Thin Ice - The Inspiring Story of Climate Science (The Movie)

"In recent years climate science has come under increasing attack, so geologist Simon Lamb took his camera to find out what is really going on from his climate science colleagues. Simon followed scientists at work in the Arctic, Antarctic, Southern Ocean, New Zealand, Europe and the USA.  They talk about their work, and their hopes and fears, with a rare candour and directness. This creates an intimate portrait of the global community of researchers racing to understand our planet's changing climate."     Thin Ice

 Link to the full-length movie give below:


Thin Ice (The Inspiring Story of Climate Science)

Postdoctoral Position in Southern Ocean Biogeochemistry available at Duke University

A postdoctoral position in surface ocean biogeochemistry is available in the Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences (EOS) of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. The research project revolves around  net community production (NCP) in the Southern Ocean, with opportunities for participation in research cruises. 

See http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/people/faculty/cassar/projects.htm for more information regarding projects related to Southern Ocean NCP. The work will be in collaboration with Adrian Marchetti’s lab at UNC-Chapel Hill (see https://marine.unc.edu/people/faculty-2/adrian-marchetti/). 

The postdoctoral position has a 12-month appointment, with possibility for a 1-2 yr. extension. A Ph.D. in molecular biology related to marine microbes (prokaryotic and eukaryotic), biogeochemistry and/or oceanography is required. Strong experimental and statistical backgrounds are desirable. Starting date is as soon as possible. Interested individuals should send a cover letter, a CV, and the names and contact information of at least 3 references to Nicolas Cassar (nicolas.cassar@duke.edu). Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Duke University is an EEO/AA Employer.

Nicolas Cassar

Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences

Duke University

Box 90227

Durham, NC 27708

email. nicolas.cassar@duke.edu

tel. +1 919.681.8865

fax. +1 919.684.5833

web. http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/people/faculty/cassar

EUROFLEETS2: Polar and Subpolar Call for Fully Funded Ship Time- NOW OPEN

EUROFLEETS2 is an EU-funded project providing scientists with 200 fully funded days of ship-time and 104 fully funded days of marine equipment to carry out ship-based research activities within any field of marine sciences.

- Polar and Subpolar Call – OPEN – Application deadline: 24th of May 2013.

- Super-Integration Call – Expression of interest – OPEN – until the 15th of May 2013.

This Call seeks a truly cross-cutting proposal which needs to mobilise a combination of EUROFLEETS Research Vessels (RVs) together with other appropriate scientific tools like nationals RVs, research planes or onshore infrastructures with their own EC or national funding. All EUROFLEETS RVs and equipment are available for this call.

The “Expression of Interest” is not binding but desirable. Logistically accepted pre-proposals will be invited to submit a full proposal from the 14th of June until the 16th of September 2013.

For more information and eligibility criteria visit: www.eurofleets.eu

If you have further questions please contact: eurofleets2@awi.de

Central West Antarctica among the most rapidly warming regions on Earth

There is clear evidence that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is contributing to sea-level rise. In contrast, West Antarctic temperature changes in recent decades remain uncertain. West Antarctica has probably warmed since the 1950s, but there is disagreement regarding the magnitude, seasonality and spatial extent of this warming. This is primarily because long-term near-surface temperature observations are restricted to Byrd Station in central West Antarctica, a data set with substantial gaps. Here, we present a complete temperature record for Byrd Station, in which observations have been corrected, and gaps have been filled using global reanalysis data and spatial interpolation. The record reveals a linear increase in annual temperature between 1958 and 2010 by 2.4±1.2 °C, establishing central West Antarctica as one of the fastest-warming regions globally. We confirm previous reports of West Antarctic warming, in annual average and in austral spring and winter, but find substantially larger temperature increases. In contrast to previous studies, we report statistically significant warming during austral summer, particularly in December–January, the peak of the melting season. A continued rise in summer temperatures could lead to more frequent and extensive episodes of surface melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. These results argue for a robust long-term meteorological observation network in the region.

