 Hi, everybody, and welcome to Ask NCAR program. My name is Mark Mueller, and I'm a science educator at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. I'm with my colleague today, Holly Olivares, who is an oceanographer. Of course, we are each in our own homes, just like you are, but we're still doing our work and we want to share it with you. Each week we meet with someone who works at NCAR, learn about what they do in their jobs and answer questions from those of you who are joining us. One really cool part about working at a place like NCAR is there are so many different types of jobs, such as being a scientist or an engineer, an electrician or a computer programmer, a safety expert, a machinist, an oceanographer. All these are different jobs, and they help support our scientific research. Maybe some of you have already sent in questions ahead of time or have them in your mind, but if you don't, that's fine. Feel free to write in the chat box anytime, and I'll monitor that and get to them during breaks or at the end. I'm now going to turn it over to Holly, and she's going to tell you more about what she does and take your questions throughout. Holly. Great. Thanks a lot, Mark. And thanks again to all of you for being here. So I am an oceanographer at the University of Colorado Boulder, and I do research at the National Center for Atmospheric Research or NCAR. And I'm going to tell you a bit about how I got here and my motivation for what I do. While I tell you about what I do, I'm also going to do an experiment, and I don't know if any of you brought a glass of vinegar, it was in the instructions, and you don't have to do it. I'll show you mine. I got a nice big glass to show you. But during my talk, I'm going to drop in an antacid, or you can even use a piece of chalk so that we can see what happens to it. And that's going to help kind of prove my point of what I do in my research. So I'm going to share my screen, and then we can get started. So first things first, what do you think an oceanographer does? So this is your chance to type in the chat, oops, I'm cheating, I'm trying to arrange my screen here if I can, I've lost my mouse. What do you think an oceanographer does? And a hint is there are lots of answers, and also while you're thinking about it and typing in the chat, I'm going to show some photos of oceanographers that maybe you can get some clues from. There's all different sorts of jobs doing all different sorts of things. Any ideas? We haven't had any ideas come in yet. Here we go. Maybe an oceanographer survives the high seas or spends their entire life in a landlocked state modeling the ocean, from your friend Danielle. Yes, Danielle is also in Boulder with me, so she understands. They're studying the ocean from a place where there's no ocean. How interesting. But ultimately, to study the ocean, we do need people to go to sea. And so there are times when I get to go out into the ocean. Did I see another comment come in? Yeah, there's several. Do you travel on research boats? Yes, absolutely. Traveling on research boats, and I'll talk a little bit about what's going on in these photos. And do you study ocean currents and how climate change is affecting our ocean? Yes, absolutely. And I'll definitely be talking about how climate change is affecting our ocean today. So yes, all good answers. Oceanographers study, of course, the water. There's the chemistry of the water, the temperature of the outwater, how the water moves, the ocean circulation. There's light and sound that travels through water. There's plants and animals that live in the water. So there's many, many different ways that we study the ocean. And that involves getting on a ship and getting out into the water and collecting samples and making observations and recording those and putting those all together, sometimes bringing those samples into instruments or machines that help us read more about what's happening there. And then we use those to create data sets. And those data sets go out to scientists around the world where we can put together all of the pieces of this huge body of water, kind of like a puzzle, and learn what's happening in the ocean. So I added some tags to these photos so that you can see some of the different ways that these are some of my friends that our oceanographers do. Marine biology, sediment cores, microfossils, and then also deep water sampling. So a lot of the data that I use in my job or in my research is from deep water sampling, where instruments have to go into very deep waters and take samples from the ocean that we can then study the conductivity, which tells us about how salty the water is to depth and temperature. And I know the one in the bottom right, the photo in the bottom right, is very interesting. So I thought I'd explain it. It's a tool called an XBT gun, which stands for expendable bath, I gotta look it up, bath at thermograph. And it measures the temperature of the water. So it operates kind of like a gun where you shoot a probe down into the water and it measures the temperature as it goes and sends the readings back to the ship. And because we know the rate that the probe is falling into the ocean, then we can infer the depth. And so we can get depth and temperature. And that helps us learn a lot about ocean circulation. So ocean... I'm glad you brought that up, Holly, because someone did wanna say, apparently you shoot something and so that was, you're shooting a probe. Yes. Sometimes you get to shoot things, that's right. And while we're here, I thought I'd ask another question. Why would an oceanographer