / cyclones etc tend to happen on Eastern sides of continents and not on Western sides (US, Asia / India) and also Western side of continents tends to be more mountainous?
Was taught in high school that the little Ice Age dropped the temperature world wide by 3 degrees. Since this was in the time before metrics came to America, assume it was in Fahrenheit. In 1800, an ox cart, pulled by two oxen, could cross from Queens to Manhattan in the winter with no problem. They even had bonfires on the ice.
We are now two degrees warmer, again assuming it is Fahrenheit. So one degree to go before we were as the world was around 950. Europe managed alright back then. Why wouldn't it continue to do so, as long as the rise in heat was limited to one degree?
I cannot even begin to describe the flaws in this article. You say tropical waters are dead. But tropical means round the equator. This is where the biodiversity is the most abundant in the sea. And not everything in the food chain is in the same place. Lots of animals migrate for food or to have offspring. Watch the page still maintained for the correct chlorophyll findings and see how abundant it is in the tropics. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/global-maps/MY1DMM_CHLORA
Exactly, and that is not true. All over the equator there's huge plumes of chlorophyl. So there's much chlorophyl in tropical waters. The species that rely on food from the arctics are not the species who rely on food in the tropics. There's not just one food chain. There are creatures that inhabit area's without chlorophyl.
The Gulf Current as the reason (or even just A reason) behind Europe's mild climate has been discredites long time ago. In other articles, you mention the westerlies (prevailing winds that blow eastward at temperate northern latitudes) so you should understand that you can't draw a comparison between Atlantic-facing Europe and Atlantic-facing Canada, but the latter should actually be substituted by Pacific-facing Canada, which actually has a much milder climate. The residual difference is much better explained by orographic features rather than the Gulf Current
la savante russe Valentina Zarkhova de Northumbria university a prévu la fin de l'agrandissement des taches solaires qui réchauffent les océans et évaporent le CO2 en 2030 et une glaciation en 2035.
Neither disagree or dispute that. We agree on the question. The real questions is when will China or India actually do something about it, and affect their GDP, to make sure we do not blow past it by to much.
Read about what the Runes carved in one the world's most famous stones (Rökstenen) in southern central Sweden (Östgötaland) say (Guardian, 08/01-2020):
This was an interesting read!
I like your combinational thinking. I hope you find time to provide us with more facts about climate change.... May I ask you to think about one more topic? :) AI - what will our world look like in twenty years, if the artificial intelligence revolution actually takes place? Best regards and many thanks for your time and your commitment!
I will publish a TON on this topic in the coming weeks!
Could you add a paragraph about CO2 and temperature on surface ocean pH? Higher disolved CO2 in the water at higher temperatures, equals more carbonic acid and a lower pH in the Ocean's surface. A lower pH can be catastropic to phytoplankton, which is responsible for the most O2 production, more than any other living thing on the planet.
I had always heard about this but never read anything about it, so thanks for calling my attention to it. I've spent 7m on this, so I need to understand it better. But from what I understand the acidification might have some local effects, but probably no massive effects? For most of the Earth's history CO2 in the air was higher but there were plenty of shells in the ocean. All our limestone is basically layers of ancient ocean shells compressed into stone. So based on this very very light assessment, it seems like something to keep an eye on but that isn't about to kill us all any more than the CO2 in the atmosphere?
Most shellfish live where in the Ocean? On the ocean floor in the north, and along the coasts. ALL algae and phytoplankton live only in the surface layers of the ocean. These are very simple organisms and being simple may not be as reslient to changing temperatures and suble pH fluctuations as higher order organisms.
You touched on the thermocline and its effects. Temperature has an effect of keeping things separated, even pH. I encourage you to learn more about this and how it could integrate into your posts to maximize the understanding for so many. We all appricate your work and writing. All life comes from and is dependent on the ocean. We don't think about it, maybe because we humans have only lived on the land. Read about any coastal fishing culture and speak to fishermen and marine biologists. Your curiosity will be rewarded.
CO2 and Carbonic Acid concentrations in the surface water are critical to understanding the ocean's food chain, as well as O2 production for all life on earth. Both will have an effect on all life large and small, known and more unknown. Think of both natural fisheries and the air we and all life breathe. CO2 is not just a climate issue. Like a lot of misinterpretations of any science, the issue of "isn't about to kill us anytime soon" is not the point. It is a component of change and like any change, can present new challenges. "And when things get hard, we need to change''-Blind Melon
In the case of ocean temps and chemistry, these changes are first be observed by the fisherman. A current example: This was the first year in history that Alaska Fish and Game suspended the Snow Crab season entirely because marine biologists couldn't find any of the billion plus snow crabs in that immense fishery off Alaska. Where did they go? And why? Did they all die or migrate to colder waters? Is there absence due to temperatures or the surface pH? Snow Crabs live at the bottom of the ocean but they rely on a food chain that begins at the surface and ends at the bottom. The basis of biology is that we are connected in very simple and extremely complex ways.
Wow Tomas. What a brilliantly simple and very interesting way to tell a complex story to us simple layman. And yes, I think you are on to something with regard to a major cooling threat to Europe.