Reference:

 http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo1671.html

Sources of multi-decadal variability in Arctic sea ice extent - IOPscience

Sources of multi-decadal variability in Arctic sea ice extent - IOPscience

High Latitude Cluster Hire at Oregon State University‏

Assistant Professor – High Latitude Studies

As part of the Provost’s Faculty Investment Initiative, the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS) at Oregon State University invites applications for up to three full-time (1.0 FTE), 12-month, tenure-track Assistant Professor positions with focus on high latitude studies.

We seek scholars who will develop and maintain a vigorous, externally funded research program. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, ocean-ice-atmosphere interactions, permafrost/frozen ground processes and land-atmosphere exchange, biogeochemical cycles, trophic ecology, climate history from sediments, sea-ice processes, glaciology, and the use of remote sensing methods for high-latitude research.

The successful candidates will design and teach courses specific to the fields relevant to high latitude studies and will participate in the CEOAS undergraduate and graduate teaching program. Advising and mentoring graduate students and post-doctoral fellows are also expected from the candidates.

The College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences is internationally recognized as a leader in the study of the Earth as an integrated system. It operates numerous state-of-the art laboratories and two oceanographic research vessels, the 185-foot ocean-going Wecoma and the Elakha, a 54-foot coastal research vessel. The College has an annual budget of more than $50 million, with much of the research support coming from the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other federal agencies. It has approximately 104 faculty, 220 graduate students and 613 undergraduate students. Graduate programs include a Master’s degree in Marine Resource Management, and Master’s and PhD degrees in Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences; Geology; and Geography. The new undergraduate program in Earth Science, together with the Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Program, provide educational and research opportunities for the best undergraduate students, a national honors college for the Earth.

OSU has an institution-wide commitment to diversity, multiculturalism and community. We actively engage in recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and student body that include members of historically underrepresented groups. We strive to build and sustain a welcoming and supportive campus environment. OSU provides outstanding leadership opportunities for people interested in promoting and enhancing diversity, nurturing creativity and building community.

Appointment: Incumbent appointed to 12-month appointment is expected to secure other sources of funding to support 7.5 months of his/her full-time salary. Salary is competitive and will be commensurate with experience. CEOAS policy is to confer indefinite tenure when promoted to full Professor. Should indefinite tenure be granted, the appointment will be on a 9-month basis, as are all CEOAS indefinite tenure agreements. Reappointment is at the discretion of the Dean.

The OSU benefit package includes several options for health/dental/life insurance, retirement, as well as a program for reduced tuition for qualified dependent. http://oregonstate.edu/admin/hr/benefits/potentialhireacademic.pdf

Responsibilities:

70% Research/Scholarship: Establish and maintain an externally funded program of scholarly research in the area of emphasis. Work towards distinction in research as evidenced by national and international recognition through significant contributions to the field of high latitude studies. Publish scholarly work in peer-reviewed, top-ranked journals, conference proceedings and books appropriate for the areas of interest. Disseminate research results by participation at national and international professional conferences and symposia.

25% Teaching: High-quality teaching of graduate courses in the field of expertise. Participation in teaching undergraduate courses offered in the two CEOAS undergraduate degrees, Earth Science and the Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Program. All faculty are expected to mentor and advise graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.

5% Service: Provide service to the college and/or university to sustain and promote the research and educational missions. This position is also expected to participate in service to their research discipline through journal and grant review processes.

Minimum/Required Qualifications

• Ph.D. in oceanography, atmospheric sciences, geology, glaciology or a closely related field.

• ·  A record of significant and innovative research in high latitude study corresponding to the aforementioned areas of interest.

• ·   A strong scholarly potential demonstrated by a record of peer-reviewed publications and a clearly defined research agenda commensurate with academic rank.

• ·       Demonstrated ability or significant potential for establishing a research program supported by extramural funding.

• ·       A strong potential for teaching excellence in the graduate and undergraduate programs of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. 

• ·       A strong potential for mentoring graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.

• ·       Proficiency in oral and written English.

