Global Warming In Alaska

California Current called Serengeti of the sea

The project ran from 2000 to 2009 and involved scientists from more than 80 nations. Scientific results were reported in October but analysis of census data is likely to continue for years.

17 research focus areas

540 expeditions

2,600+ scientific publications

2,700 scientists

6,000+ potential new species

30 million records and counting

$650 million spent on research

It underscores the significance of the California Current Ecosystem and the importance of protecting iconic creatures from overfishing and pollution in those waters because they influence the entire North Pacific. Study authors called for an aggressive international management effort to preserve the biological hot spots they studied.

Tracking maps show the ocean’s top predators rely heavily on the 600-mile-wide band of ocean water that runs from British Columbia to Baja California. They also illustrate how large numbers of species migrate seasonally to take advantage of warmer marine temperatures. In addition, tagged animals have generated data that help describe subsurface conditions, and they have inspired scientists to think big about similar projects around the globe.

To read the analysis and see tracking maps, click here .

“It’s been a bit like looking down on the African savanna and trying to figure out where are the watering holes that a zebra and a cheetah might use? ... Where are the deserts that animals avoid, and the migratory corridors that animals such as wildebeest use to travel from place to place?” said Barbara Block, a study co-author at Stanford University. “We’ve come to a vast oceanic realm in the Pacific and answered these questions for animals as diverse as bluefin tuna, blue whales and leatherback sea turtles.”

While the overarching message of Wednesday’s study was hopeful, it comes against a gloomy backdrop. A report issued Tuesday by the United Nations said fishing and other human stressors are degrading the world’s oceans more quickly than scientists had realized. The California Current itself is under pressure from rising temperatures, increased acidification and decreasing oxygen but it remains a Main Street of the north Pacific Ocean.

Turtles tagged in Indonesia showed up off the West Coast of the mainland U.S., as did bluefin tuna from Japan, seabirds from New Zealand and salmon sharks from Alaska.

“You kind of have this sense that the Pacific Ocean is this vast featureless space and the animals just wander about,” said Heidi Dewar, a study co-author with the federal Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla. “But they have specific neighborhoods that they like to visit.

Alaska (Global Warming)

The largest and the coldest of the 50 American states , Alaska is already experiencing the effects of climate change. The state, which is located in the extreme northwestern portion of the North American continent, normally experiences temperatures ranging from minus 60 degrees F (minus 51 degrees C) in the winter to more than 90 degrees F (32 degrees C) in interior areas during summer months. Over the last three decades, Alaska’s average temperature has risen 5 degrees F (2.7 degrees C). Around the world, glaciers are melting at unprecedented levels, threatening animal and plant ecosystems. In Alaska, warmer temperatures are causing the breaking up of portions of Porter Glacier. Alaska shares an eastern border with Canada and is surrounded on three sides by the waters of the Gulf of Alaska, the Beaufort Sea, the Bering Sea, the Bering Strait, and the Chuckchi Sea, all of which are also filled with ecosystems that are vulnerable to changing temperatures.

Sea levels are rising around the world, and Alaska is seeing the effects of these changes to varying degrees. The most significant changes have been along the coasts of the Bering Sea, the Chuckchi Sea, and the Beaufort Sea. The coastal communities of Kivalina, Shishmaref, and Newtok are in the process of relocating because of erosion and flooding. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, more than 160 other rural communities in Alaska are vulnerable to coastal erosion. Alaska has over 100 acres of state parks and forests, and scientists have observed decreased tree growth in interior areas as a result of climate change. The state also has a large mammal population whose survival depends on preserving existing ecosystems. Alaska has experienced an increase in the number of forest fires in the state in response to warmer temperatures, and spruce bark beetles are destroying forests.

In much of Alaska, permafrost causes the ground to remain frozen year-round. Some 85 percent of Alaska is built on foundations of permafrost. When events occur to disrupt the thermal balance, the permafrost melts and the ground above it collapses in a process known as thermokarst slumping. Maintenance costs are already increasing for roads, pipelines, and other facilities built on permafrost. Two Alaskan scientists, who have identified holes as deep as 200 ft. (61 m.) in some areas, report that the permafrost south of the Yukon River is nearing thawing point. Another scientist has observed that permafrost in the far north remains relatively stable, but acknowledges that considerable warming has occurred since the 1990s. If permafrost melts, it may lead to slumping roads, slanting floors, forest sinkholes, disappearing trees, and the presence of new lakes.

The Encyclopedia of Global Warming Science and Technology

Encyclopedia of global warming and climate change

Alaska

Alaska

Physics and Technology for Future Presidents, An Introduction to the Essential Physics Every World Leader Needs to Know