Transcript of Climate Change and the Global Ocean

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[music] The Earth's climate is changing... in some places, faster than predicted. Something - or someone - is cranking up the heat. And many scientists say the main culprit is us. Climate change affects almost everything on our planet - including people. But could climate change affect something as huge, as deep, as mysterious as our oceans? Earth scientists are determined to find out.

[Paula Bontempi:] "You can see the atmosphere, you can see the land, but you can't really see beneath the ocean's surface. So you start wondering, you know, what's going on beneath the part we can see."

[David Adamec:] "We walk in a very small part of the atmosphere, and we walk on the land. And it's how that interaction takes place with the ocean, the atmosphere, and the land that determines our quality of life. Our goal is to understand the interconnectedness of it all." For years, people have worked to unravel the mysteries of the oceans. Scientists gather data from ships and buoys on the surface, take the plunge to explore ocean depths, and fly overhead to get a bigger picture. But one of the best views of oceans might be from way, way overhead. It's the view from space.

[Paula Bontempi:] "The one thing that NASA satellites do that nothing else does, ships or buoys or anything else, is actually give you a picture of the globe within a few days. You get a much broader view of what's going on in some part of the Earth's system, and you can link that together to understand the Earth as a whole." Thousands of satellites orbit our planet. Some look out into space. Others look back at us... at Earth. Some of the sensors on these satellites act like giant digital cameras, taking pictures in visible light - the kind our eyes see. On land, these images show us when plants turn green, with the changing seasons. They help us see where dirt and pollution drain into the sea, and where microscopic plankton thrive. These tiny organisms are not only the base of the marine food web... they give us the air we breathe.

[David Adamec:] "We are dependent on life in the water. Especially in the ocean. There are small plants called phytoplankton that are responsible for 50 percent of the oxygen that you're breathing right now." Other kinds of satellite sensors look at the Earth in a far different light. Heat sensing satellite instruments take the Earth's temperature by measuring infrared energy. Infrared wavelengths are invisible to our eyes, but some satellites can see them. And, as our climate changes, we can see ocean temperatures on the rise. Other satellites show us peaks and valleys, not just on land - but, believe it or not - - on the surface of the ocean. And as ice on land melts, there are increasingly more highs than lows. Sea level is rising. Soon a new satellite will even help us see tiny particles on the ocean's surface - like salt, which drives huge conveyor belts of water through the world's oceans, connecting currents and moving heat from pole to pole. Climate change could mean big changes for oceans. And that in turn would make life very different for those of us on dry land.

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[Paula Bontempi:] "If the climate actually changes, and the oceans change or respond to that change, it most definitely will impact life as we know it, and especially humans."

[David Adamec:] "To understand exactly how we stay here and how we're going to survive both within the climate, and even our life cycle, it requires understanding what the water is doing." Our climate is changing... in some places, faster than predicted. By using science to understand those changes, we can find ways of protecting our oceans - and ourselves - that make a world of difference.

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