Environmental News

New Madrid fault has stood up to many sun/moon alignments since it had a big slip. So probably OK. But it would be notable to have both together eh?

NJ/NY earthquake was M 4.8 Taiwan was M 7.4 or 7.2 according to different sources. Each unit of magnitude increase corresponds to 32 times more energy release. Almost 5 and larger than 7 seem like very similar numbers, but as exponentials, they are not.

 

Elsewhere we discuss the rise of China as global supplier of EVs (not to US though) and Baltimore's temporary outage as a vehicle import port.

China EVs go to Europe instead. Subsequently may also go to other non-US destinations. Marine transport is by vessels called 'Ro-Ro' roll on (and) roll off. Ports can accommodate Ro-Ro with less infrastructure than for container shipping. Seems obvious yes? So I finally reach my point:

China's EV Boom Has Increased Demand for Cargo Ships - InsideHook

Where one may find hints about the future of transportation vehicle transportation.

 

Global sea-level rise (SLR) has accelerated but is still (only a few) millimeters per year. May remain < half meter this century, but a lot of Antarctic and Greenland ice is poorly bolted down. Readers know all that.

As part of today's buzzkill:

Hidden Threat: The Influence of Sea-Level Rise on Coastal Groundwater and the Convergence of Impacts on Municipal Infrastructure | Annual Reviews

Summarizing consequences of SLR beyond direct ones.

 

Global coral bleaching events have been in recent news. It was hot water in 2023. Class begins

Corals are animals kinda like starfish. You are supposed to call those sea stars now. Anyway, corals take calcium and magnesium and carbonate from seawater to construct themselves. Food comes from filter-feeding polyps collecting what amounts to micro-poop from whatever. More food energy comes from algae that live inside corals and do photosynthesis. Corals also provide nurseries and homes for many species of fish, some of which humans eat.

Coral bleaching occurs when water is too hot for too long. Corals expel their algae, or algae just take their own leave, not sure that's solidly known. Such corals may die and this is the news. Geographically wide coral bleaching is the news.

So are we all gon na die or what? Class continues. Corals resembling modern ones have been around for 220 million years. Maybe longer, but the veil of paleo history remains only partially opened. During that time, earth (including oceans) have suffered many adverse events. One was when Chicxulub found itself under a large impactor about 66 million years ago. Along with damage to terrestrial life (as you know), it was big trouble for marine life.

About 56 million years ago came Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Apparently, too many volcanoes put too much CO2 into atmosphere at same time, and it got hot hot hot. Most corals then must have had bleaching events much worse than 2023.

But here's the thing. Corals after Chicxulub got good again globally after a few million years. Corals after PETM got good again globally after a few million years. Interestingly some of that recovery has been found in limestone blocks used to construct Mayan temples at Palanque; really close to Chicxulub's 'planetary reset'.

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If you read that current hot oceans might bleach/kill off corals, that's both right and wrong. More importantly, it misses the point. Humans need protein in part from marine sources and (coral) fishes may under-supply for decades or centuries. 'Farm' fishes in cooler water, and such places are well known from other research. Focus.

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Humans have made large CO2 addition to atmosphere for energy supply. It has led to more advances than I could briefly describe. At some time later, humans will rationally conclude that different energy supplies without more CO2 addition will be better for us. We may already have got to 10% of thinking that way. Moving slower could cause more harm than moving faster, but you are only reading words written by one person without agency. Inform yourselves.

As you do, maybe see that things like global coral bleaching call for attention/clicks, but might not be of highest importance.

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Three million years after now I have no doubt that corals and their hosted fish will be doing great. More concerned about us.