Ocean Impacts of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

Figure 24.2

This figure appears in chapter 24 of the Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment report.

http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/highlights/report-findings/oceans/graphics/ocean-impacts-increased-atmospheric-carbon-dioxide-0

As heat-trapping gases, primarily carbon dioxide (CO₂) (panel A), have increased over the past decades, not only has air temperature increased worldwide, but so has the temperature of the ocean’s surface (panel B). The increased ocean temperature, combined with melting of glaciers and ice sheets on land, is leading to higher sea levels (panel C). Increased air and ocean temperatures are also causing the continued, dramatic decline in Arctic sea ice during the summer (panel D). Additionally, the ocean is becoming more acidic as increased atmospheric CO₂ dissolves into it (panel E). (CO₂ data from Etheridge 2010,db5a807b-cea0-4f88-a0d0-7ee64ebcf5ce Tans and Keeling 2012,05c92f5c-90f1-44e0-b087-99ade5969df3 and NOAA NCDC 2012;4a1bd255-eecf-4bf9-9207-2d1350c49b66 SST data from NOAA NCDC 20124a1bd255-eecf-4bf9-9207-2d1350c49b66 and Smith et al. 2008;62bcea98-c8db-4877-b9f3-e61798e0f8ae Sea level data from CSIRO 201283f8a452-9ff2-4c44-ac38-dc2d8214de11 and Church and White 2011;94a8514e-063e-45ef-b893-11c82b49a597 Sea ice data from University of Illinois 2012;a7e275b8-ed69-4129-8b9b-9134bea7c5d4 pH data from Doney et al. 2012cfdaea11-95e2-4789-914b-74901b2f26b0).

Free to use with credit to the original figure source.

References :

• webpage Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature (4a1bd255)
• Climate Change Impacts on Marine Ecosystems (cfdaea11)
• (db5a807b)
• webpage Sea Ice Dataset (a7e275b8)
• webpage The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (83f8a452)
• Sea-Level Rise from the Late 19th to the Early 21st Century (94a8514e)
• webpage Trends in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, Full Mauna Loa CO2 Record (05c92f5c)
• Improvements to NOAA’s Historical Merged Land–Ocean Surface Temperature Analysis (1880–2006) (62bcea98)