work at the National Center for Atmospheric Research? Any ideas? The ocean, working at a steady, the ocean working at a place that studies the atmosphere. How could those be connected? Because they are majorly coupled. Yes, they are majorly coupled. We have wind that happens in the air and the atmosphere and that affects how the water moves. We have storms, hurricanes. Do you also look at the CO2 exchange? We do look at the CO2 exchange. Thank you for asking that. Exactly where the atmosphere and the ocean meet is what I study and that's what I'm gonna talk about today. Before I get started, I wanted to share a little bit about how I got here. So when I first started hearing about climate change, a lot of people referred to it as global warming and also global weirding. So global warming, global weirding and climate change are all different names for the same thing. And what you're looking at is the home screen for a video that I found on the internet called What Is Global Weirding? And it's actually from a series that's put on by PBS and there are a bunch of YouTube videos that ask one simple question each about climate change. And this one is called What Is Global Weirding? And you can see a scientist is saying people plus planet equals hot planet. And I started watching these videos and learning more about climate change and I felt like this is a very serious problem. And I feel like I wanna do something about it and I kept reading and seeing things about climate change but I wasn't really hearing people talk about climate change and that was really confusing to me. And so ultimately I decided I was gonna go to school and learn about climate change and that's what I did. I went to college. While I was in college and taking classes I worked in a geochemistry lab where we use structures from caves to study past climate. And that helps us understand how Earth's climate system used to be hundreds and thousands of years ago and it helps us understand what's happening now and what can happen in the future. But it also taught me that this is how we know that human activity is the reason for climate change. And that was really profound for me and really when I decided to do events like this and find ways to talk about climate change. Also while I was in college I spent two summers as an intern at NCAR in a modeling lab and that in case you didn't know NCAR offers interns to college students where you can work with instruments and computers and run experiments. And so while I was an intern I worked in a modeling lab where I learned about Earth system models that use supercomputers to simulate the global climate system. And I thought that was just about the coolest thing I'd ever heard of. And in fact I got so excited about the work and all of the scientists at NCAR that I decided to move to Boulder where NCAR is and to be an oceanographer. And so now I study the ocean as a very important part of the climate system which I'll talk a little bit more about in a few minutes. And I also get to help people understand what's going on with climate change and help them talk about what they can do to help solve this very serious problem. And so now I have my own logo and it says climate change on it. And I have that logo because I want people to know that I want to talk about climate change. So today I'm gonna talk about climate change and the ocean. So as humans burn fossil fuels every year or carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. But what is carbon dioxide? Well, it's an invisible gas. Here it's drawn in black for effect but in real life you can't see it. It's abundant on earth, it's very common and it can be found in the air and in the ocean. It's produced naturally but there are also human made sources too such as the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide is what's known as a greenhouse gas which means that it can trap heat in our atmosphere and that warms the planet. So extra carbon dioxide from human made sources means a warmer planet. And the primary human made sources of carbon dioxide are the burning of coal, gas and oil. There's also some from deforestation and a bit from agriculture. So these are what add extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and these are the primary drivers of our rapidly changing climate. So thinking again about the ocean, why does it matter if extra carbon dioxide gets into the ocean? Well, it's good news for climate change because the ocean sucks up carbon dioxide and helps to slow the heating of our planet but it's bad news for the ocean because it changes the chemistry of the water. When the carbon dioxide dissolves into the ocean the waters become more acidic and today the ocean is 30% more acidic than it was 200 years ago. And there are also these tiny plants and critters that live in the ocean that are so small that we need a microscope to see them. These tiny shell plankton don't really like it when the ocean becomes more acidic. They're tiny but they're also mighty but when the water becomes more acidic their shells begin to dissolve kind of like dropping a piece of chalk or an antacid into a glass of vinegar. So this is where my experiment is going to come in and if any of you have, I'm gonna stop sharing my screen. If any of you have a glass of vinegar close by feel free to take it out. I'm gonna drop in an antacid but we can see what happens. And immediately you can see that the antacid starts to fizz. You can see that there. So I'm gonna hold this up a few times for the rest of my talk today so that we can see what happens over time but what's