Earth’s Changing Oceans. Physical Oceanographer Nathan Bindoff
Professor Nathan Bindoff is a world renown physical oceanographer at the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. His research takes him on voyages of discovery where he documented the first evidence of changes in the Indian, North Pacific, South Pacific and Southern Oceans, and the earth’s hydrological cycle from ocean salinity. He predicted fire catastrophes. His most recent work is studying the decline in oxygen content of the oceans. All of these global climate changes have been attributed to human activity. Nathan Bindoff is one of the lead authors contributing to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that are informing world leaders on climate policy.
Transcript
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Catherine:What's your PI.
Catherine:Professor Nathan Bindoff and his background in physical
Catherine:oceanography is so extensive.
Catherine:There is no way I can cover his massive research studies,
Catherine:but we can narrow it down.
Catherine:Well, Nathan is a professor of physical oceanography at the
Catherine:university of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic studies.
Catherine:And my gosh, he was the coordinating lead author on the ocean's chapter in the
Catherine:al panel on climate change in:Catherine:a certificate for his own contribution of Al Gore winning the Nobel peace prize.
Catherine:That is just so amazing.
Catherine:And then again, in:Catherine:climate change report.
Catherine:Well professor Bindoff and his colleagues documented some of the
Catherine:first evidence of the high melt rates of the Antarctic ice sheet.
Catherine:His most recent work is on documenting the decline in oxygen content of the
Catherine:oceans and dynamics of the Southern ocean.
Catherine:When he's not on a boat doing research, he tries to be on his own boat that he built
Catherine:from wood, a hobby that he so much enjoys.
Catherine:And now he is here to talk about all of this and what the
Catherine:future holds for our planet.
Catherine:Professor Nathan Bindoff . Thank you so much for coming on the show to
Catherine:share your amazing positive imprints.
nathanbindoff on::Thank you, Catherine.
nathanbindoff on::That's a lovely introduction.
Catherine:This is so incredible to finally meet you after reading so many
Catherine:articles and reading your research and hearing about you from other researchers.
Catherine:There's so much to talk about and I'm going to kind of let you guide as to
Catherine:what research you want to chat about.
Catherine:Professor Bindoff explains who he is and how he came to be part of the
Catherine:intergovernmental panel on climate change.
nathanbindoff on::Oh, Nathan's a a practical, pragmatic
nathanbindoff on::sort of guy that likes to, actually I, I often, draw parallels to, uh, parboil
nathanbindoff on::detective stories where, you know, the, the, the lone detective is out there.
nathanbindoff on::Well, private eye is out there and he's taking the clues and
nathanbindoff on::kind of discovering something.
nathanbindoff on::And, and that's kind of how I feel about science
nathanbindoff on::actually.
nathanbindoff on::You know, you, you look at observations, you discover things, you compare them,
nathanbindoff on::you get evidence and you build a story.
nathanbindoff on::And it's just like that parboiled detective guy, that those parboil
nathanbindoff on::detective stories where you figure out what's going on and then you
nathanbindoff on::write it up and turn it into a paper.
nathanbindoff on::And the pragmatic part of me is the part that likes to, turn this sort
nathanbindoff on::of discoveries in science, into things that are important and relevant to
nathanbindoff on::people who think about the environment.
nathanbindoff on::So you know, the participation in IPCC, for instance, Was sort of a
nathanbindoff on::fluke, a wonderful fluke, by the way.
nathanbindoff on::I was in the corridor one day and one of my ex supervisors came by and he said, oh,
nathanbindoff on::you should, you should nominate for IPCC.
nathanbindoff on::And that's all he said.
nathanbindoff on::And that night I went away, uh, put in a nomination and
nathanbindoff on::that began my career in IPCC.
nathanbindoff on::I was invited to be a coordinating lead author in that fourth assessment
nathanbindoff on::report, which was the one that actually led to a moment in history where
nathanbindoff on::had been very strong through:nathanbindoff on::And then suddenly the stern report came out and that talked about the
nathanbindoff on::economic consequences of climate change.
nathanbindoff on::And Al Gore had his movie on the inconvenient truth.
nathanbindoff on::th assessment came out and in:nathanbindoff on::2008, we had a change in our narrative around, uh, the acceptance of
nathanbindoff on::climate change and the need to act.
nathanbindoff on::And it was a terrific moment.
nathanbindoff on::And then it was sort of topped off by IPCC winning with Al
nathanbindoff on::Gore, the, Nobel peace prize.
nathanbindoff on::And, and, and I actually liked the fact that it's not, it's not a, a
nathanbindoff on::prize for scientific excellence.
nathanbindoff on::It's not a prize for intellectual endeavor.
nathanbindoff on::Actually, it's a prize for creating an opportunity if you like for peace.
nathanbindoff on::So you can see, I, I like the observations, I like the detail,
nathanbindoff on::like a narrative, and then actually, if it does good, if it does good,
nathanbindoff on::then that makes me very happy.
