Rising sea temperatures is a great concern for our planet in the future. Although the ocean temperature does not warm or cool as dramatically as the land the ocean temperature has increased 0.18 Fahrenheit. This temperature increase may not seem severe but it has caused smaller organisms like krill to decrease in reproduction and has also caused coral to bleach, slowing their growing and making them susceptible to disease. The slow reproduction of krill causes a food shortage for many organisms that feed on them. The rising sea temperatures have also caused stronger storms. The warmer water temperatures create more water vapor, making it easier for storms to increase their size and intensity as they move over the warmer waters. In order to slow rising ocean temperatures we need to dramatically decrease our greenhouse gas emissions. Even if our carbon dioxide emissions level dropped to zero, the gases already present in the atmosphere would take decades before declining. This is a concerning problem that our generation will have to solve for our world to continue to function properly.
Geography 250
This post hit home for me. My house is located in New Jersey, less than a half mile from the beach town of Sea Bright that got swept away by Hurricane Sandy. It seems like no one doubts that oceans are warming, which produces more energy for the hurricanes, therefore leading to more intense storms and higher sea levels. This is scary, because Hurricane Sandy was only a category 1 hurricane, and yet it completely destroyed a whole town. With further warming of the waters due to climate change, these storms will be even more intense, causing even more damage. By decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and monitoring what we are releasing into the atmosphere, we can perhaps alleviate this disastrous situation. However, is it disappointing to read from this article that even if we drop our carbon dioxide emissions to zero right now, the gases that have already been released are going to take decades or longer to dissipate. This is a very personal concern for me, as the place where I grew up might no longer exist in 50 years or so.
This is a good article showing the dangers of the increasing water temperatures around the world. This shows that it is not only a problem for the aquatic species but also will harm humans as well. This is a problem going into the future as hurricanes and storms will continue to increase in intensity. These hurricanes will cause massive amounts of damage as they have in the past few years. These temperatures need to decrease going forward to stabilize the storm pattern and stop the intensification of hurricanes.