happening here is the vinegar is very acidic and it's eating away at the minerals that make up that antacid just immediately. So if you think about if you were a tiny little critter living in the ocean and you had a shell that was made out of something like this antacid and the water was just eating away at your shell well that would be a problem. I'm gonna share my screen again and another reason it's a problem already you're trying to just survive but also those tiny critters sit at the bottom of the oceanic food chain and so when they're spending all of their time and energy trying to rebuild their shells because the water is eating away at it then they don't have time or energy to do other things like reproduce and that's a problem because they are the food for the bigger fish in the ocean. So if there isn't enough of the little critters in the ocean then there's not gonna be enough food for the bigger fish. So this becomes a bigger and bigger and problem as time goes by. So how much carbon dioxide is really getting into the ocean? Oh, actually I'm gonna take a little break. I'm gonna show you my antacid again. You can see the vinegar starting to get cloudy because so much of the antacid is getting eaten up. Here I can show it on the bottom there. It's already actually changing its shape. It's getting smaller and there's pieces of it that are just left behind. So this is detrimental to something that's trying to survive in the ocean. Okay, let me get back to sharing. Okay, so how much carbon dioxide is getting into the ocean? Well, my research involves estimating the rate at which carbon dioxide goes into the ocean from the atmosphere. And I try to understand if this rate has changed in the past and if it has then to understand why. So in order to do this I use computer simulations from earth system models. Oh, let me back up, I missed something I was gonna say. It seems logical to think that the extra carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere and then it touches the ocean at the same rate but it turns out that this isn't the case. There are other things that can affect it too. So burning fossil fuels is definitely an important factor but volcanic eruptions can affect it and also ocean circulation can affect it. So for example, a large El Mino event can affect how much carbon dioxide is going into or out of the ocean in certain regions. The rate can also change from year to year and even decade to decade. And so that's why it takes a little more research to figure out what the relationship is between the ocean and the atmosphere. And so in order to do that I can't go on a ship 24 seven to keep observing and measuring what's happening. We use earth system models like the one that NCAR has and it simulates the earth system and it also simulates volcanic eruptions, burning fossil fuels and ocean circulation. So it's even got El Mino events built into it. So I combine that with statistical methods and I'm able to help scientists around the world to better track the health of our planet. I'm also able to help make better near-term predictions and long-term projections of the future climate system. And I really love this work. So why do we care about this? Well, the ocean takes up more than 90% of the extra heat that's in our climate system. It also takes up about one fourth of the extra carbon dioxide that human activity is putting into the atmosphere. So without it taking up that extra heat and that extra carbon dioxide then the effects of climate change would be happening much faster than they already are. So it's helpful to climate change that it's taking up that carbon dioxide but in trade it's also harming the waters of the ocean because they're becoming more acidic. But that's what this comes down to. And I'm gonna stop sharing my screen again so we can see what's going on here. Uh-oh, look at that. We've just got a mess here going on. The antacid is still there but it's probably about half the size as it was when I started talking about it just a few minutes ago. So we'll keep that in mind as we keep thinking about how climate change is affecting the ocean too. Okay, so two talking points from today. Burning fossil fuels is affecting the ocean too and ocean acidification is very serious. Okay, so keep those in mind when you're talking about climate change. And speaking of that, everyone asks me what they can do about climate change. And there's a lot of things that you can do but I've made a short list. The first thing is, please remember that thousands of scientists around the world are studying climate change and they use the scientific method and they go through a peer review process and they've come to agreement that climate change is real and it's serious, it's here now and we can do something about it. And so let's keep that in our conversations when we're talking about climate change. Number two, talk about climate change often. Even if you're confused or unsure about how the system works or what's happening or how quickly it's going to happen or how it's going to affect you, all of these are things that we need to be talking about and the more we talk about them the more we're gonna come to understand what's happening and what can we do about it. And while we're talking about it, number three, let's talk about using renewable energy sources in order to burn less fossil fuels. It's burning fossil fuels that's putting that extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. So if we learn, if we burn less fossil fuels then we're gonna have less of that extra carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere and we have alternatives, we can do that. So I'm gonna ask Mark to filter any questions that you have about what I talked about today. Before I do, I wanted to thank Cal Bracken. He's the illustrator for my illustrations that you saw today, they're pretty cool. And I think it's an important point to make that artists are helping solve climate change too. And that's what Cal and I are doing. We're working together to find ways that we can talk about this very serious issue in a way that's relatable. So keep that in mind, if you like to do art then you can get involved in your own way. Just find what you're passionate about and do that. And that leads me to my next slide, which is I never thought that I would be a scientist. I didn't grow up thinking I would be a scientist. I never even pictured that I would be one day. But I came to learn that scientists come in all shapes and colors and I found something that I'm very passionate about and I decided to go for it and I did it and I love it. And I think that that's really important when we're talking about climate change, that you find what you're passionate about and you go for it. And I think you can really make a difference. I wanted to show also a photo of some of the interns that I worked with at NCAR to show that not everyone studies the same thing at NCAR. These are just a few examples of studying watersheds, hurricanes, Amber there studied or she's working still on weather ready nations so that when there are extreme events or large storms, hurricanes, tornadoes that we're prepared in our communities and with our families, which is also important work. I study the ocean, then there's tropical cyclones, snow and ice albedo and even space weather. So lots of really important work happening at NCAR. But that being said, it's not all just research and science. There's a lot of different jobs needed at NCAR and at the scientific community. I mentioned Cal, who's an artist. There's also filmmakers, communicators, programmers, instrument designers and instrument makers, pilots and personnel that go on weather planes and collect observations up in the air and also on boats and ships. And then educators, there's a group of people that helped me organize this event today and they really love their job. So there's lots of different ways to get involved and be a part of this important work. Okay, I'm gonna stop sharing my screen and then I'm going to show you my glass once again and then we can tuck. So here we go, we can hardly see that that it were using vinegar anymore. And if you can see, here it is. This tiny little thing is left. So by the time we hang up, it's probably gonna be gone. So again, please keep that in mind when we're talking about the ocean and climate change. I've had a few people that have mentioned to me climate change happens in the ocean and absolutely it does. And the ocean is a very important component. We don't live there so we don't think about it as much but it's definitely a very important component when we're talking about climate change. All right, thanks again for being here and I'm happy to take any questions. Thanks so much, Holly. Your work sounds incredibly cool. We are open for questions and I already have some set. You can be adding more out there in your chats. We may or may not be able to get to all of them. They're already pretty good. So I'm gonna start with the first one. Does the added heat also affect the ocean creators that you were talking about, not just the carbon dioxide? Yes, absolutely. If you think about, you turn up your heat a little high in the winter and you get hot and it's walking around shaking your shirt saying, whoop, I'm hot. It's the same thing for the critters in the ocean when the temperature is warmer, it's uncomfortable and it makes them less productive in doing what they do. And this is a big one. It seems like climate change has become such an emotionally charged conversation rather than maybe a logical one for some people. What would be your tips on engaging in productive conversations about climate change? Great, this is my favorite thing to talk about. What I have found in my own experience, number one, facts and data don't change people's minds and they definitely don't get people to change their lifestyles. And I had to learn that even in my own story. I have another talk that I give where I kind of tell my story and that's part of my story is that I'm not here because of the data and the facts. I'm here because I have kids because I care about my family and I was looking for what can I do that helps me feel fulfilled in what am I doing here? And how can I make a difference? So what is my skill set in order to make a difference? So what I have found in my own interaction is, first of all, I share a lot on social media about climate change, but not in a shaming or blaming way and not in a doom and gloom kind of way. Let's talk about what we can do. Let's talk about what's already happening that's positive towards helping to solve climate change. And I also share a lot without interjecting my personal opinion. And that allows, I think it allows people their own option to read or click the link and think about it for themselves because really I can't convince anyone. I can show them that it's important to me and I think that that makes a difference. And I can also show them that I'm changing my life because this is important to me. And I think that that has an effect on my own circle of family and friends. You know, and it seems like there might be a push and pull between like, for example, solar panels being made because the manufacturing of them isn't so great. So what do you think about that? Well, I think that that's an interesting talking point that comes up. And for people that are interested, take the time to research for yourself how they're made and how much energy and electricity is used and the materials that are being used to make it and then put that in context with what we're doing now. And so of course, of course, we have to find ways to continue the lifestyles that we've become accustomed to. And so we're going to continue to find ways to do that in a sustainable way. Humans are very smart and we're very creative and you put a challenge in front of us and we figure it out. And so let's keep finding ways to be sustainable, find sustainable ways to continue creating things like wind and solar energy. And talking about renewable energy, an audience member thinks is great, but it's also maybe part of a larger problem that overemphasizes the technology solutions over the more difficult socioeconomic ones. What would you say to that? How can we engage in that more positively? Yeah, absolutely. I struggled with that myself for a long time where it feels like we either have to wait for technology to fix the problem or we need to get rid of technology because it is the problem. And so it's like this dichotomy of where do we go? What do we do? But I also think that humans being on earth is part of the story of earth. And so we don't have to shed it. We don't have to feel guilty or feel bad that this is where we've gotten to because this is what we've evolved to. And so again, we find ways to make it sustainable. And the way that we're doing it right now isn't, but we can find the ways. It's not an all or nothing situation. It's just getting creative. Yep. And going back to maybe a little detail. So how does carbon dioxide make the ocean more acidic? Like your vinegar example right there. Right, so carbon dioxide, so it's the chemistry. So it's changing the chemistry of the ocean. So when carbon dioxide from the atmosphere touches the water, there's a chemical reaction. It's actually a series of chemical reactions. Six chemical reactions that happened in just a couple of seconds. And in those quick couple of seconds, there's this exchange that's happening where the carbon from the atmosphere goes into the ocean. And the more carbon in the ocean makes it more acidic. It's okay that there's a certain amount of carbon in the ocean. It was already there before humans existed. It's happening naturally, but it also finds the ocean and the atmosphere to find their own balance of how much carbon they want in them. And right now they're having a tough time finding that balance, because we are injecting so much in so quickly. Oh, thank you. That was a great clarification. Moving out of maybe the heavy questions, just what's your personal favorite part of your job? Oh goodness. I love working with the earth system models. Like I said, the very first time I ever even heard the word earth system model, I said, what's that? I want to do that. And I think the idea that we can bring together the whole global system, it is a simulation on a computer. We are using technology, but being able to look at the whole system I think gives us, there's just so much value in that because we live on such a large planet and we can't recreate an experiment that's a one to one experiment, the size of earth. And so, but we can do it using computers or supercomputers like the one that NCAR has. And I think that that is helping us learn how these different systems of earth are connected. So how our atmosphere and ocean connected and ice and land, how do they all come together and they're connected? Just like our bodies, we get a back ache. It's not, it might not be from our back, it might be from our shoes and how we're walking or how we're riding our bikes, something like that. And so we have to look at the whole system and earth system models and let us do that. That's awesome. Well, do you have just any final statements? I think we've come to the end of our time just for this particular presentation, but Polly? Sure, I am available to any and all of you at any time if you're looking for ways to talk about climate change. I've definitely learned not using the words climate change is helpful. You can talk about other things like how the flowers are blooming earlier than they ever used to or how much the weather has changed from when you first moved to the city you live in now. There's so many different ways. The prices of food in the grocery store, you can bring it back without saying climate change. So yeah, I'm available anytime using social media, phone, FaceTime, Zoom, whatever you'd like. And it means a lot to me that all of you are here today. Thank you for that. Well, it's been really fun to explore the job of an oceanographer today that works in Boulder, Colorado. So thank you so much, Holly, for telling us a bit more about your work and thanks to everybody for joining us. We'd like to remind you that this is our, we're gonna be having our last Ask NCAR session next week and then they'll be returning in the fall. So look for us again in the future. I have just posted in the chat where you can go to our virtual visits page and that'll give you the information and the links to go to prior ones and future ones. And the past archive sessions are there on YouTube to watch as well. I'd like to thank everybody again for being part of our presentation today. Incredible feedback from everybody and everybody have a great day. Stay safe out there. Thanks everybody. Bye. Bye.