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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums300,000 homes worth $117.5 Billion will be lost within 30 years.
Scientists struggle to find reasons behind gray whale deaths
Some researchers think the whales are starving, but the cause of death may be far more complicated.
Helen Santoro NEWS Aug. 15, 2019
On July 2, around a thousand feet above the Chukchi Sea, Megan Ferguson sat with two scientists in the back of a small propeller plane. Bounded on the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, and on the west by Wrangle Island, north of Russia, the Chukchi serves as the summer feeding ground for hundreds of gray whales. This year, a disconcerting number of them are not completing their journey north. Along the West Coast of Mexico, the United States and Canada, at least 193 dead animals have washed ashore the most in two decades.
Teams of scientists are investigating what the casualties mean for the gray whale population as a whole. But some also fear that the deaths could be part of a larger trend as animals struggle to adapt to climate change. Said Ferguson: The gray whales are just one piece to the environmental puzzle.
Today, many of the whales washing up along the coast in California, Oregon and Washington look malnourished with blubber that lacks a healthy, oily shine. That was true of a dead whale on the rocky coast of Port Hadlock, Washington, whose stomach was filled with eelgrass. The presence of eelgrass, which grows on muddy ocean bottoms where whales typically suck up amphipods microscopic ocean critters that may be struggling due to changing ocean conditions suggests that the whales may have been desperately trying to eat but not finding the foods they typically rely on.
The gray whale deaths also reflect a larger issue the impact of climate change on the ocean. Arctic animals in particular are struggling to adapt to warming waters. For example, Alaskan salmon have been suffering from heart attacks caused by rising water temperatures, with some areas reaching all-time highs. Additionally, amphipods, one of the gray whales main food sources, may be at risk from a loss of oxygen in warmer Arctic waters. Since the mid-1900s, ocean oxygen levels have decreased on average by two to five percent. This is a broader story, Moore said. I think something big is going on. https://www.hcn.org/articles/scientific-research-scientists-struggle-to-find-reasons-behind-gray-whale-deaths
Some researchers think the whales are starving, but the cause of death may be far more complicated.
Helen Santoro NEWS Aug. 15, 2019
On July 2, around a thousand feet above the Chukchi Sea, Megan Ferguson sat with two scientists in the back of a small propeller plane. Bounded on the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, and on the west by Wrangle Island, north of Russia, the Chukchi serves as the summer feeding ground for hundreds of gray whales. This year, a disconcerting number of them are not completing their journey north. Along the West Coast of Mexico, the United States and Canada, at least 193 dead animals have washed ashore the most in two decades.
Teams of scientists are investigating what the casualties mean for the gray whale population as a whole. But some also fear that the deaths could be part of a larger trend as animals struggle to adapt to climate change. Said Ferguson: The gray whales are just one piece to the environmental puzzle.
Today, many of the whales washing up along the coast in California, Oregon and Washington look malnourished with blubber that lacks a healthy, oily shine. That was true of a dead whale on the rocky coast of Port Hadlock, Washington, whose stomach was filled with eelgrass. The presence of eelgrass, which grows on muddy ocean bottoms where whales typically suck up amphipods microscopic ocean critters that may be struggling due to changing ocean conditions suggests that the whales may have been desperately trying to eat but not finding the foods they typically rely on.
The gray whale deaths also reflect a larger issue the impact of climate change on the ocean. Arctic animals in particular are struggling to adapt to warming waters. For example, Alaskan salmon have been suffering from heart attacks caused by rising water temperatures, with some areas reaching all-time highs. Additionally, amphipods, one of the gray whales main food sources, may be at risk from a loss of oxygen in warmer Arctic waters. Since the mid-1900s, ocean oxygen levels have decreased on average by two to five percent. This is a broader story, Moore said. I think something big is going on. https://www.hcn.org/articles/scientific-research-scientists-struggle-to-find-reasons-behind-gray-whale-deaths
NOAA opens investigation: Gray whale deaths could reach record levels this year.
At least 81 gray whale corpses have washed ashore in California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska since Jan. 1. If tallies from Mexico and Canada are added, the number of stranded gray whales reaches about 160 and counting, said Michael Milstein, spokesman for NOAA Fisheries.
Polluted oceans: Turns out there's more plastic pollution in the deep ocean than the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
These American cities will soon be under water
Michael B. Sauter and Thomas C. Frohlich
The steady rise in global surface temperatures is largely attributed to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. With rising temperatures, the worlds ice has been melting and sea levels have been rising. As a result, barring major interventions, sooner or later thousands of coastal communities around the world will become uninhabitable.
