Science Forums 2

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Turtle

The 8,000 figure implies some daunting beyond belief number of underwater volcanoes yet as I reported in the Underwater Volcanism thread, new sounding analysis (after 2002 in the reference) have put the number of underwater volcanoes from ~20,000 to at least ~212,000 and perhaps as many as 3 million.

20k-3 million you say...
What's the standard deviation on that one look like?

On another note...

Originally Posted by NASA

Physical oceanography influences the carbon cycle through its modulation of the biology and also through processes that control carbonate chemistry (e.g., temperature, alkalinity/salinity) and carbon dioxide flux rates between the air-sea interface (e.g., surface wind speeds). The ocean "solubility pump" removes atmospheric carbon dioxide as air mixes with and dissolves into the upper ocean. Carbon dioxide is more soluble in cold water, so at high latitudes where surface cooling occurs, carbon dioxide laden water sinks to the deep ocean and becomes part of the deep ocean circulation "conveyor belt", where it stays for hundreds of years. Eventually mixing brings the water back to the surface at the opposite end of the conveyor belt in regions distant from where the carbon dioxide was first absorbed, e.g., the tropics. In the tropical regions, warm waters cannot retain as much carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide is transferred back into the atmosphere.

Originally Posted by NASA

Satellite measurements play a major role in the study of the carbon cycle because of their global synoptic temporal and spatial coverage. Satellite data are well suited for estimating scales and variability of physical and biological properties of the ocean surface serving to constrain models of physical and biogeochemical processes and for estimating global primary production, calcite, fluorescence line height, chromophoric dissolved organic matter absorption, photosynthetic available radiation, and sea surface temperature, winds, and sea surface height are generated operationally.

NASA Oceanography - The Ocean and the Carbon Cycle