Sea-Level Rise

 

Trump Claims Oceans Will Rise Less Than An Inch. According to E&E News, “President Trump dismissed the possibility of sea-level rise Tuesday by suggesting that ocean water might climb imperceptibly over the next two centuries, a claim that’s contradicted by government measurements. Trump has mocked climate science for years, but he has rarely touched on sea-level rise. That changed at a rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night. ‘The ocean is going to rise one-eighth of an inch within the next 250 years,’ Trump said to applause. ‘We are going to be wiped out.’ In fact, conservative scientific estimates suggest that sea levels could rise by more than 2 feet, or at least 26 inches, by the end of this century, according to a NASA-affiliated study released last year. That’s enough to make some cities around the world uninhabitable. Sea-level rise has been accelerating in recent decades, and some estimates suggest that ocean levels could rise more than 3 feet by 2100. The actual rate of increase will vary throughout the world, but some spots may experience more than that. NASA tracks global sea levels with satellites. Within the next 200 years, the current rate of melting on Greenland alone could raise sea levels by 63 inches, or more than 5 feet, according to a study published in June by NASA and the European Space Agency. The president’s erroneous assertions also challenge his company’s past argument for a sea wall at Trump’s golf resort in Ireland, the Trump International Golf Links. His business applied for permission to build the wall to protect the property from ‘global warming and its effects,’ according to Politico.” [E&E News, 12/12/19 (=)]

 

Arctic Has One Of Warmest Years, Raising Fears Over Rising Sea Levels. According to Phys.org, “The Arctic has experienced its second warmest year since 1900, according to a report published Tuesday, raising fears over low summer sea ice and rising sea levels. The North Pole has been warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet since the 1990s, a phenomenon climatologists call Arctic amplification, and the past six years have been the region’s warmest ever. The average temperature in the 12 months to September was 1.9 degrees Celsius higher than the 1981-2010 average, according to the Arctic Report Card of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA). The end-of-summer sea ice cover measured that month was the second lowest in the 41-year satellite record, tied with 2007 and 2016, the annual report said. ‘2007 was a watershed year,’ Don Perovich, a Dartmouth engineering professor who co-authored the report, told AFP. ‘Some years there’s an increase, some years there’s a decrease, but we’ve never returned to the levels we saw before 2007,’ he added. The year up to September has been surpassed only by the equivalent period in 2015-16—the warmest since 1900, when records began. … The ice is also thinner, meaning airplanes can no longer land with supplies for the residents of Diomede, a small island in the Bering Strait, who now depend on less reliable helicopters.” [Phys.org, 12/11/19 (=)]

 

Blue New Deal

 

Warren's Blue New Deal Taps Into The Power Of Earth's Oceans. According to Salon, “ ‘While the ocean is severely threatened, it can also be a major part of the climate solution – from providing new sources of clean energy to supporting a new future of ocean farming,’ Warren states in the plan. ‘That is why I believe that a Blue New Deal must be an essential part of any Green New Deal – helping us fight climate change, protecting our health, and creating good, high-wage union jobs in the process.’ At a high level, the plan offers obvious and important solutions to fighting climate change. Considering that 71 percent of Earth’s surface is covered with water, there is no question about the role marine biodiversity plays in the overall health of Earth. Indeed, scientists continue to explore and suggest ways in which healthy oceans could protect us from climate change. Yet the world’s oceans are suffering as a result of rising carbon emissions and global warming, and ocean pollution is part of a negative feedback loop that perpetuates climate change. Warren’s announcement of the Blue New Deal was well-timed. On the same day, the 14th annual Arctic Report Card, compiled by more than 80 scientists for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), revealed troubling trends. The report card noted that the Arctic is warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet, and that the region’s permafrost continues to thaw, which has the potential to release up to 600 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year. Likewise, Warren’s announcement positions her to steal back the media narrative from former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who have been at the top of various national polls.” [Salon, 12/11/19 (+)]

 

Is The Tide Turning In Favor Of A Blue New Deal? According to Grist, “On Saturday, the International Union for Conservation of Nature presented the largest peer-reviewed study ever conducted of ocean deoxygenation at the U.N.’s Climate Change Conference in Madrid. Oceans have sucked up 93 percent of the heat human beings have produced since the mid-1900s, the study says, but they’re reaching their limit. As oxygen levels in the ocean deplete, oceans could actually become a formidable contributor to climate change. That’s just the latest study sounding the alarm about the state of the oceans on a warming world. A U.N. special report published earlier this fall by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change painted a stark picture of the consequences of a warmed-over ocean for the animals and humans that depend on it. The pace at which the ocean is warming, the report said, has ‘more than doubled’ since 1993. That report came on the heels of other recent studies showing that oceans are warming faster than previously expected, that warming oceans are hurting fisheries worldwide, and that climate change is even changing the color of the oceans, In the face of all this alarming research, policymakers and politicians are coming around to the idea that any climate policy is incomplete if it doesn’t contain an ocean component. The U.N.’s 14th Sustainable Development Goal, conserve and sustainably use the oceans, has long been ignored at major convenings. But the meeting in Madrid this month has been dubbed the Blue Conference of Parties to try to keep the climate negotiations focused on the oceans.” [Grist, 12/11/19 (+)]

 

Offshore Drilling

 

