Feature Publication Archive
Special issue of Oceanography exploring 50 years of PMEL history and accomplishments. The cover illustration depicts many of the technologies that support research at the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL). (Cover illustration with technologies identified)
Oceanography, Volume 36 (2-3) October 2023
Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory: 50 Years of Innovative Research in Oceanography
Fifty years ago, NOAA created a new environmental research laboratory in Seattle with an initial focus on water quality in Puget Sound, and environmental studies of the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea.
Since then, the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory has evolved into one of the world's leading ocean research institutes, specializing in observing ocean conditions from tsunamis to changes in climate and ocean chemistry with the aid of innovative instrumentation and measurement strategies often developed by the lab.
To recognize PMEL's half-century of accomplishments, the... more »
Change in heat content in the upper 2,300 feet (700 meters) of the ocean from 1993-2022. Between 1993–2022, heat content rose by up to 6 Watts per square meter in parts of the ocean (dark orange). Some areas lost heat (blue), but overall, the ocean gained more heat than it lost. The changes in areas covered with the gray shading were small relative to the range of natural variability. NOAA Climate.gov image, based on data from NCEI.
Ballinger, T.J., J.E. Overland, M. Wang, J.E. Walsh, B. Brettschneider, R.L. Thoman, U.S. Bhatt, E. Hanna, I. Hanssen-Bauer, and S.-J. Kim (2023): Surface air temperature, in State of the Climate in 2022, The Arctic. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 104(9), S279–S281, doi: 10.1175/10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0079.1, View online at AMS (external link).
Benestad, R., R.L. Thoman, Jr., J.L. Cohen, J.E. Overland, E. Hanna, G.W.K. Moore, M. Rantanen, G.N. Petersen, and M. Webster (2023): 2022 extreme weather and climate events [Sidebar 5.1] , in State of the Climate in 2022. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 104(9), S285–S287, doi: 10.1175/10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0079.1, View online at AMS (external link).
Johnson, G.C., and R. Lumpkin (2023): Overview. In State of the Climate in 2022, Global Oceans. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 104(9), S152–S153, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0076.2, View online at AMS (external link).
Johnson, G.C., J.M. Lyman, C. Atkinson, T. Boyer, L. Cheng, J. Gilson, M. Ishii, R. Locarnini, A. Mishonov, S.G. Purkey, J. Reagan, and K. Sato (2023): Ocean heat content. In State of the Climate in 2022, Global Oceans. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 104(9), S159–S162, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0076.2, View online at AMS (external link).
Johnson, G.C., J. Reagan, J.M. Lyman, T. Boyer, C. Schmid, and R. Locarnini (2023): Salinity. In State of the Climate in 2022, Global Oceans. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 104(9), S163–S167, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0076.2, View online at AMS (external link).
McPhaden, M.J. (2023): The 2020-22 Triple Dip La Niña, in State of the Climate in 2022, Global Oceans [Sidebar 3.1]. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 104(9), S157–S158, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0076.2, View online at AMS (external link).
Sharp, J. (2023): Tracking global ocean oxygen content, in State of the Climate in 2022, Global Oceans [Sidebar 3.2]. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 104(9), S189–S190, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0076.2, View online at AMS (external link).
Wanninkhof, R., J.A. Triñanes, P. Landschützer, R.A. Feely, and B.R. Carter (2023): Global ocean carbon cycle. In State of the Climate in 2022, Global Oceans. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 104(9), S191–S195, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0076.2, View online at AMS (external link).
Wen, C., P.W. Stackhouse, J. Garg, P.P. Xie, L. Zhang, and M.F. Cronin (2023): Global ocean heat, freshwater, and momentum fluxes, in State of the Climate in 2022. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 104(9), S168–S172, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0076.2, View online at AMS (external link).
The year 2022 was marked by unusual (though not unprecedented) disruptions in the climate system including a “triple-dip” La Niña nearly continuous from August 2020 through the end of 2022, extraordinary amount of precipitation over Antarctica in 2022 and the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano eruption in January. Greenhouse gas concentrations, global sea... more »
Most of the excess energy being trapped in the Earth system by increasing amounts of greenhouse gases is stored in the ocean. This map shows where the global ocean gained (orange) or lost (blue) energy between 1993 and 2021. Places where the trend is small relative to year-to-year variability (not statistically significant) are shaded with gray. NOAA Climate.gov map, based on data provided by John Lyman.
