climate change tagged posts

Plastic pollution now plagues almost every species living in the oceans and, at the same time, sea surface temperatures once considered extreme have now become normal. Those are the findings of two separate studies published in February ahead of the ongoing One Ocean Summit, a conference organized by French President Emmanuel Macron to protect marine life from overfishing, climate change and pollution. Together, the research papers tell a story of an ecosystem vital to human survival that is increasingly under attack.

The first study, published in the journal Plos Climate, found heat that used to be considered rare had become normal for most of the world’s oceans...

A new study, published in the journal Marine and Coastal Fisheries, has found that the rising amount of ocean heatwaves, triggered by climate change, has a direct effect on the population numbers of the squid species Doryteuthis opalescens which primarily was known to inhabit the warmer waters off Baja California.

According to the study, the population numbers of the species have significantly increased between 1998 and 2019 along the Pacific coast, with Washington seeing a 39-fold increase in squid populations and Oregon recording a 25-fold increase.

By examining fisheries-independent survey data collected by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the researchers were able to develop a spatiotemporal model that shows squid density changes from central California to northern Washington fro...

Evidence is starting to build that fishing affects the way the ocean takes up carbon from the atmosphere, affecting climate change. The ocean is part of the global ‘carbon cycle’, which shifts carbon between reservoirs including plants, soil, water bodies, and the atmosphere. The ocean is largely a ‘sink’ of carbon, drawing it out of the atmosphere and reducing levels of carbon dioxide, which affect global warming.

However, there are many ways the ocean’s carbon sinking powers can be disrupted, and the possibility that fishing is causing significant impacts has recently been in the research spotlight.

Dr Emma Cavan, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial, and Dr Simeon Hill, from the British Antarctic Survey, have just published a new paper in Global Change Biolo...

Coral reefs are one of the world’s most biologically diverse and productive ecosystems. They provide abundant ecological goods and services and are central to the socio-economic and cultural welfare of coastal and island communities – throughout tropical and subtropical ocean countries – by contributing billions of dollars to the local and global economies, when combined with tourism and recreation.

Coral reefs also play a vital role in the protection of shorelines, fisheries, biodiversity and unique ecosystems. Building magnificent reefs, tiny coral polyps have developed an incredible ability to calcify and are the most prolific mineralizers on the planet.

They form immense structures like the Great Barrier Reef, which is a world heritage site...

A new University of Wisconsin-Madison study has implications for predicting coral reef survival and developing mitigation strategies against having their bony skeletons weakened by ocean acidification. Though coral reefs make up less than one percent of the ocean floor, these ecosystems are among the most biodiverse on the planet – with over a million species estimated to be associated with reefs. The coral species that make up these reefs are known to be differently sensitive or resilient to ocean acidification – the result of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. But scientists are not sure why.

In the study, researchers show that the crystallization rate of coral skeletons differs across species and is correlated with their resilience to acidification.

“Many agencies keep...

COP26 President Alok Sharma has warned that progress made during the summit is at risk of “withering on the vine”. Mr Sharma said that the agreements reached at the Glasgow climate meeting had been a “fragile win” for the world. But unless the commitments made are turned into action this year, the chances of keeping global temperatures in check will be lost. 

Quoting from the popular film, Don’t Look Up, he said this was no time to “sit tight and assess”.

• What was agreed at COP26?
• Evasive words and coal compromise, but deal shows progress
• Green label plan for gas and nuclear prompts EU row

The UN’s COP26 climate summit in November ended with a deal being struck in a bid to stave off severe climate change...

The monster iceberg A68 was dumping more than 1.5 billion tonnes of fresh water into the ocean every single day at the height of its melting. To put that in context, it’s about 150 times the amount of water used daily by all UK citizens. A68 was, for a short period, the world’s biggest iceberg.

It covered an area of nearly 6,000 sq km (2,300 sq miles) when it broke free from Antarctica in 2017. But by early 2021, it had vanished.

One trillion tonnes of ice, gone.

• How a colossal block of ice became an obsession
• Iceberg that became a social media star melts away
• Polar seafloor exposed after 50 years of ice cover
• The museum at the end of the world reopens at last

Researchers are currently busy trying to gauge the impact A68 had on the environment.

And a team led from Leeds Un...

Researchers from the University of Exeter and the Met Office analysed worldwide policies and found that on the “current trajectory” the Paris Agreement’s aim of limiting warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is slipping out of reach. There could be global warming of 4C by the end of this century despite pledges made at the COP26 climate summit, according to a new report.

Researchers from the University of Exeter and the Met Office analysed worldwide policies and found that on the “current trajectory” the Paris Agreement‘s aim of limiting warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is slipping out of reach.

Professor Richard Betts, who led the research, said the agreements made at COP26 in Glasgow “have reduced the likelihood” of warming reaching 4C “but it remains possible”.

The new study, published on 13 January 2022 in the journal Global Change Biologyand conducted by scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, revealed that rising ocean temperatures due to climate change have significantly changed the locations and timings of tiger shark migration patterns in the western North Atlantic Ocean. 

Tiger sharks prefer tropical and warm to temperate seas and have historically not been found in the waters off the northeastern coastline of the USA. However, warming ocean temperatures now also make these previously unattractive habitats suitable for the cold-blooded predator. 

Neil Hammerschlag, director of the UM Shark Research and Conservation Program and lead author of the study, explained: “Tiger shark annual...

The ocean is now warmer than it’s ever been in recent history, according to a new study. And this isn’t the first time such a record has been set. For the past six years, ocean temperatures have exceeded each previous year in a trend one scientist calls “inexorable.”

Human-induced climate change is to blame, says John Abraham, co-author of the new study published Jan. 11 in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.

 “We should be very concerned,” Abraham, a professor of thermal sciences at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, U.S, told Mongabay in a video interview. “But frankly, we should have been concerned years ago.”

The research team used a network of high-tech autonomous ocean buoys to measure global ocean temperatures, which they compared to data from the 195...