Catherine:We talked about some of his quotes and I brought up this one.
Catherine:"When I commenced my career, the question of whether the ocean state
Catherine:had changed was completely open.
Catherine:It was a voyage of discovery."
Catherine:Well, professor Bindoff has been on this voyage of discovery, bringing back his
Catherine:research to share with the IPCC., the intergovernmental panel on climate change.
Catherine:And I asked professor Bindoff about the history of the IPCC
Catherine:and the state of the ocean.
nathanbindoff on::So let's, let's talk IPCC for a moment.
nathanbindoff on::IPCC was a, a vision and that vision was an understanding that the changing
nathanbindoff on::composition of the atmosphere.
nathanbindoff on::So this was for measurements of atmospheric CO2.
nathanbindoff on::The changing composition of the atmosphere was going to influence the planet.
nathanbindoff on::At that moment there was a decision and it was in the time of, Margaret
nathanbindoff on::Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.
nathanbindoff on::A decision was made to create a panel.
nathanbindoff on::And that panel was a joint effort between United nations environment program and
nathanbindoff on::the world meteorological organization.
nathanbindoff on::And what happened was that that panel was created very perceptively it excluded
nathanbindoff on::it's not quite true, but it is basically excluded non-governmental organizations.
nathanbindoff on::So they made it a report to governments.
nathanbindoff on::And because it's a United Nations process, that process demands that every country
nathanbindoff on::has a, what they call a focal point.
nathanbindoff on::And that focal point in each country is the avenue by
nathanbindoff on::which the IPCC reports, , and.
nathanbindoff on::Development and their commissioning is, created within each of
nathanbindoff on::the countries that participate.
nathanbindoff on::United Nations is 195 countries and almost all participate in the IPCC process.
nathanbindoff on::So this process immediately meant that, every report is well understood.
nathanbindoff on::at some levels of governments.
nathanbindoff on::That's unusual relative to other kinds of reports.
nathanbindoff on::There's a similar report around, , chlorofluorocarbons,
nathanbindoff on::in the upper atmosphere.
nathanbindoff on::And there's a similar process there.
nathanbindoff on::So that's basically the process around, but, , the IPCC, it
nathanbindoff on::was created in:nathanbindoff on::And it came from the inspiration of Bert Bolin.
nathanbindoff on::Bert Bolin was a, Swedish, atmospherics, scientist, famous actually.
nathanbindoff on::And it was him plus a couple of others.
nathanbindoff on::And the first report was quite very, very thin.
nathanbindoff on::Actually, it didn't even say that humans were influencing climate, but
nathanbindoff on::curiously, that report was enough to create the United Nations Framework
nathanbindoff on::Convention on Climate Change.
nathanbindoff on::And that's the body that runs the conference of parties every year, which
nathanbindoff on::negotiates, , the processes around emissions and hopefully emissions
nathanbindoff on::reductions, as we go into the future.
Catherine:You've given a wonderful explanation on the IPCC.
Catherine:And I appreciate that because I was unaware of some of the history,
Catherine:and I was definitely unaware in how much of the partaking you have
Catherine:had in this historical and most important piece that is going to take
Catherine:us and is taking us into the future
Catherine:with regard to legislation and changes in lifestyle.
nathanbindoff on::Yeah.
nathanbindoff on::So IPCC evolves actually.
nathanbindoff on::And in the first report, there was no mention of the oceans and in
Catherine:oh, there was no mention of oceans.
nathanbindoff on::Correct.
nathanbindoff on::And then the second assessment, there was, uh, no mention really either.
nathanbindoff on::And then in the third assessment, they talked about sea-level and
nathanbindoff on::then in the fourth assessment, they actually introduced an oceans chapter.
nathanbindoff on::And, and the reason an oceans chapter was introduced was because there
nathanbindoff on::had been a bit of a revolution going on in the oceanography community.
nathanbindoff on::It goes to the first question you asked.
nathanbindoff on::The oceans were considered to be static, unchanging.
nathanbindoff on::They had so much, , inertia that they were basically unable to change.
nathanbindoff on::They were kind of a fixed fly wheel.
nathanbindoff on::If you like, circulating the global ocean.
nathanbindoff on::And then increasingly oceanographers and atmospheric scientists have
nathanbindoff on::understood that there was El Nino.
nathanbindoff on::Then we came to understand actually the deep ocean was changing subtly as well.
nathanbindoff on::And we found that, that there was on starting to appear on global scales.
nathanbindoff on::So what really happened was that we understood that the oceans too were
nathanbindoff on::responding, that they weren't static and that they were changing and that
nathanbindoff on::knowledge and the amount of literature that was starting to accumulate at
nathanbindoff on::that time allowed for the introduction of this chapter around oceans.
