oceans and climate

Ocean could hold the key to predicting recurring extreme winters

Extreme weather

Research at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) may help to predict extreme winters across Europe by identifying the set of environmental conditions that are associated with pairs of severe winters across consecutive years.

Tracking an iceberg as big as Manhattan

Aerial shot of the Pine Island Glacier (credit: Angelika Humbert, Alfred Wegener Institute)

A University of Southampton researcher based at the National Oceanography Centre is helping to track an iceberg the size of Manhattan, which has recently broken off of a glacier in Antarctica and could threaten shipping lanes in the Southern Ocean.

NOC contributes to key climate report

Carbon dioxide map

National Oceanography Centre researchers have contributed to The Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which has just been published.

New dating of sea-level records reveals rapid response between ice volume and polar temperature

Iceberg

A new study has revealed a rapid response between global temperature and ice volume/sea-level, which could lead to sea-levels rising by over one metre.

Scientists develop new approach to support future climate projections

Seascape (courtesy of Leighton Rolley)

Scientists have developed a new approach for evaluating past climate sensitivity data to help improve comparison with estimates of long-term climate projections developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Long term sea level rise due to fossil fuels assessed

Burning fossil fuels

A new study indicates that burning all the Earth’s reserves of fossil fuels could alone cause sea levels to rise by as much as five metres – with levels continuing to rise for typically 500 years after carbon dioxide emissions ceased.

Victorian science adds another 50 years to ocean warming record

Argo float

The earliest ocean measurements from 135 years ago used alongside the most up-to-date technology, confirm that ocean temperatures, particularly in the Atlantic, have increased since Victorian times.

Freshwater dome forms in Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean mean sea surface

A bulge of freshwater has been building up in the Arctic Ocean.

Scientists at the National Oceanography Centre have been working with the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at University College London to study the freshwater, which has been building up in the Beaufort Sea, a part of the western Arctic Ocean.

Climate impact of Arctic Ocean subject of major new study

Greenland viewed from space (courtesy of <a href="http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=STS045&roll=152&frame=105">NASA</a>)

Future changes in the climate of the Arctic Ocean – and their possible impact on the climate of the United Kingdom and globally – are the subject of a major new study, supported by a £2.4 million grant from the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Marine science under sail in four year-circumnavigation

A unique, round-the-world sailing expedition that will monitor the marine environment in all the Earth’s oceans, starts from La Spezia, Northern Italy on Saturday 24 September.

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