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Along America’s East Coast, blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) have traditionally been an important food source for larger species. They are also commercially farmed and even help improve water quality by filtering out pollutants as they feed. As recently as 50 years ago, blue mussels could be found as far south as the waters around Cape [...]

The oceans are currently absorbing about 22 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) each day and have absorbed an estimated 525 billion tons of CO2 over the last 200 years.
Trivia Question: As the oceans absorb more carbon dioxide, they become…
a. more basic (higher pH).
b. more acidic (lower pH).
c. richer in nutrients.
d. warmer.
The correct answer is [...]

Oceanic phytoplankton – microscopic organisms that use the sun’s energy to convert carbon and water into the sugars that make up their bodies – account for about half of the production of organic, or living, matter on Earth. These phytoplankton feed the zooplankton, which eventually feed the larger fishes that feed seabirds, marine mammals and [...]

Many of Earth’s great ice masses, which collectively form the cryosphere, are floating on ocean surfaces. There are three main collections of floating ice: the Arctic sea ice, the Antarctic ice shelves and the Antarctic sea ice. All three components have seasonal fluctuations, with the Antarctic sea ice showing the most dramatic differences between winter [...]

For about the past two million years, Earth’s climate system has been characterized by glacial cycles that last between 80,000 to 120,000 years. These cycles have long periods when the Earth cools and ice sheets build up to their maximums, followed by relatively short warming periods when the ice retreats and then “interglacial periods” like [...]

Warm ocean surface temperatures in the North Atlantic provide the warm and moist air that fuels hurricanes, which develop out of random disturbances in the tropics that provide the spark for these storms. Warmer waters in the North Atlantic generally mean more fuel for the storms. But did you know that surface temperature conditions in [...]

The coral reefs around the 3,700 square mile Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary provide habitat for 5,500 species as well nursing, feeding and breeding grounds that support a 20 million pound per year fishery. Water temperatures in the sanctuary fluctuate annually between about 68 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit. These waters, which reach their annual peak [...]

By most estimates, Earth’s sea level rose by 3.5 mm per year between 1993 and 2006. About one-seventh of this sea level rise can be attributed to ice melt on one island – two to three days worth of the summertime melt water from the island could supply the New York Metropolitan area’s water needs [...]

There is more energy in the Earth’s climate today than there was in 1950. This increase in energy exists in warmer air temperatures, less ice, more extreme rainfall events, warmer land surfaces and warmer rivers and lakes. The vast majority of the cumulative energy gain, however, is in the oceans. The upper 2300 feet of [...]

One of Earth’s most dramatic seasonal cycles is the waxing and waning of the sea ice that surrounds Antarctica, the driest, darkest and coldest continent. At its maximum extent at the end of the Southern Hemisphere winter in September, a 6.9 million square mile expanse of ice extends from Antarctica’s shores out into the Southern [...]

Over the past century, the Arctic was cooler than normal from 1900-1915, warmer than normal during the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, cooler than normal during the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and has been warmer than normal from the early 1980’s to today.
Trivia Question: During warm periods in the Arctic, is the Antarctic generally…
a)    Also warmer [...]

Melting ice and intensification of Earth’s water cycle appear to be impacting how salty ocean waters are. How salty the water is affects sea levels as well as Earth’s thermohaline circulation – the ocean currents driven by differences in temperature and salinity. Both changes in sea levels and the thermohaline circulation can have consequences for [...]

Teleconnections occur when an event in one part of the world impacts another part of the world. One frequent source of teleconnections is the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).  ENSO is the periodic shift in wind patterns and sea-surface temperatures over the tropical Pacific Ocean. ENSO’s teleconnections include control over the number of winter storms impacting [...]

Earth 13,000 years ago was in the process of thawing from the coldest part of the last ice age. Then, something sudden and catastrophic happened: within a few decades, northern Europe’s average temperature dropped by 18 degrees Fahrenheit. The sudden cold period that followed is called the Younger Dryas, named after the Arctic tundra wildflower [...]

Each year, rivers originating in the surrounding mountains and forests send an average of 229 trillion gallons of freshwater into the Gulf of Alaska. The amount of water flowing into the Gulf and when most of the flow occurs affects how salty the waters in the Gulf are. How salty these waters are affects the [...]

In Brief: Persistently cool conditions in the eastern tropical Pacific during the Middle Ages led to drought in the southwestern United States.
Conditions in the tropical Pacific influence weather throughout the world. On a cycle of two to seven years, the eastern tropical Pacific moves from cool (La Niña) conditions to warm (El Niño) conditions. While [...]

Much of our weather in the United States depends on what is happening in the tropical Pacific Ocean. During an El Niño event, which is happening now, the eastern tropical Pacific is warmer than average. During La Niña events, the eastern tropical Pacific is cooler than average. While South America’s west coast may seem far [...]

Glaciers have a mass balance. Glaciers lose mass by melting during the warm season (primarily the summer months) and gain mass by accumulating snow during the cold season (centered around the winter months). If a glacier accumulates more mass during the cold season than it loses during the warm season, it is said to have [...]

The energy moving in both weather systems and through the wires that power your home can be measured in watts. The Sun heats the Earth causing the fluids of the atmosphere and the oceans to move, creating the winds and currents of Earth’s climate. The vast majority of the energy in the climate system moves [...]

The temperature/pressure difference between the equatorial regions and the poles is at its maximum during the winter months. The energy this difference generates is thought to power the “storm tracks,” or the bands in the mid-latitudes where east to west traveling storms (cyclonic high and low pressure systems) are most common. The storm track over [...]