nathanbindoff on::It's the building of the momentum around the science.
nathanbindoff on::It was a increased realization that the oceans were important that
nathanbindoff on::they were changing and evolving.
nathanbindoff on::And, at that time, we believe that the ocean, uh, sea level change was through
nathanbindoff on::primarily through, thermal expansion.
nathanbindoff on::So that's where you warm up the ocean and it expands.
nathanbindoff on::And that's the biggest contributor to the rising sea levels.
nathanbindoff on::That's actually changing again, so that rising sea levels, are now
nathanbindoff on::dominated by the melt of the ice caps, both Antarctica, Greenland, and, the
nathanbindoff on::glaciers mountain glaciers as well.
nathanbindoff on::So the heating of the oceans, isn't the biggest component to
nathanbindoff on::the rising sea level anymore.
nathanbindoff on::So that's a new level of knowledge that we've actually got.
nathanbindoff on::So this is part of this voyage of discovery where we're actually learning
nathanbindoff on::more progressively more about the earth's system in response to climate change
Catherine:One of Nathan's earliest discoveries was that of the planet's
Catherine:melting Antarctic ice shelves.
Catherine:He and his colleagues made measurements, studied the data and concluded
Catherine:something absolutely extraordinary.
nathanbindoff on::With colleagues.
nathanbindoff on::Um, so I wrote some early papers around, the melt of , the Amery ice shelf.
nathanbindoff on::In fact, I remember a conversation.
nathanbindoff on::I said, oh, 50% of this.
nathanbindoff on::ice shelf is melting, from the ocean, from the underside.
nathanbindoff on::It's a paper that's buried in the past, the glaciologists
nathanbindoff on::telling me that was impossible.
nathanbindoff on::Well, actually what's happened is this has become a prime research, , activity
nathanbindoff on::here in Hobart and elsewhere in the world.
nathanbindoff on::It was the capacity for those ice sheets to have a huge, huge impact
nathanbindoff on::on rising sea level, is enormous.
nathanbindoff on::I've used a lot of superlatives there, but it's true.
nathanbindoff on::There were some papers just recently, which some people are backing away from
nathanbindoff on::a little bit, but they were predicting 16 meters of sea projecting, 16 meters of
nathanbindoff on::evel from Antarctica alone by:nathanbindoff on::So think about 16 meters of sea level.
nathanbindoff on::That's enormous.
nathanbindoff on::These estimates, are reducing, , but they're still very large.
nathanbindoff on::Just recently in the report that we did on oceans and cryosphere and a
nathanbindoff on::changing climate, the governments' insisted on showing the sea level
nathanbindoff on::rise projections out to:nathanbindoff on::So for a lot of people,:nathanbindoff on::but the sea level projections were showing, at the upper range, five
nathanbindoff on::s of future sea level rise by:nathanbindoff on::Now, just to give a context, I think if it's eight meters, we can
nathanbindoff on::row in our boat to the footstep of, Capitol hill and step out.
nathanbindoff on::Of course, in the case of the Thames parliament, uh, we
nathanbindoff on::could step through the windows.
nathanbindoff on::Uh, uh, you know, uh, most of Florida has disappeared, south Australia.
nathanbindoff on::I think if it goes to eight meters, we can have a ocean in the middle of Australia.
nathanbindoff on::So, so, you know, these are very significant, profound,
nathanbindoff on::possibilities for, , future, sea level in an unmitigated world.
Catherine:that's key.
nathanbindoff on::that's the key.
nathanbindoff on::And so, so it hasn't happened of course.
nathanbindoff on::Um, it's, it's something that humans could, materially alter
nathanbindoff on::by making certain decisions.
nathanbindoff on::So it's sort of a value judgment.
nathanbindoff on::We can have this hotter, higher sea level world if we choose, or we can actually
nathanbindoff on::step back, we mitigate emissions and not have that hotter higher sea level world.
nathanbindoff on::And there are some distinct benefits,, I think that's my value judgment, if we
nathanbindoff on::were to reduce our emissions to zero.,
Catherine:oh, I think it is a decision that we do need.
