The future of the oceans

A. Terms that should mean something to you
Related words are grouped together

Carbon cycle [ ] Air-sea gas exchange Photosynthesis [ ] Respiration/decomposition [ ]

Global warming [ ] Greenhouse gas [ ] Thermal expansion of seawater [ ] Glacial melting [ ] Sea ice [ ] Rising sealevel [ ]

Impact of global warming [ ] Coastal erosion [ ] Effects on ecosystems [ ]

B. Questions you should be able to answer
1. What are several of the most significant greenhouse gases?
2. What is global warming?
3. What natural processes influence the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
4. What human processes influence the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
5. What marine processes influence the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmophere?
6. What are the two most important ways in which global warming will increase sea level?
7. Why is are petroleum, coal and natural gas called "fossil fuels"?
8. What's the difference between a hydrocarbon and organic matter?
9. How does organic matter turn into hydrocarbon?
10. What two characteristics make Santa Barbara Basin a good area to find hydrocarbons?
11. How is global warming harmful to coral reefs?

C. General reference for your homework problem.

Observation of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the last half century
1. The Keeling Curve

Observation of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the last 400,000 years
1. Antarctic ice core record

The record of glaciation on earth over the last 400,000 based on oxygen isotopes in marine foraminferal sediments
1. The oxygen isotope record.
    Note that all of these records are some form of oxygen isotope record.


Observation of global average surface temperatures over the last century
1. Global Warming - Climate
2. Global Temperature Trends


Observation of global average sea surface temperatures over the last century
1. Surface temperatures
    The blue line is SST. Note that it's the anomaly, not absolute temperature.

Kyoto Protocol and other thoughts on how to deal with global warming
1. United Nations Framwork Convention on Climate Change
2. Officials Seek More Study on Warming
    The current U.S. position on the Kyoto Protocol.
3. Global Warming
    Review of current knowledge by a federal agency - U.S. EPA
4. Global Warming
    What one group of scientists has to say - the Union of Concerned Scientists
5. Global Climate
    One manufacturer's stand on global climate - GM.
6. Global Climate and Energy Project
    Exxon-Mobil's stand on global climate.
7. Global Warming
    An environmental view - the Sierra Club
8. Global Warming
    An environmental view - the Sierra Club
9. These are just a start. Practically everyone has something to say. Other nations, other communities, industries, etc.

Treaties - Law of the Sea
1. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982
    The official U.N. page that includes current text.
2. World Fact Book 2002
    General information about each nation, including status on treaties. Compiled by CIA.

Impacts of global warming on coastal zones
1. Global Warming - Impacts - Coastal Zones

Threats to coral reefs
1. Threats to Coral Reefs in Southeast Asia: Overfishing
1. Global Trade and Consumer Choices: Coral Reefs in Crisis

Status of world fisheries
1. FAO: Fisheries Information Center
    International forum on fisheries and producer of only global dataset.
1. U.S. to Seek Solutions to Global Fisheries Issues at FAO
    U.S. comment on FAO.
2. U.S. to Seek Solutions to Global Fisheries Issues at FAO
    International forum on fisheries and producer of only global dataset.
3. U.S. to Seek Solutions to Global Fisheries Issues at FAO
4. The Crisis in Global Fisheries or Are We Shouting Wolf?
    A message from 1993, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
5. Diminishing Returns: World Fisheries Under Pressure
5. UN Releases New Survey of Global Fisheries Discards
    Can we catch fish with less collateral damage?
7. U.S. Chefs Join Campaign to Save Chilean Sea Bass
8. Fishing Methods
9. Shrimp Farming and the Environment