Nearly $226M To Restore Open Gulf After 2010 BP Oil Spill. According to Associated Press, “Federal agencies have approved nearly $226 million for 18 projects to restore open ocean and marine habitats that were decimated in the Gulf of Mexico by the 2010 BP oil spill. The projects range from $52.6 million to study deep-sea habitats to $290,000 to find ways to keep sea turtles from swallowing or getting snagged on hooks or tangled in lines set out for miles along reefs. They are described in a 490-page report released Tuesday. The nonprofit Ocean Conservancy said it’s ‘the world’s first plan to restore the open ocean and deep-sea environment from a major oil disaster.’ ‘Ocean Conservancy welcomes this major conservation milestone for the Gulf of Mexico,’ CEO Janis Searles Jones said in a news release. The explosion April 20, 2010, on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig killed 11 workers. The well spewed 210 million gallons (795 million liters) of oil before it was capped 87 days later. The open ocean recovery plan was drawn up by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The money is from BP’s $8.8 billion settlement for natural resources damage, said NOAA Deepwater Horizon program manager Rachel Sweeney.” [Associated Press, 12/11/19 (=)]

 

Lowcountry Lawmaker Prefiles Bill In State Senate To Permanently Ban Offshore Drilling. According to WCSC-TV, “A Lowcountry lawmaker pre-filed a bill Tuesday morning which would prohibit state permits for infrastructure related to offshore drilling. Sen. Chip Campsen (R-Charleston, Beaufort & Colleton Counties) has been joined by 28 of 46 state senators who are co-sponsoring his bill. Earlier in 2019, the South Carolina state senate passed a proviso preventing the Department of Health and Environmental Control or local government entities to use any funds to approve licenses or permits associated with offshore drilling for oil or gas or for seismic testing. It carried the weight of state law for one year, but the new bill, if passed, would make the drilling ban permanent. ‘Offshore drilling would inevitably result in massive industrialization of our coastline,’ Campsen said. ‘It would damage our coast’s rich natural, historic, cultural and economic resources. I am pleased twenty-eight Senate colleagues joined me in a bipartisan effort to protect South Carolina’s coast from offshore drilling.’ The bill will be considered in the 2020 legislative year.” [WCSC-TV, 12/11/19 (=)]

 

Fisheries & Marine Life

 

Senate Panel OKs Bill To Aid Stranded Marine Mammals. According to E&E News, “The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved a bill today that would offer more federal aid for rescuing stranded marine mammals. On a unanimous voice vote, the panel passed S. 2802, the ‘Marine Mammal Research and Response Act,’ which would reauthorize NOAA’s John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program. Sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the panel’s ranking member, the measure cleared the panel without debate. Cantwell said the bill would establish ‘a rapid response’ to help rescue marine mammals, including those caught in fishing gear. The measure also calls for a study on algal blooms, ‘an issue plaguing many of our coastal states and environments.’ ‘The maritime economy is so important to the state of Washington, and its habitat drives an economic juggernaut,’ Cantwell said. Cantwell’s bill would authorize an appropriation of $7 million per year from 2020 to 2025 for the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Rapid Response Fund.” [E&E News, 12/11/19 (=)]

 

Endangered Right Whales Sighted Off Florida, South Carolina And Georgia. According to Walterboro Live, “North Atlantic right whale migration is underway! As of December 2, biologists have five confirmed sightings of potential right whale moms. The first right whale of the 2019-2020 season was spotted Saturday, November 23, six miles off Jacksonville, Florida. The whale, known to biologists as ‘Harmonia’ is a 19-year-old female. According to scientists, she last gave birth in 2016. In addition to ‘Harmonia’ other whales spotted include ‘Harmony,’ ‘Arpeggio,’ and ‘Slalom’ off South Carolina, and ‘Naevus’ (off Georgia). North Atlantic right whales are on the move along the Atlantic coast of the United States. NOAA is cautioning boaters to give these endangered whales plenty of space and to be vigilant while underway to avoid accidental collisions with whales. We are asking commercial fishermen to remove unused gear from the ocean to help avoid entanglements. We also ask that they use vertical lines with required markings, weak links, and breaking strengths. Every winter, many right whales travel more than 1,000 miles from their feeding grounds off Canada and New England. They migrate to the warm coastal waters of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida’s east coast. These waters in the southern United States are the only known calving area for the species—an area where females regularly give birth during winter.” [Walterboro Live, 12/11/19 (=)]

 

Ocean Health & Management

 

Scientists Find Thousands Of Garbage Filled Craters More Than 3,000 Feet Underwater. According to SFGate, “About 20 years ago, scientists were puzzled by the discovery of massive and almost perfectly circular craters, some with diameters more than twice the length of two football fields, on the ocean floor off the California coast. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) has more recently counted 5,200 of these so-called ‘pockmarks’ offshore from Big Sur. The 500-square-mile area marks the largest pockmark field in North America. Using sonar mounted on autonomous underwater vehicles to survey the ocean floor 3,000 to 4,000 feet underwater, the researchers were surprised to also find more than 15,000 micro-depressions (about 11 meters across on average), many filled with debris and garbage. ‘Trash, marine debris and dead animals are getting gathered into these holes and concentrated,’ said Eve Lundsten, a senior research technician with MBARI. ‘They’re acting like trash bins on the ocean floor.’ In total, 30 percent contained manufactured trash and 20 percent marine debris.” [SFGate, 12/11/19 (=)]

 

 

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