Climate Change: Seafloor Graveyards Digitally Mapped - http://clapway.com/2015/08/14/climate-change-seafloor-digitally-mapped-102/

There’s a new digital map limning the composition of the seafloor, a major factor in global climate change, and it’s shown evidence of “microfossil” graveyards off the coast of Australia, in addition to other complex deep-ocean geology.

SEAFLOOR GRAVEYARD IS AVAILABLE ONLINE

The interactive map is actually available via the online journal Geology, published August 9th. This marks a first at creating an extensive, comprehensive map in the past 40 years. There hasn’t been a single attempt at such a map since the 1970s, which the University of Sydney has announced was drawn by hand. Back then, the impetus to understand how the planet reacts to global climate change wasn’t so great, either.

“The old map suggests much of the Southern Ocean around Australia is mainly covered by clay blown off the continent, whereas our map shows this area is actually a complex patchwork of microfossil remains,” said study author Adriana Dutkiewicz, a sedimentologist at the University of Sydney in a statement. “Life in the Southern Ocean is much richer than previously thought.”

SECRET TO GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AVERSION IN DEAD DIATOMS

The microfossils discovered are actually from a type of phytoplankton that takes in carbon dioxide and excretes oxygen. Known as diatoms, these phyloplankton take roughly 20% of breathable oxygen in the air, air we need to breathe. When they die, diatoms sink down to the dark musty abyssal of the oceans, dragging all the their carbon with them. This process is referred to as “carbon sink,” and it helps prevent the renown greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from spreading into and warming the planet’s fragile atmosphere.

The new map also showed scientists that masses of dead diatoms are resting in the Southern Ocean, which are not where diatoms ordinarily bloom on the ocean surface. Continuing our studies of these underwater distributions of dead diatoms will help us come to understand how oceans reacted to eras of greater climate change in the past, said Dutkiewicz. Color coding (visible on the map) represents what composes the seafloor from region to region: light green is “diatom ooze,” which is a mix of mud and diatom bits; blue is “calcareous ooze,” which is mud and calcium carbonate from microscopic shelled animals; and brown is simply clay. Red spots are volcanic ash and gravel, and yellow is sand.

DATA COLLECTION & MAP MAKING

So far the data incorporated to construct a map of the 15,000 seafloor samples has been collected exclusively from research cruises. After the ventures, big-data algorithms were used to synthesize the data into one contiguous map.

Dutkiewicz is excited that for this new map to guide future research missions.

“Australia’s new research vessel ‘Investigator’ is ideally placed to further investigate the impact of environmental change on diatom productivity,” she explained. “We urgently need to understand how the ocean responds to climate change.”

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Climate Change: Seafloor Graveyards Digitally Mapped

The Blob of Puget Sound Is Killing Marine Life - http://clapway.com/2015/07/31/the-blob-of-puget-sound-is-killing-marine-life123/

Although scientists based in Seattle predicted a miserably hot and mortally dry summer, in partial contra mass viewers’ ogling of the new Wet Hot American Summer, the reality of this year’s hottest days in places like Puget Sound, Hood Canal, et al, are exceeding said scientists’ expectations; we’ve had record-breaking heat-waves, a weasley snowpack, and an unrelenting drought. All these malheurs are now evidenced in the Puget Sound.

“I wasn’t expecting the conditions to be this extreme,” exhaled University of Washington climate scientist Nick Bond. “I thought it would be dry and warm, but I wasn’t expecting this.”

FEDERAL GOV’T CONCERNED FOR PUGET SOUND

Indeed, scientists from county, state, and even federal agencies announced their concern on Thursday about the ecological consequences of these developments in the Puget Sound, which are now expected to carry on in the foreground as El Niño awakes in the ecological background. The scientists referred to are trying to comprehend the ultimate impact of massive volumes of warming water after the already concerning closures of shellfish, an increase in the population of toxic algae and reports of greater numbers of dead fish.

