CO2 forcing deadly changes in the oceans

Rising GHG is choking the oceans, devastating marine ecosystems and destroying the food chain: Study

Quote of the Day:

“We are becoming increasingly certain that the world’s marine ecosystems are approaching tipping points. These tipping points are where change accelerates and causes unrelated impacts on other systems.” John F. Bruno, marine researcher at the University of North Carolina.

Related Links:

• May Global Temperature Warmest on Record
• Ocean Accumulated Significant Heat Content Since 1993
• Verifiable Impacts of Climate Change (Part II)
• Verifiable Impacts of Climate Change Despite Dinosaurs

• Ocean Deserts Source of GHG
• North Atlantic Ocean Garbage Patch
• Back from the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”
• WILD FACTS SERIES: Our Oceans Are Dying!
• Southern Ocean already losing ability to absorb CO₂

• Tourism: A Major Destructive Force Killing Oceans:Thousands of marine mammals, sea turtles, seabirds and others, are choked or poisoned each year by eating trash discarded in the ocean…

• Oceans, Where Life Started, Are Dying – Part V : Hundreds of thousands of tons of surplus chemical weapons including large quantities of arsenic, cyanide, mustard gas, sarin gas and VX nerve gas are dumped off the US Atlantic coast as well as off other countries. [And a number of nuclear weapons are lying down there, too!]

• Terrible Ocean Headlines : About one third of the world’s annual emissions of CO2 is absorbed by the surface of the oceans forming carbonic acid (ancient name acid of air or aerial acid), H₂CO_3, which is increasing the acidity of the oceans to as much as 7.7 pH in some areas off the California coast. [Pre-industrial (1700s) ocean pH: 8.179]

• Oceans, Where Life Started, Are Dying – Part IV : Researchers found evidence of corrosive water about 20 miles off the west coast of North America from Canada to Mexico.

• Human carbon emissions make oceans corrosive : ‘Carbon dioxide spewed by human activities has made ocean water so acidic that it is eating away at the shells and skeletons of starfish, coral, clams and other sea creatures …’

• The Eight Steps that Help Kill More of Our Fish : How Your Car’s Exhaust Emissions Helps Create Dead Zones and Kill Our Fish.

• Global warming could starve oceans of oxygen: study : Areas of the eastern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with low amounts of dissolved oxygen have expanded in the past 50 years, apparently in line with rising temperatures.

• The Floating Toxic Garbage Island : A patch of garbage twice as large as the continental United States and dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch floats in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in North Pacific Gyre.

• Oceans, Where Life Started, Are Dying – Part III : Tourism: The Most Destructive Human Activity After Warfare

• Oceans, Where Life Started, Are Dying – Part II : Major Problems: Fertilizer Runoff; Tourism; Coastal Developments [and Ocean Warming due to climate change]

• Oceans, Where Life Started, Are Dying – Part I : Our Oceans Are Now Dying!

• Dead Zones : Eutrophication—the overenrichment of water by nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus—has emerged as a leading water quality problem. This report identifies over 415 areas worldwide that are experiencing eutrophication symptoms, and there are significant information gaps in many regions. (Source: WRI)

Cyclones TOMAS and ULUI – UPDATE Mar 16

TOMAS a Cat 4A Storm on FEWW Scale

TOMAS Wobbled Toward Main Fiji Islands, Then Moved South

As the cyclone went past Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second largest Island, it wobbled toward the main islands; however, you couldn’t see what exactly happened because the high res satellite images were withdrawn from various sites.

Having checked the continuous loop images earlier, the moderators  noticed that up to 3 original frames in the MTSAT image loops appeared to be “gap fillers.”

Latest satellite image of TOMAS, as of posting:

Back in FIJI …

The Government of FIJI has just declared a State of Disaster for the Northern and Eastern divisions of Fiji.

The declaration was made by Fiji’s National Disaster Council due to “the serious situation that had resulted in Tropical Cyclone Tomas’ wake in the North.” Fiji Times reported.

Officials said “The same situation as the North is likely to be repeated in the Eastern Division.” The Eastern division is made up of the Lomaiviti and Lau groups of islands.
Fiji’s “Northern division” consists of Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second largest island, Taveuni and dozens of smaller islands including Cikobia, Fiji Times said.

More than 17,000 people fled their homes in Western division, the report said.

“The National Disaster Council has declared a state of disaster in the northern division and eastern division,” National Disaster Management Office operations officer Anthony Blake said.

The Council is particularly concerned about the islands of Cikobia and Qelelevu because they have not heard anything from them since the cyclone struck there about 36 hours  earlier.

At least 50 properties had been destroyed, as of posting, reports said. However, the extent of destruction and damage is bound to be much greater given the force of TOMAS and vulnerability of Fiji islands to storms.

“On Gau island to the east of Viti Levu, Lamiti village head teacher Solomone Rasiga told Fiji commercial radio the villagers sheltered overnight from fierce winds and heavy rain.” AFP reported.

“The wind is very strong, there is a lot of damage to crops,” he said.

Tropical Cyclone Tomas (TC 19P) – Summary of Details on March 16 at 00:01UTC

• Position:  18.2S 179.9W
• Max Sustained Winds :  210km/hr (~ 115 kts)
• Wind Gusts: ~ 260km/hr ( 140 kts)
• Movement: South
• Forward Speed:  9km/hr (~ 05 kts)
• Location: 315km  (170 NM) EAST-NORTHEAST of NADI, FIJI
• Comment: TOMAS is a Category 4A hurricane on the  FEWW New Hurricane Scale. The cyclone has good radial outflow and is experiencing low vertical wind shear. It is  expected to start weakening in about 48 hours, becoming fully extratropical in 72 hours, as it experiences lower ocean heat content and higher vertical wind shear.
• Maximum significant wave height: 9m (27 feet)
• Sources: JTWC, CIMSS and others.

Cyclone TOMAS Projected Track. Source: JTWC. Click image to enlarge.

Cyclone ULUI  (TC 20P) Details on March 16 at 00:01UTC

• Position: 13.3S 157.8E
• Max Sustained Winds:  232 km/hr (~ 125 kts)
• Wind Gusts: 290km/hr (~ 155 kts)
• Movement:  West
• Forward Speed:  ~ 7 km/hr ( 4 kts)
• Location: About 1,710km (925 NM) NNE of Brisbane, Australia
• Maximum significant wave height: 12m (36 feet)
• Sources: JTWC, CIMSS and others.
• Comment: ULUI is expected to start dissipating over water after about 72  hours due to increasing vertical wind shear and decreasing ocean heat content. The cyclone is  a Category 4B hurricane on the  FEWW New Hurricane Scale.

Cyclone ULUI Projected Track. Source: JTWC. Click image to enlarge.

MTSAT (NOAA) images from NOAA– Click images to enlarge and animate.

MTSAT – IR Image

MTSAT – Colorized IR Image

MTSAT – Visible Image

• Water Vapor Loop

Related Links:

• Tropical Cyclone TOMAS
• Tropical Cyclone ULUI

• Cyclones TOMAS and ULUI – UPDATE Mar 15
• Cyclones ULUI and TOMAS – UPDATE Mar 14
• TC ULUI and TOMAS – UPDATE Mar 13
• Tropical Cyclones Now Come in Pairs
• FEWW New Hurricane Scale