How does rising atmospheric CO2 affect marine organisms?

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Volume 5 Number 45:  6 November 2002

Temperature Record of the Week
This issue's Temperature Record of the week is from York, Pennsylvania. Visit our U.S. Climate Data section to plot and view these data for yourself.

Current Editorial
The Greening of the Earth Continues: Both intentionally and unintentionally, man has wrecked great havoc on the planet's vegetation, as have the natural vagaries of weather and climate.  Nevertheless, fueled by the aerial fertilization and water conservation effects of the historical and still-ongoing rise in the air's CO2 content, the terrestrial surfaces of the globe grow ever greener.

Subject Index Summaries
Sea Ice (Antarctic): Is the sea ice of the Southern Ocean gradually disappearing in response to global warming?

Soil Water Status: A review of the recent literature demonstrates that earth's soils will likely experience increases in their moisture holding capacities as the CO2 content of the air continues to rise, thereby enabling plants to better cope with drought stress and grow in regions from which they currently are excluded due to limited soil moisture availability.

Current Journal Reviews
Simultaneous Little Ice Age Glacial Advances in Europe and Antarctica: They stand as a significant testament to the global scope of the most recent cool interval of the millennial-scale climatic oscillation that alternatively ushers in several-hundred-year periods of relative warmth and coolness.

Getting Better at Taking the Heat: One of the many hypothesized impacts of global warming is higher human mortality rates during times of peak summer heat.  This study clearly demonstrates that economic-driven advances in technologies of all sorts have the capacity to thwart that prediction.  In fact, it demonstrates that in many parts of the United States, this potential has already become reality.

Modeling Wheat Growth Responses to Elevated CO2 Under High and Low Soil Moisture Regimes: Crop growth models have often failed to reproduce the typically greater CO2-induced percentage increases in productivity that are observed under water-limiting vs. non-limiting conditions.  In this study, however, the ecosys model does a pretty good job of getting it right.

Eastern Hemlock Productivity in a Warming World: How might mild increases in nocturnal air temperature impact tree productivity and carbon sequestration in mature eastern hemlock forests of the United States?

Transpirational Water Loss in Douglas Fir Needles as Affected by Elevated Air Temperature and CO2 Concentration: Which environmental change - a 200 ppm increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration (which should reduce transpiration) or a 4°C increase in air temperature (which should increase transpiration) - will win the water-loss "tug of war"?