LOCAL ECOLOGY TAKES SUCCESSIVE BEATING

The Northwest region seems to have taken a “one-two” beating in the form of that weasley snowpack followed by the drought, surmised Bond. A gigantic volume of unusually warm water resting just off of the West Coast, nicknamed “The Blob,” may be at fault. Surpassing nominal temperatures of this time of year by 7 degrees, from Alaska to Mexico, since way back in 2003, “[t]he blob is [certainly] rearing its ugly head,” Bond punned.

Buoys bobbing in the South Puget Sound, Hood Canal and the main basin have shown temperatures warmer in both deep and surface waters, some of which are a staggering 4 degrees above normal, says Jan Newton, UW oceanographer. The oxygen content of the Hood Canal is low and may keep declining through September, until upwelling ceases and the Blob returns to the Sound. Both temps and low O2 levels will be a challenge for local organisms.

“In very severe conditions, we’re concerned about fish kills,” said Newton. “We’re going to be continuing to monitor this.”

IT (ALWAYS) GETS WORSE

If that’s not enough, the marine life present has also taken a heavy slug to the face. A shellfish harvest was shut down early this past April, just two months before the normal time for biotoxin closure, mentioned Jerry Borchert of the Washington State Department of Health’s shellfish-safety program. Several parts of Hood Canal (a first!) were forced to shut down in light of greater toxin concentrations, believed to be caused by the rising water temperatures, said Borchert.

Salmon are among the many types of fish to have experienced a minor holocaust, and this has raised concerns regarding the long-term consequences on the food chain, warned National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries scientist Correigh Greene.

Some of us humans just may love this warm weather, but the NOAA oceanographer, named Simone Alin, related a story in which she went for a little swim in the Hood Canal this summer, and, in a first for her, Did Not Feel Numb when she left the water behind.

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The Blob of Puget Sound Is Killing Marine Life

Yet another thing to #LookOutFor in #ClimateChange matters. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/29/climate-change-u-s-coastal-cities-to-flood-frequently-says-triple-threat-study-245/

The variously employed catchphrase “triple threat” is finding new use as a means to describe the multifarious threats of global climate change for 40% of the United States’ population. These three antagonisms are heavy rainfall, storm surges and a general, pernicious rise in sea level along American coastlines. In a study recently published by the journal Nature Climate Change, these coming catastrophes are expected to cause “compound flooding” laying waste to low-lying, highly populated urban spaces encircling the nation.

NEW CORRELATION FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

It’s true that many previous studies have analyzed the correlation between the increase in flood rates and overall sea-level rise, this new study is first to investigate the causal links between primary and secondary effects of climate change in the US.

“When storm surge and heavy precipitation co-occur, the potential for flooding in low-lying coastal areas is often much greater than from either, in isolation,” the published study warns. But, as can be expected, “long-term sea level rise is the main driver for accelerated flooding.”

HISTORICAL CLIMATE CHANGE REVEALS BREAK FROM NATURE’S

The scientists responsible for this study compared recent findings to more dated data, sifting through the dredges of historical ecology to track tide levels and hurricanes. By recognizing the elements involved in simultaneous (or compound) disasters occurred, they found that a significant connection exists between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coastlines. The kicker here is that this is precisely where today’s compound flooding is increasing in frequency.

NEW YORK CITY’S CLIMATE CHANGE WILL QUICKEN, TOO

E.g., New York City’s risk of flooding from compounded ecological risks has more than doubled in the last 60 years. “If sea levels continued to rise, this would certainly have an effect on storm surges, and storm surges have an effect on compound flooding,” said Thomas Wahl, member of the University of South Florida and lead author of the study.

IT GETS WORSE (AGAIN)

Unfortunately, even if we dodge the bullet of serious sea levels’ rising, severe storms and massive floods will become more frequent, hailing the imminent arrival of major natural disasters in the most populated US cities on the coast, where almost 40% of Americans reside. What’s worse, if sea levels rise more than 20 feet, as per the study’s worst-case scenario, the aftermath will be spectacular. And in this case, that is not a good thing.

