Ocean News

Deep Coral Reefs Are No Haven From Climate Change | Discover

Previous theories thought that deep reefs might be protected from damage by warming waters.

A team of deep-diving scientists has proven that assumption to be wrong for two reasons.

First, deep reefs are a distinct ecosystem, meaning shallow-living species can't migrate to deep waters.

And second, deep reefs are as endangered by climate change and overfishing as shallow reefs.

The study was published in Science.

 

Scientists Have Announced an Incredible Plan to Make It Rain in The Sahara Desert | Science Alert

The Sahara is desirable to supply solar and wind energy because it's sparsely populated, the landscape isn't widely used for other things humans need like agriculture, plus the Sahara is located close to Europe and the Middle East – which have huge energy demands.

New research suggests that large-scale installation of solar and wind farms in the Sahara can bring more rainfall and promote vegetation growth.

The rainfall increase is a consequence of complex land-atmosphere interactions that occur because solar panels and wind turbines create rougher and darker land surfaces.

Models show that large-scale solar and wind farms in the Sahara would more than double the precipitation in the Sahara, and the most substantial increase occurs in the Sahel, where the magnitude of rainfall increase is between ~200 and ~500 mm per year, resulting in a vegetation cover fraction increases by about 20 percent.

To accomplish this would require a solar farm roughly the size of China or the United States, with wind turbines covering about 20 percent of the Sahara.

Such a facility would produce about 82 terawatts of electrical power annually. In 2017, the global energy demand was only 18 terawatts, which suggests we may be able to eliminate our use of fossil fuel.

The study was published in Science.

 

There's 4 active hurricanes at the moment, 3 in the Atlantic headed for the US. I think we gave all our FEMA emergency reserve supply of paper towels to Puerto Rico last year and we've probably eliminated most social/emergency programs in order to help the wealthy with their crushing tax burdens, so a person can't really count on much government help this year. Good luck! I almost forgot, thoughts and prayers!

 

U.N. Chief Warns of a Dangerous Tipping Point on Climate Change | New York Times

On Monday António Guterres, United Nations secretary general, called on global leaders to rein in climate change faster.

“If we do not change course by 2020, we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change. Climate change is the defining issue of our time, and we are at a defining moment,” he said. “Scientists have been telling us for decades. Over and over again. Far too many leaders have refused to listen.”

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Trump Administration Wants to Make It Easier to Release Methane Into Air | New York Times

The Trump administration is taking its third major step this year to roll back federal efforts to fight climate change.

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to make public a proposal to weaken requirements that companies monitor and repair methane leaks.

The Interior Department is also expected in coming days to release its final version of a rule that essentially repeals a restriction on the intentional venting and “flaring,” or burning, of methane from drilling operations.

In July, the E.P.A. proposed weakening a rule on carbon dioxide pollution from vehicle tailpipes.

In August the E.P.A. proposed allowing far more CO2 from coal-fired power plants.

 

BBC admits ‘we get climate change coverage wrong too often’ | The Guardian

BBC editorial policy has been changed to include:

“Manmade climate change exists: If the science proves it we should report it.”

“To achieve impartiality, you do not need to include outright deniers of climate change in BBC coverage, in the same way you would not have someone denying that Manchester United won 2-0 last Saturday. The referee has spoken.”

“There are occasions where contrarians and sceptics should be included. These may include, for instance, debating the speed and intensity of what will happen in the future, or what policies government should adopt.”

 

'A single piece of plastic' can kill sea turtles, says study | BBC

Researchers found there was a one in five chance of death for a turtle who consumed just one piece of plastic

And 50% chance of mortality if they ate 14 pieces.

Younger turtles are at a higher risk of dying than adults.

Because of their digestive tract, they don't regurgitate anything. If plastic ends up in the wrong place, a blockage can result in death.

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

 

Category 6? Climate change may cause more hurricanes to rapidly intensify | Washington Post

In little more than a day, Hurricane Florence exploded in strength, jumping from a Category 1 to a Category 4.

Last year's Hurricane Maria went from a tropical depression into a Category 5 storm in just over two days.

New research says that as the climate continues to warm, storms will intensifying faster and more often, and in some extreme cases, grow so powerful that they might arguably be labeled “Category 6.

Under a middle-of-the-road climate change scenario the study suggests that:

• Between 2016 and 2035 there will be more hurricanes in general and 11 percent more hurricanes of the Category 3, 4 and 5 classes.
  