Catherine:But there are people who won't change until it's legislated
nathanbindoff on::So some of the language we might use, we
nathanbindoff on::scientists might use is that we society needs a license to, reduce emissions.
nathanbindoff on::Society has the license to omit them.
nathanbindoff on::Yeah.
nathanbindoff on::Right.
nathanbindoff on::We now need a license to reduce them to zero.
nathanbindoff on::And, uh, that is actually something that no individual can accomplish.
nathanbindoff on::Right.
nathanbindoff on::So, so therefore means that, no individual country can
nathanbindoff on::actually accomplish it alone.
nathanbindoff on::So it does require a genuine collaboration of all the nations to actually agree,
nathanbindoff on::and then follow a pathway to reduced emissions, , to kind of avoid the
nathanbindoff on::worst outcomes of climate change.
nathanbindoff on::Some people may not realize, but we've already committed to
nathanbindoff on::quite a bit of climate change.
nathanbindoff on::We've already come one degree of warming since the instrumental
nathanbindoff on::record began say in the:nathanbindoff on::Now one degree of global warming means that actually over Australia,
nathanbindoff on::it's 1.4 times that, over the, Arctic it's, uh, even more and over
nathanbindoff on::the tropics, it's actually less.
nathanbindoff on::It's a global average.
nathanbindoff on::Some areas will have larger temperature changes than others.
nathanbindoff on::We've already committed to that.
nathanbindoff on::We can already see that, the water cycle over the planet has been altered.
nathanbindoff on::We can already see that Greenland and Antarctica are losing increased mass.
nathanbindoff on::That's something that's become very obvious in the last 20 years
nathanbindoff on::on this voyage of discovery.
nathanbindoff on::These things mean that we've already committed to those changes.
nathanbindoff on::If we switched off our missions tomorrow, right which is, would
nathanbindoff on::be an extraordinary thing.
nathanbindoff on::We would still warm up by another 0.3 to 0.4 degrees.
nathanbindoff on::if we want to avoid 0.5, we'd have very little time left
nathanbindoff on::actually, if you think about it.
nathanbindoff on::Cause if we've committed to a further 0.3 degrees, we've come 0.1.
nathanbindoff on::We've only got 0.2 of headroom.
Catherine:yes.
nathanbindoff on::so say you can see that it's now
nathanbindoff on::becoming a very urgent problem if you want to minimize the
nathanbindoff on::consequences of climate change..
nathanbindoff on::One of the things that became obvious was that the, interaction between the ocean
nathanbindoff on::and the ice sheet was quite significant.
nathanbindoff on::And so we actually did a wintertime voyage.
nathanbindoff on::We went to Antarctica in July.
nathanbindoff on::So that's our Southern hemisphere winter.
nathanbindoff on::We were there against the continent in a, , ice breaker and making measurements
nathanbindoff on::right in front of the, of a, um, it's not, not the biggest glacier.
nathanbindoff on::Uh, they'd called the Mertz glacier.
nathanbindoff on::It's actually that place has now broken off, but it was a source of
nathanbindoff on::very dense what we call Antarctic bottom water, very dense waters, some
nathanbindoff on::of the densest waters in the world.
nathanbindoff on::And because they're dense, they'll actually flow down the
nathanbindoff on::continental slope so they'll start off on the continental shelf
nathanbindoff on::they'll fly down the continental slope and then they end in the abyss and
nathanbindoff on::they actually drive a circulation that we call the overturning circulation.
nathanbindoff on::And this overturning circulation is an important component of the
nathanbindoff on::global thermohaline circulation or the global thermite.
nathanbindoff on::Global thermohaline circulation in the world.
nathanbindoff on::It's a driver of the deep ocean circulation.
nathanbindoff on::And as a consequence, we were there exactly to study that flow.
nathanbindoff on::Now I've talked about the deepest ocean that right there in front of the glacier,
nathanbindoff on::you also see and toughen the case, very fresh waters that reflect the melt of
nathanbindoff on::the bottom of the, glaciers themselves.
nathanbindoff on::And so we estimated that melt rate and we came to understand how much was being,
nathanbindoff on::lost by the ice sheet there in winter.
nathanbindoff on::What's new and more important to the story of climate change is we've realized
nathanbindoff on::that these glaciers are thinning..
nathanbindoff on::And so they're losing, they're not in equilibrium.
nathanbindoff on::If they're an equilibrium sea level would be unchanged, but
nathanbindoff on::actually they're thinning.
nathanbindoff on::And so sea level is actually going up as a consequence and the ice sheet itself
nathanbindoff on::on average is actually losing mass.
nathanbindoff on::So it's transferring mass that, in the Antarctic ice sheet itself into the
nathanbindoff on::oceans and causing sea level to go up.
nathanbindoff on::And that voyage was the first ever against the Antarctic continent in winter.
nathanbindoff on::That was:nathanbindoff on::That voyage, was actually on the relatively newly commissioned
nathanbindoff on::Aurora Australis so that was the Australian icebreaker.
nathanbindoff on::That ship has now come to end of life.
nathanbindoff on::And it's about to be replaced.
nathanbindoff on::There'll be a new Australian ice breaker that will replace the Aurora Australis.
nathanbindoff on::It was both a science ship and also a resupply, ship.
nathanbindoff on::And the moment that we actually got that, icebreaker, the Australian Antarcitc
nathanbindoff on::research took a quantum step upwards.
