Acronyms Site Map

How are Humans Affecting Ocean Salinity?

---

Dr. Lagerloef completed a Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography at the University of Washington in 1984. In 1995, he co-founded Earth and Space Research, a non-profit scientific research institute in Seattle where he has developed several research projects devoted to studies of the upper ocean dynamics and climate variability using satellites.

How does understanding salinity help us to better understand human-induced climate change? Dr. Lagerloef explains in this clip. As Principal Investigator for the NASA Aquarius satellite mission, he works to understand the salinity data and what it means for how humans are shaping Earth's climate. In this clip, Dr. Lagerloef discusses a variety of consequences resulting from human-induced climate change and links those back to why it is so important to study ocean salinity.

Full webinar: How Does Understanding Salinity Help Us Understand Climate Change?

Click here for a transcript of this clip (PDF, 49.2 KB).

• Global Change in Ocean Acidity (1751 to 1994)
• Recent Sea Level Rise
• Time Series of Arctic Sea Ice Cover
• Changes in Ice Affecting Sea Level
• Carbon Flux
• Bright Ice Reflects Light
• Dirty Ice Absorbs Light
• Annual Accumulated Melt over Greenland (1979 - 2007)
• The Melting North Pole
• Melting Ice, Rising Seas: Ice Melt and Sea Level Rise
• Melting Ice, Rising Seas: Studying Change in Ice Sheets and Glaciers
• Melting Ice, Rising Seas: Global Warming and Ocean Change
• Keeping Up With Carbon: Human-Generated Carbon and Ocean Change
• Ocean Acidification
• Acid Test: The Global Challenge of Ocean Acidification

• Analyzing and Interpreting Data. Scientific investigations produce data that must be analyzed in order to derive meaning. Because data patterns and trends are not always obvious, scientists use a range of tools - including tabulation, graphical interpretation, visualization, and statistical analysis - to identify the significant features and patterns in the data. Scientists identify sources of error in the investigations and calculate the degree of certainty in the results. Modern technology makes the collection of large data sets much easier, providing secondary sources for analysis.
• Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions. The goal of science is the construction of theories that provide explanatory accounts of the world. A theory becomes accepted when it has multiple lines of empirical evidence and greater explanatory power of phenomena than previous theories.
• Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information. Scientists and engineers must be able to communicate clearly and persuasively the ideas and methods they generate. Critiquing and communicating ideas individually and in groups is a critical professional activity.