Find jobs, read news from the OCB Project Office and OCB Community, view upcoming meeting and deadlines in the Ocean Carbon Exchange eNewsletter, sent every other Thursday. Click to read the latest issue or sign up here. Note, this eNewsletter replaces the ocb-all email listserv. The Ocean Carbon Exchange archive is available here. Please send announcements to ocb_news@whoi.edu.
Coastal habitats are critically important to humans, but without consistent and reliable observations we cannot understand the direction and magnitude of unfolding changes in these habitats. Environmental monitoring is therefore a prescient—yet still undervalued—societal service, and no effort better exemplifies this than the work conducted within the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). NERRS is a network of 29 U.S. estuarine sites operated as a partnership between NOAA and the coastal states. NERRS has established a system-wide monitoring program with standardized instrumentation, protocols, and data reporting to guide consistent and comparable data collection across all NERRS sites. This has resulted in high-quality, comparable data on short- to long-term changes in water quality and biological systems to inform effective coastal zone management.
Figure 1: Using dissolved oxygen and salinity, monthly mean pH can be predicted within and across coastal systems due to the unifying metabolic coupling of oxygen and pH.
In a recent study published in Estuaries and Coasts, Baumann and Smith (2017) used a subset of this unique data set to analyze short- and long-term variability in pH and dissolved oxygen (DO) at 16 NERRS sites across the U.S. Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific coasts (> 5 million data points). They observed that large, metabolically driven fluctuations of pH and DO are indeed a unifying feature of nearshore habitats. Furthermore, mean pH or mean diel pH fluctuations can be predicted across habitats simply from salinity and oxygen levels/fluctuations (Fig.1). These results provide strong empirical evidence that common metabolic principles drive diel to seasonal pH and DO variations within and across a diversity of estuarine environments. As expected, the study did not yield interannual, monotonic trends in nearshore pH conditions; rather, interannual fluctuations were of similar magnitude to the pH decrease predicted for the average surface ocean over the next three centuries (Fig.2). Correlations of weekly anomalies of pH, oxygen, and temperature yielded strong empirical support for the hypothesis that coastal acidification—in addition to being driven by eutrophication and atmospheric CO2 increases—is exacerbated by warming, likely via increased community respiration.
Figure 2: Interannual variations in temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen (DO) anomalies in 16 NERRS sites across the US Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and Pacific coasts.
Analyses of these long-term data sets have provided important insights on biogeochemical variability and underlying drivers in nearshore environments, highlighting the value and utility of long-term monitoring efforts like NERRS. Sustained, high-quality data sets in these nearshore environments are essential for the study of environmental change and should be prioritized by funding agencies. The observed metabolically driven pH and DO fluctuations suggest that local measures to reduce nutrient pollution can be an effective management tool in support of healthy coastal environments, a boon for both the habitats and humans.
Authors:
Hannes Baumann (University of Connecticut)
Erik M. Smith (North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, University of South Carolina)
Your research highlight should use a narrative style to engage the reader. Your target audience is a broad scientific readership. You may submit one figure that conveys the key point of the paper (please avoid lengthy captions, maximum of one sentence). The figure must be modified slightly from its published version to avoid copyright issues. Please include the following:
Oceans worldwide are warming up, and thermohaline circulation is expected to slow down. At the same time, ocean acidity is increasing due to the influx of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, a phenomenon called ocean acidification that has primarily been documented in shallow waters. In general, deeper waters contain less anthropogenic CO2, but predicted reductions in ventilation of deep waters may impact deep ocean chemistry, as described in a recent study in Nature Climate Change.
Figure caption: Secular trend of total scale pH at in-situ temperature and pressure at various depths between 1965 and 2015 in the Sea of Japan.
