Climate change has major impact...(us to breathe and they are the base of t...)

Date:2/17/2008

us to breathe and they are the base of the ocean food webs that support our global fisheries, Behrenfeld said. Using NASA satellites, we can track changes in phytoplankton on a global basis and what we find is that warming ocean temperatures are linked to decreasing photosynthesis. Satellites are one of the most important tools we have for understanding the link between climate and ocean biology because they provide measurements of the whole planet on a daily basis, which could never be accomplished by ship.

Unfortunately, he added, it is at this very time when we need satellites most that we are facing the end of NASA ocean biology satellites because of budget cutbacks or new priorities. This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

Instead of facing the end of these critical missions and becoming blind to the changes occurring in our oceans, Behrenfeld said, we should be building even better ones to see more clearly than we have in the past, and to gauge the potential consequences of climate change on ocean productivity.

The panelists also called for greater investment in ocean observing systems that would allow scientists to better measure changing in the ocean ecosystem, including large-scale circulation and coastal upwelling systems around the world. Klaus Keller of Penn State University reported on the economic costs and benefits of effective ocean observing systems to detect changes in the north Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.

Jack Barth, an oceanographer at Oregon State University, reported on the hypoxia events that have plagued the Pacific Northwest coast since 2000. These low-oxygen zones in the near-shore are unprecedented over the last five decades of scientific observation and likely linked to stronger, more persistent winds that are expected to occur with global warming. The California Current System provides a case study for similar changes in coastal upwelling zones off South America, southern
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Contact: Jane Lubchenco lubchenco@oregonstate.edu 541-740-1247 Oregon State University Source:Eurekalert

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