EARTHSS 60B Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Thermohaline Circulation, Conveyor Belt, Global Warming

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LECTURE 6:
What controls ocean circulations patterns?
Thermohaline circulation (ran by densities)
Causes layers to not mix but move past each other
d=m/v, in high salinity mass goes up
Temperature changes volume (hot water expands)
Ocean circulation and nutrient distributions
Nutrients increase productivity
Nutrient concentrations are lower at the surface and higher at depth
No algae deep in the ocean, nutrients sink to the bottom
Center of the ocean gyres, low nutrients
Margins have upwelling, more nutrients
Stratification experiment
Salt water prevents mixing from happening
The cold water surrounds the ice and allows it to not melt as quickly
Global warming can cause stratification to increase in some areas
Land ice sheets melting and flowing into the ocean
Conveyor belt slows or shuts down
Upwelling now and in the future
Coastal upwelling, nutrients surface from below
With enhanced stratification→ 50% more nutrients
How will phytoplankton respond to increase in nitrate?
Decrease in number of toxin producers
Decline in number of chains forming in phytoplankton
With added N, more single shells
How would this affect C export?
Smaller cells don;t weigh as much, less sinking
exports
How would food webs be affected?
More energy foraging for food, less energy for other things
El Nino and La Nina years
Typical trade winds
Warm nutrient poor waters
La Nina:Intensified trade winds
Warmer water on one side, colder water on the other
More fish production
El nino: weakening trade winds
Upwelling is prevented
Less fish production
More rain→ more moisture from warm waters
When do we have an El Nino
0.5 degrees celsius avg. increase sea surface temperature for 3 month
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Document Summary

Causes layers to not mix but move past each other. D=m/v, in high salinity mass goes up. Nutrient concentrations are lower at the surface and higher at depth. No algae deep in the ocean, nutrients sink to the bottom. Center of the ocean gyres, low nutrients. The cold water surrounds the ice and allows it to not melt as quickly. Global warming can cause stratification to increase in some areas. Land ice sheets melting and flowing into the ocean. Decline in number of chains forming in phytoplankton. Smaller cells don;t weigh as much, less sinking exports. More energy foraging for food, less energy for other things. Warmer water on one side, colder water on the other. More rain more moisture from warm waters. When do we have an el nino. 0. 5 degrees celsius avg. increase sea surface temperature for 3 month. Rise in air pressure over indian ocean, fall in air pressure over tahiti and.

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