SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
marine life
Ocean Heat, Sea Surface Temperatures Shattered Records in 2023
"The ocean is the key to telling us what's happening to the world, and the data is painting a compelling picture of warming year after year after year," one study author said.
Jan 11, 2024
2023, the hottest year on record overall, was also the hottest year on record for the world's oceans.
A study published Thursday in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences found that the upper 2,000 meters of the ocean warmed by 15 zettajoules in 2023 compared to 2022, according to one dataset. To put that in perspective, the world's economy only requires half a zettajoule to run every year, the Chinese Academy of Sciences explained in a statement. Fifteen zettajoules would be enough to boil 2.3 billion Olympic-sized swimming pools or roast 260 trillion turkeys.
"The ocean is the key to telling us what's happening to the world, and the data is painting a compelling picture of warming year after year after year," study co-author John Abraham, a professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, toldThe Guardian.
Ocean heat content has been on the rise since the late 1950s, and, for the past decade, each year has been the warmest on record, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The ocean is an important indicator of human-caused climate change because around 90% of the excess heat produced by the burning of fossil fuels is absorbed by its top 2,000 meters, according to United Press International.
"As long as the level of greenhouse gases remains relatively high in the atmosphere, the oceans will keep absorbing energy, leading to the increase of the heat in the oceans," study lead author Cheng Lijing, an oceanographer at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, toldNature.
"We're already facing the consequences and they will get far worse if we don't take action."
The study was the latest in a yearly effort led by the IAP; this year's installment had contributions from 34 scientists in 19 research bodies in China, France, Italy, New Zealand, and the U.S., according to Nature and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The researchers looked at two datasets for ocean heat content: the IAP's dataset and one compiled by the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The 15 zettajoules figure came from the IAP dataset, while the NOAA dataset gave a lower increase of nine zettajoules. Lijing explained on social media that both organizations used the same raw data, but had different methods of quality control and spatial interpolation. Sometimes, accurate high temperature measurements can be mistakenly discarded as inaccurate, the Chinese Academy of Sciences pointed out.
"This means that the warming might be greater than the numbers reported here," Lijing said in a statement.
NCEI oceanographer and study co-author Tim Boyer told Nature that "the important point in the paper and for scientific understanding is that the ocean is warming consistently, year over year to new record levels of ocean heat content."
In addition, the paper documented a record rise in sea surface temperature. It was higher than 2022's by 0.23°C for the entire year and by what the authors called an "astounding" 0.3°C for the second half of the year.
Another measurement that reached record levels in 2023 was ocean stratification, which occurs when the warmer water floats near the surface and does not mix as much with the cooler water below, The Guardian explained. This can harm ocean life by reducing the amount of oxygen available to it. It also decreases the ocean's ability to absorb both heat and carbon dioxide.
Another point raised by the study authors is that what happens to and in the ocean does not stay in the ocean.
"Ocean warming has far-reaching consequences on physical, human, and biological systems in the Earth system, which is expected to be much more severe in the future because of the irreversibility of ocean warming in the following centuries," Lijing wrote on social media.
Warmer oceans increase sea-level rise, fuel extreme weather events such as storms or droughts, and impact marine life by forcing some animals to move in search of cooler waters or changing the time when migrations or reproduction occur, Nature explained.
"We're already facing the consequences and they will get far worse if we don't take action," Abraham told The Guardian. "But we can solve this problem today with wind, solar, hydro, and energy conservation."
"Once people realize that, it's very empowering," Abraham continued. "We can usher in the new energy economy of the future, saving money and the environment at the same time."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Staring an Ecological and Humanitarian Disaster in the Face
The history of the FSO Safer is nearly impossible to believe.
Jan 23, 2023
The Red Sea is a rich marine haven, diverse and home to hundreds of species of fish and coral colonies. At its southern mouth, it also harbors an almost half-century old static oil tanker.
If one were to recount the history of FSO Safer, this fuel storage and off-loading (FSO) vessel, most would find it impossible to believe. Thirty years ago, it was grounded about five miles off the west coast of Yemen; it is still there! To make matters worse, it is also loaded with almost all of its original cargo. This amounts to 1.1 million barrels of oil or four times what was on the Exxon Valdez, which caused the worst environmental disaster in US history.
Maintenance of the ship stopped in 2015 when the Yemen civil war began, presumably because the operation was based in Yemen. Built 45 years ago, the rusting vessel is now in danger of breaking up.
In April 2022, the UN unveiled a plan which had been largely funded by the summer to follow. It had also secured the backing of the official Yemeni government and the de facto controlling authorities.
The plan calls for installing a replacement for the FSO Safer within an 18-month period and then an emergency operation over four months to transfer the oil to a safe temporary vessel and void the immediate threat. But the plan has gone nowhere.
As reported by Inter Press Service (IPS), Paul Horsman of Greenpeace International is convinced of the seriousness of the problem and states, "We are staring a major disaster in the face." He holds the UNDP (United Nations Development Program) fully responsible, accusing it of jeopardizing an agreement that took years to negotiate.
A breakup of the vessel would be a monumental disaster for it would destroy the livelihood of Yemeni fishermen and put at peril the ecology of the Red Sea.
The Red Sea's varied ecological environment is home to several hundred species of fish and a striking 600-year-old coral colony. The sea serves as habitat for many endangered species including the hawksbill sea turtle and the halavi guitarfish. Several species of sharks and dolphins live in these waters, and the sea has the third largest population of dugong in the world. A large marine mammal, the dugong is cousin to the manatee and listed by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) as a species vulnerable to extinction. If endangered, scientists believe recovery would be hampered by its slow reproduction rate.
"If the Safer leaks, or worse explodes, it is the UNDP that will carry the blame," says Horsman adding, "The technology and expertise are available ... they [UNDP] should just get out of the way..."
