I recently attended a conference for informal educators on climate literacy put on by AAAS.  The goal of the conference was to bring "together educators working in a wide range of informal science environments for a two-day professional development conference that focused exclusively on climate literacy in all of its dimensions and provided opportunities for informal science educators to interact on the topic of climate change with scientists, science media, and others who participated in the 2010 AAAS Annual Meeting that immediately followed."  We had an opportunity to network with people all over the country that were working in the field of climate change education and communication, share expertise and hear from some of the experts in climate science and climate communication.

One of the speakers at the conference was Simon Donner, an assistant professor of Geography at the University of British Colombia.  Much of his research looks at the effects of climate change on coral reefs.  I had heard that this was an issue, but had not had an opportunity to hear an expert explain the problem before.  Key point of Dr. Donner's presentation included:

1)  Coral reefs are integral to the lives of the 430 million people that live within 50 km of them.

2)  Similar to the Arctic, coral reefs are "canaries in the climatic coal mine," as they are already showing the effects of climate change.

3)  The effects are being seen

a)  through ocean acidification which occurs because 1/3 of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is absorbed by oceans.  The carbon dioxide changes the chemical balance, which decreases the pH, which leads to a reduction in the skeletal growth of corals, and an increase in the actual dissolution of the skeleton.

b)  through what is called "coral bleaching" which occurs because of an increase in the ocean temperatures/  Coral has a symbiotic relationships with tiny organisms that live in their tissue.  These organisms provide them with much of their energy.  When the coral becomes stressed, it expels these organisms essentially becoming "bleached."  Coral reefs can remain alive in this state for some time, but will eventually die.

Donner's take message was that a "committed" warming and rise in Carbon dioxide poses a serious threat to the function of coral reef systems, that there may be a chance of some adaptation, but finally that,

Coral reefs are an example of why there is no point arguing between managing for resilience (adaptation) and reducting Greenhouse Gas Emissions (mitigation).

Read more on this at:

Maribo

NOAA Coral Reef Watch

OA policy summary

 

Over the last few days we’ve noticed that at high tide the ocean water rises up from underneath the pack ice and inundates the shore. The snowmobile road that skirts the shore gets flooded up to three feet deep. We’ve seen snowmobiles speeding along the road and hitting patches of open water. The riders get soaked and almost bogged down.

There are several boats that are swamped. The mushers who keep their dogs on the sea ice cannot reach them for several hours on either side of high tide. With this unseasonably warm weather, the water takes many hours to re-freeze, and even at low tide it remains soft and slushy. We’ve heard from locals that open water along the shore is unheard-of this time of year. Normally this open-water tide surge doesn't happen until May.

These strange ice conditions and unseasonably warm weather make us a bit anxious about what our traveling conditions will be. All our gear is designed for typical cold and dry Arctic conditions. For example, the mukluks on our feet are made from moose hide (we don’t usually waterproof the leather so that it will breathe well in cold conditions), our inner sleeping bags are down (which loses its insulating properties when wet), and our clothing is packed in regular duffle bags without any plastic liner bags. These systems have worked well for many years in the Arctic. In wet conditions, however, they would be less than ideal. We are hoping we will never have to cross sections of open water like this with our fully-loaded sleds.

We have heard rumors of large sections of ice-free open water in Cumberland Sound, the large body of water between here and Pangnirtung, the next village on our route. Open water near Pangnirtung would be unusual for this time of year. If the ice conditions are poor in Cumberland Sound, we will have to mush deep into the Sound to avoid dangerous ice and open water. This potential re-route could add over a hundred miles to our trip.