1 by laser reflectors left there by astronauts. What does this motion have to do with the ocean circulation? By Kepler's laws, the recession implies that there is a continuing loss of energy in the Earth–Moon system of 3 ǂ10 12 watts, or 3 terawatts, mostly in the ocean. But where in the ocean does this energy go, and what are its effects? On page 775 of this issue, Egbert and Ray 2 produce evi...

The authors simulate climate change for 1951–2050 using the GISS SI2000 atmospheric model coupled to HYCOM, a quasi-isopycnal ocean model (‘‘ocean E’’), and contrast the results with those obtained using the same atmosphere coupled to a passive Q-flux ocean model (‘‘ocean B’’) and the same atmosphere driven by observed SST (‘‘ocean A’’). All of the models give reasonable agreement with observed...

[1] Standard metabolic theory predicts that both respiration and photosynthesis should increase with increasing temperature, albeit at different rates. However, test of this prediction for ocean planktonic communities is limited, despite the broad consequences of this prediction in the present context of global ocean warming. We compiled a large data set on volumetric planktonic metabolism in t...

An attempt is made to determine the role of the ocean in establishing the mean tropical climate and its sensitivity to radiative perturbations. A simple two-box energy balance model is developed that includes ocean heat transports as an interactive component of the tropical climate system. It is found that changes in the zonal mean ocean heat transport can have a considerable affect on the mean...

Data from turbulent numerical simulations of the global ocean demonstrate that the dissipation of kinetic energy obeys a nearly log-normal distribution even at large horizontal scales O(10  km). As the horizontal scales of resolved turbulence are larger than the ocean is deep, the Kolmogorov-Yaglom theory for intermittency in 3D homogeneous, isotropic turbulence cannot apply; instead, the down-...

The modern study of ocean surface waves started with a pioneer study by Sverdrup and Munk (1947). More than half a century has passed since then and the study of ocean surface waves has greatly advanced. The current numerical wave models, supported by many fundamental studies, enable us to compute ocean surface waves on a global scale with sufficient accuracy for practical purposes. However, ph...

We isolate the role of the ocean in polar climate change by directly evaluating how changes in ocean dynamics with quasi-equilibrium CO2 doubling impact high-latitude climate. With CO2 doubling, the ocean heat flux convergence (OHFC) shifts poleward in winter in both hemispheres. Imposing this pattern of perturbed OHFC in a global climate model results in a poleward shift in ocean-to-atmosphere...

The central Pacific Ocean with its many low lying islands and atolls is under threat from sea level rise and increased storm activity. Here, we illustrate how increasing frequency and severity of large scale storm events associated with global climate change may be particularly profound at the local scale for human populations that rely on lagoon systems for provision of a variety of goods and ...