The oceans cover more than 70% of our planet. They are the birthplace of life. Great fluid "exchangers", they redistribute, along with the atmosphere, the energy our planet receives from the Sun, making it habitable. Climate history shows that past climatic events have modified the circulation, chemistry and biology of the oceans. In turn, these changes in the "oceanic machine" have transformed the planetary landscape and altered the conditions in which living beings exist on Earth. At the heart of the exchanges of matter and energy that drive our planet, the oceans make it an immense system where everything hangs together. Now, as a result of climate change, the behavior of the oceans is changing once again: warming, changes in ocean currents, melting ice, acidification, rising sea levels... What impact will these changes have on the water and carbon cycles on the planet's surface, and on the circulation of ocean currents? How can we anticipate the impact on human populations and ecosystems?
These questions are addressed by the experts gathered around Prof. Édouard Bard, who has held the Climate and Ocean Evolution chair at the Collège de France since 2001 and is a member of the Académie des sciences, in this book published to coincide with the "Ocean, Climate, and Us" exhibition (Cité des sciences et de l'industrie, April 2011).
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Article published in La Lettre du Collège de France n° 31, June 2011
