Is the ocean broken?

‘Last chance’ to save coral reefs: scientists warn of climate tipping point

• This decade is likely our last chance to save coral reefs, according to thousands of scientists
  
• The International Coral Reef Society is urging governments to do more to protect and restore coral reefs
• If temperature increases are held to 1.5 degrees Celsius, between 10 and 30 per cent of reefs could survive
• But if global temperatures rise by 2 degrees Celsius, only about 1 per cent will
  
• In a paper the authors advocate a three-pronged strategy to save the reefs: addressing climate change, improving local conditions and actively restoring coral

 

Does the author think coral reefs should be rebuilt where they are or perhaps, with the warming climate, they might find their viable range has moved farther from the equator instead of simply dieing out.

It doesn't make sense to try and maintain something like a coral reefs in waters that are unhealthy for the reef when more hospitable waters can be found at new latitudes.

I couldn't get the link to work and the ICRS site didn't take me anywhere, but to a few unrelated articles.

-Will

 

This link works for me.

 

Annual Summary Report of [Great Barrier Reef] Coral Reef Condition 2020/2021

 

MIT Predicted in 1972 That Society Will Collapse This Century. New Research Shows We’re on Schedule.

• The book "The Limits to Growth" (1972) argued that industrial civilization was bound to collapse if corporations and governments continued to pursue continuous economic growth, no matter the costs
  
• The Business as Usual (BAU) scenario — predicted that the world's economic growth would peak around the 2040s, then take a sharp downturn, along with the global population, food availability and natural resources
  
• A new analysis examines data across 10 key variables, namely population, fertility rates, mortality rates, industrial output, food production, services, non-renewable resources, persistent pollution, human welfare, and ecological footprint
• It found that the latest data most closely aligns with two particular scenarios, ‘BAU2’ (business-as-usual) and ‘CT’ (comprehensive technology).
  
• “BAU2 and CT scenarios show a halt in growth within a decade or so from now,” the study concludes. “Both scenarios thus indicate that continuing business as usual, that is, pursuing continuous growth, is not possible. Even when paired with unprecedented technological development and adoption, business as usual as modeled by LtG would inevitably lead to declines in industrial capital, agricultural output, and welfare levels within this century.”

The study was published in the Yale Journal of Industrial Ecology and is available on the KPMG website.

 

Red Sea corals' heat tolerance offers hope for climate crisis

• Half the world’s coral reefs are thought to have died in the past three decades, and up to 90% of existing coral reefs may die by the middle of the century
• But corals taken from the Gulf of Aqaba appeared untroubled by higher temperatures
• Those coral, in an experiment at the University of Eilat, survived even as temperatures were raised to five, then six, then seven degrees
• A growing body of research is concluding that a large range of corals along the 4,000km Red Sea reef are uniquely resistant to the climate crisis

 

U.N. climate panel confronts implausibly hot forecasts of future warming

• Many of the world’s leading models are now projecting warming rates that most scientists, including the modelmakers themselves, believe are implausibly fast.
• Last year, a landmark paper that largely eschewed models and instead used documented factors including ongoing warming trends calculated a likely climate sensitivity of between 2.6°C and 3.9°C.
• So the IPCC team will probably use reality—the actual warming of the world over the past few decades—to constrain the CMIP projections.
• “Observations now provide a clear view for what climate change will be.”

It appears that the latest constrained models will lower estimated temperatures by ~1/4 degree for the low-emission scenario, and ~3/4 degrees for the high-emission scenario. This is still plenty serious, and sufficient grounds for continued efforts to ween ourselves off fossil fuels.

 

Deadly coral disease sweeping Caribbean linked to water from ships

• A deadly infection, known as stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD), was first identified in Florida in 2014
  
• It is a virulent and fast-moving coral disease that has swept through the Caribbean
  
• More than 30 species of coral are susceptible
• In Florida, regional declines in coral density approached 30% and live tissue loss was upward of 60%
  
• Research suggests a link to waste or ballast water from ships

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science

 

A Startup Plans to Mine the Ocean Floor. It Could Be a Disaster. (Opinion Article)

• The Pacific basin is thought to contain more than 30 billion tons of so-called polymetallic nodules, rocks that are rich with cobalt, copper, manganese, nickel, rare-earth elements and titanium
• In 1994 the International Seabed Authority was established to regulate mining efforts and protect the seabed environment
• A report commissioned by the U.K. government warned that seabed mining could lead to the “extinction of unique species which form the first rung of the food chain.”
  