With the ice in Greenland and Antarctica melting at record rates, scientists currently estimate sea levels could rise 2-7 feet by the end of the century, with some estimates even higher. Antarctica has about 90% of all ice in the world, enough to raise global sea levels by 200 feet, in theory. This kind of catastrophic sea level rise is just one of many potential disaster scenarios caused by climate change.
We reviewed the coastal communities in which at least 10% of habitable land is expected to experience chronic flooding by 2060. Places are ranked by the number of residents that live in parts of the community expected to be regularly flooded by 2060. In many of these communities, more than one-third of the current population lives in areas expected to be regularly flooded by 2060.
Across U.S. coastal cities, more than 300,000 homes worth a combined $117.5 billion are likely to be at risk of chronic tidal flooding within 30 years, according to UCS analysis and projections. By the end of the century, that total could rise to 2.4 million homes and more than $1 trillion in property damage and those estimates are based only on existing homes. The regular inundation these cities face in the near future could make the worst floods in American history seem tame by comparison. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/06/18/climate-change-american-cities-that-will-soon-be-under-water/39533119/
Michael B. Sauter and Thomas C. Frohlich
The steady rise in global surface temperatures is largely attributed to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. With rising temperatures, the worlds ice has been melting and sea levels have been rising. As a result, barring major interventions, sooner or later thousands of coastal communities around the world will become uninhabitable.
With the ice in Greenland and Antarctica melting at record rates, scientists currently estimate sea levels could rise 2-7 feet by the end of the century, with some estimates even higher. Antarctica has about 90% of all ice in the world, enough to raise global sea levels by 200 feet, in theory. This kind of catastrophic sea level rise is just one of many potential disaster scenarios caused by climate change.
We reviewed the coastal communities in which at least 10% of habitable land is expected to experience chronic flooding by 2060. Places are ranked by the number of residents that live in parts of the community expected to be regularly flooded by 2060. In many of these communities, more than one-third of the current population lives in areas expected to be regularly flooded by 2060.
Across U.S. coastal cities, more than 300,000 homes worth a combined $117.5 billion are likely to be at risk of chronic tidal flooding within 30 years, according to UCS analysis and projections. By the end of the century, that total could rise to 2.4 million homes and more than $1 trillion in property damage and those estimates are based only on existing homes. The regular inundation these cities face in the near future could make the worst floods in American history seem tame by comparison. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/06/18/climate-change-american-cities-that-will-soon-be-under-water/39533119/
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300,000 homes worth $117.5 Billion will be lost within 30 years. (Original Post)
real Cannabis calm
Aug 2019
OP
Here's another good idea. We can build dikes and levies, like in Holland
real Cannabis calm
Aug 2019
#3
Conservative genius and darling of the uninformed, Ben Shapiro says they can just sell their houses
A HERETIC I AM
Aug 2019
#6
Cicada
(4,533 posts)1. We need to revise federally subsidized flood insurance
The Fed govt props up real estate values in flood zones. We need to transition to realistic prices. That will motivate people to get out of harms way or invest in better flood protection.
Wounded Bear
(58,440 posts)2. Good idea...nt
real Cannabis calm
(1,124 posts)3. Here's another good idea. We can build dikes and levies, like in Holland
Climate change deniers enjoying a vacation near their expensive, ocean-front property:
real Cannabis calm
(1,124 posts)5. No wonder the GOP wants paperless voting machines in Florida...
I hope they are waterproof.
Duppers
(28,094 posts)4. +1000000
THANK YOU for posting this, especially here in GD. (Most DUers don't read the E&E forum.)
real Cannabis calm
(1,124 posts)8. Thanks for the reply. Do you post in the E&E forum?
I mostly post recent and unusual environmental news here.
Duppers
(28,094 posts)10. Yep. When I find something interesting.
My fellow concerned DUers usually beat me to it.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,320 posts)6. Conservative genius and darling of the uninformed, Ben Shapiro says they can just sell their houses
and move!
Yes, he really said that.
This guy is considered by some to be the voice of young conservatism. Obviously an Ivy League Juris Doctor doesn't clear the fucking stupid out.
Duppers
(28,094 posts)7. I think that's a conservative estimate
By 2060.
Crunchy Frog
(26,548 posts)9. I feel worse about the whales than I do about the houses.
New Breed Leader
(614 posts)11. Same.
littlemissmartypants
(22,418 posts)13. Ditto. nt
roamer65
(36,739 posts)12. I'll quote Lex Luthor.
We all have our faults, mines in California.
I should be buying the new beachfront property.