nathanbindoff on::That vessel gave Australia new capabilities that it
nathanbindoff on::didn't have prior to:nathanbindoff on::, it's interesting.
nathanbindoff on::I.
nathanbindoff on::I was sort of, um, a little bit hesitant.
nathanbindoff on::I have to say, there you go.
nathanbindoff on::I was a little bit hesitant about going to, , Antarctica working at sea.
nathanbindoff on::I've spent more than two years at sea now, uh, in my career.
nathanbindoff on::Right?
nathanbindoff on::So I've got over the hesitancy, but, the first trip I was, it was
nathanbindoff on::actually a particularly rough trip.
nathanbindoff on::I remember kind of feeling only 80,, 90%, 90% of the time.
nathanbindoff on::Uh, and, uh, that was, that was a tough voyage actually.
nathanbindoff on::And, and, you know, shaped my life.
nathanbindoff on::Sea-going life is actually a very pleasant once you get into the rhythm
nathanbindoff on::of it, it's a very simple life.
nathanbindoff on::And in the case of, research in Antarctica itself, you
nathanbindoff on::get the most fantastic views.
nathanbindoff on::You know, you're privileged in a way you, you see these ice sheets, um, they're,
nathanbindoff on::they're cliffs right there in front of the ocean and they're brilliantly white.
nathanbindoff on::And then, , the green of the green to sort of clear blue of the ocean and
nathanbindoff on::the contrast in color is, , striking.
nathanbindoff on::And then sometimes you see these ice sheets, they have icebergs and
nathanbindoff on::they're flat tabular kinds of icebergs.
nathanbindoff on::Icebergs
nathanbindoff on::always flattened tabula, typically in the Antarctic, quite unlike the icebergs
nathanbindoff on::in the, from the Greenland ice sheet.
nathanbindoff on::And, but often you see surf on the have wave cup platforms on them and
nathanbindoff on::you can see surf there and people,
nathanbindoff on::oh, that's cool.
nathanbindoff on::and some people have actually surfed them.
nathanbindoff on::So, so there are these very beautiful, there's this, sea
nathanbindoff on::life, some extraordinary sea life.
nathanbindoff on::The thing that's grabbed me the most actually, and what allows
nathanbindoff on::me to keep on going back is the science that's associated with it.
nathanbindoff on::The science in the end is the driver of this activity and, and
nathanbindoff on::the, the, joy of seeing it all is kind of a peripheral thing.
nathanbindoff on::Hate, hate to say it that way, but actually that's what,
nathanbindoff on::makes it for repeat trips.
Catherine:well, it certainly shows your dedication to not just the work
Catherine:that you're enjoying doing, but to the future of decision-making of our planet
Catherine:and populations that live on our planet.
Catherine:I think that's a huge responsibility for scientists to undertake when you know,
Catherine:very well that when you are doing this research and you're coming back with
Catherine:the statistics and the projections, and if we keep going the way we're going
Catherine:and things don't get changed, if you lose populations, animal populations,
Catherine:that's a, that's a heavy emotional burden.
Catherine:I think
nathanbindoff on::You're quite right that, but I'm not
nathanbindoff on::actually frustrated, by the world.
nathanbindoff on::I feel personally that I've actually done the work, I've made, made with the
nathanbindoff on::measurements, we've reported the science I've worked with IPCC with literally,
nathanbindoff on::you know, uh, 200 to 300 scientists with the similar kind of thinking.
nathanbindoff on::We've put these assessments together with, literally seven to 10,000
nathanbindoff on::different papers, we've assessed it.
nathanbindoff on::We've written the reports.
nathanbindoff on::They're being communicated to government.
nathanbindoff on::We have actually done our job.
nathanbindoff on::And, and, and in that sense, , I'm not frustrated because I can see that actually
nathanbindoff on::to make the decision and for society to agree to act on it is a big thing too.
nathanbindoff on::And we're in that process.
nathanbindoff on::So my task is really to continue to do that job, to communicate
nathanbindoff on::what's going on, how things are changing, why it might be urgent.
nathanbindoff on::Um, what are the consequences?
nathanbindoff on::Cause that's, that's the projections part.
nathanbindoff on::You know, we can look a bit into the future.
nathanbindoff on::If we continue on this path, this is what it will mean.
nathanbindoff on::And, and if we continue to do that, then hopefully the rest of society can find
nathanbindoff on::the solutions that allows to transform to the new world where we don't have
nathanbindoff on::emissions going into the atmosphere.
nathanbindoff on::We limit the amount of damage caused by climate change.
nathanbindoff on::And, we address the other problems that we need to solve.
nathanbindoff on::And that's a deeply society related question.
nathanbindoff on::I think scientists have done a terrific job in communicating it.
nathanbindoff on::It's deeply political to get to perhaps, uh, where we might like
nathanbindoff on::to be, but we're in this moment where we're trying to get there.
