Coral bleaching is now so extreme, scientists had to expand their scale for it – the Washington Post
For more than a decade, marine experts have relied on an alert scale from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to signal how much stress ocean heat is putting on corals and what risk there is for bleaching. The highest on the two-level system, Bleaching Alert Level 2, has for years represented coral catastrophe. That has sufficed — until last summer…
The East Coast Is Sinking | Interactive – the New York Times
New satellite-based research reveals how land along the coast is slumping into the ocean, compounding the danger from global sea level rise.
A major culprit: overpumping of groundwater.
Reduce, reuse, redirect outrage: How plastic makers used recycling as a fig leaf – NPR
Former industry officials have said the goal was to avoid regulations and ensure that demand for plastics, which are made from fossil fuels, kept growing. Despite years of recycling campaigns, less than 10% of plastic waste gets recycled globally, and the amount of plastic waste that’s dumped in the environment continues to soar..
A ‘collapse’ is looming for Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, scientists say – the Washington Post
Scientists say the overwhelming majority of the state’s wetlands — a natural buffer against hurricanes — are in a state of ‘drowning’ and could be gone by 2070…
Hurricane Idalia shows nature may provide the best shoreline protection – NPR
When Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast in August (2023), one of the hardest hit areas was Cedar Key. A nearly 7-foot storm surge battered the small fishing community…(NOAA) says Idalia caused an estimated $3.6 billion in damage…But on Cedar Key, when the water receded, scientists found some good news amid all the damage. Nature-based “living shoreline” projects built to protect roads, buildings and other structures were relatively undamaged…
2022 Six Part Series on “Sand Dealers” – Le Monde
Published in 2022, links to Le Monde’s Series on Sand are provided here…
California’s war on plastic bag use seems to have backfired. Lawmakers are trying again – the Los Angeles Times
According to a report by the consumer advocacy group CALPIRG, 157,385 tons of plastic bag waste was discarded in California the year the law was passed. By 2022, however, the tonnage of discarded plastic bags had skyrocketed to 231,072 — a 47% jump…The problem, it turns out, was a section of the law that allowed grocery stores and large retailers to provide thicker, heavier-weight plastic bags to customers for the price of a dime….
Atmospheric river storms are getting stronger, and deadlier. The race to understand them is on – the Guardian
As the climate crisis supercharges storms over the Pacific, scientists are creating tools that can measure them from the inside..
How do ocean currents work? – TED-Ed
Dive into the science of ocean currents…In 1992, a cargo ship carrying bath toys got caught in a storm…