Climate Change

Canada & Mexico to Discuss Plastics in Ocean

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“From acidification to the worsening impacts of hurricanes, climate change is negatively affecting our oceans and coastal communities. In addition, plastic waste and marine litter pose an increasingly serious threat to our oceans, marine life, and human health. In fact, there is so much plastic in our oceans that, without action, it is estimated there will be more plastics in our oceans than fish, by 2050. This global problem requires action, and Canada is working with international partners to see our oceans protected from waste and the impacts of climate change. As Canadatakes on the G7 presidency in 2018, we will continue to advance global efforts on climate change, oceans, and clean energy.”
– Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change

Nitrite Pollution Increase in Ocean Water

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Researchers have more than once warned of “dead zones” and toxic algal blooms as a consequence of changing climatic conditions. Ocean temperatures are increasing, and this in turn encourages a new set of biochemical processes.

Professor Hollibaugh and a colleague report in the journal Environmental Science and Technology that over the course of eight summers they measured peaks of nitrite, alongside massive increases in the numbers of the microorganisms that produce it, in coastal waters off Georgia.

Coral Reef Death Impacting Sea Levels

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In the Florida Keys, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Maui, coral reef degradation has caused sea floor depths to increase as sand and other sea floor materials have eroded over the past few decades, the USGS study found. In the waters around Maui, the sea floor losses amounted to 81 million cubic meters of sand, rock and other material – about what it would take to fill up the Empire State Building 81 times, the researchers calculated.

Researchers Explains Coral Reef Bleaching

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We now have a 2017 event, which is not quite as bad as 2016, but certainly worse than the first two events that we studied [in 1998 and 2002]. That is significant because it postpones any hope of recovery. The current bleaching occupies a different geographical footprint from last year, which is bad news because it means between last year and this year a much greater extent of the Great Barrier Reef has now been damaged. In 2017, the hot water was in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef, the central section; last year it was in the north.