Ocean News

[ImaginaryNumber]

Climate change study in Canada's Hudson Bay thwarted by climate change | The Guardian

This spring team of 40 climate change scientists hired an icebreaker to take them to Hudson Bay for research. They ran into unusually thick multi-year ice off the northern coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. This ice was trapping fishing boats and ferries, so the icebreaker had to abort the first leg of its research to assist with rescues. The multi-year ice is typically only found much further north, but because of the unusually warm winter the stability of the ice pack has been weakened, and it is drifting in a manner not seen in previous years.

Barber – who has spent decades researching the impact of climate change on sea ice – described his week spent on the frontlines of battling a changing climate as a stark reminder of the reality the world is facing. “We’re very poorly prepared for climate change,” he said. “We pay lip service to the fact that we think we know it’s coming and society is trying to grapple with the complexity of it, but when it really comes down to brass tacks, our systems are ill prepared for it.”
​

Heavy ice off East Coast 2017 caused by winds, cold temperatures, and icebergs https://polarbearscience.com/2017/06/12/heavy-ice-off-east-coast-2017-caused-by-winds-cold-temperatures-and-icebergs/

 

[ImaginaryNumber]

Too hot to handle: Study shows Earth’s killer heat worsens | Washington Post

Looking at the increasing incidence of killing heat waves, starting from 1980, researchers have noted that nearly one in three people now experience 20 days a year when the heat reaches deadly levels. Their study, published in Nature Climate Change, predicts that up to three in four people worldwide will endure that kind of heat by the end of the century, if global warming continues unabated. Last year 22 countries or territories set or tied records for their hottest temperatures on record. So far this year, seven have done so.

 

[ImaginaryNumber]

Global coral bleaching event likely ending | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

After analyzing satellite and model data, NOAA’s experts say coral reefs around the world may finally catch a break from high ocean temperatures that have lingered for an unprecedented three years, the longest period since the 1980s.

The latest NOAA forecast shows that widespread coral bleaching is no longer occurring in all three ocean basins – Atlantic, Pacific and Indian – indicating the likely end to the global coral bleaching event. Scientists will closely monitor sea surface temperatures and bleaching over the next six months to confirm the event’s end.

NOAA declared the beginning of the third-ever global coral bleaching event in 2015. Since then, all tropical coral reefs around the world have seen above-normal temperatures, and more than 70 percent experienced prolonged high temperatures that can cause bleaching. U.S. coral reefs were hit hardest, with two years of severe bleaching in Florida and Hawaii, three in the Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands, and four in Guam.

Fortunately, some coral reef areas did not bleach despite the damaging conditions. Scientists will be looking into these areas to see if characteristics of the corals or their environment somehow protected these ecosystems from heat stress.

“Coral reefs are not beyond help,” said Jennifer Koss, director of the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program. “Many proactive steps to make coral reef ecosystems more resilient are being taken around the world. We are reducing local threats to coral, and are looking into innovative ways to increase coral populations and species that are more resilient to rising ocean temperatures and acidified waters.”

 

[ImaginaryNumber]

Too Hot to Fly? Climate Change May Take a Toll on Air Travel | New York Times

Excess heat in Phoenix grounded more than 40 flights in recent days, and scientists say a warming climate could also mean more turbulent rides.

 

[ImaginaryNumber]

Oceans Rising Faster Than Ever Before | International Business Times

Not only are sea levels rising, they’re rising faster than they have in previous decades. While thermal expansion has played a part in the rise, it’s mostly due to the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, which has sped up due to rising global temperatures. That melting was responsible for less than 5 percent of the global mean sea-level rise in 1993 but for more than 25 percent in 2014, a massive increase in just over two decades. The researchers expect the sea level to continue to rise at even quicker rates in the future, as reported in a study published in Nature Climate Change.

 

[hoytedow]

Why has no one mentioned the new island off North Carolina? That surely counts as ocean news even if it goes counter to the sea level rising myth. No tectonic activity caused it as far as I know.

