Effects of the world’s oceans on global climate change

Abstract

The role of the World Ocean in Global Climate Change is considered from two points of view: 1) heat energy accumu- lation and distribution in the ocean and its discharge into the atmosphere as purely physical processes; 2) participation of living matter in the ocean in these processes. The oceanic organic matter, especially plankton and different organic compounds, absorbs solar energy and changes water transparency, controlling thickness of layers and amount of the energy accumulated. Having ability to react not only to fluctuations of solar heat energy supply, but also to extra weak fluctuations of electromagnetic and magnetic fields of terrestrial and extraterrestrial origin, phytoplankton and other organic matter should be considered as active forcing of global climate and ocean ecosystem fluctuations observed on different scales. Several mechanisms of solar activity effects on global climate-ocean ecosystem interactions are dis- cussed.