• That storms of super-extreme intensity, with maximum sustained winds above 190 mph, would increase from nine of these storms in a simulation of the late 20th century climate, to 32 for the period from 2016 to 2035 and 72 for the period from 2081 to 2100.

 

As Climate Warms, Algae Blooms In Drinking Water Supplies | National Public Radio

This spring, for the first time in Oregon's history, toxins from a nearby algae bloom had made their way into Salem's tap water. Oregon is now requiring public water suppliers to test for toxins from algae.

Ohio has similar rules, enacted after a drinking water scare in the city of Toledo in 2014.

Rhode Island is considering new drinking water regulations for algae.

New York state just announced a multi-million dollar effort to curb algae blooms.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will require water systems around the country to test for algae toxins in coming years. That could lead to permanent federal regulations.

 

Male Right-Wing Nationalists Are Now All Climate Change Deniers | Clean Technica

From a study in the US.

We find that conservative white males are significantly more likely than are other Americans to endorse denialist views on all five items, and that these differences are even greater for those conservative white males who self-report understanding global warming very well. – Cool dudes: The denial of climate change among conservative white males in the United States, Aaron M. McCright, Riley E.Dunlap, Global Environmental ChangeVolume 21, Issue 4, October 2011, Pages 1163-1172​

From a study in Norway.

Our findings resemble those in the US study. A total of 63 per cent of conservative males in Norway do not believe in anthropogenic climate change, as opposed to 36 per cent among the rest of the population who deny climate change and global warming. Expanding on the US study, we investigate whether conservative males more often hold what we term xenosceptic views, and if that adds to the ‘cool dude-effect’. Multivariate logistic regression models reveal strong effects from a variable measuring ‘xenosceptic cool dudes’. Interpreting xenoscepticism as a rough proxy for right leaning views, climate change denial in Norway seems to merge with broader patterns of right-wing nationalism. – Cool dudes in Norway: climate change denial among conservative Norwegian men, Olve Krange, Bjørn P. Kaltenborn & Martin Hultman, Environmental Sociology, 05 Jul 2018​

From a study in Germany.

The investigated actors put forward a rather skeptical climate change narrative, even though differences exist as the significance attached to the Volkand its sovereignty, rooted in far-right ideology, sometimes overrides, and sometimes is in harmony with, their ideological-driven affinity with nature protection. We thus contribute to the growing body of knowledge on climate-change communication and, more specifically, on the link between ideology and climate-change skepticism. – Being Skeptical? Exploring Far-Right Climate-Change Communication in Germany, Bernhard Forchtner ORCID Icon, Andreas Kroneder & David Wetzel, Pages 589-604, 08 Jun 2018, Environmental Communication, Volume 12, 2018 – Issue 5.
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Men vs Women

One of the most consistent findings in the research on radical right voting has been the gender-specific profile of the radical right electorate. While cross-national (p. 201) differences do exist in the size of the gender gap (Immerzeel, Coffé, and vander Lippe, 2015), women tend to be significantly underrepresented among radical right voters compared with men (Coffé Forthcoming; Givens 2004; Gidengil et al. 2005; Fontana, Sidler, and Hardmeier 2006; Harteveld et al. 2015; Rippeyoung 2007; Spierings and Zaslove 2015). – Gender and the Radical Right, Hilde Coffé, The Oxford Handbook of the Radical Right, Edited by Jens Rydgren, Apr 2018.​

 

How climate change is making ‘red tide’ algal blooms even worse | Washington Post

This summer a red tide, caused by the toxic algae Karenia brevis, is killing fish, manatees, sea turtles, dolphins, and whale sharks on Florida’s southwest coast.

Respiratory irritation in humans has been reported as far north as Manatee County, just south of Tampa Bay.

Algal blooms are common in Florida, but they don’t always get this bad. This one began in 2017.

The main cause is nitrogen-rich fertilizer runoff. However, increases in air and ocean temperatures make the environment more hospitable to toxic algal blooms.

In a letter published by the journal Environmental Science & Technology, researchers say that “climate change will severely affect our ability to control blooms, and in some cases could make it near impossible.”

 

The EPA says burning wood to generate power is ‘carbon-neutral.’ Is that true? | The Conversation

Bioenergy supporters say it’s possible for replacement trees to eventually remove all the carbon emitted through biomass from the atmosphere.