A CENTURY OF CHANGE, A SENSE OF COMING DAYS

Since the days of ecological records’ beginnings in 1880, temperatures worldwide have actually increased by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Additionally, the past century has seen the global average sea level increase by seven whole inches. This is expected to continue and accelerate over the next few decades because Antarctica’s floating ice shelves keep melting. These ice shelves are our only vanguard to glaciers and ice sheets threatening to enter our oceans.

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Climate Change: U.S. Coastal Cities to Flood Frequently, Says "Triple Threat" Study

Climate Change: Polar Bears Can"t Adapt to Lack of Food - http://clapway.com/2015/07/17/climate-change-polar-bears-cant-adapt-to-lack-of-food424/

Lately, scientists have remarked that despite polar bears’ uncanny ability to survive and thrive in freezing cold water, this unfortunately doesn’t help them in other environmental challenges. When the food supply for polar bears decreases, they appear to be incapable of slowing down their metabolism to adapt to this changing environment. Merav Ben David, a co-author of the study and part of a team of University of Wyoming researchers whose field in the Arctic was headquarters for the new report, explicated that many of his colleagues thought it impossible to complete the study, until it was finally proven that it could be done.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE BEARS

Put simply, the study was intended to reinforce or eviscerate the notion that polar bears may be capable of resisting the malheurs of food displacement or reduction throughout the summer months by some innate physiological mechanism.

One of the bears under study swam for nine consecutive days, continuously, spanning a distance of almost 400 miles. This is the greatest distance a polar bear has ever been documented swimming.

WHY WOULD A BEAR EXPEND SO MUCH ENERGY?

A polar bear’s fasting period can last for up to eight months, sometimes done in a sort of hibernation-walk. But swimming is another level of energy output altogether. Increasing human activity in the Arctic is warming its waters, forcing the polar bears to expend much more energy than usual throughout the ice-free period, and this leaves no time for hibernation. These are the thoughts of a senior wildlife specialist with the World Wildlife Fund named Sybille Klenzendorf.

DETAILS OF THE STUDY

In order to complete this maximally complex research, researchers regularly checked up on the body temperatures and movements of 26 polar bears in and around the Beaufort Sea during the summers of both 2008 and 2009. Collars installed on the bears were used in conjunction with implanted tracking devices.

FINDINGS

What they found is that when there is no sea ice flowing over the waters favored by seals, polar bears’ main prey, polar bears are deprived of their food and become dangerously malnourished. When the bears were recaptured seven weeks after study’s end, one bear had lost 22% of her body mass, in addition to her little cub.

So this isn’t just science. It’s also really sad, guys.

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Climate Change: Polar Bears Can"t Adapt to Lack of Food

Wildfires Increase in Intensity and Frequency Due to Climate Change - http://clapway.com/2015/07/17/wildfires-increase-in-intensity-frequency-due-to-global-climate-change423/

Recently the number of ways in which global climate change has presented itself, rising waters, more sea-related natural disasters, higher temperatures, have been accompanied by new kinds of effects–extinction, and even political upheaval in places like the arctic sea. However, recently, a new study has proven that wildfires have been significantly aggravated, increasing in frequency worldwide due to the increasingly hot and arid climates climate change has induced.

WILDFIRES, TREES & COMMON SENSE

Even a child knows that trees absorb carbon in the atmosphere, and as these wildfires continue to increase in frequency, so too will the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere reduce at a slower rate, or rather, increase at a faster rate.

The study mentioned above was published in the journal Nature Communications, and it explains that wildfires’ global coverage has risen to more than a quarter of the planet’s total vegetated surface between the years of 1979 and 2013. Moreover, fire weather season has grown in duration by almost 19% worldwide.

“Fire weather season length and long fire weather season affected area significantly increased across all vegetated continents except Australia. If these trends continue, increased wildfire potential may have pronounced global socio-economic, ecological and climate system impacts,” explained the researchers who authored the study.

