Results 1 to 1 of 1
Thread Information
Users Browsing this Thread
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
-
11-10-2014, 05:08 PM #1
Global warming worsening watery dead zones
Study: Global warming worsening watery dead zones
Andrew Altieri
This handout photo provided by the Smithsonian shows dead juvenile menhaden fish floating to the surface during a dead zone event in Narragansett Bay, R.I. Global warming is likely playing a bigger role than previously thought in dead zones in waterways around the world and it’s only going to get worse, according to a new study.Dead zones occur in oceans, lakes and rivers when fertilizer runoff clog waterways with nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorous, which leads to an explosion of microbes that consumes oxygen and leaves the water starving for oxygen, harming marine life. (AP Photo/Andrew Altieri, Smithsonian)
Posted: Monday, November 10, 2014 10:58 am | Updated: 2:02 pm, Mon Nov 10, 2014.
Associated Press |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Global warming is likely playing a bigger role than previously thought in dead zones in oceans, lakes and rivers around the world and it's only going to get worse, according to a new study.
Dead zones occur when fertilizer runoff clogs waterways with nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorous. That leads to an explosion of microbes that consumes oxygen and leaves the water depleted of oxygen, harming marine life.
Scientists have long known that warmer water increases this problem, but a new study Monday in the journal Global Change Biology by Smithsonian Institution researchers found about two dozen different ways — biologically, chemically and physically — that climate change worsens the oxygen depletion.
"We've underestimated the effect of climate change on dead zones," said study lead author Andrew Altieri, a researcher at the Smithsonian's tropical center in Panama.
The researchers looked at 476 dead zones worldwide— 264 in the United States. They found that standard computer climate models predict that, on average, the surface temperature around those dead zones will increase by about 4 degrees Fahrenheit (slightly more than 2 degrees Celsius) from the 1980s and 1990s to the end of this century.
The largest predicted warming is nearly 7 degrees (almost 4 degrees Celsius) where the St. Lawrence River dumps into the ocean in Canada. The most prominent U.S. dead zones, the Gulf of Mexico and the Chesapeake Bay, are projected to warm 4 degrees (2.3 degrees Celsius) and nearly 5 degrees (2.7 degrees Celsius) respectively.
Warmer water holds less oxygen, adding to the problem from runoff, said co-author Keryn Gedan, who is at both the Smithsonian and the University of Maryland. But warmer water also affects dead zones by keeping the water more separate, so that oxygen-poor deep water mixes less.
"It's like Italian dressing that you haven't shaken, where you have the oil and water separate," Altieri said.
When the water gets warmer, marine life's metabolism increases, making them require more oxygen just as the oxygen levels are already dropping. Other ways that climate change affects dead zones includes longer summers, ocean acidification and changing wind and current patterns, the study said.
Donald Boesch, a University of Maryland ecologist who wasn't part of the study and works at a different department than Gedan, said there is not enough evidence to say that climate change has already played such a big role in the spread of dead zones. But he said the study is probably right in warning that future warming will make the problem even worse.
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/new...c0d8aa35a.html
NO AMNESTY
Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.
Sign in and post comments here.
Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn
Similar Threads
-
Paired with global warming hysteria comes global warming excuse making.
By AirborneSapper7 in forum Other Topics News and IssuesReplies: 1Last Post: 10-02-2014, 11:05 PM -
White House using global warming as a tool against capitalism? Global Warming Scam
By AirborneSapper7 in forum Other Topics News and IssuesReplies: 2Last Post: 09-20-2014, 12:12 AM -
Global warming hysteria: A new report from Washington feeds global warming alarmism
By AirborneSapper7 in forum Other Topics News and IssuesReplies: 0Last Post: 05-08-2014, 01:23 PM -
Liberty Alert: Global Warming Nonsense - The Dog Days Of Global Warming
By AirborneSapper7 in forum Other Topics News and IssuesReplies: 0Last Post: 07-25-2012, 04:31 PM -
Study says global warming not worsening hurricanes
By jimpasz in forum illegal immigration News Stories & ReportsReplies: 0Last Post: 05-18-2008, 11:09 PM
Listen to William Gheen on Rense Apr 24, 2024 talking Invasion...
04-25-2024, 02:03 PM in ALIPAC In The News