Coral is like sea ice. To monitor the effect of global warming, one only has to moinitor what is happening in the poles or in tropical reefs to see what is happening. Coral bleaches when the surrounding water temperature rises 1 or 2 degrees (Celsius) above normal and the colorful part of the coral cannot survive. Coral can recover, but repeated bleachings or persistent water temperature rise will kill the coral off.
Bleached coral is not just a blow to the underwater tourism industry. Coral acts as a nursery and habitat for many forms of marine life, ranging from microscopic plankton, to jellyfish, fish and larger marine predators like the Grat White Shark. If massive amounts of coral die off from bleaching, the habitat loss can cause long term damage to the marine food chain from the bottom up.
Another function of Coral is to oxygenate water and to process carbon in the water, therefore the cycle of bleaching leads to more dead coral, which inturn lead to more carbon in the environment which in turn causes Global Warming and the cycle feeds on itself. You know the story.
On the Great Barrier reef in Australia, scientists and coral experts have raised the alarm. Water temperatures this year have reached an all time high due to the hottest year on record, and many are worried that the consistent presence of above average warm water will push the corals of the Great Barrier beyond their limits.
The resulitng widespread bleaching would be the third such event since 1998, and many are seeing this as the yet another alarm bell for the Global Climate Change Argument.
'Got Ice Cap?' merchandise is now available in the Everybody's Weather online store. T-shirts, Sweatshirts, mugs, posters and printed materials are now available. Products that allow front and back printing show the 2005 minimum arctic sea ice extent image on the front and the 1979 minimum arctic sea ice extent on the back. Got Ice Cap? GET IT.
Don't forget to check out our
Interactive Polar Ice Cap Melter!
Man's impact on the global climate is the biggest danger that the human race faces today. We as a species have to overcome many preconceived notions to face this dilemma and we should know a few things about our enemy. The climate sees no borders, and does not discriminate based on politcal beliefs, religion, skin color, or sexuality, and will surely affect all of us in ways that we cannot imagine in the years to come.
Thing are happening on this planet right now that have dire consequences of for all humans. Accelerating Polar Ice Melt, the deforestation of the Amazon Basin and other large tropical forests, rising sea surface temperatures, massive coral die-offs, droughts, floods and stronger hurricanes are all interconnected and seem to be spinning out of control. For us to really make a difference in our affect on Global Climate Change, we are all going to have to work together as a species.
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