full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Susan Lozier: Is climate change slowing down the ocean?
Unscramble the Blue Letters
Now, as our ocaen continues to warm and as ice ctnnoeuis to melt, both of which cause surcfae waters to become less dense, we fully expect that at some point, in wtnier, those surface waters will not get dsnee enough to sink. And at that point, we expect the oruernntvig to slow. And if the overturning slows, well, there will be less carbon uptake by the ocean. But there will also be even more major disruptions to our climate and weaehtr patterns; we can excpet stronger hurricanes, even more intense precipitation.
Just about now, you might be wondering, how quickly might the overturning change? Well, for decades, oceanographers aesumsd that the overturning changed slowly on the time scales of tens of thousands of years, in concert with the ice ages. But a study in the 1990s of ice sheets, which hold bubbles of air from past climates, well, that study sgtsgeued that the overturning could change quickly, within decades, maybe even within years. And with that, the possibility of an abrupt collapse of the overturning curctloiian brought about by human-induced warming? Well, at that point it became a very real ptilsiiobsy. Thankfully, advances in climate milndeog give us a much better idea today of that risk. The black and gray lines that you see on this graph are the model reconstructions of the past relatively steady overturning changes. The lneis of various colors show you the future projections of the overturning, based on different climate models and different climate scenarios.
Open Cloze
Now, as our _____ continues to warm and as ice _________ to melt, both of which cause _______ waters to become less dense, we fully expect that at some point, in ______, those surface waters will not get _____ enough to sink. And at that point, we expect the ___________ to slow. And if the overturning slows, well, there will be less carbon uptake by the ocean. But there will also be even more major disruptions to our climate and _______ patterns; we can ______ stronger hurricanes, even more intense precipitation.
Just about now, you might be wondering, how quickly might the overturning change? Well, for decades, oceanographers _______ that the overturning changed slowly on the time scales of tens of thousands of years, in concert with the ice ages. But a study in the 1990s of ice sheets, which hold bubbles of air from past climates, well, that study _________ that the overturning could change quickly, within decades, maybe even within years. And with that, the possibility of an abrupt collapse of the overturning ___________ brought about by human-induced warming? Well, at that point it became a very real ___________. Thankfully, advances in climate ________ give us a much better idea today of that risk. The black and gray lines that you see on this graph are the model reconstructions of the past relatively steady overturning changes. The _____ of various colors show you the future projections of the overturning, based on different climate models and different climate scenarios.
Solution
- lines
- suggested
- surface
- assumed
- ocean
- circulation
- modeling
- winter
- weather
- possibility
- dense
- overturning
- expect
- continues
Original Text
Now, as our ocean continues to warm and as ice continues to melt, both of which cause surface waters to become less dense, we fully expect that at some point, in winter, those surface waters will not get dense enough to sink. And at that point, we expect the overturning to slow. And if the overturning slows, well, there will be less carbon uptake by the ocean. But there will also be even more major disruptions to our climate and weather patterns; we can expect stronger hurricanes, even more intense precipitation.
Just about now, you might be wondering, how quickly might the overturning change? Well, for decades, oceanographers assumed that the overturning changed slowly on the time scales of tens of thousands of years, in concert with the ice ages. But a study in the 1990s of ice sheets, which hold bubbles of air from past climates, well, that study suggested that the overturning could change quickly, within decades, maybe even within years. And with that, the possibility of an abrupt collapse of the overturning circulation brought about by human-induced warming? Well, at that point it became a very real possibility. Thankfully, advances in climate modeling give us a much better idea today of that risk. The black and gray lines that you see on this graph are the model reconstructions of the past relatively steady overturning changes. The lines of various colors show you the future projections of the overturning, based on different climate models and different climate scenarios.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| carbon dioxide |
5 |
| good news |
5 |
| ocean overturning |
4 |
| surface waters |
3 |
| marine ecosystems |
2 |
| ocean waters |
2 |
| north atlantic |
2 |
| cold waters |
2 |
| carbon uptake |
2 |
| overturning circulation |
2 |
| future projections |
2 |
| started measuring |
2 |
| ribbons depict |
2 |
Important Words
- abrupt
- advances
- ages
- air
- assumed
- based
- black
- brought
- bubbles
- carbon
- change
- changed
- circulation
- climate
- climates
- collapse
- colors
- concert
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- decades
- dense
- disruptions
- expect
- fully
- future
- give
- graph
- gray
- hold
- hurricanes
- ice
- idea
- intense
- lines
- major
- melt
- model
- modeling
- models
- ocean
- oceanographers
- overturning
- point
- possibility
- precipitation
- projections
- quickly
- real
- reconstructions
- risk
- scales
- scenarios
- sheets
- show
- sink
- slow
- slowly
- slows
- steady
- stronger
- study
- suggested
- surface
- tens
- thankfully
- thousands
- time
- today
- uptake
- warm
- warming
- waters
- weather
- winter
- wondering
- years