Great Barrier Reef Dead at 25 Million

Posted on June 1, 2017 by GarryRogers

GR: Only portions of the reef are dead now; however the rest is dying. With the level of CO2 we’ve pumped into the atmosphere, global warming including lethal ocean warming will continue. Another of those monuments to human ignorance that an alien visitor might wonder at–unless ocean acidification melts the reef before they get here.

“The Great Barrier Reef has been declared dead by scientists at 25 million years old — bringing an end to the colorful life of the world’s largest single structure of living organisms.

“The incredible Coral Sea wilderness, which stretches for roughly 1,400 miles over an area of roughly 133,00 square miles, has finally succumbed to bleaching.

“The icon of the natural world is bigger than the whole of the United Kingdom and is composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands.

“It is home to 1,625 species of fish, 3,000 mollusks, and 30 different types of whales and dolphins.

“The reef lies off the coast of Queensland in Australia and can be seen from outer space.

“Leading environmentalist writer Rowan Jacobsen declared the incredible structure dead, and wrote: “The Great Barrier Reef of Australia passed away in 2016 after a long illness.“It was 25 million years old.” (Source: Great Barrier Reef dead at 25 million | New York Post)

Bad Climate Outcomes — Atmospheric Warming to Ramp up as PDO Swings Strongly Positive?

Posted on February 26, 2015 by GarryRogers

Last year, quietly and without much fanfare from the mainstream press, the Pacific Ocean underwent a powerful shift. A shift from a state in which cooler surface waters absorbed atmospheric heat, to a phase in which surface water warming caused ocean heat to be transferred to the world’s already warming air.

It’s a major swing in Pacific Ocean surface temperatures to a phase where more heat is dumped into the atmosphere. One that is causing some scientists to warn that a new period of rapid atmospheric warming may just be getting started.

Source: robertscribbler.wordpress.com

GR: We thought this was coming.

Warmest Oceans Ever Recorded

Posted on November 16, 2014 by GarryRogers

Ocean Surface Temperature Rising Sets Record

GR: The global-warming hiatus is probably over. Now might be a good time to review the RobertScribbler post: http://robertscribbler.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/its-worse-than-we-thought-new-study-finds-that-earth-is-warming-far-faster-than-expected/.

From Science Daily: “The current record-breaking temperatures indicate that the 14-year-long pause in ocean warming has come to an end.

“This summer has seen the highest global mean sea surface temperatures ever recorded since their systematic measuring started. Temperatures even exceed those of the record-breaking 1998 El Niño year,” says Axel Timmermann, climate scientist and professor, studying variability of the global climate system at the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa.”

Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Current Sea Level Rise is Faster Than at Any Time in Last 6,000 Years

Posted on October 14, 2014 by GarryRogers

Clearly, we are changing Earth’s climate at an unprecedented rate. It’s hard to predict how this will change human society. The possibilities are discussed in the next post from xraymike79. Important reading.

robertscribbler

(NASA satellite shot of Antarctica on October 13 of 2014. Recent scientific papers point toward a vicious cycle of Antarctic glacial melt. Expanding sea ice results from increased cold, fresh water outflows from melting land-anchored glaciers spreading out along the ocean surface and protecting the floating ice. Meanwhile, rapidly warming waters concentrate in a layer beneath the ice to further accelerate melting of the giant glaciers’ bases. Image source: LANCE-MODIS.)

With fewer and fewer logical straws to grasp for plausibly denying an obvious and inexorable warming of the global climate system, climate change deniers have resorted to pointing toward an expanding veil of sea ice near Antarctica as ‘proof positive’ that global warming really isn’t happening.

But recent scientific papers reveal that what may well appear to be a soothing light at the end of an imaginary cooling tunnel is more a freight train of global heat aimed directly…

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