nathanbindoff on::That's why we have these institutions like IPCC, United Nations, the
nathanbindoff on::World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Framework
nathanbindoff on::Convention on Climate Change.
nathanbindoff on::It's why they have a meeting every year, every year, the ministers and
nathanbindoff on::bureaucrats of every country actually go and discuss how to make the decisions.
nathanbindoff on::They may not succeed, but they actually do do it, every year.
nathanbindoff on::So ya, there's a considerable effort going into the process and hopefully we'll turn
nathanbindoff on::the corner and, uh, really have action.
nathanbindoff on::We have had action in the past and that's why I'm not, uh, pessimistic.
nathanbindoff on::I think it is a solvable problem.
nathanbindoff on::There was a report just released that describes the fact that, you know, with a
nathanbindoff on::concerted effort, we could actually limit global warming to one and a half degrees.
nathanbindoff on::We could actually do it.
nathanbindoff on::And there are pathways to get there.
nathanbindoff on::Scientifically, there are pathways to get there and then sociologically
nathanbindoff on::and decision-making, let's see if we can get to those parts.
nathanbindoff on::So, so you can see I've stepped back from being frustrated
nathanbindoff on::sure.
nathanbindoff on::Sure.
nathanbindoff on::because I feel like we've,
nathanbindoff on::I've done as much as we can.
nathanbindoff on::Scientists have done as much as they can.
nathanbindoff on::And,
Catherine:you've great at what you are doing.
Catherine:and it's inspiring.
nathanbindoff on::and so, well, thank you.
nathanbindoff on::And so the other half of it is can we as society, accept that, make the
nathanbindoff on::value decision and transform itself.
nathanbindoff on::And the nice thing I think is that, , 20 years ago, renewables may not have
nathanbindoff on::been so cheap and you can see the huge increase in renewables in the landscape.
nathanbindoff on::And you can see many of the transformations of the energy business
nathanbindoff on::that are going on, and you can see the pressure on the coal industry.
nathanbindoff on::So you can see that there are forces and pressures trying to
nathanbindoff on::change the pathway that we were on.
nathanbindoff on::Emissions are still going up.
nathanbindoff on::We haven't turned the corner, but you can see that there's action.
nathanbindoff on::Not enough maybe.
nathanbindoff on::Maybe it's my worldview, but that narrative I gave was
nathanbindoff on::one, of precisely about hope.
nathanbindoff on::It was about the hope that we could collaborate globally and actually
nathanbindoff on::understand the innovations that we can embrace and change the course.
nathanbindoff on::And it does require the world to do it together.
Catherine:Bindoff predicted the catastrophic fires that would occur.
Catherine:Right now my own state of New Mexico is experiencing horrific fires, which are
Catherine:the absolute worst in recorded history.
Catherine:Well, professor Bindoff wrote papers years ago on this very subject.
Catherine:He wrote.
Catherine:"If the temperature rose and continues to rise
Catherine:sea levels could rise by three to four meters and Greenland could disappear.
Catherine:There would be at least a 20% increase in fire danger and catastrophic fire
Catherine:events would be more likely to occur."
nathanbindoff on::It's uh, the fire season has been
nathanbindoff on::an extraordinary wake up call for, Australia and the wildfires in the USA
nathanbindoff on::, had extraordinary impacts.
nathanbindoff on::The report that you referred to we wrote, basically pointed to the
nathanbindoff on::fact that these extreme conditions are going to occur more frequently.
nathanbindoff on::So we said twice as often, but they actually affect the
nathanbindoff on::bigger area, uh, as well.
nathanbindoff on::and then when you put those two together, they turn out to
nathanbindoff on::be four times more workload.
nathanbindoff on::It's like a 20% per decade, increase.
nathanbindoff on::So these are nontrivial changes that are emerging because of that warming.
nathanbindoff on::And it's primarily because of the warming.
nathanbindoff on::There are other things that go into fire, but there's, that's primarily because
nathanbindoff on::of the warming that goes, associated with increasing the fire danger.
nathanbindoff on::So, so yes, we did talk about that years ago and I'm off to meet the Premier today.
nathanbindoff on::And I'll probably mention it again.
Catherine:Well, my goodness.
Catherine:I would love to have an update on that meeting that professor
Catherine:Bindoff had with the Premier.
