Colloquium: Dr. Grace Kim, NASA

Algae, sediment, and other materials reduce water clarity in the aquatic environment. Climate models project increased precipitation in the northern hemisphere in the future, which will transport more materials from land to the ocean. This will likely decrease water clarity, but the impact of these changes on the Earth System is not well-known. In this talk, I will present results from numerical simulations of the (1) Chesapeake Bay and (2) the global ocean that investigate the effects of a shift from clear to opaque water conditions. We find that more opaque waters are associated with colder ocean temperatures and changes in heat fluxes at the ocean-air and ocean-ice interfaces. Based on these findings, I will discuss opportunities for improvements in climate models, particularly relating to calculations of solar radiation in the atmosphere and ocean.