Corals+and+Climate+Change

=Climate Change Effects on Corals and Reef Enviroments =

Grade- Organization 5/5 Nice set-up Climate change explanation 10/10 Oceanography explanation 14/15 The only aspect that you should have elaborated on was the pH change Diagram/connection to text 10/10 Very nice! 39/40 Overall a great page, just what I was hoping for! Thanks.

=="Less than 5% of the Great Barrier Reef’s coral cover will remain by 2050 if the world fails to reduce carbon dioxide emissions [and switch] immediately to clean, renewable energy sources," according to a WWF [|study]==

= Coral Bleaching: =

=Effects of global warming: =

· Recurrent tropical storms break and destroy corals · Abnormally warm water caused by El Nino events (more frequent) cause stress on corals · Recurrent intense rain causes flooding and river runoff; depositing more sediment into the ocean (http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/climate_change/problems/impacts/coral_reefs/index.cfm)

==Climate change is directly affecting coral reefs through temperature change and pollution. Global warming has caused the ocean’s temperature to raise one to two degrees. However, corals rely on normal temperatures and feel stressed when ocean temperature rises more than normal during the summer. This abnormal temperature stresses the coral to expel their zooxanthellae, causing coral bleaching. Coral bleaching can eventually lead to their death if conditions do not return to normal. If an entire coral reef is affected by coral bleaching then the entire reef can die. It can take years for a reef to recover after dying out. Higher levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases cause oceans to become more acidic. With more acidity, the ecosystem in which the corals live causes corals to take longer to grow, because the coral’s energy is focused on producing their calcium carbonate skeletons. Climate change is a major factor of oceanography because the temperature change affects all organisms in the ocean. ==

=Coral Bleaching Video: =

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==The following graphs show increasing levels of carbon dioxide. Figure 1 shows the history of increase of the carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmoshpere and projections for the future. However, carbon dioxide concentations in the atmoshere do not make higher carbon dioxide concentrations in the ocean. The concentrations are related, but comparing atmoshere carbon dioxide concentrations and average global sea surface temperatures is more accurate. == ==Figure 2 shows the dependence between atmoshere carbon dioxide concentrations and average global sea surface temperatures. The rise in parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in atmoshere concentrations **correlates with the rise in average global sea surface temperatures. In figure 2 there is definitely a relation between the two and a rise in temperatures of ocean water. Sea surface temperatures are a direct relation to the temperature of the ocean because ocean water heavily controls air temperatures. ** ==

=Figure 1 : =

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==Taken From: http://www.larouchepac.com/news/2008/02/28/atmospheric-co2-its-oceans-stupid.html ==