Climate Point: Trouble brewing in the Atlantic Ocean
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and environment news. I'm Janet Wilson from hot, windy Palm Springs, California. Lots of water news this week, because who isn't thinking about a plunge right now?
As the Midwest and Northeast join the rest of the country enduring sweltering summer temperatures, many people are headed to coastline beaches and favorite swimming holes. But if you're envisioning cool, clear waters, you might want to think again in some spots. No hot tub is needed in South Florida this week. Water temperature at a buoy south of Miami reached an incredible 101.1 degrees Monday evening.
That's higher than an unofficial 99.7 degrees once reported in Kuwait, but meteorologists say the Florida gauge's location in shallower water near land means the two measurements can't be fairly compared. Climate change likely is a culprit. Scientists say it’s possible El Niño also contributed some heat, but it wasn’t a major factor. Instead, a lingering high-pressure system with reduced trade winds has helped raise area water and air temperatures. It's part of a blocked pattern in the jet stream over North America this summer that has been linked to climate change by scientist Michael Mann and others.
Two popular Jersey Shore beaches reopened Wednesday after levels of dangerous intestinal bacteria linked to sewage, feces and other contaminants. And with a year to go to the Olympics, Paris is in the final phase of a historic clean-up which will allow swimmers back into the river Seine, Paste BN reports. Banned for a century because of filthy water, BBC notes a $1.6 billion cleanup for the opening ceremonies means city swimming can return too.
"When people see athletes swimming in the Seine with no health problems, they'll be confident themselves to start going back," predicts Pierre Rabadan, deputy Paris mayor in charge of the Olympics. "It's our contribution for the future."
But the future of an Atlantic Ocean current system is not looking so bright. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation – a large system of ocean currents that carry warm water from the tropics into the North Atlantic – could collapse any time from 2025 onward because of human-caused climate change, a new study suggests. If it does, per Paste BN, it could trigger an ice age in Europe and sea-level rise in Boston and New York, as well as worse storms and hurricanes along the East Coast.
Another ominous study concludes Greenland was actually green 400,000 years ago. That's worrying because it shows the ice sheet melted way back then, causing at least 5 feet of sea-level rise around the globe, despite atmospheric levels of heat-trapping carbon dioxide being far lower than they are today (280 parts per million vs. 420 ppm today).
What's a concerned person to do? In the Baltic Sea this summer, citizen divers are painstakingly restoring sea grass that keeps the watery ecosystem healthy and stores carbon, reports Reuters. And in Wisconsin, federal biologists recently swam into the Chippewa River and released 3,500 juvenile winged mapleleaf mussels — each about half the size of a grain of salt — into the river bottom. The animals, a freshwater mussel once found in rivers across the central U.S., are now exceedingly rare. But the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports they play a crucial role: Filtering the water so it's clean and safe.
Back on shore, staff from the many environment agencies involved in the project clapped and cheered.
"Safe travels, babies," called one.
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