I thought you'd like this - and I searched for an article of yours where it could fit : https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02393-7?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2yr6-tEDBEvklFHrNs1AafhpXCfrKSqnA7GbALZImUmxbvXk6msHzqp5s_aem_J6TA6oEOE9wY2bjJyNVYXA
Oh wow, crazy
To say "tropical waters are dead" is an oversimplification. If you look at the map of chlorophyll you have in your article you'll see a band of chlorophyll at the equator. That's because there's upwelling of nutrient rich water there ("equatorial upwelling"). Also in tropical waters where the water is very clear but there are lots of animals, there is plenty of chlorophyll, but not as loose phytoplankton. Instead it's phytoplankton (specifically dinoflagellates) living symbiotically within tissues of coral.
Hello Tomás, you might want to revise the following sentence, because it makes not much sense, IMO:
"...you’ll see that Europe is much farther north than nearly all other centers of population. This, as you might know, is due to the Gulf Stream."
AFAIK, Europe is father north due to its geographic location. Or did you mean that the Gulf Stream has pushed Europe to the place it is located?
Sorry yes it was no crystal clear.
I refer to Europe there as a center of population, not as the geographic land itself.
Europe as a center of population is farther north than nearly all other centers of pop
Thanks for another great article! On this topic of human-caused environmental destruction hurting humans, I just remembered a great report by ProPublica that just came out and it's worth paying attention to as we just (sort of) came out of Covid although Long Covid is still a risk.
https://www.propublica.org/article/pandemic-spillover-outbreak-guinea-forest-clearing (The next deadly pandemic is just a forest clearing away. But we’re not even trying to prevent it.)
Interesting. Thanks for sharing, Josh!
Estupendo y alarmante artículo con la explicación detallada y alarmante del posible futuro. De todos modos, no es bueno hacer como el avestruz y los que gobiernan deben enterarse para parar el deterioro trágico. Gracias¡¡
Bueno por ahora no se sabe qué pasará. Pero sí, es un riesgo que hay que tener en cuenta!
Why do typhoons and hurricanes happen in East Asia and North America, but most other continents are spared?
They're not. It's a naming convention. 'Typhoon' and 'hurricane' are just regional names for tropical cyclones.
https://www.britannica.com/science/tropical-cyclone/Location-and-patterns-of-tropical-cyclones
Historically only two tropical basins were spared, the eastern South Pacific and the South Atlantic.
I cover this in the premium article this week!
I have observed that hurricanes / cyclones etc tend to happen on Eastern sides of continents and not on Western sides (US, Asia / India) and also Western side of continents tends to be more mountainous?
Also Western side tends to be drier / desert like and Eastern side tends to be more green with rains.
Oh yes, you will enjoy the article :)
Was taught in high school that the little Ice Age dropped the temperature world wide by 3 degrees. Since this was in the time before metrics came to America, assume it was in Fahrenheit. In 1800, an ox cart, pulled by two oxen, could cross from Queens to Manhattan in the winter with no problem. They even had bonfires on the ice.
We are now two degrees warmer, again assuming it is Fahrenheit. So one degree to go before we were as the world was around 950. Europe managed alright back then. Why wouldn't it continue to do so, as long as the rise in heat was limited to one degree?
Very very hard topic. So hard that I will only tackle it once I have ample time to properly make it justice
Thank You, will wait till you have the time.
The world will definitely blow past a 1°F rise.
Only question is how soon and by how much.
I cannot even begin to describe the flaws in this article. You say tropical waters are dead. But tropical means round the equator. This is where the biodiversity is the most abundant in the sea. And not everything in the food chain is in the same place. Lots of animals migrate for food or to have offspring. Watch the page still maintained for the correct chlorophyll findings and see how abundant it is in the tropics. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/global-maps/MY1DMM_CHLORA
Hi Belinda,
The graph you shared is basically the same! I think we agree, but it might not be obvious, so I can make it clearer:
1. The map you share clearly shows no chlorophyll in the tropical areas outside of the equator
2. The equator has indeed life, from coastal upswells driven by trade winds
3. Migration is true, but they don't eat much during their time in the tropics. It's usually to breed in warmer waters as you say
I do go into these details in the premium article this week!
Exactly, and that is not true. All over the equator there's huge plumes of chlorophyl. So there's much chlorophyl in tropical waters. The species that rely on food from the arctics are not the species who rely on food in the tropics. There's not just one food chain. There are creatures that inhabit area's without chlorophyl.
The Gulf Current as the reason (or even just A reason) behind Europe's mild climate has been discredites long time ago. In other articles, you mention the westerlies (prevailing winds that blow eastward at temperate northern latitudes) so you should understand that you can't draw a comparison between Atlantic-facing Europe and Atlantic-facing Canada, but the latter should actually be substituted by Pacific-facing Canada, which actually has a much milder climate. The residual difference is much better explained by orographic features rather than the Gulf Current
la savante russe Valentina Zarkhova de Northumbria university a prévu la fin de l'agrandissement des taches solaires qui réchauffent les océans et évaporent le CO2 en 2030 et une glaciation en 2035.
Neither disagree or dispute that. We agree on the question. The real questions is when will China or India actually do something about it, and affect their GDP, to make sure we do not blow past it by to much.
Read about what the Runes carved in one the world's most famous stones (Rökstenen) in southern central Sweden (Östgötaland) say (Guardian, 08/01-2020):
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/08/viking-runestone-may-allude-to-extreme-winter-study-says