•        A commitment to educational equity in a multicultural setting and to advancing the participation of diverse groups and supporting diverse perspectives.

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Two years of professional experience.

• Demonstrated record of successful interdisciplinary collaborations.

• ·       Experience in writing proposals and teaching experience at the university level are preferred.

• ·       A demonstrable commitment to promoting and enhancing diversity.

Scholarly Outcomes: Scholarly outcomes for the position are expected to result from 100% of the research duties (70% of total duties) and should be published in peer-reviewed, top-ranked journals, conference proceedings and books appropriate for the areas of interest. Research results should be disseminated by participation at national and international professional conferences and symposia.

Decision Making Guideline: Decisions made on a day-to-day basis regarding research, teaching, mentoring and service. Reports to the Dean when necessary and/or appropriate committee as needed.

Application Closing: For full consideration, applications must be received by January 31, 2012. Position closing date is February 29, 2012.

To Apply: go to jobs.oregonstate.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=59689  For information regarding the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences please visit http://www.coas.oregonstate.edu/ and http://www.geo.oregonstate.edu/

When applying you will be required to attach the following electronic documents:

1.     A detailed curriculum vita that includes a list of publications, and three professional references, their email addresses and contact numbers (Upload as 'Other Document' if not included with your vita).

2.     A cover letter of application addressing the required and preferred qualifications, statement of current and proposed research interests and a statement of teaching experience and interest (Upload as 'Cover Letter').

 Inquiries about the position may be directed to Dr. Yvette Spitz by email (yvette@coas.oregonstate.edu), 541-737-3227 (phone) or 541-737-2064 (FAX).

University and Community: Oregon State University has always been a place with a purpose – making a positive difference on quality of life and the natural world in Oregon and beyond. Through teaching, applied research, innovation and service, OSU turns ideals into reality with a unique approach characterized by collaboration and strategic focus.

Founded in 1868, OSU is one of only two American universities designated as a Land-, Sea-, Sun- and Space-Grant designations and is the only one in Oregon recognized for its “very high research activity” (RU/VH) by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. OSU is Oregon’s largest public research university, conducting more than 60 percent of the research funded throughout the state’s university system and bringing in a record $250 million in scientific grants and contracts this year.

OSU is located in Corvallis, a community of 53,000 people situated in the Willamette Valley between Portland and Eugene. Ocean beaches, lakes, rivers, forests, high desert, the rugged Cascade and Coast Ranges, and the urban amenities of the Portland metropolitan area are all within a 100-mile drive of Corvallis. Approximately 18,000 undergraduate and 3,800 graduate students are enrolled at OSU, including 3,500 U.S. students of color and nearly 1,100 international students. Students come from all 50 states and nearly 100 countries worldwide.
 

Oregon State University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

The Svalbard REU Project Arctic Research Experiences for Undergraduate Students for Summer 2012

Ocean Acidification: Declining Reef Health (AGU Fall Conference, Dec 05-09, 2011 in San Francisco, CA)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utQ41I6tkZ8&feature=uploademail

Modeling Our Future Climate

Courtesy of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

New Study: Climate Change Threatens Global Fisheries

By Matt Huelsenbeck*

ALES at Stony Brook: November 20, 2011 The Epic Catch

ALES at Stony Brook: November 20, 2011 The Epic Catch: As you may have heard by this point, one of the primary objectives of our work out here is to differentiate the acoustical properties of k...

Antarctic Salp Genomics Cruise 2011: Picture of the Day - November 21, 2011

Antarctic Salp Genomics Cruise 2011: Picture of the Day - November 21, 2011: Cape Petrels ride the waves in Bransfield Strait, Antarctica. Photo Peter H. Wiebe

Processes Regulating Iron Supply at the Mesoscale - Ross Sea (PRISM-RS): Puntas Arenas - our port of departure

Processes Regulating Iron Supply at the Mesoscale - Ross Sea (PRISM-RS): Puntas Arenas - our port of departure: Punta Arenas is a port city in the extreme south of Chile . The city has a good infrastructure, in particular an abundance of shops, such a...