The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea with its own deep- and bottom-water formation that maintains relatively elevated oxygen levels. However, time-series data from 1965-2015 (the longest time-series available) reveal that oxygen concentrations in these deep waters are declining, indicating a reduction in ventilation that increases their residence time. As organic matter decomposition in these waters continues to accumulate more CO2, the pH decreases. As a result, the acidification rate near the bottom of the Sea of Japan is 27% higher than at the surface. As a miniature ocean with its own deep- and bottom-water formation, the Sea of Japan provides insight into how future warming might alter deep-ocean ventilation and chemistry.
Authors:
Chen-Tung Arthur Chen (National SunYat-sen University, Taiwan and Second Institute of Oceanography, China)
Hon-Kit Lui (National SunYat-sen University and Taiwan Research Institute)
Chia-Han Hsieh (National SunYat-sen University, Taiwan)
Tetsuo Yanagi (International Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas Center, Japan)
Naohiro Kosugi (Japan Meterological Agency)
Masao Ishii (Japan Meterological Agency)
Gwo-Ching Gong (National Taiwan Ocean University)
Moore Foundation to co-sponsor OCB workshop Oceanic Methane and Nitrous Oxide: The present situation and future scenarios! This three-day workshop will address chemical analysis, microbial metabolism, and our observational and predictive capabilities. Applications are now closed.
The workshop will take place October 28-31, 2018 at the UCLA Lake Arrowhead Conference Center (California, USA).
Important links:
Workshop Overview
Where in the global oceans should spatial and temporal surveys be conducted to discern climatologically-relevant changes in water-column inventories of methane and nitrous oxide? This is an important question facing oceanographers today. However, attempts to answer this question stimulate many related and relevant queries concerning the production and consumption of methane and nitrous oxide in the ocean. For example, how will their water-column concentrations be influenced by factors such as increasing seawater temperatures, decreasing oxygen concentrations, and changing nutrient loading? Do we have sufficient analytical and observational capacity to conduct robust temporal surveys? Do we sufficiently comprehend the microbial metabolic pathways that produce and consume these two trace gases?
The workshop will address these questions to help determine the future directions of methane and nitrous oxide measurements in the global oceans. The workshop builds off a series of global inter-comparison exercises of nitrous oxide and methane. Participation in the workshop is open to everyone and attendees will be decided based on application. All documents including planning papers, agendas, and presentations will be made available from the workshop website over the forthcoming months. For more information please contact Sam Wilson (stwilson@hawaii.edu) or any of the steering committee. To be added to the workshop email list, please contact us.
The application is open for the new OCB Workshop: Synthesis and intercomparison of ocean carbon uptake in CMIP6 models. The workshop will take place December 8-9, 2018 in Washington, DC. PIs include John Dunne (NOAA/GFDL), Scott Doney (Univ. Virginia), Matthew Long (NCAR), Anastasia Romanou (NASA/GISS), Galen McKinley (Columbia/LDEO).
Apply here by July 13.
There are vast unknowns about the future oceans, from what species or habitats may be most under threat to the continuity of earth system processes that maintain global climate. Modeling can be used to predict future states and explore the impacts of climate change, but several key uncertainties such as carbon-climate feedbacks hamper our predictive power.
Authors of a recent study in Biogeosciences (Matear and Lenton 2018) used a global earth system model to explore the effects of carbon-climate feedbacks on future ocean acidification. Ocean acidification can have wide-ranging impacts on keystone species from reef-building corals to pteropods, a major food web species in the Southern Ocean. The study included four representative scenarios (from IPCC) comparing concentration pathway simulations to emission pathway simulations (RCP2.6, RCP 4.5, RCP6, RCP8.5) to determine carbon-climate feedbacks. The high emission scenarios (RCP8.5 and RCP6) showed surface water undersaturation a decade or more earlier than expected. Surprisingly, the medium (RCP4.5) scenario carbon-climate feedbacks showed the greatest acidification response, doubling the extent of undersaturation and subsequently halving the area that could sustain coral reefs by 2100. The low emissions scenario also showed significant declines in saturation state.
