For 2nd Year Running, Partial Failure Of Cold Current Along CA Coast

[hatrack]

(Media-Newswire.com) - Scientists from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and other institutions have analyzed the events of 2005 in a series of papers published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters ( GRL ), and they are busy analyzing more data collected this year. At the back of everyone's mind is a troubling question: Are these unusual conditions part of the natural variability of the California Current system, or do they signal a shift to a new oceanographic regime?

"Once is a fluke, but two years in a row makes you think something might be happening. If it happened again next year I'd be really worried," said Raphael Kudela, associate professor of ocean sciences at UCSC. The conditions are consistent with scenarios for the regional effects of global warming, based on the projections of climate models for future decades. Even if the current changes are not related to global warming, they may be giving us a preview of future oceanographic conditions in a warmer world, Kudela said.

EDIT

UCSC researchers monitoring sea lions in Monterey Bay observed unprecedented feeding behaviors in 2005. Normally a strictly coastal species, the sea lions went hundreds of miles offshore in search of fish, the scientists reported in one of the GRL papers. The study was led by UCSC graduate student Michael Weise and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Daniel Costa ( see related news release ). Kudela and his coauthors--William Cochlan of San Francisco State University, UCSC postdoctoral researcher Tawnya Peterson, and Charles Trick of the University of Western Ontario, Canada--found that the phytoplankton recovered quickly when the winds finally kicked in and upwelling began later in the year. But the animals that graze on the phytoplankton took much longer to respond. "There seems to be a window of opportunity that was missed when the upwelling was delayed," Kudela said. "A key organism is the krill, because krill feed directly on the phytoplankton and they, in turn, are fed on by all kinds of other organisms, from fish and seabirds to whales. So if the krill are affected it has a huge impact."

Phytoplankton blooms are essential for the reproductive success of krill, said Baldo Marinovic, a UCSC research biologist who monitors krill populations in Monterey Bay. "About a week after the eggs hatch, the larvae start feeding, and they can't survive if there are no phytoplankton. The adult krill can survive without the phytoplankton, but they won't reproduce," Marinovic said. "In 2005, the adult krill that had overwintered layed eggs in the spring, but the larvae didn't survive. This year we had a similar situation, although it wasn't as bad because we did have some degree of upwelling." The krill population recovered later in the year, but by that time it was too late for many of the seabirds and other animals that depend on a springtime boom in the krill population. Scientists reported widespread seabird mortality and nesting failures.

EDIT

http://media-newswire.com/release_1039128.html

[hunter]

1. Something is wrong.

I've always been a California beach creature, and things just don't feel right.

I was hoping it was just me. :cry:

[Nozebro]

2. SO -- what exactly is the failure? Why post something like this in the 1st place?

nt

[hunter]

4. This current brings nutrients into the ecosystem.

Less nutrients = less life.

Creatures starve.

[phantom power]

5. It means the foundation of the ocean food-chain is in danger of collapsing.

Lose the plankton and the krill, and just about everything other species will starve.

[kestrel91316]

8. Yeah, why bother posting any news that inferes with my

worldview, which is ME at the center of the universe?

Caring about the natural environment and our earth's ecosystems is for the Little People.

[phantom power]

3. Bad, bad, bad.

[applegrove]

6. When scientists fight back. Hard to argue with the facts. Let's see how

the * WH handles this pile up of information on climate. Cause it isn't funny.

[phantom power]

7. They will ignore it. Or dismiss it, requesting "further study."

You see, dealing with unpleasant informmation is actually disturbingly easy, when you aren't constrained by the need or desire to be "reality based."

[hankthecrank]

9. This is also like taking vise grip and closing one of your car radiator hoses

Besides the damage to one of life building blocks. What is going to happen to that extra energy in the system if its not smoothed out by the currents.

Man thinks he can just fix it. One of the layperson science mag had article about how to restart the ocean dead spots. We don't know how it all works can't fix it then. It of course is a lot better to not let it happen in the first place. But we are going to bypass the easy path.

What will it take for us to change.

[brokensymmetry]

10. Kicked & nominated - and thanks, Hatrack.

We may not be able to change things - at least,
we can bear witness. You make that possible.

[MelissaB]

11. Ditto that. Thanks, Hatrack!

Off to the "greatest".

[Gregorian]

12. And what is the solution?

The problem is getting worse, not better. The gas turbine generating plants are going online in places like Algeria, where there was no modern lifestyle. So now they can click Buy it Now. And have the trucks and planes zooming goods to them. It's the modern life. Billions of people want to live like we do.

So I challenge anyone to provide a solution.

Right now as I type this I am in a blue cloud that has hovered over a large part of Oregon for the last week. This is the season where they burn what is left of the forests. The forests that were removed in order to yield lumber for new things being built. New houses. New products that contain wood. Shipping containers. They aren't going to stop cutting down forests until people stop demanding lumber. Just follow the logic, and you will get to the conclusion that what is driving this whole mess. People.

What are we going to do about this? I propose there is nothing significant that can be done.

[brokensymmetry]

13. There is a solution - just not a voluntary one.

Not one we'll like, either.

Humanity has the collective wisdom of a yeast colony.
We have grown and multiplied and consumed, our population
has increased past the carrying point, and so we will
continue for a time.

As the consequences of overshoot develop, we'll destroy
the fisheries, the forests, the living creatures of
every sort. We will consume every drop of oil, every
chunk of coal, every scrap of timber. And in the end,
we'll scavenge each other - at least figuratively, and
perhaps literally.

Ultimately, population will decline and come into line
with carrying capacity. Billions will be dead, our
civilization will be ash. The environment will be
a burned out husk.

And no, there's nothing that can be done. Recycle if
you want, bicycle if you will, hand out leaflets and
speak up for the environment if you'd like. But in the
end, nothing will change. We would do as well to seek
repeal of the law of gravity.