The Sting of Climate Crisis -- On Your Leg
Two days ago I heard a blood-curdling scream from my twelve-year-old who was swimming twenty feet away from me in a large salt water tidal pond. What could possibly have happened? Seconds before she was laughing and splashing with her friend. Now she was crying with a huge red welt on her leg. It was a nasty jellyfish sting.
Hundreds of red stinging jellyfish have just shown up around Martha's Vineyard and the Cape like never seen before. Today the swimmers stayed on shore, the waterskiers stayed home and everyone was discussing the jellyfish population explosion. Then the front page of Sunday's New York Times provided an explanation.
The jellyfish explosion is worldwide. Scientists blame a number of factors including overfishing, but most importantly a rise in seawater temperature caused by global warming. "The warmer seas and drier climate caused by global warming work to the jellyfish's advantage, since nearly all jellyfish breed better and faster in warmer waters," the Times reported. The article describes a scene a few weeks ago on a typical warm summer day in Spain, when -- in a period of hours -- over three hundred people on Barcelona's beaches were treated for stings. Talk about the climate crises hitting home.
Back at the pond my daughter's friend felt the effects of global warming herself not eight minutes later. She cried too.
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I have read in many places that people shouldn't read global warming into singualr events. At this point you can only say that things might happen more often. I don't think you should say THIS happened because of global warming. I am also a little dubious that the slight warming we have experience so far makes jellyfish suddenly have a population explosion. It is just not a strong enough biological engine to drive it.
Tell that to the jellyfish.
If you want to read a less hysterical and more scientifically-based explanation for jellyfish blooms, go to the "jellyfish" site on Wikipedia. See also a link on the site entitled "Jellyfish Bloom Driven Partly by Warmer Waters." This links to an article on a website of a pro-global warming group. The following is taken from both sites.
While warmer water plays a role, other factors are over-fishing which removes competitors for the nutrients that jellyfishes consume; agricultural runoff which pumps up nutrient levels in coastal areas and wind flow which can literally blow large colonies of jellyfishes towards land. Blooms are cyclical. There have been unusual population growth spurts. One of the most famous is the devastating bloom that happened in the Black Sea in the 1980's. The cause was overfishing of sardines.
As to whether the ocean is warming, you should look at the NPR website and search for the story "The Mystery of Global Warming's Missing Heat." It is dated March 19, 2008. The story relates that 3000 robotic heat monitors floating in the world's oceans have not detected any ocean warming since they were set up in 2003.
The Mystery of Global Warming's Missing Heat
by Richard Harris
These diving heat monitors suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years....
This is puzzling because here on the surface of the Earth, the years since 2003 have been some of the hottest on record....
In fact, 80 percent to 90 percent of global warming involves heating ocean waters. Since the heat monitors were deployed in 2003, it has recorded no warming of the oceans.
"There has been a very slight cooling, but not anything really significant," Willis says. "Global warming doesn't mean every year will be warmer than the last. And it may be that we are in a period of less rapid warming."...
In recent years, heat has actually been flowing out of the ocean and into the air. This is a feature of weather known as El Nino. So it is indeed possible the air has warmed but the ocean has not....
So with the oceans not warming, you would expect to see less sea level rise. Instead, sea level has risen about half an inch in the past four years.
Some of this water is apparently coming from a recent increase in the melting rate of glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica....
It's also possible that some of the heat has gone even deeper into the ocean....
Trenberth and Willis agree that a few mild years have no effect on the long-term trend of global warming.
Wow Laurie, it must feel good to have the wingnuts go crazy whenever you post. Confirms you are on the right track.
I live in Waikiki and last Monday morning there were 111 stings on Waikiki beach alone before the south shore beaches were shut down for two days.
The jellyfish show up here every month 7 to 11 days after the full moon. We even have a calender for it. It's not their swarming that is surprising. It's their numbers.
Waikiki beach is not a huge beach and 111 stings... the lifeguards must have had a hellish few hours.
When I lived in Mass 25 years ago, there would occasionally be an explosion of Jellyfish in Plymouth or on the shores of the Cape. Then it was thought to be caused by the jellyfish fleeing from big schools of bluefish that were hunting them.
Not now. Every ill known to man is caused by global warming. That's the way it is with political movements. Scare the bejeesus out of everybody.
