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Looks like a new comprehensive report on the state of the worlds Oceans has been released. Of course, this is from scientists, so the deniers that have overrun this section can just skip it.
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/03/the_oceans_are_deteriorating_more_quickly_than_we_thought/
Its not good.
Between deoxygenation, acidification (from all the CO2 we are pumping into them) and warming, An already massive extinction is taking place. Add that on to the massive overfishing we are doing for the top species - virtual disappearance of many fish and whale species, and the amount of fertilizers and farm runoff that is destroying our river deltas, its not pretty.
From the article:
A “deadly trio” of warming, deoxygenation and increased acidification combined, the report found, are posing an even greater threat to the oceans than they would alone. While the carbon absorbed from the atmosphere promotes increased warming and acidification, pollution from sewage and fertilizer is creating algae blooms that decrease the oceans’ levels of oxygen. The report found that overfishing, too, threatens marine life.
The acidification, specifically, is “unprecedented in the Earth’s known history,” says the report, which found that the oceans are more acidic now than they’ve been for the past 300 million years. And carbon is being released into the ocean at a rate 10 times more quickly than the last time there was a major collapse of ocean species, 55 million years ago. As a result, the authors write, they have reason to believe that “the next mass extinction may have already begun.”
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/03/the_oceans_are_deteriorating_more_quickly_than_we_thought/
Its not good.
Between deoxygenation, acidification (from all the CO2 we are pumping into them) and warming, An already massive extinction is taking place. Add that on to the massive overfishing we are doing for the top species - virtual disappearance of many fish and whale species, and the amount of fertilizers and farm runoff that is destroying our river deltas, its not pretty.
From the article:
A “deadly trio” of warming, deoxygenation and increased acidification combined, the report found, are posing an even greater threat to the oceans than they would alone. While the carbon absorbed from the atmosphere promotes increased warming and acidification, pollution from sewage and fertilizer is creating algae blooms that decrease the oceans’ levels of oxygen. The report found that overfishing, too, threatens marine life.
The acidification, specifically, is “unprecedented in the Earth’s known history,” says the report, which found that the oceans are more acidic now than they’ve been for the past 300 million years. And carbon is being released into the ocean at a rate 10 times more quickly than the last time there was a major collapse of ocean species, 55 million years ago. As a result, the authors write, they have reason to believe that “the next mass extinction may have already begun.”
