The heat wave in the Pacific Ocean destroyed environmental systems Environment and climate

Between 2014 and 2016, a very disturbing matter occurred off the western coast of North America, for more than two years, the ocean water from California to Alaska was unusually warm, ranging between 11.7 and 15.8 degrees Celsius higher than usual.

According to a recently published study, the herbal herbal forests collapsed, and the balance of entire food chains was disturbed. And marine animals appeared in places that were not seen before, and many died.

The heat continued, and it extended through thousands of miles from the ocean. This event has changed the shape of life in the water devastating. This was not a passing coincidence or a seasonal change.

Warm water pushed marine life out of its normal range, and 240 species of marine creatures were found outside its natural scope during the heat wave, and many of them appeared more than 900 km north of the usual.

Also monitored the correct northern whales dolphins, and some small marine mollusks such as “Placida Cremonina”, outside their normal homeland, and while this shift for some species was temporarily, it seemed to other types an indication of a more permanent change.

With the rise in ocean water, many living organisms follow the temperatures that they adapted to, heading towards the cold northern waters in an effort to survive. But during the historical heat wave in the Pacific Ocean, some animals were unable to move enough.

Seaweed basins, sea herbal forests are vital fish, invertebrates, and marine mammals. With the disappearance of sea herbs, the shelter and the food she provided with it disappeared.

The stars of the sea, which were common along the rocky beaches, were also damaged. The “Sea Star of the Sunflower”, which is a major predator, is almost disappeared. Scientists attributed the problem to a disease that spread faster in warm waters, called “The Star of the Sea Water.”

Without the presence of these predators to control other population gatherings, the domino effect plays a role in the entire ecosystem, as the study, which relied on 331 publications and government reports.

Accordingly, plankton societies have changed. The number of feed fish, small types that provide energy for large fish, birds and mammals, and their nutritional quality decreased. As a result, predators, from marine birds to whales, faced difficulty in finding enough food.

Several marine mammals have witnessed unusual deaths, as they were unexpectedly spent. The reason was not always clear, sometimes the disease or lack of food was, and sometimes both were.

Environmental and economic disturbances

The study indicates that the damage did not stop at the edge of the water, when the food network in the ocean was cut off, and this negatively affected fish traps along the Pacific Coast of the Pacific Ocean multiple closures as a result of the disappearance of fish or the spread of diseases, which led to the loss of entire crops.

The economic impact of these changes, including the decline in industries associated with crab fish, salmon and shellfish, has led losses of hundreds of millions of dollars.

According to all of this, what was previously faced a prosperous coastal economy based on marine resources suddenly a state of deep uncertainty. Communities that depend on the ocean felt very pressure on multiple aspects.

“The sea heat wave led to unprecedented environmental disturbances along thousands of kilometers from the western coast of North America,” said the lead author of the study, Samuel Starko, a former post -PhD, Victoria University, Australia.

The heat wave in the Pacific Ocean also caused complex changes that were not limited to the number of affected species, but rather to a series of reactions that reformulated entire environmental systems.

“With the increasing frequency and intensity of heat waves in light of climate change, the sea heat wave in the northeastern Pacific in the period 2014-2016 provides a decisive example of how climate change on life in the oceans, and how our oceans may appear in the future,” said Julia Baum, a marine environment and climate consultant at Victoria University.

The latest estimates issued by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has warned that more than half of the marine species in the world may be about to extinction by 2100 due to the extra heat in the seas and oceans.

And when the temperature rises by 1.1 ° C today, an estimated 60% of the marine ecosystems in the world have already deteriorated or used in a non -sustainable manner.

The warming is also threatened by 1.5 degrees Celsius by destroying between 70% to 90% of coral reefs, and the increase in two degrees of two degrees means a loss of approximately 100% of them, i.e. the point of no return.