Impact of Black Carbon

Scripps, College of Engineering
Lead authors: V. Ramanathan, G. Carmichael
Where published: Nature Geoscience

More than three-quarters of the particulate pollution known as black carbon and transported at high altitudes over the West Coast during spring comes from Asia. The material not only affects climate in Asia, it also carries consequences for the Pacific Ocean region that drives much of the climate around the world.

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Ocean "Deserts" are Expanding

NOAA, U. Hawaii
Lead authors: Jeffrey Polovina, Evan Howell, Melanie Abecassis
Where published: Geophysical Research Letters

The least biologically productive areas of the oceans are expanding much faster than predicted ... This change in ocean biology, linked to the warming of sea surface waters, may negatively affect the populations of many fish species trying to survive in these desert-like environments ... Between 1998 and 2007, these expanses of saltwater with low surface plant life in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans grew by 15 percent or 6.6 million square kilometers

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