Surface ocean aragonite saturation state for the 2090s for RCP2.6 and RCP 8.5 concentration and emission pathways. The contour line delineates a saturation state of 3 (coral reef threshold), the white line a saturation state of 1, when aragonite becomes unstable and corals dissolve.
The extra atmospheric CO2 from the carbon-climate feedback resulted in accelerated ocean acidification in all emission scenarios. These feedbacks may also affect global warming and deoxygenation. This is particularly important, given that many policymakers are aiming for low emission commitments, but may still be severely underestimating the extent and timing of ocean acidification. There is a great need to improve our ability to predict carbon-climate feedbacks so we do not underestimate projected ocean acidification and its impacts on both sensitive ecosystems and the human communities that rely on them for food, coastal protection and other ecosystem services.
Authors:
Richard Matear (CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Australia)
Andrew Lenton (Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC, Australia)
The new OCB Working Group “Towards a better understanding of fish contribution to carbon flux” now has 14 members and is getting started on the following goals: 1) Synthesize the existing research on fish carbon flux; 2) Recognize challenges in measuring fish carbon flux and discuss approaches to resolve them; 3) Develop research priorities to fill in the large gaps in understanding fish carbon flux; 4) Identify opportunities to obtain resources needed to move this research forward.
The Working Group includes PI Grace Saba (Rutgers) and members Nicola Beaumont (PML), Adrian Burd (Univ. Georgia), Peter Davison (Farallon Institute), John Dunne (NOAA GFDL), Santiago Hernández-León (Institute of Oceanography and Global Change), Stephanie Wilson (Bangor University), Steven Lutz (GRID-Arenda), Angela Martin (Univ. Agder), Kenneth Rose (UMCES), Joe Salisbury (UNH), Deborah Steinberg (VIMS), Clive Trueman (NOC Southampton), Rod Wilson (Univ. Exeter).
More information here.
Thank you to all members of the SOLAS and OCB communities who submitted such high-quality nominations for the new subcommittee on Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions. We received a total of 28 nominations. A small committee of scientists from the OCB and SOLAS scientific leadership independently reviewed all of the nomination packages and then engaged in an open discussion, followed by a ranking/voting process. The inaugural subcommittee includes the following 12 members: Rachel Stanley (Wellesley College, subcommittee chair), Thomas Bell (Plymouth Marine Laboratory), Yuan Gao (Rutgers), Cassandra Gaston (Univ. Miami, RSMAS), David Ho (Univ. Hawaii), David Kieber (SUNY Syracuse), Katherine Mackey (Univ. California, Irvine), Nicholas Meskhidze (NC State Univ.), Bill Miller (Univ. Georgia), Henry Potter (TAMU), Penny Vlahos (Univ. Connecticut), and Patricia Yager (Univ. Georgia).
The scientific focus of this subcommittee is on ocean-atmosphere interactions and their role in marine biogeochemical cycles. There is a substantial overlap between the scientific goals of the OCB and SOLAS communities, and this subcommittee seeks to strengthen communication and collaboration between ocean and atmospheric scientists to create a thriving, collaborative air-sea interaction research community in the US. The OCB Project Office will host and provide logistical support for this subcommittee.
More information here.
The OCB Biogeochemical Profiling Float Workshop will bring together potential users to discuss biogeochemical profiling float technology, sensors, and data management, to begin the process of the intelligent design of future scientific experiments.
The workshop will be held July 9-13, 2018 at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA, USA).
Steering Committee: Stephen Riser (University of Washington), Ken Johnson (MBARI), and Lynne Talley (Scripps Institution of Oceanography)
More information including a draft agenda is available on the workshop website.
Registration is now closed.
Copyright © 2018 - OCB Project Office, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole Rd, MS #25, Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA Phone: 508-289-2838 • Fax: 508-457-2193 • Email: info@us-ocb.org
Funding for the Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry Project Office is provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The OCB Project Office is housed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.