Is the ocean broken?

With global warming, marine heatwaves like 'The Blob' could be commonplace

In 2015, a marine heatwave dubbed "The Blob" expanded across the Northern Pacific. At its peak, the mass of warm water was five degrees F above normal, extended more than 2,000 miles in length, measured 1,000 miles wide and extended several hundred feet beneath the ocean surface, and lasted more than 350 days.

"The Blob would not have occurred in a world without climate change," lead study author Charlotte Laufkötter, a marine scientist at the University of Bern. "Twenty years ago, the longest heatwaves lasted approximately 50 days."

At our current 1.5 degrees C of global warming, "Blobs" are a one in 10 year event. At 3 degrees warming, simulations showed Blob-like heatwaves will become an annual occurrence.

The study was published in Science.

 

New model -- Antarctic ice loss expected to affect future climate change

"We found that future melt water coming off Antarctica leads to huge amounts of thick sea ice around the continent. With higher greenhouse gas emissions, the ice sheet melts faster, which in turn leads to more freshwater flowing into the ocean and more sea ice production."

All this additional meltwater and sea ice production dramatically slows the pace of future warming around Antarctica, the researchers report -- seemingly welcome news. And remarkably, the climate impacts are not just restricted to the Antarctic; the cooling effects are felt worldwide.

"All that said, it's important to note that this is not a global 'cooling' scenario -- average global temperatures would still be roughly 3 degrees Celsius warmer than today due to human greenhouse gas emissions, even with the cooling effects of this melt water on climate."

 

Day 5, 80 feet from the nearest boat

 

Sweet nectar.

 

When Coral’s Colorful Show Is a Sign That It’s Sick

When the algae-coral partnership is thriving, many coral display a healthy brown hue. After environmental stress, such as a spike in seawater temperature, the algae may die, or the coral may expel it. Some coral species lose their color and become white, or "bleached." Others, however, become pink, red, blue, purple or yellow.

For those coral species, the extra light triggers genes in the coral to manufacture the color pigments. The more sunlight they take in, the more pigment they produce. The pigments block certain wavelengths of light, making it possible for the algae to safely recolonize the coral.

The study was published in the journal Current Biology.


When under stress, some species of coral envelop themselves in bright,
sometimes fluorescent colors to create conditions for light-sensitive algae to return.
Credit...Ryan Goehrung/University of Washington

 

Amazing!

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

Amazing! Day 6.

 

Did you read it ?

 

The U.S. military is terrified of climate change. It's done more damage than Iranian missiles.

In a few hours of extraordinary violence on Oct. 10, 2018, Tyndall Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle was utterly devastated, with 95 percent of its buildings severely damaged or destroyed.

The Pentagon has concluded since 2010 that it also must reckon with the certainty of climate change.

The Defense Department has discretely continued studying expected effects of climate change based on projections by climate experts.

A 2019 report by the Pentagon concluded that 79 military bases will be affected by rising sea levels and frequent flooding.

An Army War College study concluded that coastal saltwater intrusion would “compromise or eliminate fresh water supplies in many parts of the world.

The Defense Department fears that climate-change-related catastrophes could inflict such widespread damage on U.S. infrastructure.

Flooding could also damage and destroy U.S. ports through which America receives around 80 percent of its agricultural imports and exports.

The Department of Defense has implemented a strategic sustainability plan that requires every U.S. military base to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels by a certain amount every year.

 

Day 7.
Growth rate is amazing.

 

Hurricane Andrew trashed Homestead AFB. That's why we don't keep all our eggs in one basket. It was bad weather that day.

 

Bad climate causes bad weather.