Tag Archives: CO2 concentrations

First proof ocean CO2 uptake has started to slow down

From raw measurements we know that in recent years the oceans seem to take up a smaller percentage of the CO2 we emit. Analysing available data a group of three researchers finds in part of the North Atlantic this is … Continue reading →

Antarctic krill promotes CO2 uptake by plankton through iron fertilisation

Iron is very rare in the upper layers of the world´s oceans, where photosynthesis is possible and therefore biological activity and concentration of living biomass is highest, making the mineral a growth-limiting nutrient in 40 percent of the world’s oceans, … Continue reading →

NOAA’s analysis of climate records 2010: trend consistent with climate change

Here on Bitsofscience.org we hope to be your climate records reference point, so we try not to miss any of the major reports on temperature trends or Arctic melting records. That means we definitely could not ignore yesterday’s release by … Continue reading →

Oceans to enter Holocene Mass Extinction

The cumulative effect of environmental threats like climate change, ocean acidification and overfishing, brings the world’s interconnected ocean close to a phase of extinction of marine species that is ‘globally significant’ and unprecedented in human history, an international panel of … Continue reading →

2010 brought CO2 record – 450 Scenario does not allow any further growth

We really thought we had all the climate records for 2010 neatly piled, but had all forgotten about this one. Deforestation and other land use changes excluded, simply burning fossil fuels in 2010 we emitted 30,600,000,000 tonnes of CO2. That’s … Continue reading →

Indo-Pacific coral reefs die at pH < 7.7

And already suffer biodiversity losses during the decline from pH 8.1 (preindustrial) to 7.8. That latest number is the expected acidification for the end of this century according to IPCC 4AR, a theoretical scenario and a dangerously often quoted underestimation … Continue reading →

Plants have 34% less breathing pores due to 150 years of rising CO2

According to new research by Utrecht University in the Netherlands that will be published in two separate papers in the upcoming edition of PNAS, plants react strongly to rising CO2 levels. This may in turn have strong climate implications, as … Continue reading →

A bit of green on Antarctica to aid against global warming

Brilliant green pools teeming with life have been found among remote Antarctic sea ice. The pools owe their colour to the high amounts of algae in the water. The pools were observed in the Amundsen Sea’s polynya, a region of seasonally … Continue reading →