Phytoplankton and climate change part 2
Someone sent me these NASA images. The top one shows change in surface temperature. The bottom, change in phytoplankton productivity. Overall, warmer surface temperatures meant less productive phytoplankton. True, towards the poles there will probably be some increase in productivity, but the overall effect is negative.
Image courtesy of NASA.Why should we care? From the NASA website:
Every day, more than 100 million tons of carbon dioxide are drawn from the atmosphere into the ocean by billions of microscopic ocean plants called phytoplankton during photosynthesis. In addition to playing a big role in removing greenhouses gases from the atmosphere, phytoplankton are the foundation of the ocean food chain....snip...
“Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere play a big part in global warming,” said lead author Michael Behrenfeld of Oregon State University, Corvallis. “This study shows that as the climate warms, phytoplankton growth rates go down and along with them the amount of carbon dioxide these ocean plants consume. That allows carbon dioxide to accumulate more rapidly in the atmosphere, which would produce more warming.”
That is to say: more CO2 = warmer oceans = less productive phytoplankton = more CO2 and less food for marine life.
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Comments
Some scarey stuff! This links in very well with the breathe video.
Posted by: Lisa | December 13, 2006 7:01 PM
It is a big problem in the world. Greenhouse effect have the earth more warmer and warmer. The images from NASA is impressive. I can see how the earth temperature go up. I think that the problem may be solved by substitute energy like as solar power, water, wind and so on. I expect new tech-knowledge appear soon.
Posted by: JungMin_Lee | December 13, 2006 11:09 PM