[music]
The Earth's climate is changing...
in some places, faster than predicted. Something - or someone -
is cranking up the heat. And many scientists
say the main culprit is us.
Climate change affects almost everything on our planet - including people.
But could climate change affect something as huge,
as deep, as mysterious as our oceans?
Earth scientists are determined to find out. [Paula Bontempi:] "You can see
the atmosphere, you can see the land, but you can't really see
beneath the ocean's surface. So you start wondering, you know,
what's going on beneath the part we can see."
[David Adamec:] "We walk in a very small part of the atmosphere, and we walk on the land.
And it's how that interaction takes place with the ocean, the atmosphere, and the land
that determines our quality of life. Our goal is to understand the interconnectedness
of it all." For years, people have
worked to unravel the mysteries of the oceans. Scientists gather data
from ships and buoys on the surface,
take the plunge to explore ocean depths, and fly overhead
to get a bigger picture. But one of the best views of oceans
might be from way, way overhead. It's the
view from space. [Paula Bontempi:] "The one thing that NASA
satellites do that nothing else does, ships or
buoys or anything else, is actually give you
a picture of the globe within a few days. You get a much
broader view of what's going on in some part of the Earth's system, and you
can link that together to understand the Earth as a whole." Thousands of
satellites orbit our planet. Some look out into space.
Others look back at us... at Earth.
Some of the sensors on these satellites act like giant
digital cameras, taking pictures in visible light - the kind our eyes see.
On land, these images show us when plants
turn green, with the changing seasons. They help us see
where dirt and pollution drain into the sea, and where microscopic plankton
thrive. These tiny organisms are not only
the base of the marine food web... they give us the air we breathe.
[David Adamec:] "We are dependent on life in the water.
Especially in the ocean. There are small plants called phytoplankton
that are responsible for 50 percent of the oxygen that you're breathing right now."
Other kinds of satellite
sensors look at the Earth in a far different light.
Heat sensing satellite instruments take the Earth's temperature by measuring
infrared energy. Infrared wavelengths are invisible to our eyes,
but some satellites can see them.
And, as our climate changes, we can see
ocean temperatures on the rise.
Other satellites show us
peaks and valleys, not just on land - but, believe it or not -
- on the surface of the ocean.
And as ice on land
melts, there are increasingly more highs than lows.
Sea level is rising.
Soon a new satellite will even help us see tiny
particles on the ocean's surface - like salt, which drives huge
conveyor belts of water through the world's oceans, connecting currents and moving heat
from pole to pole. Climate change
could mean big changes for oceans. And that in turn would make
life very different for those of us on dry land.
[music]
[Paula Bontempi:] "If the climate actually changes, and the oceans change or respond to that change,
it most definitely will impact life as we know it, and especially humans."
[David Adamec:] "To understand
exactly how we stay here and how we're going to survive
both within the climate, and even our life cycle,
it requires understanding what the water is doing."
Our climate is changing... in some places, faster
than predicted. By using science to understand those
changes, we can find ways of protecting our oceans - and ourselves -
that make a world of difference.
[music]
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