Ballinger, T.J., J.E. Overland, R.L. Thoman, M. Wang, M.A. Webster, L.N. Boisvert, C.L. Parker, U.S. Bhatt, B. Brettschneider, E. Hanna, I. Hanssen-Bauer, S.-J. Kim, and J.E. Walsh (2022). Surface air temperature, in State of the Climate in 2021, The Arctic. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 103(8), S264–S267.
Meier, W. N., D. Perovich, S. Farrell, C. Haas, S. Hendricks, A. Petty, M. Webster, D. Divine, S. Gerland, L. Kaleschke, R. Ricker, A. Steer, X. Tian-Kunze, M. Tschudi, and K. Wood (2022). Sea ice, in State of the Climate in 2021”, The Arctic. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 103 (8), S270–S273.
Feely, R.A., and R. Wanninkhof (2022). Sidebar: IPCC AR6 Assessment of the role of the oceans in the carbon cycle. In State of the Climate in 2021, Global Oceans. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 103(8), S178-S179.
Johnson, G.C., and R. Lumpkin (2022). Overview. In State of the Climate in 2021, Global Oceans. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 103(8), S149.
Johnson, G.C., J.M. Lyman, T. Boyer, L. Cheng, J. Gilson, M. Ishii, R.E. Killick, and S.G. Purkey (2022). Ocean heat content. In State of the Climate in 2021, Global Oceans. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 103(8), S153-S157.
Johnson, G.C., J. Reagan, J.M. Lyman, T. Boyer, C. Schmid, and R. Locarnini (2022). Salinity. In State of the Climate in 2021, Global Oceans. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 103(8), S157-S162.
Greenhouse gas concentrations, global sea levels and ocean heat content reached record highs in 2021, according to the 32nd annual State of the Climate report, despite a double-dip La Niña event taking place in the Pacific Ocean.
Ocean climate change,
varies with La Niña, yet, ... more »
The modern ocean (blue dashed profiles) reflects the combination of natural, preindustrial conditions (black profiles) and human-induced changes (gray shading). (a) Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC; µmol kg-1) has increased most near the surface where the ocean absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere. This has caused measurable and distinct changes in (b) pH and (c) pCO2 (µatm). Click on image to enlarge.
Arroyo, M.C., A.J. Fassbender, B.R. Carter, C.A. Edwards, J. Fiechter, A. Norgaard, and R.A. Feely (2022): Dissimilar sensitivities of ocean acidification metrics to anthropogenic carbon accumulation in the Central North Pacific Ocean and California Current Large Marine Ecosystem. Geophys. Res. Lett., 49(15), e2022GL097835, doi: 10.1029/2022GL097835, View online (open access).
The ocean plays a key role in mitigating climate change by absorbing about 25 percent of the carbon dioxide gas (CO2) released into the atmosphere each year by human activities. However, this comes at a cost to ocean health because the uptake of this human-released carbon causes changes in ocean chemistry, called ocean acidification (OA), that can be detrimental to marine ecosystems.
A University of California - Santa Cruz (UCSC) and NOAA led research team set out to understand how OA metrics, such as pH and the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2), have changed below... more »
Biogeochemical (BGC) profiling floats are free-drifting, battery-powered platforms that measure up to six BGC parameters: pH, oxygen, nitrate, chlorophyll a, suspended particles, and downwelling irradiance. BGC floats typically profile from 2000 meters to the surface every 10 days and operate for 4 to 6 years, contributing significantly to the global ocean observing system. Photo by Christoph Gerigk/Sea-Bird Electronics
Huang, Y., Fassbender, A. J., Long, J. S., Johannessen, S., & Bernardi Bif, M. (2022). Partitioning the export of distinct biogenic carbon pools in the Northeast Pacific Ocean using a biogeochemical profiling float. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 36, e2021GB007178. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GB007178
Microscopic organisms in the surface ocean, called phytoplankton, use photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide into organic compounds like carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Only a small fraction of this organic matter produced by phytoplankton is transferred (exported) to deeper layers of the ocean, either through sinking particles (a more efficient process) or downward mixing of dissolved carbon (a less efficient process). Characterizing the export of these carbon pools over time and space, and how it might be changing, is required to understand marine ecosystem functioning and to... more »