Ocean
Dead Zones Swirl Off Africa, Threatening Coastlines with Mass Fish
Kills
5
May, 2015
The
world ocean is now a region of expanding oxygen-deprived dead zones.
It’s
an upshot of a human-warmed ocean system filled with high nutrient
run-off from mass, industrialized farming, rising atmospheric
nitrogen levels, and increasing dust from wildfires, dust storms, and
industrial aerosol emissions. Warming seas hold less oxygen in
solution. And the nutrient seeding feeds giant algae blooms that,
when they die and decompose, further rob ocean waters of oxygen.
Combined, the two are an extreme hazard to ocean health — symptoms
of a dangerous
transition to stratified, or worse, Canfield Ocean states.
(Geographical
extent of more than 405 coastal dead zones worldwide. New dead zones
discovered by scientists are now traversing mid-ocean regions. Image
source: No
Fish Left.)
In
total, more than 405 dead zones now occupy mostly coastal waters
worldwide.
Covering an area of 95,000 square miles and expanding, these anoxic
regions threaten marine species directly through suffocation or
indirectly through the growth of toxin-producing bacteria which
thrive in low-oxygen environments.
Mobile
Underwater Cyclones of Death
Now, according
to new research published in Biogeosciences,
it appears that some of these dead zones have gone mobile.
The
report finds zones of very low oxygen covering swirls of surface
water 100-150 kilometers in diameter and stretching to about 100
meters in depth. The zones churn like whirlpools or eddies.
Encapsulated in their own current of water with oxygen levels low
enough to induce fish kills, these ‘dead pools’ have been
discovered swirling off the coast of Africa in recent satellite
photos.
The ‘dead pools’ form as strong ocean eddies break off from West African ocean currents. The eddies create mixing environments near the surface which fuels algae blooms (seen as the light blue coloration in the image below). Large algae blooms are trapped in the eddy and as the algae die, they rob the water column of oxygen. The flows of the eddy form as a kind of wall to mixing with higher oxygen surrounding waters. As a result, the oxygen readings within the dead pool plummets.
(Newly
discovered ocean dead pools like the one shown above are propagating
off the coast of West Africa. These eddies are mobile dead zones of
low oxygen water. A new phenomena, they represent a unique threat to
ocean health in addition to the 405 other, mostly stationary, dead
zones in the world’s coastal waters. Image source: Biogeosciences.)
According
to lead-author Johannes Karstensen, a researcher at GEOMAR,
the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, in Kiel, Germany:
“The fast rotation of the eddies makes it very difficult to exchange oxygen across the boundary between the rotating current and the surrounding ocean. Moreover, the circulation creates a very shallow layer – of a few tens of meters – on top of the swirling water that supports intense plant growth. From our measurements, we estimated that the oxygen consumption within the eddies is some five times larger than in normal ocean conditions.”
Researchers
found levels in these swirls to be less than 0.3 millilitres of
oxygen per litre of seawater or about 1/100th the oxygen content of
surrounding ocean. These are readings low enough to produce mass fish
kills and to support production of toxin-producing bacteria harmful
to oxygen dependent life.
Azores
Downrange of Dead Pools
The
zones were observed moving through the Tropical North Atlantic west
of Africa. They propagated toward the north and west, finally
petering out about 100 kilometers north of the Azores. This puts that
East Atlantic archipelago directly in the line of fire of these new,
low-oxygen eddies. A cause for concern. If one of these eddies were
to enter the Azores the result could be a massive fish die off around
the island chain.
Karstensen
notes:
“…it is not unlikely that an open-ocean dead zone will hit the islands at some point. This could cause the coast to be flooded with low-oxygen water, which may put severe stress on the coastal ecosystems and may even provoke fish kills and the die-off of other marine life.”
Observations
of these dead pools seems to indicate they are a new event. A
possible result of nutrient enrichment of the surface waters in West
African currents due to increased run-off or surface water nitrogen
and dust seeding. As extreme rainfall events related to climate
change wash more sediment down rivers and into the oceans, as more
nitrogen compounds and particulate matter hit the atmosphere due to
fossil fuel emissions, wildfire burning, and dust storms, and as sea
level rise starts to flood nutrient-rich low lying areas, it is
possible that the Tropical Atlantic dead pools represent an emerging
ocean state that will grow more prevalent as time moves forward.
