Marine Science Faculty Publications

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2016

Keywords

Suspend Particulate Matter, Dissolve Inorganic Carbon, Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, North Atlantic Oscillation, German Bight

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39745-0_3

Abstract

This chapter discusses past and ongoing change in the following physical variables within the North Sea: temperature, salinity and stratification; currents and circulation; mean sea level; and extreme sea levels. Also considered are carbon dioxide; pH and nutrients; oxygen; suspended particulate matter and turbidity; coastal erosion, sedimentation and morphology; and sea ice. The distinctive character of the Wadden Sea is addressed, with a particular focus on nutrients and sediments. This chapter covers the past 200 years and focuses on the historical development of evidence (measurements, process understanding and models), the form, duration and accuracy of the evidence available, and what the evidence shows in terms of the state and trends in the respective variables. Much work has focused on detecting long-term change in the North Sea region, either from measurements or with models. Attempts to attribute such changes to, for example, anthropogenic forcing are still missing for the North Sea. Studies are urgently needed to assess consistency between observed changes and current expectations, in order to increase the level of confidence in projections of expected future conditions.

Comments

Complete list of authors:

John Huthnance, Ralf Weisse, Thomas Wahl, Helmuth Thomas, Julie Pietrzak, Alejandro Jose Souza, Sytze van Heteren, Natalija Schmelzer, Justus van Beusekom, Franciscus Colijn, Ivan Haigh, Solfrid Hjøllo, Jürgen Holfort, Elizabeth C. Kent, Wilfried Kühn, Peter Loewe, Ina Lorkowski, Kjell Arne Mork, Johannes Pätsch, Markus Quante, Lesley Salt, John Siddorn, Tim Smyth, Andreas Sterl, Philip Woodworth

Rights Information

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Was this content written or created while at USF?

Yes

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Recent Change - North Sea, in M. Quante & F. Colijn (Eds.), North Sea Region Climate Change Assessment. Regional Climate Studies, p. 85-136

© The Author(s) 2016

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