The Impact of Climate Change and Feedback Processes on the Ocean Carbon Cycle

Abstract

We have been aware of the concept of global climate change since the advent of modern science in the 17th Century and the emergence of disciplines such as geology. However, it is only in the last century that a putative link, termed the ‘the Greenhouse Effect’ (Wood 1909), has been suggested between the atmospheric concentrations of particular gases and climate. The composition of the atmosphere has been studied routinely since the late fifties/early sixties with the establishment of monitoring sites for atmospheric CO2 (such as Mauna Loa) where the 40-year dataset clearly demonstrates the rise of atmospheric CO2 (Keeling et al. 1995). Similar anthropogenically-mediated increases in the atmos-pheric concentrations of other gases such as nitrous oxide and methane have also been recorded in the last 40 years (Bigg 1996; IPCC 2001). Such increases in the concentrations of these gases in the atmosphere alter the radiative forcing globally by decreasing the long-wave radiative flux leaving the trophosphere (Houghton et al. 1990) which is thought to lead to climatic effects. Alongside the global monitoring of atmospheric concentrations and distributions of greenhouse gases, there have been concerted efforts to use mathematical models to better understand the nature of the relationship between the observed changes in gas concentrations, subsequent alteration of radiative forcing and climate.