Coastal Climate ChangeNicole Hartford

As climate changes, coastal regions are seeing a wide range of impacts from sea level rise to ocean circulation.

Sea Level Rise As the ocean water warms due to an

increase in temperature of the climate the ocean expands and takes up more space.

Glaciers also melt and runoff into streams, increasing the volume of the ocean.

Melting ice accounts for one third of all sea lever rise.

Carbon Cycle

Ocean Acidification The ocean absorbs more carbon than it

produces, making it a carbon sink. The concentration of CO2 is higher in the air than the ocean, it diffuses into seawater.

As more fossil fuels are burned, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere increases. When carbon dioxide is dissolved in water, it produces carbonic acid and acidifies the ocean.

Ocean Acidification In recent studies, scientists have also

discovered that warmer sea surface temperature has caused phytoplankton productivity to decrease.

Without this absorption of CO2, seawater is acidifying faster because more CO2 is entering the ocean than getting consumed by phytoplankton.

Ocean Heat Many ocean currents are driven by

subtle differences in temperature and salinity.

As green house gases accumulate in the atmosphere, they trap more of the sun’s energy, and the ocean absorbs more heat. Adding heat to the ocean as the climate changes alters ocean dynamics.

The Cryosphere The cryosphere is the accumulation of

earth’s frozen features including ice, snow cover, and frozen ground.

Because ice is more reflective than water, it regulates global climate by keeping polar regions cool.

Ice Loss Sea ice is decreasing due to warmer air

and ocean temperatures and wind blowing ice fragments out of the Arctic Ocean.

As ice melts, the Arctic's ability to stabilize the Earth’s climate declines. The feedback look escalates with more solar energy absorption, higher air temperatures, and less sea ice.