(UPDATED
— 2037 EST, 5 May, 2015)
Links:
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Tip to Colorado Bob
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Tip to DT Lange
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Tip to Jeremy Beck
Meanwhile the NZ Minister of Conservation, the Hon. Maggie Barry (well-known for hosting a TV gardening show) "disputes the facts"
Fading
shores: Reality of climate change
Atasa
Moceituba
+ Enlarge this image
Government delegates walk through the gap of a broken sea wall at Susui Village in Vanuabalavu, Lau. Picture: ATASA MOCEITUBA
5
May, 2015
THE
effects of climate change and global warming has not spared the Lau
Group with eroding shorelines now a common problem among the smaller
islands.
While
this was evident when government officials visited the group last
month, the resilience of its people in fighting the effects of
climate change with limited resources was humbling.
The
Lau Province has islands where sea walls have been built and gabions
constructed to power down the waves crashing on to the eroding
shoreline.
For
the villagers of Susui in Vanuabalavu, Lau they are now facing the
consequences of climate change and have been informed by government
officials to relocate or move to higher ground for safety.
Despite
the challenges and difficulties they face and the little knowledge
they have, the people have tried their best to make use of the
resources available around them and at the same time, save themselves
from the severe effects of climate change.
Villager
Jereti Noa said they had been using rock linings and gabions to
construct sea walls.
Mr
Noa said they hardly asked Government for assistance and had tried
their best to help themselves without relying on aid and assistance
from others.
He
said they believed more awareness was needed and Government should
concentrate on areas greatly affected by climate change.
"Coastal
erosion is all over the place, our beaches are degraded and the waves
are slowing eating the beaches away," he said.
ITaukei
Affairs Board conservation officer Sophy Buinimasi said more
awareness about the effects of climate change on outer islands was
needed.
She
said salt intrusion had affected fresh water sources and urged
villagers in the province to plant more mangroves to stop coastal
erosion.
Climate
change sparks tension in India's tea gardens
A tea garden worker plucks tea leaves inside Aideobarie Tea Estate in Jorhat in Assam, India, April 21, 2015. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood
4
May, 2015
JORHAT,
India, May 5 (Reuters) - Usha Ghatowar smiles wryly when asked about
the pay she earns picking leaves at a colonial-era tea garden in
India's Assam.
"Do
you think 3,000 rupees ($48) are enough when your monthly expenses
can be double that?" she mumbles, as she puts on her "jaapi"
hat of woven bamboo and palm leaves and takes a sip of tea from a
steel mug.
As
the women workers around Ghatowar nod in agreement the heavens open -
it has started raining heavily in recent days after three largely dry
months.
Unrest
is brewing among Assam's so-called Tea Tribes, whose forefathers were
brought here by British planters from neighbouring Bihar and Odisha
more than a century ago, as changing weather patterns upset the
economics of the industry.
Scientists
say climate change is to blame for uneven rainfall that is cutting
yields and lifting costs for tea firms such as McLeod Russel, Tata
Global Beverages and Jay Shree Tea.
While
rainfall has declined and become concentrated, temperatures have
risen - ideal conditions for pests like looper caterpillar and tea
mosquito to infest the light green tea shoots just before they are
ready to be plucked for processing.
Use
of pesticides and fertilisers has nearly doubled as a result in
Assam's 800 big tea plantations, known as gardens, and the rising
costs are making Indian tea less competitive.
As
a result, firms in Assam are resisting calls from activists and
student leaders to lift the daily wage of tea workers from about $2
agreed to recently, blaming weak prices and the doubling of crop
expenses over the past 10 years.
Assam
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, whose Congress party was routed by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2014
general election, has sided with the workers ahead of state polls due
early next year.
COURTING
THE TEA VOTE
State
elections have national significance in India - Modi needs to win
most of the state assembly contests in the next four years if he is
to take control of the upper house of the federal parliament and ease
the passage of his reform agenda.
Tea
tribe votes can swing results in about a quarter of the seats in
Assam, the country's main growing area, and the BJP has been making
inroads.
