GLOBAL WARMING AND DETERIORATING SEAS SUBJECTS OF MAJOR
REPORTS, NEW ARTICLES
Scientists Agree on the Need for More Data on How Climate Change is Affecting
the Oceans
Two
recent reports have gained world-wide attention in the global media in
recent months on the pressing need to act immediately to counteract the
potentially devastating consequences of global warming. Both stress the
importance of better data to understand the impact of climate change
on the oceans.
The recent landmark report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) for the first time conclusively links mankind’s
role in global warming, and the far-reaching consequences it will have
due to melting ice, rising seawater temperatures and extreme weather
conditions, amongst other things. The report also included details about
another negative effect of greenhouse gases, ocean acidification. Many
scientists believe that more than a third of all human-produced carbon
dioxide has been absorbed by the oceans. When CO2 dissolves into seawater,
it generates carbonic acid, which lowers pH levels. When seawater gets
too acidic it hampers shell and coral formation and damages critical
marine organisms such as krill and plankton at the base of the marine
food chain (see article elsewhere in this Report). Some scientists
are now predicting that, due to global warming, by the end of the century
the ocean might become more acidic than it has been in the past 10 million
years. Knowing the rate of acidification and understanding the changes
that can injure or kill sea life is critical to knowing the impact this
problem will have on the sea’s productivity, and on mankind.
Another influential report was the recent publication by the Joint Ocean
Commissions Initiative that provided a scorecard for how we are doing
in protecting the health of the seas. The Joint Ocean Commissions Initiative
was formed in the wake of two highly-publicized ocean commissions - one
appointed by the White House, another supported by the Pew Charitable
Trust - to assess the condition of the sea. Concluding two years ago,
both commissions reported nearly identical findings about the deplorable
state of the oceans’ health. Following their recent scorecard
report, the chairmen of the two ocean commissions, Adm. James Watkins
(USN Ret.) and former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, co-authored
an OpEd piece for the Washington Post from which the following excerpt
is taken:
It's impossible to effectively manage our oceans without the research necessary
to fully understand the complex processes of an ocean ecosystem. Nowhere is
this more apparent than with climate change. It's no secret that the oceans
and climate are deeply linked -- the oceans store vast amounts of energy in
the form of heat and are a sink for much of the carbon dioxide emitted over
the past century. Yet while sophisticated atmospheric monitoring systems have
been in place for decades, only rudimentary systems exist for our oceans. This
leaves us trying to fight climate change with one hand tied behind us. The
only way to understand and respond to devastating climate change is with important
tools such as an Integrated Ocean Observing System, which the administration's
new ocean
research plan recommended on Jan. 26. Unfortunately, even the best-laid
plans to preserve the oceans remain empty rhetoric when Congress and the administration
fail to commit the funds necessary for implementation. For the second year
in a row, federal funding for oceans was stagnant. The Joint Ocean Commission
Initiative estimates that a $750 million investment would be a significant
step forward for such research as the integrated observing system and management
programs like the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Such an investment would protect an
ecosystem that represents 95 percent of the habitable living space on the planet
and supports ocean-dependent businesses that generate more than $138 billion
each year.
The SeaKeeper 1000® oceanographic monitoring system is particularly
valuable in gathering information about climate change and its potential
consequences on the sea and its inhabitants. The system’s basic
set of sensors monitors important determinants, including: 1) Sea Surface
Temperature - accurate to a hundredth of a degree; 2) Salinity Levels
- which reflect the introduction of fresh water from melting ice and
other sources; and 3) pH - which indicates the levels of CO2 being dissolved.
Other optional modular sensors for such things as water clarity and dissolved
oxygen can be added and still more instruments to deploy in the SeaKeeper
system are being developed by private companies. Because it tracks
these significant factors, more and more scientists are looking at the
innovative SeaKeeper 1000 and the data the current network is generating
to expand their knowledge in these critical areas. 
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