July 11, 2011
Photo: AZPM
Jianjun Yin, a professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona, discusses the link between climate and ocean.
A University of Arizona study published in the July issue of Nature finds a warming ocean will impact Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets faster than previously thought.
By using climate models that mimic real world conditions, researchers discovered that the subsurface ocean layers surrounding the polar ice sheets will heat up substantially as global warming continues. That means these ice sheets will be exposed to warming seawater beneath the surface as well as warming air, compounding the effect.
Jianjun Yin, a University of Arizona assistant professor of geosciences and the leader of the study, joins Arizona Illustrated to explain what the results mean and why they matter.
"Ocean warming is very important compared to atmospheric warming," he says, "because water has a much larger heat capacity than air. If you put an ice cube in a warm room it will melt in several hours; however, if you put it in a cup of warm water, it will disappear in a matter of minutes."
The study suggests that the earth's polar ice sheets will not only melt faster than was first estimated, but will also increase the sea level more than was originally predicted, says Yin.
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Question: Do we really know WHY the ocean is warming and why is it greater in some areas than other. Could the heat to warm it be coming from the surface below? For instance I would expect ocean warming would be great around Iceland where there is much volcanic activity. Are there records of what the sea floor temperatures are and whether they have changed much over the years. It does not seem clear that ocean warming is the result of the sort of things that are said to be causing global atmpospheric warming.
I hope that this question can be put to the professor who spoke on tonights show. I would be interested to hear from him.
Al Mueller, Tucson AZ azskier@q.com tel 520 298-6681