In
an interview to Reuters, Gogoi denied an opportunistic motive behind
his call for the wage to be raised to about $3 a day.
"I
had warned the tea planters about climate change but they did not
take care for a long time," Gogoi said. "They thought it
would be easy money. I can't allow injustice for tea labourers."
Assam
Tea Planters Association (ATPA) Chairman Raj Barooah said they would
examine Gogoi's demand but "there has to be a fair wage that can
sustain the industry".
The
average temperature in Assam has risen by 1.4 degrees Celsius in the
past century and rainfall is down by 200 mm (8 ins) a year, said R.M.
Bhagat, chief scientist at the Tea Research Association in Assam's
tea hub of Jorhat.
"In
the last 30 years we have seen that the magnitude of the effect of
climate change is pretty high," he said. "Rainfall has gone
topsy-turvy. There is either too much or too little water, forcing
planters to use sprinklers on what is a rain-fed crop."
Several
tea garden labourers and planters Reuters spoke with said tea
factories in Assam now only run for about six months compared with
round-the-year operations earlier.
Less
rainfall resulted in an 8 percent fall in tea exports last year,
according to the Indian Tea Association (ITA).
India
is the world's No.2 tea producer but is less export-oriented than
other producers thanks to its big home market, and Sri Lanka has been
extending its lead as the world's third largest exporter behind China
and Kenya.
LEARNING
TO ADAPT
Labour
accounts for 60 percent of the total costs for tea firms in Assam,
whose prices last year were higher than those auctioned in Mombasa in
Kenya, Chittagong in Bangladesh, Limbe in Malawi and Indonesian
capital Jakarta.
Profit
margins at Kolkata-based McLeod Russel, the world's largest tea
producer, are estimated to have fallen to their lowest in six years
in the year ended March 31, according to Thomson Reuters data.
To
cut labour costs, tea companies like Aideobarie Tea Estates, owned by
ATPA's Barooah, are exploring greater use of machines to harvest and
spray nutrients or pesticides.
Barooah,
whose company employs 48-year-old leaf plucker Ghatowar, her husband
and now her eldest son, is also thinking of expanding into
high-margin white tea made from tea buds.
Other
tea gardens have moved to cultivating black pepper, turmeric, ginger,
vegetables and fruit alongside tea, while Indian scientists are
testing tea varieties that can adapt and survive in hotter and drier
conditions.
But
in the face of long-term climate change, that may not be enough.
"With
rain so scarce, a day may come when Assam will not grow tea any
more," said tea scientist Subhash Chandra Barua. "Planting
a crop is fine but economic cultivation may not be feasible".
($1 = 63.1328 Indian rupees)
Palestine
Faces Grave
Climate Threat, But Lacks
Voice At UN Talks – Ed King
Jerusalem from the sky (UN Photo/Rick Bajornas)
5
May, 2015
Few
conflicts generate as much heat and rage as the ongoing tussle
between Israel and Palestine.
Peace
appears as far away as ever, after the recent collapse of US-led
talks, and the 2014 Gaza war.
The
two nations face an added, unseen and growing threat – that could
heighten tensions yet further.
Rising
global temperatures are likely to make drought in the region more
common, a UN panel of scientists reported in 2014.
It’s
unlikely just to hit farmers. Drinking water supplies – already a
precious commodity in this arid region – are also set to become
scare.
For
Nedal Katbeh-Bad, the Palestinian government’s climate change
advisor and representative at UN talks, it’s a bleak prospect in an
already tough environment.
“Taking
into account the political situation, Israeli control, this will
exacerbate the situation and make it much more severe,” he tells
RTCC, hinting at the potential for further conflict.
“What
we are expecting will be challenging for both sides,” he adds.
What are the odds of this being republished in the NZ press?Practically zero, I'd say.
Two
degrees warming a 'prescription for disaster' says top climate
scientist James Hansen
The aim to limit global warming to two degrees of pre-industrial levels is "crazy" and "a prescription for disaster", according to a long-time NASA climate scientist.
Here's a doozy from the pro nuker; "Nuclear energy will need to play a big role in creating "carbon-free electricity" because non-hydro renewable energy - which now accounts for just 3 per cent of total supplies - would not be able to be ramped up fast enough, he said."