 

[Kailani]

Shoreline is never boring

New Island Appears Off U.S. Coast http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/new-shelly-island-appears-cape-hatteras-north-carolina-coast/

 

[SamSam]

Shoreline is never boring

New Island Appears Off U.S. Coast http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/new-shelly-island-appears-cape-hatteras-north-carolina-coast/

That's interesting and sort of funny. It almost comically refutes any possibility that Hoyt's post makes any sense at all.

"But if you put this in geological perspective, it's nothing really."

In fact, for people who understand the transitory nature of this place, what happens next seems almost preordained. This land mass could be gone with the next storm, or this island could get bigger for awhile longer—but probably only for a short time.

Hallac, Couch, and several other experts agree: the new landmass some have taken to calling Shelly Island will almost certainly be wiped out within the year.

"Nothing here becomes a fixture," says Stanley Riggs, a retired geology professor and author who has written books about North Carolina's coast. "Nothing is the same from one hour to the next. There's no such thing as 'normal.' "

In fact, the appearance of the island is more an evidence of rising seas and global warming than anything else. The islands are caused by winds, currents and high waves. With AGW in motion you get more winds, changed currents and higher water level/waves.

The Outer Banks are known for rapidly shifting sands, thanks to high-energy wind and waves.

"It's just part of the natural process," Dowdle says. "I've seen parts of the Outer Banks erode for months, only to then fill back in again."

In some areas, storms and rising seas tend to eat away at beaches. In others, they actually add sand.

"You get lots of energy, lots of storms, lots of turmoil, lots of complex and dynamic currents," says Riggs. "The land to the north is skinny, skinny skinny, so skinny you can throw a baseball across it. To the south are some of the few beaches in North Carolina that're actually growing."

Not that it stopped him from posing "Why hasn't anyone posted this before?", as if there was some sort of conspiracy to cover up evidence that shows climate change is anything but a scheme to steal money.

 

[hoytedow]

No island is permanent. I knew that. Just didn't know I had to point it out, having assumed people would have understood that.

 

[ImaginaryNumber]

As Climate Changes, Southern States Will Suffer More Than Others | Washington Post

In a new study in the journal Science, researchers analyzed the economic harm that climate change could inflict on the United States in the coming century. They found that the impacts could prove highly unequal: states in the Northeast and West would fare relatively well, while parts of the Midwest and Southeast would be especially hard hit. It is estimated that the US could face damages worth 0.7 percent of gross domestic product per year by the 2080s for every 1 degree Fahrenheit rise in global temperature.

Looks like points "North of Cuba, a little" are going to get smacked up pretty hard. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people.

 

[Angélique]

simple acts of kindness . . .​

 

[hoytedow]

Sign on a bathroom wall in Paintsville:"Please flush. Louisa(a town downriver) needs the water."

 

[ImaginaryNumber]

Climate Change: Giant Hail Set to Batter North America | Newsweek

A new study in the journal Nature Climate Change looked at how projected climate conditions over the coming decades will affect hailstorms, including their frequency and the size of the stones produced. Their projections show in most locations there will be a reduction in the number hail days during spring and summer. However, when these storms do hit, the stones will be much larger, with hail between 2-4cm becoming more and more common. This shift is particularly prominent over the central to northern plains. Stones in the lower end of this diameter range are most likely to damage tree foliage and agricultural crops (including fruits), while stones in the upper end of the range can damage car panels, house siding, plastic outdoor furniture, roofing (e.g., shingles) and may even crack car windshields.

 

[hoytedow]

There is nothing new about large hailstones. They have been around a long time. They are caused by uplifting currents in storm clouds. To say otherwise is just an attempt to fear-monger the weak-minded followers onto the rocky shoals of tyranny. Don't be a weak-minded follower. Set your own course to safe harbor.

 

[hoytedow]

Hailstones are part of weather, not climate.