Transcript available! On Wednesday, February 5, climate expert Dr. Gijs de Boer answered questions in a Climate.gov tweet chat about the ATOMIC cloud-science mission in Barbados. Read the transcript.
Not only are there now bigger fish to fry in the Arctic's Barents Sea, but scientists predict the natural marine ecosystem will undergo a transformation.
Across the globe, changes in salinity over time generally match changes in precipitation: places where rainfall declines become saltier, while places where rainfall increases become fresher. Where did saltiness change over the past decade?
In 2013, global average sea level was 1.5 inches above the 1993-2010 average, which is the highest yearly average in the satellite record (1993-present). Overall, sea level continues to rise at a rate of one-eighth of an inch per year.
Ocean water acidified by increasing carbon dioxide is corroding calcium carbonate minerals—an essential ingredient for shell- and skeleton-building that creatures like this tiny snail rely upon.
Global average sea level in 2012 was 1.4 inches above the 1993-2010 average, which was the highest yearly average in the satellite record. Sea level has been rising over the past century, and the pace has increased in recent decades.
Recent studies show the world’s ocean is heating up as it absorbs most of the extra heat being added to the climate system from the build-up of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. This climate trend, and many others, are documented in NOAA’s newly released 2009 State of the Climate Report.
La Niña's here through winter, but chances for ENSO to transition to neutral by spring are rising.