Antarctic Salp Genomics Cruise 2011: Picture of the Day - November 11, 2011

Antarctic Salp Genomics Cruise 2011: Picture of the Day - November 11, 2011: AWAY AT LAST! An LMG Zodiac plows through the waves toward Cape Shirreff, Livingston Island, Antarctica. At the helm is Jullie Jackson...

Agreement to create biggest marine reserve at Antarctica

Canberra, Nov 4 (IANS) Delegates from 25 nations at a Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) meeting in the Tasmanian capital Hobart Friday agreed to a plan to create the world’s largest marine reserve in the waters around Antarctica.

The meeting accepted a framework for protected areas in the Ross Sea and Southern Ocean, reported Xinhua.

While key countries fishing there at the moment includes Russia, Norway, South Korea, New Zealand, Britain and Spain, the proposal will prohibit industrial fishing in the reserves.

The Antarctic Ocean Alliance (AOA), a coalition of environmental groups including Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund, said the agreement was a positive step.

“(The commission’s) member countries now have all the tools to create a circumpolar network of marine reserves,” Greenpeace spokesman Richard Page said in a statement released Friday.

“(They) must act now to protect the penguins, seals, seabirds and other vulnerable marine life inhabiting the icy waters around Antarctica and so lead the way in protecting the high seas.”

CCAMLR is set to make a decision by the end of next year on exactly what areas will be protected in the Southern Ocean.

Signatory parties to the convention include Australia, China, Japan, Britain and the US.

Huge Crack Discovered in Antarctic Glacier

A huge, emerging crack has been discovered in one of Antarctica's glaciers, with a NASA plane mission providing the first-ever detailed airborne measurements of a major iceberg breakup in progress. 

NASA's Operation Ice Bridge, the largest airborne survey of Earth's polar ice ever flown, is in the midst of its third field campaign from Punta Arenas, Chile. The six-year mission will yield an unprecedented three-dimensional view of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, ice shelves and sea ice. The glaciers of the Antarctic, and Greenland, Ice Sheets, commonly birth icebergs that break off from the main ice streams where they flow in to the sea, a process called calving.

The crack was found in c, which last calved a significant iceberg in 2001; some scientists have speculated recently that it was primed to calve again. But until an Oct. 14 IceBridge flight, no one had seen any evidence of the ice shelf beginning to break apart. Since then, a more detailed look back at satellite imagery seems to show the first signs of the crack in early October.

"We are actually now witnessing how it happens and it's very exciting for us," said IceBridge project scientist 

Michael Studinger of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "It's part of a natural process, but it’s pretty exciting to be here and actually observe it while it happens."

Gravity pulls the ice in the glacier westward along Antarctica's Hudson Mountains toward the Amundsen Sea. A floating tongue of ice reaches out 30 miles (48 kilometers) into the Amundsen beyond the grounding line, the below-sea-level point where the ice shelf locks onto the continental bedrock. As ice pushes toward the sea from the interior, inevitably the ice shelf will crack and send a large iceberg free. [Photo Album: Antarctica, Iceberg Maker]

Pine Island Glacier is of particular interest to scientists because it is big and unstable and so is one of the 

largest sources of uncertainty in global sea level rise projections.

A primary goal of Operation IceBridge is to put the same instruments over the exact same flight lines and satellite tracks, year after year, to gather meaningful and accurate data of how ice sheets and glaciers are changing over time. But discovering a developing rift in one of the most significant science targets in the world of glaciology offered a brief change in agenda for the Oct. 26 flight, if only for a 30-minute diversion from the day's prescribed flight lines.

The IceBridge team observed the rift running across the ice shelf for about 18 miles (29 km), using an instrument called the Airborne Topographic Mapper, which uses a technology called lidar (light detection and ranging) that sends out a laser beam that bounces off a surface and back to the device. The lidar instrument measured the rift's shoulders about 820 feet (250 meters) apart at its widest, although the rift stretched about 260 feet (79 meters) wide along most of the crack. The deepest points from the ice shelf surface ranged from 165 to 195 feet (50 to 60 meters).

When the iceberg breaks free, it will cover about 340 square miles (880 square kilometers) of surface area. Radar measurements suggested the ice shelf in the region of the rift is about 1,640 feet (500 meters) feet thick, with only about 160 feet of the shelf floating above water and the rest submerged.

It is likely that once the iceberg floats away, the leading edge of the ice shelf will have receded farther than at any time since its location was first recorded in the 1940s.

 

This story was provided by OurAmazingPlanet.com, a sister site of SPACE.com. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Melting Norwegian ice spawns massive surge in cod stocks

Helped by a warming climate, Norway’s near monopoly on the stuff of fish’n chips looks set to grow. 

Fishermen and scientists here agree they’ve never seen as many cod as they’re catching now, and they say melting Arctic ice is the reason. 

Researchers have said the receding ice has opened up larger areas of shallower Arctic water in the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea into which young fish are fleeing predators. They confirm their test catches from a globally warmed Atlantic Current have turned up record numbers -- about 120 billion -- of yearlings destined to become commercial fish. 

Fishermen are mostly pleased with the development: “On behalf of future generations, I’m truly glad for the cod count,” fisherman Kaare Ludvigsen told broadcaster NRK. 

In contrast to Atlantic Canada, where the cod fishery collapsed in the 1980’s due to overfishing, Norway’s commercial cod banks are still the richest in the world. Coastal waters stretching into the arctic from the Lofoten Islands to the Spitsbergen archipelago are the spawning sites for three types of migrating cod schools.

That migration now runs farther north than ever, and Russian and Norwegian researchers have found birthing fish in latitudes beyond 82 degrees north. 

Such is the cod’s new clout that Norwegian fishermen are worried the seabed where the fish dine will be stripped clean for future generations of cod, just as they worried the Kamchatka crab, or king crab, had been bulldozing the cod’s ecosystem. They asked for and received larger catch quotas to make room for other commercial fish, as their three-species winter fishing season starts to roll.

Mr. Ludvigsen’s fishermen colleagues met in Trondheim this week to discuss whether there were “too many” fish in the sea and agreed to more than double their catch in 2012 to 751,000 tons.

Norway exported a record 1.12 billion kroner ($201.7-million) worth of wild cod in September, but not since the frugal years just after the Second World War have there been such abundant catches.

In the Arctic, meanwhile, seasonal ice flows have shrunken to their smallest covering in 8,000 years, according to a recent German study.

Norway, meanwhile, has pressed its commercial maritime rights nearly to the North Pole and won recognition for its claims at the United Nations in New York.

Scientists call for end to deep-sea fishing

By Juliet Eilperin

Industrial fishing in the deep sea should be banned because it has depleted fish stocks that take longer to recover than other species, according to a paper to be released this week by an international team of marine scientists.

The article, published in the scientific journal Marine Policy, describes fishing operations that have in recent decades targeted the unregulated high seas after stocks near shore were overfished.

Describing the open ocean as “more akin to a watery desert,” the scientists argue that vessels have targeted patches of productive areas sequentially, depleting the fish there and destroying deep-sea corals before moving on to new areas. 

Certain deep-sea species have gained widespread popularity — including orange roughy and Patagonian toothfish, otherwise known as Chilean sea bass — only to crash within a matter of years. 

Elliott Norse, president of the Marine Conservation Institute and the paper’s lead author, said the world has turned to deep-sea fishing “out of desperation” without realizing fish stocks there take much longer to recover.

“We’re now fishing in the worst places to fish,” Norse said in an interview. “These things don’t come back.”

As vessels use Global Positioning System devices and trawlers, which scrape massive metal plates across the sea bottom, the catch of deep-water species has increased sevenfold between 1960 and 2004, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. 

“What they’re doing out there is more like mining than fishing,” said Kevin Hassett, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

The estimated mean depth of fishing has more than tripled since the 1950s, from 492 feet to 1,706 feet in 2004, according to Telmo Morato, a marine biologist with the department of oceanography and fisheries at the University of the Azores in Portugal and one of the paper’s authors.

Fishing subsidies help sustain this practice, according to Rashid Sumaila, the paper’s other author, who directs the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre. He said high-seas trawlers around the world receive roughly $162 million each year in government handouts, which amounts to a quarter of the value of the fleets’ catch.

“That is what is keeping most of them in business,” Sumaila said.

Bottom-trawling can crush deep-sea corals, which can live for as long as 4,000 years, the scientists noted. Some fish species of the deep live for more than a century, and while they can spawn many eggs, there can be several years in which juveniles fail to make it into adulthood.

Orange roughy, which Australia declared a threatened species in 2006, take 30 years to reach sexual maturity and live up to 149 years. The leafscale gulper shark, one of several deep-water sharks targeted for its liver oil, “matures late, has only 5-8 pups per year and lives to be 70 years old,” the authors write.

 

Ray Hilborn, a University of Washington professor of aquatic and fisheries science, questioned the paper on the grounds that several long-lived species off the Pacific Coast, such as geoduck clams, have been harvested sustainably at very low levels. In many cases, fishing operations take just 1 percent of the population, he said, and this keeps the stocks from collapsing.

“There’s no question [a ban] can be done,” Hilborn said in an interview, adding that the international regulatory regimes may not be up for the task. “The question is, is it worth it?”

Hilborn said that while deep-sea corals might be sacrificed in the pursuit of fishing, humans had accepted similar trade-offs when clearing old-growth forests for farmland. “Some of these habitats will probably be changed by fishing. Some of those corals will be gone,” he said. “From a conservation perspective, maybe we shouldn’t fish at all, and the ocean should be left pristine. Where is the food going to come from?”

But Daniel Pauly, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia, said the costs of deep-sea fishing far outweigh the benefits.

“It’s a waste of resources, it’s a waste of biodiversity, it’s a waste of everything,” Pauly said. “In the end, there is nothing left.”

Maria Damanaki, the European Union’s commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries, said in an interview that she would like to reduce fishing on the high seas and cut subsidies for deep-sea trawlers.

“I’ll try. I really agree there’s a danger there, so we have to be prudent,” said Damanaki, adding that nations such as France, Denmark, Portugal and Spain resist such efforts. “We have to try to persuade them to stop this.”

Increased production of smelly sulfur compound in Southern Ocean tied to climate change

Anne M Stark, LLNL, (925) 422-9799, stark8@llnl.gov

  The cold and windy Southern Ocean favors the exchange of CO2 with the atmosphere. At high latitudes (photo), a recent and persistent increase in winds has produced a saturation of the Southern Ocean sink for CO2. Photo courtesy of N.Metzl, August 2000, oceanographic cruise OISO-5.

LIVERMORE, Calif. -- An organic compound that smells like cabbage and has been called the "smell of the sea" could be more sensitive to global climate change than commonly believed.

In a recent report, a Livermore researcher, along with colleagues from Los Alamos and Oak Ridge national laboratories and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, found through computer modeling that dimethyl sulfide (DMS) will increase significantly in certain parts of the ocean and decrease in others if the world continues with a business-as-usual fossil fuel dependency.

DMS, a sulfur-containing compound that affects the heat balance of the Earth, is one of the major precursors for aerosols and cloud condensation in the marine boundary layer over much of the remote ocean. DMS is produced by marine plankton and represents the largest source of natural sulfur emissions. Upon reaching the atmosphere, DMS is converted into sulfate aerosols, which reflect sunlight and can stimulate cloud formation.

"We found that DMS is locally much more sensitive to climate change than in previous modeling studies," said LLNL's Philip Cameron-Smith. "The shift in emissions will change the heating patterns."

The Southern Ocean is a locale where the effects of global climate change are noticeable. In this region, there is substantial biological production, carbon drawdown and convective return of nutrients.

Using climate simulations with a global ocean biogeochemical model, scientists looked at the impact of present-day (355 parts per million) and future (970 parts per million) concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere on DMS levels and emissions in the Southern Hemisphere.

