Another Significant Change?

For the second year in a row an entire breed of bird has failed to - well - successfully breed.


Report on Pacific Food Chain

But the steep decline of one bird species for the second straight year has rekindled scientists' fears that global warming could be undermining the coastal food supply, threatening not just the Farallones but entire marine ecosystems.

The failure of last year's Pacific upwelling killed seabirds from California to British Columbia. Scientists had hoped the change was just a natural temperature fluctuation in what is known as the California Current.

But the return of higher ocean temperatures and scarce food resources this year has scientists wondering whether last year's erratic weather was not a fluke but the emergence of a troubling trend.

At this point just another troubling event to add to the list of - are they flukes or signs of just how fragile our earth really is.

I'd link to all the other threads on this forum that I think belong on that list, but I honestly don't think I want to see it all in one place. Every event I'm referring to (gulf stream slowing down, coral reef die off, salt marshes disappearring, etc.) all seem to have one thing in common. The "scientists" just don't have any answers one way or the other. They think, they had hoped, it's possible, but we just don't know, these phrases are becoming too common for my comfort level.

I guess no one sees this the way I do, but the rest of you probably didn't stumble upon Soylent Green after reading this story. (Gosh, that movie seems so lame now).

But the point is (in this report) it sounds to me like the outcome is the same. Are the oceans dying? Well, parts of it are, there is no doubt about it as far as I can tell.

Too warm for basic food supplies for other habitats to thrive, massive coral reef die off, salt marshes vanishing - UGH! This is all in the past two years.

Yes - this is quite significant IMO. Also happening in the North Sea.


Protostar has a thread on hydrothermal megaplumes - he is saying these megaplumes help cause global warming and impact the oceans' eco systems.

The BBC article is illuminating.