"If
we have carbon-free electricity, the problem is solved,"
Professor Hansen said."
Without going into it too much
1)
When the ice caps melt and the planetary thermostat is broken we lose
most habitat on the planet very quickly as Professor Guy
McPherson has
pointed out.
2) Our phytoplankton and oceans are dying and our
forests clear cut and stressed and they provide most of our food and
oxygen. How the hell does anyone think we are getting out of this
predicament?
3) If nuclear is the answer it must be a pretty stupid
question. Robertscribbler thinks I'm too harsh on the IPCC. December
will tell
--- Kevin Hester
Paris 2015: Two degrees
warming a 'prescription for
disaster' says top climate
scientist James Hansen
Antarctica's ice sheets are melting faster than models predicted, James Hansen says Photo: Alex Cornell
5
May, 2015
The
aim to limit global warming to two degrees of pre-industrial
levels is "crazy" and "a prescription for disaster",
according to a long-time NASA climate scientist.
The
paleo-climate record shows sea-levels were six to eight metres higher
than current levels when global temperatures were less than two
degrees warmer than they are now, Professor James Hansen,
formerly head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies
and now at Columbia University in New York, said.
"It's
crazy to think that 2 degrees celsius is a safe limit,"
Professor Hansen told
RN Breakfast on ABC Radio on
Tuesday, adding that this would lock in several metres of
sea-level rise by the middle of the century,
Wollongong
Harbour copped a battering during last month's east coast low. Photo:
Adam McLean
New
satellite data over the past decade indicate that the ice sheets are
disintegrating faster than had been modelled by climate scientists.
"The
ice sheets are losing mass faster and faster, with a doubling time of
about 10 years," Professor Hansen said. "If that continues,
we would get sea-level rises of several metres by 40-50 years."
"The
consequences are almost unthinkable. It would mean that all coastal
cities would become dysfunctional," he told ABC Radio.
Beach
erosion at Hawks Nest in the wake of April's storms.
Even
the goal of limiting warming by two degrees is looking like it is
unlikely to be met. A study out
this week by Lord Nicholas Stern and colleagues found
that the commitment and likely pledges by nations to cut greenhouse
gas emissions by 2030 fall about half short of the reductions needed
to restrict the two-degree increase on pre-industrial levels.
Professor
Hansen said fossil fuel prices had to be priced high enough to make
them "honest". Nuclear energy will need to play a big role
in creating "carbon-free electricity" because non-hydro
renewable energy - which now accounts for just 3 per cent of total
supplies - would not be able to be ramped up fast enough, he said.
"If
we have carbon-free electricity, the problem is solved,"
Professor Hansen said.
James
Hansen Photo:
Michael Clayton-Jones,
"We
need a complete overhaul of policies to make climate top of mind
because right now we are living in a climate emergency, on track for
4 degrees of warming," Senator Milne said.
"The
major parties are teaming up to cut the Renewable Energy Target
- which will kill jobs and investment in large-scale solar -
[that's] the last thing they should be doing right now,"
she said. "We need more ambition, not less, in all areas of
Australian policy and that's sorely lacking in this parliament."
The
Abbott government may secure agreement as soon as this week to reduce
the renewable energy target from the current 41,000 gigawatt-hours a
year by 2020 to 33,000 gWh.
Paris
summit
Climate
change issues are likely to gain more attention in the run-up to the
Paris climate summit planned for France in December.
Global
temperatures may also be in focus with the prospects of an El Nino in
the Pacific making it likely that 2015 will be the hottest year
on record - breaking a high set only in 2014.
The
first three months of 2015 - and the past 12 months - were also
the hottest in 136 years of data, the US National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration said last month.
Ocean Mercury Levels Have Tripled Since the Industrial Revolution
An
alarming new study shows that mercury levels near the surface of many
of the world’s oceans have tripled since the industrial revolution.
The leap is due to pollution from a variety of sources including
mines, coal-fired power plants and sewage. The study stops short of
warning against human consumption of seafood, but it does warn of
damage to marine life – and one scientist calls it “an alarm call
for the future.”
http://inhabitat.com/ocean-mercury-levels-have-tripled-since-the-industrial-revolution/
Ecological armageddon in one foul link, thx.
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