In this study, researchers analyzed climate data according to three indices of wildfire danger. This in turn eased the process of mapping wildfire patterns back to the late 70’s. Humidity, rainfall, wind speed and temperature play interlocking roles in creating wildfires, and each one is being exacerbated by climate change.

Now it can be said that wildfires are a natural, healthy, and even necessary part of the lives of forests, clearing out weeds, dead trees and improving the space for animal grazing, but this intensity and frequency of wildfire is not helping anyone. The season for such fires to kindle has actually grown to encompass 11.4 million square miles (29.6 million square kilometers) of the planet’s vegetated surfaces. So far, the US has spent roughly $1.7 billion dollars per year for the past decade to combat the spread of wildfires.

BUT ONLY YOU CAN STOP THE SPREAD

Global climate change once fell under the purview of biologists, geologists, but broadly within the scientific world. Now we are seeing a de-differentiation, as many mutually disparate categories of human knowledge and practice, who previously each had their own reactions to climate change as a distant threat, are now becoming subject to its direct effects, whether they accepted its existence in the last century or not. In other words, wildfires are a great example of how global climate change is not just a threat to ecology, but the economy, science at large, and even the arts and free expression.

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Wildfires Increase in Intensity and Frequency Due to Climate Change

Global Climate Change: 20 Feet Underwater is Optimistic Forecast - http://clapway.com/2015/07/11/global-climate-change-20-feet-underwater-is-optimistic-forecast678/

The future is dark, and the future is wet, says a new paper from the journal Science. Although it forecasts a thirty-five year wait for really heavy climate change, the paper claims that in this time, the sea levels can be expected to rise by at least 20 feet. To make matters bleaker, this is a best-case scenario forecast, i.e. the twenty feet is an optimistic minimum assuming we manage can manage, as a global society, to hold the global temperature at 2 degrees Celsius higher. Many, however, believe we’re too far gone to even stop the temperature there.

SLIPPERY SLOPE IS not a fallacy IN the field of CLIMATE CHANGE

The thing is that when the Earth’s polar ice sheets begin to melt, the path to global climate change is a slippery slope. In Earth’s distant history, whenever temperatures were one to three degrees above preindustrial norms, the sea levels surged upwards.

“As the planet warms, the poles warm even faster, raising important questions about how ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica will respond,” said Andrea Dutton, a geochemist at the University of Florida, and the study’s lead author. She continues, “While this amount of sea-level rise will not happen overnight, it is sobering to realize how sensitive the polar ice sheets are to temperatures that we are on path to reach within decades.”

In short, climate change will cause rising water levels worldwide that are going to make the outline of continents unfamiliar; coastlines will be strangers again. In what one might imagine as a hysteria arcade, Climate Central generated an interactive map which shows precisely what these added twenty feet of sea will mean for America.

WET GEAR EMPATHY

It’s kind of strange looking at these photos and trying to imagine a future New York City in the year 2100, or even hundreds of years afterward. Whether nobly cleaning up our mess or ignobly hateful of our wasteful prelude, the constant of real estate remains universal. The U.S. will lose 48,000 square miles of land, which is presently home to 5 percent of our population.

GLOBAL WOES

This depressive interactive map doesn’t just limn the U.S.’s sad, drowning future. Globally, 375 million people are presently in danger of being flooded out of a home.

MOMENTO, THIS IS OPTIMISM

Keep in mind that the 20-feet below scenario is an optimistic estimate for climate change, assuming we are able to keep the global temp below the aforementioned upper limit. Also, according to the study, throughout similarly warm periods in Earth’s distant past, the water has risen up to 42 feet above current levels.

However, what’s clear is that without serious, drastic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that the sea could rise an additional 38 inches higher than the 8 inches we have already suffered, during the rest of the century.

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Global Climate Change: 20 Feet Underwater is Optimistic Forecast