Catherine:Well today, professor Nathan Bindoff and his team are studying oxygen levels.
nathanbindoff on::Yeah.
nathanbindoff on::So, so oxygen, a lot of people, don't understand that the ocean is a very
nathanbindoff on::small reservoir of oxygen, obviously critical for fish to live off and
nathanbindoff on::much of life, within the oceans.
nathanbindoff on::But it turns out that if you make measurements of the oxygen content
nathanbindoff on::in the oceans, there are some areas where it's actually declining and
nathanbindoff on::this work that we're doing is actually about documenting those declines.
nathanbindoff on::And there are some particularly big declines in the equatorial
nathanbindoff on::zone of the Pacific and also in the Indian and Atlantic oceans.
nathanbindoff on::And there are declines at high latitudes as well.
nathanbindoff on::These declines aren't so aren't so big that the fish can't, can't ac tually
nathanbindoff on::still function but their declines are altering the distribution to some
nathanbindoff on::extent of fish in the equatorial parts.
nathanbindoff on::It's just reflecting the fact that we're on this voyage of discovery,
nathanbindoff on::where the oceans are changing and oxygen is just another one
nathanbindoff on::of those things that's changed.
nathanbindoff on::And, you know, it's, it's not talked about a lot about, it's actually a
nathanbindoff on::thing that's going to have influence, particularly in the equatorial
nathanbindoff on::zone, future equatorial zone.
nathanbindoff on::In the past records, the paleo oceanographic records we have, it's often
nathanbindoff on::talked about, the, chain variations in oxygen in the global oceans.
nathanbindoff on::So geologists have understood that there are, uh, changes in
nathanbindoff on::the oceans on long time scale.
nathanbindoff on::The difference here is that these changes that we're talking about
nathanbindoff on::are connected to human activity.
nathanbindoff on::So it's, uh, human induced oxygen decline, in fact, in the United States,
nathanbindoff on::there have been some famous, uh, kills of crabs washed up on the Oregon coast.
nathanbindoff on::And these are connected to this, changing oxygen levels, in
nathanbindoff on::the equatorial ocean actually.
nathanbindoff on::And at various times, those low oxygen zones catch up with the
nathanbindoff on::crabs, which are sitting out there on the continental shelf.
nathanbindoff on::They suddenly don't have enough oxygen.
nathanbindoff on::So they actually, asphyxiated, I suppose and then washed up, that
nathanbindoff on::is an example of the growth of this oxygen minimum layer in that zone.
nathanbindoff on::So it is influencing, uh, Marine life and their distribution.
nathanbindoff on::It's a sort of a localized catastrophe for those animals.
nathanbindoff on::Tuna populations have tended to move a little bit in response
nathanbindoff on::to these oxygen content changes.
nathanbindoff on::There are other kinds of effects on Marine wildlife.
nathanbindoff on::It's, it's always complex, but that's actually what's going on.
nathanbindoff on::And, uh, the project that I was that, that I was referring to there is
nathanbindoff on::about understanding how that oxygen is actually changing the global oceans.
nathanbindoff on::And we have relatively few observations for it.
nathanbindoff on::So it's, it's a, um, it's not as detailed or accurate picture as we
nathanbindoff on::might have for ocean temperatures
Catherine:oh, but you'll get that
nathanbindoff on::with a few more measurements.
Catherine:right?
Catherine:Yeah.
Catherine:And the reason I had mentioned fisheries is because that
Catherine:will be an economics question.
nathanbindoff on::Yeah.
nathanbindoff on::So, so this is, something we've detailed in our most recent IPCC report actually.
nathanbindoff on::There are three things going on if you like.
nathanbindoff on::The atmosphere's warming up..
nathanbindoff on::The surface ocean warms up at a faster rate than the deeper ocean.
nathanbindoff on::And because the surface ocean is warming up at a faster rate,
nathanbindoff on::um, warmer water is lighter.
nathanbindoff on::And so, uh, the surface waters are becoming more buoyant
nathanbindoff on::relative to the deeper waters.
nathanbindoff on::And now oxygen mostly gets into the deeper waters because there's a,
nathanbindoff on::what we call ventilation, literally, you know, uh, the exchange between
nathanbindoff on::the atmosphere and the deep ocean.
nathanbindoff on::Um, and that process is inhibited or reduced or slowed by the warming
nathanbindoff on::up of those surface waters, because it's actually physically harder
nathanbindoff on::to take the surface water and move it into the deeper ocean.
nathanbindoff on::And.
nathanbindoff on::Because it's physically harder there's less oxygen being
nathanbindoff on::moved into the deeper ocean.
nathanbindoff on::So when I say deeper below a hundred meters, and as a consequence of
nathanbindoff on::biological activity in that depth range, the oxygen content is the oxygen is
nathanbindoff on::consumed and it's, uh, becomes lower.
nathanbindoff on::So this decline in oxygen is really caused by surface ocean warming and,
nathanbindoff on::and a reduced rate of exchange between the atmosphere and the, and the deeper
nathanbindoff on::ocean, below 100, 200, 300 meters.
nathanbindoff on::Um, and, and that's what we've been documenting.
nathanbindoff on::And we can attribute it to the human influence because we know that, in
nathanbindoff on::following the scientific method, if you like, models that do not have
nathanbindoff on::changing cO2 do not have warming of the surface ocean, um, will still have
nathanbindoff on::the same equilibrium oxygen inside.
nathanbindoff on::But when you warm the ocean progressively from rising greenhouse gases, you
nathanbindoff on::find that the pattern of oxygen change, agrees with what's observed
nathanbindoff on::and you can formally attribute it to that rise in, , CO2 in the atmosphere.
nathanbindoff on::So the response looks like climate change, and that's why we say
nathanbindoff on::it's to do with human activity.
nathanbindoff on::, so, so Catherine, I can talk quite a lot as you might have, uh, appreciated
nathanbindoff on::but let me say, it's been a pleasure to chat, about these bigger picture
nathanbindoff on::issues with a little bit of extra time versus a normal media event.
nathanbindoff on::It allows, I think a, um, kind of a nice, nice discourse about, the
nathanbindoff on::problem that is confronting the earth..
nathanbindoff on::I'm I'm very optimistic that we can actually solve these, this,
nathanbindoff on::this particular problem, because I can see the innovation that we
nathanbindoff on::acquire, the technologies we require.
nathanbindoff on::I can see that there's a potential for the transformation transformations
nathanbindoff on::that we acquire to occur.
nathanbindoff on::And so I'm actually hopeful that we can accelerate the progress and actually,
nathanbindoff on::minimize, minimize the, problem at hand.
nathanbindoff on::And, and of course I can then just go back to doing ordinary old oceanography.
nathanbindoff on::Don't have to, uh, work on these socially relevant problems,
nathanbindoff on::become the academic that I was.
nathanbindoff on::Um, you know, it's been very interesting and fascinating time
nathanbindoff on::to be working in the oceans.
nathanbindoff on::The oceans, unlike meteorology, the oceans, Uh, 20 years behind
nathanbindoff on::the meteorological community.
nathanbindoff on::And so I've actually entered this career into this career at a, at a kind of an
nathanbindoff on::exciting moment where we've kind of become to understand much more about the oceans
nathanbindoff on::and we've developed, tools and methods to explore and see, how it's changing and
nathanbindoff on::how it's moving and how it's responding to, climate change, for instance.
nathanbindoff on::I've been a participant in these things, iPCC, I feel actually that, uh, if
nathanbindoff on::there are any budding scientists out there, if you do it right, there can be
nathanbindoff on::a very exciting and exhilarating career..
nathanbindoff on::Oh, I, I agree.
nathanbindoff on::Thank you so much, Nathan.
nathanbindoff on::You are just so good in your field and you are a very well-spoken speaker.
nathanbindoff on::You're extremely inspiring and your positive imprints are certainly global
nathanbindoff on::but your, your imprints are such a legacy because this research is for
nathanbindoff on::yesterday, today and the future, and it's going to be obviously research needed.
nathanbindoff on::I commend you for taking on the role that you are taking, not just as
nathanbindoff on::a scientist, but as a spokesperson
nathanbindoff on::and I appreciate that.
nathanbindoff on::, I think that I want to end with letters to earth,
nathanbindoff on::Nathan, I'm going to
nathanbindoff on::share my screen with you because this letter that you wrote to earth
nathanbindoff on::is very inspiring and it just shows your optimism and everything that you
nathanbindoff on::believe in for the future of our earth.
nathanbindoff on::Um, thank you Catherine.
nathanbindoff on::From time to time.
nathanbindoff on::I do think about the future.
nathanbindoff on::My dream is that the picture we so frequently paint will be different.
nathanbindoff on::Not the catastrophe that is so frequently forecast, but a world where the pressing
nathanbindoff on::problems that cutoff circumvented with human ingenuity and self-realization
nathanbindoff on::and mobilized by collaborative effort, a world where humans decide the future
nathanbindoff on::to be sustainable and transformed,
nathanbindoff on::and a transformed one that successfully reconciles climate change, our needs
nathanbindoff on::for food, energy, and all of life.
nathanbindoff on::That is what I imagine we can achieve.
Catherine:Professor Nathan Bindoff.
Catherine:thank you.
Catherine:so much for your inspiration and your commitment to your science and research.
Catherine:Thank you for sharing on your positive imprint.
nathanbindoff on::thank you Catherine..
Catherine:To learn more about professor Nathan Bindoff and his research go
Catherine:to university of Tasmania website, UTAS.edu.au and search button for Nathan
Catherine:Bindoff, N a T H a N B I N D O F F.
Catherine:You can read more letters from scientists and oceanographers
Catherine:from isthishowyoufeel.com?
Catherine:You can also write your own letter to earth by going to letterstoearth.com.
Catherine:In two weeks, join members of the Matt Palmer band as they share music and their
Catherine:climate change research from England.
Catherine:Your positive imprint.