How does rising atmospheric CO2 affect marine organisms?

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Volume 6 Number 23:  4 June 2003

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

Current Editorial
On Assessing Surface Air Temperature Trends: Just how much has the planet warmed over the past century?  A new way of evaluating surface air temperature trends that removes the warming effects of intensifying urban heat islands and land use changes suggests that the answer to this question is much less than is typically claimed by climate alarmists and probably totally unrelated to the concomitant rise in the air's CO2 concentration.

Subject Index Summaries
Decadal-Scale Climate Oscillations (North America): What can they tell us about climatic trends of the past few decades?  Until we can confidently answer this question, it is premature to blithely attribute recent climate change to anthropogenic causes.

Long-Term Studies (Woody Plants - Sour Orange Trees): A CO2-enrichment study of sour orange trees has been in progress at Phoenix, Arizona since 1987.  What have we learned from this experiment about the temporal evolution of the consequences of the aerial fertilization effect of elevated CO2 in the life of a long-lived woody plant?

Current Journal Reviews
Convective Available Potential Energy: Mistreated by Models: An atmospheric property that is "a potential indicator of climate change," is treated in such a way by modern climate models that it cannot be reproduced by them, even when forced with data that should prescribe its trends.

Arctic Ocean Temperature Variability: What does a knowledge of its true long-term nature reveal about the "extraordinary" warming of the Arctic Ocean in recent decades?

Six Years of CO2 Enrichment of a Nutrient-Poor Grassland: Natural or semi-natural grasslands cover a large part of earth's terrestrial surface.  How will they respond to atmospheric CO2 enrichment where soils are low in nutrients and precipitation might possibly be somewhat reduced?

CO2 Effects on Late-Season Photosynthesis of Sweetgum Trees: This latest research report in a continuing set of studies of the net photosynthetic response of sweetgum trees that have been exposed to an extra 200 ppm of CO2 since August 1996 reveals they are not exhibiting any down-regulation of their enhanced ability to capture and remove carbon from the atmosphere.

Rice in Sri Lanka: Its Growth and Yield Response to Elevated CO2: Will the warm, subhumid climate of the tropical island off the southern tip of India be conducive to the yield-enhancing effects of atmospheric CO2 enrichment?  Or will it be restrictive?