2008 Woodie Awards
Global warming lecture meets tepid response
Nick Ramirez, Staff Writer
Issue date: 3/8/06 Section: News
Room 3001 in the Schulz Information Center was filled over capacity to hear a lecture about global warming on Feb. 28 by Tim Barnett, a professor of Oceanography at the Scripps Institution of U.C. San Diego.
In a his presentation, Barnett explained that since the mid-1900s, the temperature of the earth has spiked. Man-made greenhouse gases are contributing to the heat, he said, rather than natural variables like the sun. Much of that heat is being absorbed into the oceans.
"[Of] the heat that the planet has acquired in the last 40 to 50 years, over 85 percent of that has gone into the oceans," Barnett said.
Barnett stated that the melting of permafrost is releasing large amounts of methane into the atmosphere. There are 450 megatons of permafrost in Siberia alone. Methane, Barnett said, is 20 times worse than CO2, and takes 12 years to dissipate from the atmosphere.
He said that 98 percent of glaciers are melting, and the Andean glaciers that have 1,500 layers now have 20 meters gone from the top. Greenland is also melting, and may add 7 meters to the sea level. Only an increase of three meters at sea level will put Miami underwater.
The biological impact of global warming is affecting artic wildlife. Barnett cited that the birth rate and weight of polar bears are sharply declining. If this trend continues, he said, by 2012 they will no longer be able to reproduce. Animals are responding to global warming by migrating earlier, and the migration of the crane is now occurring one month earlier than usual.
Barnett explained that the ph level of the ocean is declining, which means that the oceans are becoming more acidic. The ph level of the ocean has dropped from 8.2 to 8.1. In the year 2100, the ph level of the ocean is projected to reach 7.5. If it reaches that level, the calcium shell of plankton will dissolve, eliminating a primary source on the food chain.
Water resources that relied on ice-melt and glaciers are being depleted due to global warming. Environmental stress is clashing with economical stress, he said, as companies that produce hydropower compete with wildlife for water.
In a his presentation, Barnett explained that since the mid-1900s, the temperature of the earth has spiked. Man-made greenhouse gases are contributing to the heat, he said, rather than natural variables like the sun. Much of that heat is being absorbed into the oceans.
"[Of] the heat that the planet has acquired in the last 40 to 50 years, over 85 percent of that has gone into the oceans," Barnett said.
Barnett stated that the melting of permafrost is releasing large amounts of methane into the atmosphere. There are 450 megatons of permafrost in Siberia alone. Methane, Barnett said, is 20 times worse than CO2, and takes 12 years to dissipate from the atmosphere.
He said that 98 percent of glaciers are melting, and the Andean glaciers that have 1,500 layers now have 20 meters gone from the top. Greenland is also melting, and may add 7 meters to the sea level. Only an increase of three meters at sea level will put Miami underwater.
The biological impact of global warming is affecting artic wildlife. Barnett cited that the birth rate and weight of polar bears are sharply declining. If this trend continues, he said, by 2012 they will no longer be able to reproduce. Animals are responding to global warming by migrating earlier, and the migration of the crane is now occurring one month earlier than usual.
Barnett explained that the ph level of the ocean is declining, which means that the oceans are becoming more acidic. The ph level of the ocean has dropped from 8.2 to 8.1. In the year 2100, the ph level of the ocean is projected to reach 7.5. If it reaches that level, the calcium shell of plankton will dissolve, eliminating a primary source on the food chain.
Water resources that relied on ice-melt and glaciers are being depleted due to global warming. Environmental stress is clashing with economical stress, he said, as companies that produce hydropower compete with wildlife for water.