The Department of Earth System Science will be hosting weekly talks given by leading thinkers in Earth system science. Lectures take place in Croul Hall 3101 at 4:00 pm on Friday afternoons unless otherwise noted. To suggest a speaker, submit a speaker nomination form online. Please note, all speakers must be sponsored by an Earth [...]
A ‘dirty little secret’ in biological oceanography is that the depth of the productive zone in the ocean is unknown. For optical oceanographers, the depth of the euphoric zone is whatever they define it to be, and ‘1% of surface irradiance’ (usually photosynthetically active radiation, or PAR) has been the operational definition for at least [...]
Soil microbial communities play a critical role in regulating the Earth’s climate through the production and consumption of greenhouse gases. Warming, particularly of subarctic soils, is predicted to cause widespread permafrost thaw. The high carbon (C) content of these systems could release CH4 and CO2 to the atmosphere, transitioning them from a net sink to a net [...]
Diversity, abundance and distribution of phytoplankton are three key aspects to understand how environmental changes will affect nutrient and carbon cycles. Picophytoplankton is a diverse group and includes two Cyanobacteria lineages, Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus, and the genetically diverse picoeukaryotes. In contrast to Cyanobacteria, the global distribution of picoeukaryotes is poorly understood. Our objective was to [...]
Antonietta Capotondi is a Physical Oceanographer who studies the influence of large-scale ocean circulation in climate variability and change using observations, climate models, as well as Linear Inverse Models (LIMs). A major topic of interest is El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), with emphasis on its dynamics, diversity, decadal modulation, precursors, and impacts. Dr. Capotondi is [...]
Since 1960 arctic regions have been warming at a rate two to three times faster than the global average, with a diversity of biological and physical responses. One of these responses has been a “Greening of the Arctic”, resulting from increased vegetation productivity in northern ecosystems, in particular increases in the abundance and cover of [...]
Much of the surface water in the USA and the world is contaminated in various ways - some relatively minor, some severe. For example 60% of US rivers are "impaired" and most of China's big rivers have pollution problems. Traditional Civil-Environmental Engineering methods (precipitation, filtration etc) are too expensive to be feasible in many cases; [...]
Tropospheric ozone is a serious air-pollutant, with large impacts on plant function. I will discuss the relationships among ozone’s impacts on plant metabolism and competitive interactions among tree species. I will present results suggesting that tropospheric ozone, although it damages plant metabolism, does not necessarily reduce ecosystem processes such as productivity or carbon sequestration because [...]
The Earth System Science Club is an undergraduate student-run organization committed to bringing together individuals interested in the field of Earth System Science as a community. We collaborate with the Department of Earth System Science to help guide students through their college experience. Our club provides professional networking opportunities, speaker presentations, internship information, and career workshops. We'll do [...]
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