Look at the economy if you want to see something scary. Look at India demanding thousands of work visas for Engineers and IT people in the their current WTO trade talks with the US, and the republican negotiators stating that this had not been rejected. Look at congress rewarding lobbyists with billion dollar favors. Look at the value of the dollar.
Look at the fact that a 72 year old dullard may be the next President during the coming crisis. That's what scary to me.
We have perhaps less than 10 years to turn global warming around. At somewhere around that point global warming will take off on its own and there will no stopping it. At the very least it will mean billions of people will starve to death as their farm lands revert to deserts. Not one of the predictive models point to anything less.
Yet here we are totally in denial arguing over whether it's real or not, or whether or not it's caused by human activity. How we can stand here and do so little is beyond me. I'm overwhelmingly saddened that as we face the greatest danger in mankind's history, we disolved into rabble.
John McCain doesn't have to worry about it, he will be gone before this comes about. I'll be gone myself, I'm two years older than he is. But I love my children and my grand children and I'm sorry to have to leave them this rotten legacy. Tell me please; what will it take to get you to stop the silly bickering and do everything you can to meet this growing challenge?
You state the case well, WASanford.
Who knows why there are so many trolls when it comes to this topic. Some of them are getting their 30 pieces of silver to do it, no doubt. But I suspect some actually put time in voluntarily, jeopardizing your grandchrildrens' future and mine and THEIRS. As the saying goes, "Against stupidity, even the gods contend in vain."
We can keep insisting that people listen to the qualified scientists, however. We can keep working towards a livable future for our grandchildren.
"We have perhaps less than 10 years to turn global warming around. At somewhere around that point global warming will take off on its own and there will no stopping it. At the very least it will mean billions of people will starve to death as their farm lands revert to deserts. Not one of the predictive models point to anything less."
There is not one scrap of scientifically factual material in this paragraph.
10 years? Who said this? Based on what criteria?
''warming will take off own its own'. Only if there exists a perpetual motion machine.
'Billions of people will starbe to death' If they do, it will not be because of anthhropogenic global warming.
'farm lands revert to deserts' Implies what is today farmland was once desert. You must mean government meddling to restrict power generation, and transitively irrigation, will reduce food production by putting former arid land out of production.
'None of the predictive models points to any less' If you refer to the various climate models in existence, none of them predict any such things. In fact, none of them are able to regress all the known datasets without one or more special assumptions for some historical interval. Translation: All of these models are flawed. Their predictions cannot be trusted.
Perhaps we can convert the jellyfish to fuel?
I've been to Virginia Beach(home) and Destin Fla(vac) so far this year and haven't noticed any more or less jelly fish that the previous 38 years of my life. Seems to me, from an east coast standpoint the amount of jellyfish has always been related to the proximity of the gulf stream, the closer to shore it is the more jellyfish, and sharks. Biggest threat to Virginia and North Carolina beaches has always been northern tourists leaving trash all over the place.
Creepy. We are wearing this planet out.
".... You would if you didn't harbor this desire to face the end of the world. ..."
-Morgan Freeman, OUTBREAK
Michale....
What is the proper temperature for the ocean?
quote"What is the proper temperature for the ocean?"
here is a neat lil' site to answer that. http://www.oceantemp.com/1mainframe.htm?overview.shtml~main
i hope your daughter is ok. i was just reading about how the jellyfish population is being called the next "cockroaches". http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/science/earth/03jellyfish.html?ref=environment
very scary indeed. also, i wanted to add this url on dolphins and certain fishing "practices"
http://www.savejapandolphins.org/index.php the picture section blew my mind. dolphins and penguins are to me, like polar bears are to you.......
Thank you belladawna, you beat me to it but I'll add my 2 cents anyway;
Throughout the world last year, there was a grand total of ONE fatal shark attack!
On the other hand there are jellyfish: the cockroaches of the open waters, the ultimate maritime survivors who thrive in damaged environments, and that is what they are doing. Without predators to control them they are having a field day!
In my hometown of Sarasota, FL the Siesta Key beach has posted warning signs about the high and dangerous bacteria level in the ocean. This is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, sugar-white sand and beautiful-looking ocean water, therefore (up till now) a very popular tourist spot.
The oceans, the glaciers---when will the destruction and pollution of all our treasured places end? Not until everyone rises up against the corporate rape of our most precious resources. Keeping basic things like air and water has got to be made a top priority.
