MCCIP ‘The MCCIP website has recently been updated with new marine climate change news and events. Below is a brief summary of the new items that have been added. For more details on all of the items listed below, simply go to www.mccip.org.uk and go to the relevant links in the ‘news and events’ box on our homepage. Please note that the material presented in MCCIP news does not necessarily reflect the views of MCCIP.

Three examples:

Climate change risks biggest change to marine species in 3m years

Humans rely heavily on the world’s oceans. About 70% of the world population lives within 60km of the shoreline, and we catch around 80 million tonnes of fish every year. In our new study, we investigate how warming oceans could affect the spread of marine species. And the results suggest warming over 2C would have a bigger impact on marine biodiversity than we’ve seen in the last three million years. [Beaugrand, G. et al. (2015) Future vulnerability of marine biodiversity compared with contemporary and past changes, Nature Climate Change, doi:10.1038/nclimate2650].

Melting ice caps and the economic and environmental impact of opening the Northern Sea route

A discussion paper recently published by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis examines the consequences of the melting of Arctic ice caps on the Northern Sea shipping route. The opening of this route will represent a sizeable reduction in shipping distances and a decrease in the average transportation days by around one-third compared to the currently used Southern Sea Route. The study predicts a shift of bilateral trade flows between, as well as within, Asia and Europe, which will have income and welfare effects for the countries involved. The estimated redirection of trade highlights political interest and environmental pressure on the Arctic.

Defra Climate Science Packages – Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme

Three Defra climate science packages have been produced as part of the Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme by the Hadley Centre’s Knowledge Integration team. These packages give an introduction to a range of climate science topics and contain a summary of research from the Hadley Centre Climate Programme, as well as the wider scientific community. The Global Projections package looks at model projections of the climate might change in the future in terms of sea level rise and storminess. The Monitoring the Climate package discusses how we measure and observe the climate, including a closer look at the ‘slowdown’ or ‘pause’ in global temperature. The Dangerous Climate Thresholds package talks about potentially large changes in the climate that could have a big impact on the UK: melting of polar ice sheets, changes to ocean circulation in the North Atlantic, the disappearance of Arctic sea ice, and rapidly changing ecosystems.