The global carbon cycle is a very important component of the global climate system, with several feedback mechanisms that make its behavior complex. What are some of the main negative feedbacks and positive feedbacks in the carbon cycle?

Some of the main positive and negative feedbacks in the carbon cycle are:

Positive- if ice and snow melts this will cause the earths surface to absorb more energy because soil and ocean water is more exposed, this then can cause frozen soil to release large amounts of CO2, the warming of the earth can cause water vapor which is a powerful green house gas, all in all this is a continuous cycle adding up to global warming.

Negatives are that too much evaporation can cause more cloudiness which will block the sun reflect solar energy away from earth which can then cause reduced global warming and there is no cycle.

Click to access FeedbackLoops.pdf

The New York Times recently released an interactive graph that displays the temperature trend for a given city over 2015. The point of the graph is to emphasize the local trends in global warming, and to give the reader a more tangible feel for how climate change is affecting him or her directly. The idea is great- how get someone to comprehend a phenomena so abstract and large? You bring it close to home. How do you convey such a complex topic, one that may still escape the mental grasp of the reader? You use one simple, large graph. The problem I have with the report, and I think I mentioned this in a previous blot post, is what happens when a year isn’t warmer than the last? NYT can’t publish the same graph and say, “How Much Colder Was Your City in 20_ _ ?” Instead, it must find a way to acknowledge the larger climate change trend, which, admittedly, the NYT does on a regular basis. But those acknowledgments aren’t circulated through social media to nearly the same extent- people don’t seem to be as grabbed by ” x volume of permafrost melt occurred over the past y years, leading to z metric tons of GHG emissions.”

I don’t really have an idea for how to make people care about the meaningful long-term trends, and effects of climate change, but it seems the solution needs to be personal, tangible, and easy to comprehend.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/19/us/2015-year-in-weather-temperature-precipitation.html#state-college_pa

http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20110113/

Two months ago the Paris Climate summit representing 98% of the worlds carbon emissions met with the goal of cutting emissions.   The US at the meeting made a goal of cutting emissions 26% by 2025. The supreme court ruling last week put the United States in an awkward position of not keeping their promises to the rest of the world.  Another issue is even if the Supreme Court did not make this ruling analysis has shown emissions following this plan would at best case cut emissions by 23% and worst case 10%.  Obama tried to use the Clean Air Act to implement the plan thinking congress would not pass anything.  This however set up court battles instead.

With Justice Scalia death last week, Obama is presented with the opportunity to nominate someone who will strive for carbon regulation.  In fact, the new court could even allow more aggressive policies by the Obama administration. For example the Clean Air act has a provision that would allow the EPA to make states cut emissions that are dangerous to other countries if those countries do the same.  A week ago this would have been extremely difficult to achieve through the Supreme Court, now it may be possible goal to achieve.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/10/us/what-supreme-court-decision-to-halt-climate-regulation-means.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/business/economy/next-supreme-court-justice-will-be-crucial-to-climate-change.html?ref=topics&_r=0

In module 5 we are studying the global carbon cycle and also, the effects that humans are implementing on the global carbon cycle. 2015 was recorded as the hottest year and scientists predict that the years will continually grow warmer and warmer. Earlier this year began the severe outbreak of the Zika virus which comes from mosquitos living in warmer, tropical areas, such as Brazil. As the temperature warms, the mosquitos are able to mature much faster, and therefore, spread diseases and viruses much quicker than when times were cooler.

The outbreak has gotten out of control and is far from having a cure. There have been many other outbreaks where climate change has been linked to as well. Some of these diseases include, malaria, Lyme’s, and a disease called bluetounge. The mosquitos lay their eggs in water that many people use as their daily drinking supply due to the poor plumbing of the cities.

Global climate change is not just affecting the warmer countries, it will soon directly affect every country around the world. The Zika outbreak is a clear example of the sorts of issues and diseases that we could be facing in the near future due to the increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Global temperatures are rising which means the world needs to be prepared as best as possible for the side effects that will come with it.

References:

Gillis, Justin. “Zika Outbreak Could Be an Omen of the Global Warming Threat.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Feb. 2016. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

In this New York Times article, biologist Dr. Kawaguchi explains his research into Antarctic krill populations. In his lab, he observed the effects of carbon dioxide being pumped into his lab simulation on the krill. He witnessed the carbon dioxide killing the eggs. The importance of this organism in the ocean ecosystem is due to the fact most marine life is a direct predator of krill or just one step removed. As krill stocks are diminishing, there is less food for squid, whales, seals, fish, penguins, and sea birds.

The reason for the krill dying off in such large numbers? Higher levels of carbon dioxide in the water resulting in greater levels of ocean acidification, explains Dr. Kawaguchi. “If we continue with business as usual, and we don’t act on reducing carbon emissions, in that case, there could be a 20-70% reduction in Antarctic krill by 2100 [and] by 2300, the Southern Ocean might not be suitable for krill reproduction.”

Dr. Rintoul, an oceanographer with Australia’s national science agency, explains “it is like a conveyor belt carrying heat and carbon dioxide to the ocean, this is one reason it can absorb so much heat, the key question is how the acidification caused by the update of carbon dioxide will affect ecosystems.” We learned in Module 5 that the chemistry of carbon in seawater is complex but it is crucial in understanding the way the global carbon cycle operates and explains why the oceans can swallow up so much atmospheric CO2 without having their own CO2 concentrations rise very much. However, this article is a great example of small disturbances in CO2 concentrations in the ocean making a large impact on the wildlife. The area where the krill are reproducing is in very cold water, we learned in the Module that cold parts of the oceans absorb more atmospheric CO2 than warm regions do. As oceans take up more carbon dioxide, this article explains how sea animals are finding it more difficult to build shells and exoskeletons. Dr. Kawaguchi explains that krill are known to be a remarkably adaptable and abundant animal, but he fears that the krill may not be able to adapt fast enough.

Changing the chemical composition of the ocean may be the result of human interaction with the atmosphere so we should be responsible for slowing the changes, conserving the ecology, and making sure species that are crucial to the food chain are not killed off because of anthropogenic reasons.

Reference: Innis, Michelle. “Warming Oceans May Threaten Krill, a Cornerstone of the Antarctic Ecosystem” 19 October 2015. New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/20/science/australia-antarctica-krill-climate-change-ocean.html?_r=0