• The ISA has not yet completed, much less approved, any regulations
  
• Metals Co. is preparing to go public, touting seabed mining as a green alternative to land-based mineral extraction

 

Majority of New Renewables Undercut Cheapest Fossil Fuel on Cost

• 162 gigawatts (GW) or 62 per cent of total renewable power generation added last year had lower costs than the cheapest new fossil fuel option
• In 2020, oncentrating solar power (CSP) fell by 16 per cent, onshore wind by 13 per cent, offshore wind by 9 per cent and solar PV by 7 per cent
  
• During the last ten years, the cost of electricity from utility-scale solar PV fell by 85 per cent, that of CSP by 68 per cent, onshore wind by 56 per cent and 48 per cent for offshore wind

The single biggest problem that I can see with renewables is electrical storage during non-generating periods.

 

The answer is simple. Nuclear power. Doesn't have bad weather days and output not diminished by night fall and zero carbon footprint. Those against nuclear power are probably some of the worst drivers on the road. or they would be complaining about the danger of bad mannered drivers instead of the remote and tiny risk of nuclear power.

 

Not "simple," but I agree that nuclear power should be pursued with vigor. Of course, nuclear power has its drawbacks too. Nuclear power plants are extremely expensive and take a decade or more to design, permit and construct. And we don't yet have a generally accepted method for safely storing radioactive waste from the many older nuclear plants. Newer style designs produce far less radioactive waste.

Why did you have to ruin a reasonable and thoughtful post with this sort of nonsense?

 

Nearly 14,000 Scientists Warn That Earth's 'Vital Signs' Are Rapidly Worsening

• In 2019, 11,258 scientists published a report in the journal BioScience, warning the world of a climate emergency
• The new report, also published in BioScience, has added 2,800 scientists' names to the growing collective
• "We are nearing or have already crossed tipping points associated with critical parts of the Earth system, including the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, warm-water coral reefs, and the Amazon rainforest"
• "Especially troubling is the increase in climate-related disasters, including the 2019-20 Australian megafires, and the fact that three main greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide – set records for atmospheric concentrations in 2020 and again in 2021"
• The researchers suggest a "three-pronged near-term policy approach": a significantly higher global price on carbon, a worldwide phase-out and eventual ban of fossil fuels, and development of climate reserves to protect and restore biodiversity and carbon sinks (such as the Amazon rainforest)

 

"the technologies and systems needed for SPS (Solar Powered Space) must support highly leveraged applicability to needs in space science, robotic and human exploration, and the development of space. Considerable progress has been made in the critical area of microwave power transmission. At 5.8 GHz, DC-RF converters with efficiencies over 80% are achievable today. Rectennas developed at 5.8 GHz have also been measured with efficiencies greater than 80%. With optimized components in both the transmitter and rectenna, an SPS system has the potential of a DC-to-DC efficiency of 45%."
Google Scholar https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=commercial+scale+wireless+power+transmission&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3D15M37AnDLoAJ

Solar power may not be the right source for transmitted energy from space, we are apparently getting too much of that already, but nuclear power from space, why not build the plants where no one can complain about the potential disaster or radiation poisoning of the environment? Either a satellite plant orbiting the Earth, or better still, on the moon.

With the development of efficient radio beam power transmitting technology, a plant can be constructed almost anywhere.

-Will

 

I can think of multiple stumbling blocks for orbital power plants.

Cost: (I assume a power plant would have to be in High-earth synchronous orbit, which is @22,000 miles high)

Low-earth orbit costs ~$10,000 per kilogram
High-earth synchronous orbit cost ~$30,000 per kilogram​

Transmission efficiency:

You said "Rectennas developed at 5.8 GHz have also been measured with efficiencies greater than 80%"
Typical high power transmission lines have 2% losses. Proposed superconducting transmission lines have even lower loss.​

What goes up must come down...