Oceanic Bubbles and climate

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College of Marine Studies
Coast Day'2000
October 1
Oceanic Bubbles
Climate
Magdalena AnguelovaPh.D. Candidate
Advisor Prof. Ferris Webster
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Bubble Bath Glenn Miller
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Bubbles in my beer Willie Nelson
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Bubbles naturally formed in the ocean

• Marine life
• Breaking waves

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Oceanic bubbles are associated with

• Oxygenic atmosphere
• Climate on the planet

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• Oxygenic atmosphere

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Archaean Earth

• Ancient atmosphere of
• methane
• ammonia
• other gases.
• Bacterial life.

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Earths biogeologic clock
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Stromatolite fossils

• 760 million years old, Arizona

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Living stromatolites
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Stromatolites
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Cyanobacteria

• 3 billion individuals per sq. meter
• Use sediment and organic material
• Build stromatolites up to 1.5 m high

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The Miracle Planet PBS Series
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• This cycle continued for eons
• Cyanobacteria photosynthesized
• Releasing tiny bubbles of oxygen
• The water gradually saturated with O2
• Then O2 escaped into the air and
• Transformed the atmosphere
• To air we now breath
• Then ozone layer formed against UV.

The Miracle Planet PBS Series
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Life conquered the land
Life conquered the land
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Oceanic bubbles mediated oxygenic atmosphere
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Oceanic bubbles are associated with

• Oxygenic atmosphere
• Climate on the planet

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• Climate on the planet

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Oceanic whitecaps
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Wave Breaking

• As waves break,

• and forms clouds of bubbles.

• air mixes into the water,

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The fate of the bubbles

• The small bubbles dissolve and disappear

• Some bubbles join the ambient population of
  oceanic bubbles.

• The large bubbles rise to the surface,

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Bursting of bubbles

• While floating on the surface, bubbles burst.

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Film Drops

• Upon bursting, bubble caps shatter into
  thousands of small droplets.

Film drops form.
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Jet Drops

• As the bubble cavity collapses...

Jet drops form.
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Spume Drops

• Under very high winds drops are torn from the
  wave crests and blown directly into the air.

Spume drops form.
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Sea Spray

• So, whitecaps fill the air with film, jet, and
  spume drops.

• In the air, this sea spray

• evaporates,
• shrinks,
• and forms

sea-salt aerosols.
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What are Aerosols?

• Aerosols are minute stable particles, solid or
  liquid, suspended in the atmosphere.

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Tiny Particles

• Cannot be seen with the naked eye.

• Seen as...

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A sunrise over the China Sea
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Aerosol Types

• The aerosols are

• Natural

Soil dust Sea salt Volcanic dust Organic
particles.

• Man-made

Industrial Burning biomass Soot

• The most numerous are

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Why are Aerosols so Important?

• Aerosols can influence climate

• Directly

- by reflecting incoming sunlight back to space.

• Indirectly

- by modifying the properties and lifetime of the
clouds.
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Cloud Properties

• More aerosols more cloud droplets.

• Reflect more sunlight.

• Net result cooling.

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Cloud Lifetime

• Inhibit the growth of cloud droplets.

• Rain delayed.

• Net result longer cloud lifetime.

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Sea-salt aerosols

• Oceans produce enormous amount of sea-salt
  aerosols.

• For one year 1.3?109 kg

683 000 cars.
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Sea-Salt Aerosols and Climate

• Sea-salt aerosols are the major contributor to
  sunlight reflection.

• Sea-salt aerosols facilitate the formation of
  drops in marine clouds.

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Oceanic bubbles link ocean and atmosphere
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