What they found was quite a surprise: In the future scenario, the average DMS emission to the atmosphere was 150 percent more than current levels in the Southern Ocean. Team members found that sea ice changes and ocean ecosystem composition shifts caused by changes in temperature, mixing, nutrient and light regimes caused the increase in DMS in their simulation.

"DMS emissions in the Southern Ocean are significantly more sensitive to climate change than previously thought," Cameron-Smith said. "The melting of the southern sea-ice has a large impact on DMS flux in the model, because it opens up a lot of cold open water in which the DMS-producing plankton thrive (particularly a species called Phaeocystis). This compensates for the warming of the ocean in other areas where Phaeocystis stops growing so well."

In the future, scientists may have to consider how ocean acidification, which is tied directly to climate warming, could affect the plankton community, and therefore DMS production.

The research appears in a recent issue of the journal, Geophysical Research Letters.

Oceans Are at Dire Risk, Team of Scientists Warns

By David Jolly

The state of the oceans is declining far more rapidly than most pessimists had expected, an international team of experts has concluded increasing the risk that many marine species — including those that make coral reefs — could be extinct within a generation.

 

The scientists, who gathered in April at the University of Oxford, cited the cumulative impact of the stresses on the oceans, which include ocean acidification related to growing carbon dioxide emissions, a global warming trend that is reducing the polar ice caps, pollution and overfishing. 

‘‘This examination of synergistic threats leads to the conclusion that we have underestimated the overall risks and that the whole of marine degradation is greater than the sum of its parts, and that degradation is now happening at a faster rate than predicted,’’ they wrote in the report, released on Monday.

The April workshop, organized by the International Program on the State of the Ocean in concert with the International Union for Conservation of Nature, brought scientists from a broad range of disciplines together to talk about the problems in the marine environment and what steps can be taken to arrest the collapse of ocean ecosystems.

Chris Reid, a professor of oceanography at the Marine Institute of Plymouth University who took part in the workshop, described the report as ‘‘a synthesis of existing work.’’ ‘‘When we added it all up, it was clear that we are in a situation that could lead to major extinctions of organisms in the oceans,’’ he said by telephone. 

The scientists said that studies of the earth’s past have indicated that global warming, ocean acidification and hypoxia, or reduced oxygen content in the seas, are three symptoms of a disturbance in the carbon dioxide cycle that have been ‘‘associated with each of the previous five mass extinctions on Earth.’’ 

While speaking in the measured language of science, the report calls for a complete rethinking of humans’ relationship with the oceans. ‘‘It is clear that the traditional economic and consumer values that formerly served society well, when coupled with current rates of population increase, are not sustainable,’’ it said. 

“Deferring action will increase costs in the future leading to even greater losses of benefits,” the scientists added. 

They warned that in addition to steep declines in the populations of many commercially important commercial species, the oceans are at risk for ‘‘an unparalleled rate of regional extinctions of habitat types,’’ including mangroves and seagrass meadows. ‘‘We now face losing marine species and entire marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs, within a single generation,’’ the report said.

Mr. Reid said corals were particularly at risk because they were suffering both from the bleaching effect caused by rising sea temperatures and from acidification, which deprive the tiny organisms of the calcium carbonate they need to build their homes.

The authors call for immediate action to take the pressure off ocean ecosystems, including measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and ‘‘coordinated and concerted action’’ by governments in national waters and on the high seas to enact sustainable fisheries polices and reduce pollution. 

They also called on the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly to create a global body that would have the power to ensure compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other statutes and treaties and to establish new rules and procedures for acting in “a precautionary manner.’’ Mr. Reid said that action by the United Nations was vital because there was effectively no protection at all for most of the ocean.

‘‘Once you’re outside the 200-mile limits of the nation states, it’s an open field,’’ he said. ‘‘So we’re calling for the U.N. and national governments to come up with some kind of agreement to protect the open oceans. At the moment, we’re not doing anything in the oceans sustainably.’’