DARK TIDES, ILL WINDS (Part 3 - LAT - Altered Oceans series)

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DARK TIDES, ILL WINDS

With sickening regularity, toxic algae blooms are invading coastal waters. They kill sea life and send poisons ashore on the breeze, forcing residents to flee.

By Kenneth R. Weiss, Times Staff Writer
August 1, 2006

They are distress signals from an unhealthy ocean. Overfishing, destruction of wetlands, industrial pollution and climate change have made the seas inhospitable for fish and more advanced forms of life and freed the lowliest — algae and bacteria — to flourish.

A scientific consensus is emerging that commercial agriculture and coastal development, in particular, promote the spread of harmful algae. They generate runoff rich in nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients that sustain these microscopic aquatic plants. In essence, researchers say, modern society is force-feeding the oceans with the basic ingredients of Miracle-Gro.

Yet there is debate among Florida scientists over the precise causes of local outbreaks. Red tides date back at least 150 years, before the state became one of the nation's most populous. Some scientists say their increased intensity is part of a natural cycle.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-ocean1aug01,1,3121949.story?page=1&coll=la-headlines-frontpage

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/oceans/la-oceans-series,0,7842752.special

Part 2 is:

Sentinels Under Attack

Toxic algae that poison the brain have caused strandings and mass die-offs of marine mammals — barometers of the sea's health.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/oceans/la-me-ocean31jul31,0,1410884.story

Part 1

"A Primeval Tide of Toxins" = "the rise of slime"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x62160

[mom cat]

1. Be sure to also read Part 2: ... Sentinals Under Attack

[mom cat]

2. K&R for visibility for this incredible series. Please rate this up.

[Pharaoh]

3. So Sad

Al Gore please save us!!!!!!!

K&R

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4. Part 4 - "Plague of Plastic Chokes the Seas"

Plague of Plastic Chokes the Seas

On Midway Atoll, 40% of albatross chicks die, their bellies full of trash. Swirling masses of drifting debris pollute remote beaches and snare wildlife.

By Kenneth R. Weiss
August 2, 2006

Of the 500,000 albatross chicks born here each year, about 200,000 die, mostly from dehydration or starvation. A two-year study funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showed that chicks that died from those causes had twice as much plastic in their stomachs as those that died for other reasons.

The atoll is littered with decomposing remains, grisly wreaths of feathers and bone surrounding colorful piles of bottle caps, plastic dinosaurs, checkers, highlighter pens, perfume bottles, fishing line and small Styrofoam balls. Klavitter has calculated that albatross feed their chicks about 5 tons of plastic a year at Midway.

Albatross fly hundreds of miles in their search for food for their young. Their flight paths from Midway often take them over what is perhaps the world's largest dump: a slowly rotating mass of trash-laden water about twice the size of Texas.

This is known as the Eastern Garbage Patch, part of a system of currents called the North Pacific subtropical gyre. Located halfway between San Francisco and Hawaii, the garbage patch is an area of slack winds and sluggish currents where flotsam collects from around the Pacific, much like foam piling up in the calm center of a hot tub....

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/oceans/la-me-ocean2aug02,0,3130914.story

[ramapo]

5. Holy crap!

I didn't realize how bad the effects of the red tide are. So much for paradise.

It seems like there is a growing tidal wave of blowback heading for us from our massive disregard for the rest of nature. The coming years and decades will likely not be pleasant.

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6. "A Chemical Imbalance" - (Part 5 - LAT - Altered Oceans series)

A Chemical Imbalance
Growing seawater acidity threatens to wipe out coral, fish and other crucial species worldwide.

By Usha Lee McFarling
August 3, 2006

Scientists report that the seas are more acidic today than they have been in at least 650,000 years. At the current rate of increase, ocean acidity is expected, by the end of this century, to be 2 1/2 times what it was before the Industrial Revolution began 200 years ago. Such a change would devastate many species of fish and other animals that have thrived in chemically stable seawater for millions of years.

Less likely to be harmed are algae, bacteria and other primitive forms of life that are already proliferating at the expense of fish, marine mammals and corals.

In a matter of decades, the world's remaining coral reefs could be too brittle to withstand pounding waves. Shells could become too fragile to protect their occupants. By the end of the century, much of the polar ocean is expected to be as acidified as the water that did such damage to the pteropods aboard the Discoverer.

Some marine biologists predict that altered acid levels will disrupt fisheries by melting away the bottom rungs of the food chain — tiny planktonic plants and animals that provide the basic nutrition for all living things in the sea....

The oceans have been a natural sponge for carbon dioxide from time immemorial. Especially after calamities such as asteroid strikes, they have acted as a global safety valve, soaking up excess CO2 and preventing catastrophic overheating of the planet.

If not for the oceans, the Earth would have warmed by 2 degrees instead of 1 over the last century, scientists say. Glaciers would be disappearing faster than they are, droughts would be more widespread and rising sea levels would be more pronounced.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/oceans/la-me-ocean3aug03,0,3589668.story