But this would require growing forests that are bigger than the ones already harvested and burned for fuel. In addition to the emissions from combustion, carbon is released from forest soils when trees are felled. And it takes large amounts of energy to prepare wood pellets and transport them to where they are burned.

Studies have determined that it takes about a century to remove the previously emitted carbon dioxide even if typical forest trees are replaced.

Even using forest residues from harvesting, and thinnings from forest management aren’t carbon-neutral. Only expanding forests and lengthening times between harvests reduce emissions.

 

Arctic’s strongest sea ice breaks up for first time on record | The Guardian

In August the oldest and thickest sea ice in the Arctic started to break up north of Greenland, in an area that normally is frozen year round.

This event has never been recorded before, yet occurred twice this year due to warm winds and a climate-change driven heatwave in the northern hemisphere.

Typically, the sea ice to the north of Greenland is compacted due to the Transpolar Drift Stream.

On average, the ice is over 12 feet thick and can be piled up into ridges over 60 feet thick.

 

Benefits of curbing climate change far outweigh costs | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Those who oppose policies to cut carbon pollution and slow climate change always claim that doing so will be too expensive and cripple the economy. They argue that instead we should maximize economic growth so that we can pay for climate damages and adaptation in the future.

Multiple studies have challenged that assumption.

Most recently, a study published in Science has concluded that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius would likely save the global economy more than $20 trillion by the year 2100 as compared to 2 degrees Celsius warming—at a cost of about $300 billion. That means the benefits of curbing climate change would exceed the costs by about 70-to-1.

Furthermore, global warming of 3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures in 2100 would reduce global GDP by about 10 percent as compared to 2 degrees Celsius global warming. A temperature of 4-to-5 degrees Celsius would make us 10 percent poorer yet, as compared to 3 degrees Celsius. Those would be massive economic losses that could exceed $100 trillion.

 

How farmers convinced scientists to take climate change seriously | Washington Post

In the 1950s the US Government started the atmospheric testing of nuclear bombs.

A series of unseasonable cold snaps, tornados and hailstorms that damaged crops convinced farmers to petition the government to stop the tests because the atmospheric detonations were creating hazardous "atom weather".

The Weather Bureau made a number of studies, and in 1955 they published a series of reports that all reached the same agnostic conclusion — it was “unlikely” the bomb could affect the weather, much less climate.

Eventually the public forgot about "atom weather", but the scientists who had previously denied its possibility became obsessed with it. By the end of the decade these scientists were writing articles about “inadvertent weather and climate modification” by industrial pollutants like greenhouse gases, CFCs and aerosols.

By the mid 1970s, a scientific consensus was forming that the Earth was on the “brink of a pronounced global warming” due to its use of fossil fuels.

 

Global Climate Report - June 2018 | NOAA
The globally-averaged temperature across land and ocean surfaces was the fifth highest on record for June at 0.75°C (1.35°F) above the 20th century average of 15.5°C (59.9°F). The ten warmest Junes on record have occurred since 2005, with 2016 the warmest June at +0.91°C (+1.64°F). June 2018 also marks the 42nd consecutive June and the 402nd consecutive month with temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th century average.

Global Climate Report - July 2018 | NOAA
The globally-averaged temperature across land surfaces was the fifth highest on record, while the global ocean temperature tied with 2013 as the sixth highest in the 139-year record. According to NCEI's Regional Analysis, five of six continents had a July temperature that ranked among the nine highest since continental records began in 1910, with Europe and Africa having their second warmest July on record. Meanwhile, South America had its coolest July temperature since 2012.

Global Climate Report - August 2018 | NOAA
The globally-averaged land surface temperature during August 2018 was 0.94°C (1.69°F) above the 20th century average of 13.8°C (56.9°F)—the sixth highest August global land temperature in the 139-year record. Nine of the ten warmest August global land temperatures have occurred since 2001, with August 1998 the only 20th century August among the ten warmest Augusts on record.


The globally-averaged land surface temperature during August 2018 was 0.94°C (1.69°F) above the 20th century average of 13.8°C (56.9°F)—the sixth highest August global land temperature in the 139-year record. Nine of the ten warmest August global land temperatures have occurred since 2001, with August 1998 the only 20th century August among the ten warmest Augusts on record.

August 2018: Earth's Fifth Warmest August on Record by Dr. Jeff Masters | Category 6 https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/August-2018-Earths-Fifth-Warmest-August-Record