Oceanography’s special issue on ocean warming
The print issue of Oceanography dated June 2018 arrived in the science library on January 30, 2019, the same day NASA announced that the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica is disintegrating at a faster pace than previously thought. The NASA news summarizes research published online in Science Advances on that same day, when the polar vortex wobbled and Oberlin’s recorded temperature sank to -6 °F. Five days later, we hit a high of 57 °F. Of course, weather on any given day is not the same as climate (quick explanation from NOAA), but the long-term implications are clear: climate warming trends over the last century are very likely due to human activities.
Oceanography and Science Advances are both fully open access journals, publishing peer-reviewed research. The top image is the “Blue Marble”: GOES-7 satellite image of the Pacific Ocean, North and South America, and Hurricane Andrew, August 25, 1992. Image credit: NASA/JPL/GSFC. It appears at the beginning of Raymond Smitt’s article on “The Ocean’s Role in Climate.” Oceanography 31(2):32–40.
In the science library, the section devoted to climate change is one of the fastest growing areas of the collection, with good reason. Need a quick overview? Try Climate Change: a Very Short Introduction (print and online copies available). Citizens Climate Lobby is an organization seeking to create democratic, bipartisan solutions to slow anthropogenic causes of climate change. The Oberlin chapter welcomes your participation in this effort.
