State of the Oceans — Log 73
YOUR WEEKLY BRIEFING FROM PARLEY
This image by Rick Miskiv, header image by Oscar Fredes
CLIMATE CHANGE
According to a new study, the ocean’s major current systems have been migrating poleward since the 1980s. This shift may be responsible for recent changes in sea level, hurricanes, and the polar jet stream. While the exact cause behind this trend remains unknown, the study’s authors believe that climate change has altered the wind patterns that drive the oceans’ five major gyres.
Also, this week researchers revealed that erosion could cause the disappearance of half of the world’s beaches by 2100. This finding comes from the first global assessment of climate change’s effect on sandy shorelines, which drew on decades of satellite data to run over 100 million storm event simulations. The good news, says the study’s lead, is that even slight reductions in carbon emissions could help preserve our coasts: “Moderate emissions mitigation could prevent 17% of the shoreline retreat in 2050 and 40% in 2100.”
PLASTIC POLLUTION
A recent study estimates that plastic pollution kills half a million hermit crabs every year on remote islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Because of their proximity to ocean gyres, these islands have unusually large build-ups of plastic debris, like small containers, which can trap crabs until they die. Unfortunately, the smell of decaying crabs may attract new shell-seekers to the plastic, compounding the mortality rate. In more bad news, plastic pollution could be fueling the antibiotic resistance crisis: researchers collected pieces of marine plastic and found that 98% hosted antibiotic-resistant bacteria. “We are greatly increasing the surface area that microbes can colonize in the ocean” said one expert.
CORAL REEFS
A new study on corals suggests that the next major extinction event is imminent. By comparing today’s reefs with the fossil record, scientists found that corals are exhibiting the same stress-responses as their ancestors did during the last global extinction sixty-six million years ago. The lead researcher described the latest extinction as a “slow-motion car crash” – a disaster that is imperceptible over the course of a human lifetime. Meanwhile, separate research shows that increases in temperature and nutrient pollution can negatively impact the development of coral larvae. The University of Hawai’i team believes that their work fills key knowledge gaps on how ocean warming and agricultural runoff will affect coral reefs.
THE FIRST ‘PLASTIC’ SPECIES
Scientists recently discovered a new marine creature in one of the deepest places on Earth – and found plastic in its stomach. Eurythenes plasticus, the new species of amphipod, was named by the British researchers to highlight the strand of PET plastic pollution found in its guts. As of 2017, over 100 million tons of polyethylene resins are produced annually, accounting for 34% of the total plastics market.
THE LONG READ
Fossil fuel companies feel threatened by alternative energy—and they’re counting on plastic to save them. Last year, global plastic manufacturers emitted the equivalent of 189 coal plants, and that number could triple by 2050 if demand continues to rise. Fossil fuels are so cheap that hundreds of new plants have been planned in the United States alone since 2010. As one expert puts it: “Plastics keep us on the fossil fuel treadmill.”
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