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Why oceans behave like water in a bath
April 21, 2004SATELLITE measurements of sea levels have uncovered a bizarre effect. The sea seems to be rising faster near the coast than in mid-ocean.
Simon Holgate and Philip Woodworth of the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, in Bidston, UK, found this discrepancy using the Topex satellite, launched in 1992. The satellite measures sea level by bouncing microwaves off the ocean and timing the return trip.
According to the Topex data, global average sea level rose by 2.8 millimetres a year between 1993 and 2002. This is thought to be a consequence of global warming: water in the oceans expands as it warms up, and more is added as glaciers and ice caps melt.
But during the same period, the water level within 100 kilometres of the coast rose faster, by an average of 3.7 millimetres a year.
Holgate and Woodworth, who describe their findings in the current issue of Geophysical Research Letters (vol 31, p L07305), wonder whether the oceans are behaving like water in a bathtub. If you splash in the bath, waves travel outwards and then run around the edges of the tub.
In 1996, ocean modellers predicted that this effect could be at work in the seas. Kirk Bryan of Princeton University and his colleagues worked out what would happen when part of an ocean heats up: the water expands, creating waves that hit the coast then travel around the rim of the ocean basin for several years.
Holgate and Woodworth are the first to suggest that we can see this happening, says Jonathan Gregory, an expert in climate change at the University of Reading, UK.
This is not necessarily bad news for the many millions of people who live near the shore. The boundary waves might have been caused by some relatively sudden event, such as a particularly warm year, in which case they will subside. But if they are driven by an ongoing process of climate change, the difference between coast and ocean could get worse, and flooding could be an even bigger problem than scientists have anticipated.
Written by Jenny Hogan
New Scientist
Holgate and Woodworth, who describe their findings in the current issue of Geophysical Research Letters (vol 31, p L07305), wonder whether the oceans are behaving like water in a bathtub. If you splash in the bath, waves travel outwards and then run around the edges of the tub.
In 1996, ocean modellers predicted that this effect could be at work in the seas. Kirk Bryan of Princeton University and his colleagues worked out what would happen when part of an ocean heats up: the water expands, creating waves that hit the coast then travel around the rim of the ocean basin for several years.
Holgate and Woodworth are the first to suggest that we can see this happening, says Jonathan Gregory, an expert in climate change at the University of Reading, UK.
This is not necessarily bad news for the many millions of people who live near the shore. The boundary waves might have been caused by some relatively sudden event, such as a particularly warm year, in which case they will subside. But if they are driven by an ongoing process of climate change, the difference between coast and ocean could get worse, and flooding could be an even bigger problem than scientists have anticipated.
Written by Jenny Hogan
New Scientist
Climate Change Current Events and Climate Change News RSSPast regional cold and warm periods linked to natural climate drivers
Intervals of regional warmth and cold in the past are linked to the El Niño phenomenon and the so-called "North Atlantic Oscillation" in the Northern hemisphere's jet stream, according to a team of climate scientists. These linkages may be important in assessing the regional effects of future climate change.
Peat fires drive temperatures up
Peatlands, especially those in tropical regions, sequester gigantic amounts of organic carbon. Human activities are now having a considerable impact on these wetlands.
Traditional indigenous fire management techniques deployed against climate change
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Caltech scientists explain puzzling lake asymmetry on Titan
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) suggest that the eccentricity of Saturn's orbit around the sun may be responsible for the unusually uneven distribution of lakes over the northern and southern polar regions of the planet's largest moon, Titan.
Making sense of greenhouse gas accounting
Waste management is increasingly gaining the recognition that it deserves as a major contributor to mitigating climate change.
Climate change could boost incidence of civil war in Africa
Climate change could increase the likelihood of civil war in sub-Saharan Africa by over 50 percent within the next two decades.
We're off then: the evolution of bat migration
Not just birds, but also a few species of bats face a long journey every year. Researchers at Princeton University in the U.S. and at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell, Germany studied the migratory behaviour of the largest extant family of bats, the so-called "Vespertilionidae" with the help of mathematical models.
Researchers establish common seasonal pattern among bacterial communities in Arctic rivers
New research on bacterial communities throughout six large Arctic river ecosystems reveals predictable temporal patterns, suggesting that scientists could use these communities as markers for monitoring climate change in the polar regions.
Flax and yellow flowers can produce bioethanol
Surplus biomass from the production of flax shives, and generated from Brassica carinata, a yellow-flowered plant related to those which engulf fields in spring, can be used to produce bioethanol.
Aquatic creatures mix ocean water
Understanding mixing in the ocean is of fundamental importance to modeling climate change or predicting the effects of an El Niño on our weather. Modern ocean models primarily incorporate the effects of winds and tides. However, they do not generally take into account the mixing generated by swimming animals.
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