• Ocean

Great Barrier Reef Designated “Critical” by New IUCN Report

• Australia
• climate change
• coral
• coral bleaching
• coral reef
• Great Barrier Reef

by Amy Lupica, ODP Contributing Writer Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has been upgraded from “significant concern” to “critical” based on a new report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that found increasing impacts associated with climate change. Just over one month ago, a study found that half of the coral in […]

• Ocean

Coral Reefs in Dire Straits, New Report Shows

• coral
• coral bleaching
• coral reefs

by Amy Lupica, ODP Contributing Writer A new report released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Maryland says that the United States’ coral reefs are in dire circumstances, with some reefs containing only 2% of their former coral population. These underwater ecosystems are crucial to sea life and […]

• Ocean

Oceans Warming Much Faster Than Previously Thought

• climate
• climate change
• coral bleaching
• ocean
• ocean acidification
• OHC
• sea level rise
• sensors
• warming

Oceans are heating up at a rate as much as 40% faster than the global consensus of scientists studying climate change had previously predicted.  A team of scientists looking at the numerous recent studies which made that claim have now validated those studies’ conclusions based on ocean heat content (OHC) observations (actual ocean temperature data), according to a new report published in the journal Science on Friday.  It also validates (as if we needed more proof) that the planet is clearly warming.  

Why This Matters:  Science matters.  The more data scientists have to work with, the better they can understand the changes that are wreaking havoc with our planet.  With more ocean observing sensors, which could be much more beneficial if we expanded the network of buoys and added sensors to more ships, we would not have to fill in nearly so many gaps and could do a much better job of forecasting risks and impacts, such as sea level rise, coral bleaching, and ocean acidification.  As the experts who conducted the review said, “There is a clear need to continue to improve the ocean observation and analysis system to provide better estimates of OHC, because it will enable more refined regional projections of the future.”