Earth’s Changing Oceans. Physical Oceanographer Nathan Bindoff

Professor Nathan Bindoff, a physical oceanographer at the University of Tasmania, researches ocean changes and the hydrological cycle concerning salinity. He predicts fire catastrophes and studies ocean oxygen decline linking these issues to human-caused climate change. Bindoff is also a lead author for IPCC reports, impacting global climate policy.

Transcript
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What's your PI.

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Professor Nathan Bindoff and his background in physical

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oceanography is so extensive.

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There is no way I can cover his massive research studies,

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but we can narrow it down.

Catherine:

Well, Nathan is a professor of physical oceanography at the

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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.

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Well professor Bindoff and his colleagues documented some of the

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first evidence of the high melt rates of the Antarctic ice sheet.

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His most recent work is on documenting the decline in oxygen content of the

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oceans and dynamics of the Southern ocean.

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When he's not on a boat doing research, he tries to be on his own boat that he built

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from wood, a hobby that he so much enjoys.

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And now he is here to talk about all of this and what the

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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

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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

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sort of guy that likes to, actually I, I often, draw parallels to, uh, parboil

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detective stories where, you know, the, the, the lone detective is out there.

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Well, private eye is out there and he's taking the clues and

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kind of discovering something.

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And, and that's kind of how I feel about science

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actually.

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You know, you, you look at observations, you discover things, you compare them,

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you get evidence and you build a story.

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And it's just like that parboiled detective guy, that those parboil

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detective stories where you figure out what's going on and then you

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write it up and turn it into a paper.

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And the pragmatic part of me is the part that likes to, turn this sort

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of discoveries in science, into things that are important and relevant to

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people who think about the environment.

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So you know, the participation in IPCC, for instance, Was sort of a

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fluke, a wonderful fluke, by the way.

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I was in the corridor one day and one of my ex supervisors came by and he said, oh,

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you should, you should nominate for IPCC.

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And that's all he said.

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And that night I went away, uh, put in a nomination and

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that began my career in IPCC.

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I was invited to be a coordinating lead author in that fourth assessment

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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

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economic consequences of climate change.

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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

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climate change and the need to act.

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And it was a terrific moment.

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And then it was sort of topped off by IPCC winning with Al

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Gore, the, Nobel peace prize.

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And, and, and I actually liked the fact that it's not, it's not a, a

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prize for scientific excellence.

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It's not a prize for intellectual endeavor.

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Actually, it's a prize for creating an opportunity if you like for peace.

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So you can see, I, I like the observations, I like the detail,

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like a narrative, and then actually, if it does good, if it does good,

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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

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had changed was completely open.

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It was a voyage of discovery."

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Well, professor Bindoff has been on this voyage of discovery, bringing back his

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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.

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So let's, let's talk IPCC for a moment.

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IPCC was a, a vision and that vision was an understanding that the changing

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composition of the atmosphere.

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So this was for measurements of atmospheric CO2.

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The changing composition of the atmosphere was going to influence the planet.

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At that moment there was a decision and it was in the time of, Margaret

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Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.

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A decision was made to create a panel.

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And that panel was a joint effort between United nations environment program and

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the world meteorological organization.

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And what happened was that that panel was created very perceptively it excluded

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it's not quite true, but it is basically excluded non-governmental organizations.

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So they made it a report to governments.

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And because it's a United Nations process, that process demands that every country

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has a, what they call a focal point.

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And that focal point in each country is the avenue by

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which the IPCC reports, , and.

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Development and their commissioning is, created within each of

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the countries that participate.

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United Nations is 195 countries and almost all participate in the IPCC process.

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So this process immediately meant that, every report is well understood.

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at some levels of governments.

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That's unusual relative to other kinds of reports.

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There's a similar report around, , chlorofluorocarbons,

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in the upper atmosphere.

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And there's a similar process there.

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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.

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Bert Bolin was a, Swedish, atmospherics, scientist, famous actually.

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And it was him plus a couple of others.

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And the first report was quite very, very thin.

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Actually, it didn't even say that humans were influencing climate, but

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curiously, that report was enough to create the United Nations Framework

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Convention on Climate Change.

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And that's the body that runs the conference of parties every year, which

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negotiates, , the processes around emissions and hopefully emissions

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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

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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.

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So IPCC evolves actually.

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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.

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And then the second assessment, there was, uh, no mention really either.

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And then in the third assessment, they talked about sea-level and

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then in the fourth assessment, they actually introduced an oceans chapter.

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And, and the reason an oceans chapter was introduced was because there

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had been a bit of a revolution going on in the oceanography community.

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It goes to the first question you asked.

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The oceans were considered to be static, unchanging.

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They had so much, , inertia that they were basically unable to change.

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They were kind of a fixed fly wheel.

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If you like, circulating the global ocean.

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And then increasingly oceanographers and atmospheric scientists have

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understood that there was El Nino.

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Then we came to understand actually the deep ocean was changing subtly as well.

