• Largest environment on earth is the marine environment

much different issues in water than on land

 

Major Concerns:

1) sea level rise

2) acidification(drop in ph of water)

3) eutrophication- Algal blooms

4) death and destruction of coral reefs

 

• key similarity remains in Temperature rise on both land and water

 

• arctic region the most vulnerable region on earth to climate change

 

Sea level rise:  surface warming that causes melting of glaciers and sea ice into the oceans warming is causing the liquid water to expand and it contributes to the sea level rise.

majority of warming occurs at the surface where the sunlight can reach

 

• Norfolk has heavy sea level rise and the effects have been seen in increased flooding, storm surge.

 

• CCISPO & MARI are organizations that study adaptation to global changes such as sea level rise

 

• continued Sea level rise could potentially have catastrophic effects on The Naval base, a large economic force in Hampton Roads.

 

• Fracking: pollution results because not just water is used

 

• Unethical companies: medical waste, dumping waste in waterf

 

Garbage patch: area where debris builds up due to the slow circular movement of the deep ocean. Large amounts of debris wash up on shore because they build up in these areas

 

 

Trash in the pacific (Coastal Care)

 

• animals mistake garbage for food (sea turtles eating bags and balloons that look like jellyfish)

 

• also animals cannot digest plastic and causes them to starve to death because food cannot be digested

 

• accounts of birds decomposing to reveal that they were completely filled with garbage and plastic  INCLUDE PICTURE

 

**Proper disposal of garbage is the key to stopping further damage

 

Abiotic threats: Oil spills, nutrient runoff from agriculture, trash

 

Ocean Acidification: CO2 gas sinks into the water fuses with the water creating carbonic acid makes it difficult for shelled organisms to make their shells because the calcium carbonate that the organisms produced gets dissolved by the acid.

 

below shows the process of Ocean Acidification (Oceana.org)

 

 

• Microscopic organisms with carbonate skeletons are affected by an acidification

 

• This could cause a trophic cascade if the populations of these organisms are affected