Global warming has quadrupled ocean dead zones – “The decline in ocean oxygen ranks among the most serious effects of human activities on the Earth’s environment”

4 January 2018 (SERC) – In the past 50 years, the amount of water in the open ocean with zero oxygen has gone up more than fourfold. In coastal water bodies, including estuaries and seas, low-oxygen sites have increased more than 10-fold since 1950. Scientists expect oxygen to continue dropping even outside these zones as […]

Study reveals scale of “nitrate timebomb”

By Roger Harrabin 10 November 2017 (BBC News) – Huge quantities of nitrate chemicals from farm fertilisers are polluting the rocks beneath our feet, a study says.Researchers at the British Geological Survey say it could have severe global-scale consequences for rivers, water supplies, human health and the economy.They say the nitrate will be released from […]

Microbes dictate regime shifts causing anoxia in lakes and seas – “Hysteresis loops and tipping points are a common feature of oxic-anoxic transitions, causing rapid drops in oxygen levels that are not easily reversed”

6 October 2017 (UvA News) – Gradual environmental changes due to eutrophication and global warming can cause a rapid depletion of oxygen levels in lakes and coastal waters. A new study led by professors Jef Huisman and Gerard Muyzer of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) shows that microorganisms play a key role in these disastrous […]

Lake Erie algal bloom cleanup falling far short of 40 percent phosphorus reduction goal

By James F. McCarty 11 October 2017 (The Plain Dealer) – Approaching the end of another summer marked by a substantial algal bloom in Lake Erie’s western basin, environmental and conservation groups released separate reports Tuesday that came to the same conclusion: Ohio, Michigan and Ontario are falling far short in their efforts to reduce […]

Nitrogen cycle in coastal waters: Hamburg Harbor becomes a nitrate hotspot

By Tim Schröder 3 August 2017(Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht) – Nitrogen compounds are an important factor in the production of algal biomass. The team led by biologist Kirstin Dähnke from the Institute of Coastal Research at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht has been carrying out extensive Elbe nitrogen measurements for this reason.These measurements have shown that regions upstream from […]

Global warming projected to increase harmful algal blooms in U.S. freshwaters significantly – “The impact of climate change goes way beyond warmer air temperatures, rising sea levels, and melting glaciers”

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, 15 August 2017 (Tufts Now) – Harmful algal blooms known to pose risks to human and environmental health in large freshwater reservoirs and lakes are projected to increase because of climate change, according to a team of researchers led by a Tufts University scientist. The team developed a modeling framework that predicts that the […]

Image of the Day: Satellite view of plankton bloom in Washington’s Hood Canal, 31 July 2017

By Kathryn Hansen 2 August 2017 (NASA) – Looking over the edge of a boat, it would be easy to mistake the jewel-toned waters for the Caribbean Sea. But you are more likely to find geoducks and barnacles than you are to find grouper and white sandy beaches. In the Pacific Northwest, the water does […]

Gulf of Mexico dead zone is the largest ever measured

2 August 2017 (NOAA) – Scientists have determined this year’s Gulf of Mexico “dead zone,” an area of low oxygen that can kill fish and marine life, is 8,776 square miles, an area about the size of New Jersey. It is the largest measured since dead zone mapping began there in 1985.The measured size is […]

Jurassic drop in ocean oxygen lasted a million years

12 May 2017 (University of Exeter) – Dramatic drops in oceanic oxygen, which cause mass extinctions of sea life, come to a natural end – but it takes about a million years. The depletion of oxygen in the oceans is known as “anoxia”, and scientists from the University of Exeter have been studying how periods […]

Global warming making oceans more toxic by increasing algae blooms – “The distribution, frequency, and intensity of these events have increased across the globe”

STONY BROOK, N.Y., 26 April 2017 (SBU) – Climate change is predicted to cause a series of maladies for world oceans including heating up, acidification, and the loss of oxygen.  A newly published study published online in the April 24 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, titled, “Ocean warming since 1982 […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial