Great Barrier Reef’s worst bleaching leaves giant coral graveyard: ‘It looks as if it has been carpet bombed’ – the Guardian
Last month the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority released a report warning that the reef was experiencing “the highest levels of thermal stress on record”. The authority’s chief scientist, Dr Roger Beeden, spoke of extensive and uniform bleaching across the southern reefs, which had dodged the worst of much of the previous four mass bleaching events to blight the Great Barrier Reef since 2016…
Corals are bleaching in every corner of the ocean, threatening its web of life – the Washington Post
First around Fiji, then the Florida Keys, then Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and now in the Indian Ocean. In the past year, anomalous ocean temperatures have left a trail of devastation for the world’s corals, bleaching entire reefs and threatening widespread coral mortality — and now, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and International Coral Reef Initiative say the world is experiencing its fourth global bleaching event, the second in the last decade…
The Widest-Ever Global Coral Crisis Will Hit Within Weeks, Scientists Say – the New York Times
The world’s coral reefs are in the throes of a global bleaching event caused by extraordinary ocean temperatures…It is the fourth such global event on record and is expected to affect more reefs than any other. Bleaching occurs when corals become so stressed that they lose the symbiotic algae they need to survive. Bleached corals can recover, but if the water surrounding them is too hot for too long, they die…
The Race to Keep an Amtrak Train From Falling Into the Pacific – The Wall Street Journal
The Pacific Surfliner has shut down frequently because of coastal erosion and eventually must be moved inland..
Long Story Shorts: What Are Hybrid Species? – Hakai Institute
“While tales of centaurs, minotaurs, and other mythical hybrid animals have captured the human imagination for centuries, our planet harbors its own collection of extraordinary beings that blur the lines between species. Journey with us as we explore the wonderful world of real-life hybrid animals….”
Manila Confronts Its Plastic Problem – EOS
The Philippine capital is the latest city to address rampant plastic pollution through a community-guided protocol.
Climate change is rewiring fish brains — and probably ours, too – Grist Magazine
Acidifying oceans are leading to sensory loss in fish. Scientists fear people might be next…
A climate Q&A with coastal geologist Gary Griggs – Pacifica Tribune
A startling rise in sea-surface temperatures suggests that we may not understand how fast the climate is changing…
Why Highway 1 Near Big Sur Is Always Collapsing Into The Ocean – LAist
About 2,000 motorists, mostly tourists, were stuck in the area on Saturday night after a section of Highway 1 fell into the ocean. No injuries were reported….