“Overall, we found there’s a decrease in species diversity and abundance irrespective of what ecosystem we are looking at. These are broad scale impacts, made worse when you combine the effect of warming with acidification.
Oceanography
Oceans Warming Worldwide. Species Seek “Thermal Niche.”
According to a 2013 study, marine species are pushing their range boundaries poleward, away from the Equator, at an average speed of 4.5 miles a year. That’s 10 times as faster as the speed at which species on land are moving.
Acidification Devastates Oyster Industry
That culprit, ocean acidification, is the caustic cousin of climate change, and it shifts the chemistry of ocean water, making it harder for oysters to grow. That’s because about 30 percent of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean, causing pH levels to plummet and making the water more acidic. The more pollution in the air, the more carbon dioxide the ocean absorbs.
Creating “Super Corals” for Warmer and Acidic Seas
by nicola jones In Hawaii this summer, as corals engage in their once-a-year courtship ritual of releasing sperm and eggs into the water by moonlight, Ruth Gates will oversee a unique mating: the coming together of “super-corals” in her lab…. Read More ›
Scientists Stumble Upon Atlantic Dead Zones
The Atlantic Ocean is teeming with life, but for the first time researchers have discovered dead zones in these waters — areas low in both oxygen and salinity — off the coast of Africa. Fish can’t survive in the dead… Read More ›
Why Earth Hums
We may not be able to hear it, but the Earth is constantly oscillating and creating a hum that has been likened to the ring of a bell. It’s long been known that earthquakes and their seismic activity contribute to… Read More ›
Ancient Climate Change Records Discovery
Naturally occurring climate change lowered oxygen levels in the deep ocean, decimating a broad spectrum of seafloor life that took some 1,000 years to recover, according to a study that offers a potential window into the effects of modern warming…. Read More ›
Gulf Stream Weakening Could Impact Weather and Marine Ecosystems
Editor’s Note: Neptune 911 has included several videos that include animations of the Atlantic overturning system and scientific workshops. The Atlantic overturning is one of Earth’s most important heat transport systems, pumping warm water northwards and cold water southwards. Also… Read More ›
Researchers Debate Upwelling Variance by Climate Change
CORVALLIS, Ore. – A report to be published Thursday in the journal Nature suggests that global warming may increase upwelling in several ocean current systems around the world by the end of this century, especially at high latitudes, and will… Read More ›
Low Oxygen and Warming Seas Historical Research
“Our modern ocean is moving into a state that has no precedent in human history.”
Neptune 911! 