Make a Change for the Better

This year has been one for the record books. Ocean temperatures, Arctic Ocean ice and a tough Midwestern drought plagued much of the United States this past summer. According to the March 2012 Climate Change in the American Mind survey, 14% of American’s attribute these natural phenomena to chance alone, the other 86% believe a climate change is to blame.

Lets say we go along with this theory of climate change for one minute. Of the three recent events that were listed, all of them had to do with water in one of the three stages, liquid rainfall, ice and evaporation. Water is one of the most important natural resources on the planet, with salt water making up about 70%. The massive storage capacity of our planet for heat and energy reflects the differences in climates throughout the world.

Above image of plankton bloom courtesy of NASA on May 18^th, 2012

  

Above image of plankton bloom courtesy of NASA on July 15^th, 2012

This past month alone has seen record ocean temperatures off the coast of New England. The average ocean temperature for the past three decades is 48 degrees and within the first half of 2012 hit a new record with 3 degrees warmer. This increase in heat has led to one of the earliest and longest lasting plankton blooms in history. Plankton, a stage one producer within the food chain, influences the spawning times of marine species that use the blooms as a source of food. With the uncertainty of a main food source, marine organisms may not be able to keep up with this years commercial fishing rates. As a consequence, many commercial fisheries are moving North and East to cooler waters to catch a better harvest.

            Mike Fogarty, head of Ecosystem Assessment Program, says, "What this early start means for the Northeast shelf ecosystem and its marine life is unknown. What is known is that things are changing, and we need to continue monitoring and adapting to these changes."

Above image of Arctic Ice Cap courtesy of NASA

Along with raising sea temperatures comes a new record low for the amount of ice contained within the frozen cap of the Arctic Ocean. On September 16th, 2012, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) recorded the arctic cap to be 1.32 million sq/miles across, a whole 290,000 sq/miles less than the previous record in 2007, which is roughly the size of Texas.

In result of oceanic changes, researchers at the National Aeronautics Space Administration are developing a study to focus on the effect of higher salinity in oceans due to an increase in temperature. SPURS, or the Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study, are unmanned devices placed out in the ocean for the collection of seasonal variation data in ocean salinity. With this information, a better understanding of Earth's rainfall patterns will emerge and scientists may be able to predict ozonic changes due to greenhouse gasses. Hopefully this information will adjust some opinions about climate change.