While we are on the other side of the state (St Augustine) some of my fondest childhood memories are of fun on the Sarasota beaches... :D
But humankind's effect??
That's like having a guy in a little boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, dropping his pants and taking a piss. Granted, it's probably not the best thing for the fish in the immediate area of his....er... dingy... But to think that it could raise the temp and the water level of the ocean is flat out ludicrous..
HCCC (Human Caused Climate Change) is nothing but a scam so that the likes of Al Gore and Richard Branson can make themselves richer..
http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=AGENDA-qqqs=agenda-qqqid=34805-qqqx=1.asp
It's a con... Pure and simple...
They create the imminent catastrophe and then profit from the "solution"....
But hay.. I'll be fair... I'll start following Al Gore's advice when AL GORE start's following Al Gore's advice...
Michale.....
Take a good, long look at the satellite views of Earth's nightside one of these times. Europe, Japan and much of the rest of the Pacific Rim, and the two coasts of the US are almost solid light. Anybody who thinks that the human impact on Mother Earth is "miniscule" is living in the past.
... or do you think the Earth is flat and those pictures are faked by the Government like the intelligence on Iraq?
the amount of carbon humans have put into the environment is in no way equivalent to taking a piss in the ocean. that's one person you are thinking about. when it's just a single person in this huge world it really isn't a lot. there are roughly 6 billion people on the planet.
we're talking (just in terms of fossil fuels) billions of cubic tons. we are burning up stuff that took MILLIONS of years to form really effing quickly! perhaps it is a combination of what we are doing and the natural cycle, but we are doing something.
we've removed huge amounts of what helps to clean the air-- TREES. here is a link for some of the things trees do to help us survive.
http://www.treelink.org/docs/29_reasons.phtml
every hour we throw 2.5 million pieces of trash into the ocean. If you should see this amazing floating pile of plastic in the Pacific Ocean, it's called "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch." It features three million tons of plastic debris floating in an area larger than Texas. 46,000 pieces of plastic float on every square mile of ocean.
http://www.rense.com/general81/10an.htm
we make more waste than we can actually get rid of, where do you think it goes?? sh*t, we've even been polluting space. we leave trash everywhere we go with everything we do. it is myopic, regrettable, and potentially disastrous to do nothing when evidence suggests that changes are coming. we can reduce what we put into it and treat the planet like we depend on it for survival. a few degrees in global average temperature will severely change weather patterns and local temperatures. it may be partly due to a natural cycle, but there's no guarantee it is a cycle that humans can survive. there are specific conditions we need to live.
why don't people take care of what's theirs? this planet belongs to humanity, we shouldn't just exploit it for all its worth and hope for the best. we need to care for it as if our lives depended on it.
Michale, what about 7,000,000,000 people taking a piss in the ocean at the same time?
Nature is running amok. I am really concerned about honeybees and Colony Collapse Disorder. We need bees for so many things.
Today is Bee Appreciation Day read more: http://www.Vaboomer.com
Nature is beginning to run amok. And it's just the beginning. I am really concerned about bee and Colony Collapse Disorder. Bees are so important to us.
Today is Bee Appreciation Day - read more:
http://www.Vaboomer.com
Please show me the evidence that links any alleged rise in ocean temps are caused by humans.
While you search for that, I can explain to you the latest cons generated by Al Gore and Richard Branson, if you like..
Michale.....
1: Science. 1995 Feb 3;267(5198):666-671. Links
Simulation of Recent Global Temperature Trends.Graham NE.
Observations show that global average tropospheric temperatures have been rising during the past century, with the most recent portion of record showing a sharp rise since the mid-1970s. This study shows that the most recent portion of the global temperature record (1970 to 1992) can be closely reproduced by atmospheric models forced only with observed ocean surface temperatures. In agreement with a diverse suite of controversial observational evidence from the past 40 years, the upward trend in simulated tropospheric temperatures is caused by an enhancement of the tropical hydrologic cycle driven by increasing tropical ocean temperatures. Although it is possible that the observed behavior is due to natural climate variability, there is disquieting similarity between these model results, observed climate trends in recent decades, and the early expressions of the climatic response to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide in numerical simulations.
PMID: 17745844 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
The key part... "Although it is possible that the observed behavior is due to natural climate variability...". No climate model has ever been accurate. They are constantly modified to produce the result the climatologist wants.
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