Category Archives: Oceanography

Going Solar

Posted on October 19, 2015 by gymnosperm

According to Svalgaard (2015): Solar EUV, by exciting Oxygen molecules, creates thermal winds in the ionosphere whose dynamo effect changes the earth’s magnetic field. 2. The diurnal change in the earth’s magnetic field as a result of the sun passing … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Oceanography, Solar EUV | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The State of the Onion

Posted on February 1, 2015 by gymnosperm

Let’s say the way this planet works is an onion. There are many layers and they interact in ways far more complex than onion rings. Yet we have to start somewhere, and peeling back the layers of this onion can … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Geology, LLSVP's are Doughboys, Magnetic Reversals, Moho, Oceanography, Seismic Tomography | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Ocean Ate It

Posted on October 5, 2014 by gymnosperm

One of the arguments one hears often these days to explain the lack of lower atmospheric warming for a human generation is that the ocean is somehow absorbing the “heat” or enthalpy that Carbon dioxide is supposed to be creating … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate Change, Geography, Global Warming, Oceanography | Tagged , | 5 Comments

The Pacific Triangle, The Pacific doughboy, and the wave

Posted on July 14, 2014 by gymnosperm

Folks just don’t seem to have their arms around the disarray in the earth sciences these days. Climate science and plate theory are going to have to be rebuilt from the ground up, or more appropriately from the core-mantle boundary. … Continue reading →

Posted in Geography, Geoid, Geology, Large Igneous Provinces, LLSVP, LLSVP's are Doughboys, Oceanography, Pacific Triangle, Paleogeography, Plate Tectonics, Seafloor Isochrons, Seismic Tomography | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Huston, We have a Few More Problems

Posted on April 7, 2014 by gymnosperm

Humans are not naturally inclined to science. We yearn for certainty, the sort of certainty mathematical equations could provide if only we could be certain of the factors. We cannot. We don’t really yearn for mathematics, it is just another … Continue reading →

Posted in Asthenia, Geology, Large Igneous Provinces, Magnetic Reversals, Moho, Oceanography, Plate Tectonics, Seismic Tomography | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Some Things We’ve Noticed About the California Drought

Posted on January 17, 2014 by gymnosperm

California is a drought state. Our so called “Mediterranean” climate falls in a global zone just poleward of the great deserts and along the western continental margins that is characterized by winter rain and summer drought. Should we be surprised … Continue reading →

Posted in California Drought, Climate, Geography, Oceanography, Paleoclimate, Relationship of SST and 200hPa Anomalies, San Francisco Rainfall | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The Dim Sum, Microbial Dark Matter and Wine Dark Seas

Posted on July 27, 2013 by gymnosperm

The oceans are a microbial soup I like to call the Dim Sum. It is an appropriate pun because it is both dim in the sense we don’t understand it, and  a dim sum in that we  cannot describe it mathematically. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Geography, Microbial Dark Matter, Oceanography | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Quick Review of the Carbon Cycle

Posted on July 7, 2013 by gymnosperm

Quick review of the carbon cycle magnitude per NASA in Gt.: Ocean to atmosphere 90 Microbial respiration land 60 Plant respiration land 60 Human 9 ——— Total surface to atmosphere 219 Photosynthesis land 123 Atmosphere to Ocean 92 ——- Total atmosphere … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon Cycle, Carbon Dioxide Loves to Swim, Climate Change, Geography, Oceanography | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hawaii

Posted on March 3, 2013 by gymnosperm

By incredibly good luck I’ve been spending lots of time in Hawaii lately, on business no less. I stay in this unbelievable house.   One really gets the sense of being out in the middle of the ocean in Hawaii, … Continue reading →

Posted in Geography, Geoid, Geology, Gravity Anomalies, Oceanography, Plate Tectonics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Nano Carbon Cycle

Posted on February 13, 2013 by gymnosperm

We live in a world of wee beasties. Microbes here, microbes there, microbes in every breath we take, microbes on every bite we eat. They digest the food in our bellies, they create our food and drink. They make us … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon Cycle, Climate, Geography, Geology, Oceanography | Tagged , | 1 Comment