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And we found that, that there was on starting to appear on global scales.

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So what really happened was that we understood that the oceans too were

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responding, that they weren't static and that they were changing and that

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knowledge and the amount of literature that was starting to accumulate at

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that time allowed for the introduction of this chapter around oceans.

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It's the building of the momentum around the science.

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It was a increased realization that the oceans were important that

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they were changing and evolving.

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And, at that time, we believe that the ocean, uh, sea level change was through

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primarily through, thermal expansion.

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So that's where you warm up the ocean and it expands.

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And that's the biggest contributor to the rising sea levels.

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That's actually changing again, so that rising sea levels, are now

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dominated by the melt of the ice caps, both Antarctica, Greenland, and, the

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glaciers mountain glaciers as well.

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So the heating of the oceans, isn't the biggest component to

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the rising sea level anymore.

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So that's a new level of knowledge that we've actually got.

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So this is part of this voyage of discovery where we're actually learning

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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.

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Um, so I wrote some early papers around, the melt of , the Amery ice shelf.

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In fact, I remember a conversation.

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I said, oh, 50% of this.

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ice shelf is melting, from the ocean, from the underside.

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It's a paper that's buried in the past, the glaciologists

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telling me that was impossible.

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Well, actually what's happened is this has become a prime research, , activity

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here in Hobart and elsewhere in the world.

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It was the capacity for those ice sheets to have a huge, huge impact

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on rising sea level, is enormous.

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I've used a lot of superlatives there, but it's true.

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There were some papers just recently, which some people are backing away from

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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.

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That's enormous.

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These estimates, are reducing, , but they're still very large.

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Just recently in the report that we did on oceans and cryosphere and a

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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

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row in our boat to the footstep of, Capitol hill and step out.

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Of course, in the case of the Thames parliament, uh, we

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could step through the windows.

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Uh, uh, you know, uh, most of Florida has disappeared, south Australia.

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I think if it goes to eight meters, we can have a ocean in the middle of Australia.

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So, so, you know, these are very significant, profound,

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possibilities for, , future, sea level in an unmitigated world.

Catherine:

that's key.

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that's the key.

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And so, so it hasn't happened of course.

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Um, it's, it's something that humans could, materially alter

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by making certain decisions.

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So it's sort of a value judgment.

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We can have this hotter, higher sea level world if we choose, or we can actually

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step back, we mitigate emissions and not have that hotter higher sea level world.

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And there are some distinct benefits,, I think that's my value judgment, if we

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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

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So some of the language we might use, we

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scientists might use is that we society needs a license to, reduce emissions.

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Society has the license to omit them.

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Yeah.

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Right.

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We now need a license to reduce them to zero.

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And, uh, that is actually something that no individual can accomplish.

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Right.

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So, so therefore means that, no individual country can

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actually accomplish it alone.

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So it does require a genuine collaboration of all the nations to actually agree,

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and then follow a pathway to reduced emissions, , to kind of avoid the

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worst outcomes of climate change.

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Some people may not realize, but we've already committed to

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quite a bit of climate change.

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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,

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it's 1.4 times that, over the, Arctic it's, uh, even more and over

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the tropics, it's actually less.

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It's a global average.

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Some areas will have larger temperature changes than others.

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We've already committed to that.

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We can already see that, the water cycle over the planet has been altered.

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We can already see that Greenland and Antarctica are losing increased mass.

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That's something that's become very obvious in the last 20 years

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on this voyage of discovery.

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These things mean that we've already committed to those changes.

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If we switched off our missions tomorrow, right which is, would

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be an extraordinary thing.

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We would still warm up by another 0.3 to 0.4 degrees.

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if we want to avoid 0.5, we'd have very little time left

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actually, if you think about it.

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Cause if we've committed to a further 0.3 degrees, we've come 0.1.

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We've only got 0.2 of headroom.

Catherine:

yes.

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so say you can see that it's now

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becoming a very urgent problem if you want to minimize the

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consequences of climate change..

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One of the things that became obvious was that the, interaction between the ocean

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and the ice sheet was quite significant.

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And so we actually did a wintertime voyage.

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We went to Antarctica in July.

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So that's our Southern hemisphere winter.

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We were there against the continent in a, , ice breaker and making measurements

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right in front of the, of a, um, it's not, not the biggest glacier.

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Uh, they'd called the Mertz glacier.

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It's actually that place has now broken off, but it was a source of

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very dense what we call Antarctic bottom water, very dense waters, some

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of the densest waters in the world.

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And because they're dense, they'll actually flow down the

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continental slope so they'll start off on the continental shelf

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they'll fly down the continental slope and then they end in the abyss and

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they actually drive a circulation that we call the overturning circulation.

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And this overturning circulation is an important component of the

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global thermohaline circulation or the global thermite.

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Global thermohaline circulation in the world.

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It's a driver of the deep ocean circulation.

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And as a consequence, we were there exactly to study that flow.

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Now I've talked about the deepest ocean that right there in front of the glacier,

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you also see and toughen the case, very fresh waters that reflect the melt of

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the bottom of the, glaciers themselves.

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And so we estimated that melt rate and we came to understand how much was being,

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lost by the ice sheet there in winter.

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What's new and more important to the story of climate change is we've realized

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that these glaciers are thinning..

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And so they're losing, they're not in equilibrium.

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If they're an equilibrium sea level would be unchanged, but

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actually they're thinning.

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And so sea level is actually going up as a consequence and the ice sheet itself

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on average is actually losing mass.

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So it's transferring mass that, in the Antarctic ice sheet itself into the

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oceans and causing sea level to go up.

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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

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Aurora Australis so that was the Australian icebreaker.

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That ship has now come to end of life.

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And it's about to be replaced.

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There'll be a new Australian ice breaker that will replace the Aurora Australis.

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It was both a science ship and also a resupply, ship.

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And the moment that we actually got that, icebreaker, the Australian Antarcitc

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research took a quantum step upwards.

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That vessel gave Australia new capabilities that it

nathanbindoff on::didn't have prior to:nathanbindoff on::

, it's interesting.

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I.

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I was sort of, um, a little bit hesitant.

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I have to say, there you go.

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I was a little bit hesitant about going to, , Antarctica working at sea.

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I've spent more than two years at sea now, uh, in my career.

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Right?

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So I've got over the hesitancy, but, the first trip I was, it was

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actually a particularly rough trip.

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I remember kind of feeling only 80,, 90%, 90% of the time.

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Uh, and, uh, that was, that was a tough voyage actually.

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And, and, you know, shaped my life.

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Sea-going life is actually a very pleasant once you get into the rhythm

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of it, it's a very simple life.

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And in the case of, research in Antarctica itself, you

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get the most fantastic views.

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You know, you're privileged in a way you, you see these ice sheets, um, they're,

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they're cliffs right there in front of the ocean and they're brilliantly white.

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And then, , the green of the green to sort of clear blue of the ocean and

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the contrast in color is, , striking.

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And then sometimes you see these ice sheets, they have icebergs and

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they're flat tabular kinds of icebergs.

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Icebergs

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always flattened tabula, typically in the Antarctic, quite unlike the icebergs

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in the, from the Greenland ice sheet.

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And, but often you see surf on the have wave cup platforms on them and

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you can see surf there and people,

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oh, that's cool.

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and some people have actually surfed them.

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So, so there are these very beautiful, there's this, sea

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life, some extraordinary sea life.

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The thing that's grabbed me the most actually, and what allows

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me to keep on going back is the science that's associated with it.

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The science in the end is the driver of this activity and, and

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the, the, joy of seeing it all is kind of a peripheral thing.

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Hate, hate to say it that way, but actually that's what,

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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

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actually frustrated, by the world.

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I feel personally that I've actually done the work, I've made, made with the

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measurements, we've reported the science I've worked with IPCC with literally,

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you know, uh, 200 to 300 scientists with the similar kind of thinking.

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We've put these assessments together with, literally seven to 10,000

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different papers, we've assessed it.

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We've written the reports.

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They're being communicated to government.

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We have actually done our job.

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And, and, and in that sense, , I'm not frustrated because I can see that actually

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to make the decision and for society to agree to act on it is a big thing too.

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And we're in that process.

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So my task is really to continue to do that job, to communicate

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what's going on, how things are changing, why it might be urgent.

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Um, what are the consequences?

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Cause that's, that's the projections part.

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You know, we can look a bit into the future.

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If we continue on this path, this is what it will mean.

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And, and if we continue to do that, then hopefully the rest of society can find

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the solutions that allows to transform to the new world where we don't have

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emissions going into the atmosphere.

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We limit the amount of damage caused by climate change.

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And, we address the other problems that we need to solve.

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And that's a deeply society related question.

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I think scientists have done a terrific job in communicating it.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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because I feel like we've,

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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

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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

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one, of precisely about hope.

nathanbindoff on::

It was about the hope that we could collaborate globally and actually

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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The atmosphere's warming up..

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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,

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um, warmer water is lighter.

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And so, uh, the surface waters are becoming more buoyant

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relative to the deeper waters.

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And now oxygen mostly gets into the deeper waters because there's a,

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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

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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.

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Because it's physically harder there's less oxygen being

nathanbindoff on::

moved into the deeper ocean.

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So when I say deeper below a hundred meters, and as a consequence of

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biological activity in that depth range, the oxygen content is the oxygen is

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consumed and it's, uh, becomes lower.

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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

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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

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following the scientific method, if you like, models that do not have

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changing cO2 do not have warming of the surface ocean, um, will still have

nathanbindoff on::

the same equilibrium oxygen inside.

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But when you warm the ocean progressively from rising greenhouse gases, you

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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

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acquire, the technologies we require.

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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.

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And so I've actually entered this career into this career at a, at a kind of an

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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.

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