CLIMATE AND OCEANSAuthor: Dr. Judith Weis

Sierra Club Marine Team

September, 2017

CLIMATE CHANGE

Coral bleaching

O2 levels in ocean

Migrations and movements

Sea Level Rise, Extreme Events

Ocean acidification

Coral Bleaching

FISH MOVING NORTH (EAST COAST EXAMPLES)

Lobsters in Long Island Sound and New England disappearing, more up in

Gulf of Maine and Canada

Cod unlikely to return to New England, mostly in Canada

Southern species moving up here –e.g. blue crab, sea bass, summer flounder

General warming causes a decrease in phytoplankton,

which photosynthesize and produce oxygen. In some

regions, the drop in ocean productivity often over

30%.

When top layer of ocean warms, the temperature

difference between it and layers below becomes

greater. This makes it harder for “turnover” and

reduces upwelling of nutrients to the surface, starving

the phytoplankton.

End result – less food for fishes, birds, seals etc.

SEA TURTLE DEVELOPMENT• Temperature determines

the sex of turtle embryos.

• Warmer temperatures, that lead to production of females, could result in some species becoming mostly, or entirely female (and therefore going extinct).

A rise in sea level causes 5 major physical effects:

1. Erosion of beaches and bluffs;

2. Salt-water intrusion into aquifers and surface

waters;

3. Inundation of low-lying areas;

4. Increased flooding and storm damage; and

5. Higher water tables.

These physical effects cause major biological, societal,

and economic effects.

EFFECTS ON HUMAN COMMUNITIES

Miami, Norfolk VA and other low lying areas flood regularly.

Beaches wash away, have to be “renourished” every few years. Exacerbated by building sea walls or jetties.

HUMAN RESPONSE: BUILD A SEA WALL

(WHICH MAKES THINGS WORSE!)

Most damage is caused by coastal flooding and erosion.

COASTAL STORMS – SLR & WARMER WATER MAKES THEM

MORE SEVERE

INTERTIDAL SALT MARSHES

MUST INCREASE ELEVATION,

MOVE INLAND, OR BE

SUBMERGED.

Water pools on marshes and drowns plants like

cord grass, which have adapted to being flooded

by the tides but not to being submerged over long

periods. As plants die off, they leave expanding

patches of bare ground.

LOSING GROUND: MARSHES IN RI, MA

DISINTEGRATING FASTER THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN US

Providence Journal:

3/19/2017

Kenny Raposa of

Narragansett Bay NERR,

has spent 17 years studying

this vanishing landscape.

The loss, he says, 'is just

stunning.‘ High marsh plants

being inundated too much

INCREASE ELEVATION Spray sediment onto marsh surface – thin layer deposition.

Existing grass gets buried. Some plants grow through the sediment eventually. Some will naturally reseed the area, others will be planted.

Takes several years for marsh to recover. Not pretty for a few years.

How soon before you have to do it again?

MARSH MIGRATION INLAND• WILL THEY RUN INTO ROADS AND PARKING LOTS?

“COASTAL SQUEEZE.” NEED OPEN SPACE UPLAND

• IRONICALLY, THE INVASIVE COMMON REED,

PHRAGMITES, WHICH IS OFTEN REMOVED, INCREASES

MARSH ELEVATION, AND MAY BETTER ALLOW MARSHES

TO KEEP UP WITH SEA LEVEL.

• WHY CARE? MARSHES ARE IMPORTANT HABITAT THAT

PROTECT US FROM STORM SURGE & FLOODS

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION

Many marine animals including corals and mollusks, have calcium carbonate

shells, which weaken when the ocean gets more acidic.

Cultured larvae in Oregon oyster farms have problems making shells. OA

retards skeleton formation, speeds up erosion.

The ocean surface already 30% more acidic than before Industrial Revolution.

By the end of the century will have a 100- to 150% increase in acidity.Oyster farmers are dealing with dissolving baby oyster shells by adjusting the pH of incoming water.

pteropod

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

ELECT PEOPLE WHO TAKE CLIMATE CHANGE SERIOUSLY AND

ARE WILLING TO ACT ON IT

WHAT’S YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT?

IS YOUR CAR A GAS –GUZZLER? NEXT TIME GET A HYBRID OR ELECTRIC

COULD YOU SET THE THERMOSTAT COOLER IN WINTER AND WARMER IN

SUMMER?

DO YOU HAVE SOLAR PANELS ON THE ROOF?

HOW MUCH MEAT (ESP. BEEF) DO YOU EAT?

IF YOU CAN STILL HAVE CHILDREN, HAVE FEWER