But the UNDP has its own internal bureaucracy. According to Russell Geekie who is a UN Senior Communications Advisor on site, the UNDP is required to work with other UN agencies and partners. Complicating the issue is the political crisis in Yemen.
Also another major challenge now is the limited availability of suitable storage vessels to off-load the oil, mostly due to the war in Ukraine which has substantially increased their price.
In September 2022, $77 million was pledged at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting, although another $38 million for a double-hulled storage vessel to hold the oil is still lacking. As an update, donors have now deposited $73.4 million and pledged another $10 million.
So the blame game continues and the numbers in millions of dollars plod through the UNDP bureaucracy. Small potatoes, when one realizes the cost of an oil-spill clean-up there, should it happen, is estimated at $20 billion. This excludes the humanitarian catastrophe it would cause in an already war-torn Yemen as well as the parts of Somalia that depend on the fisheries in the area.
Human folly, tragedy and irony go hand-in-hand as all of the above is transpiring during Achim Steiner's tenure as head of UNDP. A Brazilian of German descent, he has also served as Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
President Biden professes to be an environmentalist, although he has supported oil on occasion for energy security. Surely he could do something to avert a terrible disaster. But then the Red Sea is far away and the Yemenis and Somalis don't vote in the US elections.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Seals, Satellites, and Dung Beetles — What Links Them?
The answer is in the stars.
Jan 01, 2023
Imagine hunting for a fish dinner in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of the night without flashlight, compass, or iPhone . . . and then to find a way back to land. This is what seals must accomplish on a regular basis to survive. These pinnipeds, so often seen posing with a ball balanced perfectly on a whiskered nose or bowing gracefully for a circus display, have skills that cannot be seen on the stage. In fact, they give our close relatives the chimpanzees something to envy.
One sign of intelligence is an ability to recognize and respond to human gestures. Chimpanzees have difficulty doing this. Dogs are one of a few species capable of doing so. It turns out seals, too, can recognize human gestures and, surprisingly, perform even better than dogs at these tasks, as has been demonstrated through research. The grey seal outshone almost all the other animal contestants.
A dog resting comfortably by the fireplace after a nice meal is a familiar sight for many of us, and it does not take a stretch of the imagination to picture a seal doing the same on a bit of rock or sand after a dinner of fish. The intelligence of the two creatures is comparable, and to some degree, the look of their furry heads, pointy noses, and soulful eyes. Perhaps it’s time to extend a little of the love we feel for our pets to their oceanic counterparts far out in the sea. There is a good reason.
Seals face many threats in the wild — loss of habitat, loss of food, pollution, numerous climate change impacts. But there may be a new one. Seals hunt for food at night and must find their way back to shore. Studies have demonstrated that harbor seals can navigate using a lodestar and learned star courses. What would happen if this vital star map was disrupted?
Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites are brightly visible in the night sky, and could interfere with star navigation. SpaceX, the largest producer of LEO satellites to date, has launched over 3,000 Starlink satellites with plans to launch as many as 42,000. And while SpaceX is the the largest producer of LEO satellites, it is not the only one.
Astronomers have raised concerns that low Earth orbit satellites are visible and inhibit scientific research. The International Association of Astronomers has set up a Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference as a response. The astronomer Meredith Rawls has described the plans of launching thousands more satellites in the coming years as “an unsustainable trajectory”.
In addition to creating streaks in photos and hampering astronomical observations, satellites will also handicap creatures like seals, migratory birds, and even the humble dung beetle, all who use stars for navigation.
Among birds, Indigo buntings prefer to travel at night during migration. Scientists studying the buntings found that the birds rely on star patterns to determine north. European robins and yellow underwing moths also use the stars in travel.
If the Milky Way map is disrupted by a projected 65,000 satellites as is expected in a few years, they will light up the sky. They will not only affect astronomy research, but may also affect the survival of many creatures large and small. There are likely many more species that rely on stars beyond the ones discussed in this article - scientists have only scratched the surface of star navigation research.
Global Internet is a necessary purpose, but if it costs species their lives, then perhaps we could have global internet that is just a tad slower — with satellites not quite so low in orbit.
There is another aspect of LEO satellites that is a cause for concern. It is one that threatens not only the survival of other species but also our own. Starlink satellites burn up in the atmosphere leaving a residue (aluminum oxide) that reflects sunlight and could deplete the ozone layer. Furthermore, the full effects of aluminum in the atmosphere are unknown and could be severe. SpaceX might argue that meteoroid material comes in every day - but it is made up mostly of oxygen, magnesium, and silicon. Satellites, by contrast, are made primarily of aluminum. Aluminum can burn to reflective aluminum oxide, which may alter the climate to worsen warming of the planet. Scientists are also concerned that aluminum oxide could create a hole in the ozone layer.
As recently as February 2022, about 40 Starlink Satellites burned up in the atmosphere. And burning up is the ultimate fate for all of them — all 42,000 plus.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is at present examining whether satellite licensing should require environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), but it may take considerable time, from months to years, for a decision to be reached, and the decision may not end up affecting satellites already approved and in space. Since 1986, the FCC has enjoyed a categorical exclusion from NEPA. One can only hope for a prompt determination that can have a preventive effect.
An uncontrolled aluminum experiment capable of creating holes in the ozone layer and exacerbating global warming is highly risky because we may not have a second chance.
We used to think lead paint was a great idea. Years later, we discovered health risks and began removing it. The trouble is, if we find out a few years from now that aluminum is destroying the atmosphere, we cannot dispense with it as easily as the lead paint.
The seals are enduring the consequences of human activity in more than one way. Is it too much to ask that we give them a chance?Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular