NATURE | VOL 419 | 12 SEPTEMBER 2002 | www.nature.com/nature 207 The world ocean is one of the main constituents of the climate system and affects climate in a multitude of ways. Its sheer size is obvious: 71% of the Earth is covered by ocean, so that most of the solar radiation received at the Earth’s surface goes into the ocean and warms the surface waters. As a result of its heat capacity an...

Aerosols have a large effect on climate and weather. They modulate the surface irradiance in clear sky conditions, but also modify the radiative properties of clouds. To assess the consequences of reduced surface irradiation due to aerosols for weather forecasting and climate, data on aerosol radiative effects and their spatial and temporal variations are required over a large area. The necessa...

Oceanic surface gravity waves have a mean Lagrangian motion, the Stokes drift. The dynamics of winddriven, basin-scale oceanic currents in the presence of Stokes drift are modified by the addition of so-called vortex forces and wave-induced material advection, as well by wave-averaged effects in the surface boundary conditions for the dynamic pressure, sea level, and vertical velocity. Some the...

Homer Smith (1930) originally outlined the special osmo-regulatory mechanisms of the marine teleosts; he postulated that these animals continually drink sea water, absorb monovalent ions in the gut and simultaneously excrete excess ions, mainly through the gills, in order to maintain a constant blood concentration lower than that of the external sea water. There have been no reported in vitro t...

1 The rapid Arctic summer sea ice reduction in the last decade has lead to debates in the 2 maritime industries whether one could expect an increase in cargo transportation in the region. 3 After a dramatic drop in Arctic maritime transport in the 1990s and 2000s, the number of 4 vessels sailing along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) increased from 4 in 2010 to 71 in 2013, 5 before declining to 53 ...

Teleost fish experience passive osmotic water influx in fresh water (FW) and water outflux in salt water, which is normally compensated by water flow driven by active ion transport mechanisms. Euryhaline fish may also minimize osmotic energy demand by "behavioral osmoregulation", seeking a medium isotonic with their body fluids. Our goal was to evaluate the energy requirement for osmoregulation...

The opinions of seven respondent groups about the relative importance of different practices pertaining to the welfare of Australian beef cattle, sheep and goats were surveyed. Respondent groups comprised farmers, livestock transportation representatives, veterinarians, meat processors, animal welfare advocates, animal welfare scientists and government officers. The survey consisted of a web-ba...

Global climate is influenced by the Arctic hydrologic cycle, which is, in part, regulated by sea ice through its control on evaporation and precipitation. However, the quantitative link between precipitation and sea ice extent is poorly constrained. Here we present observational evidence for the response of precipitation to sea ice reduction and assess the sensitivity of the response. Changes i...

The effects of a new, potent, and selective inhibitor of the Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchange, SEA-0400 (SEA), on steady-state outward (forward exchange), inward (reverse exchange), and Ca(2+)/Ca(2+) transport exchange modes were studied in internally dialyzed squid giant axons from both the extra- and intracellular sides. Inhibition by SEA takes place preferentially from the intracellular side of the mem...