Warming Signs? Larger Dead Zones Off Oregon Coast

Science News ^ | 2-23-2007 | Sid Perkins

[xcamel]

FReepmail me to get on or off

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Ping me if you find one I've missed.

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More speculation....

[geo40xyz]

Where are the FACTS screened by 'common sense' and not leftist-from-hell democRATs??

[TommyDale]

Remember when the environmentalists said Alaska's shoreline would be ruined when the Exxon-Valez spilled oil? The fish and wildlife thrived after the accident.

[sionnsar]

may be a troubling symptom of Earth's warming climate, a group of scientists says.

Yah, sure.

[flyingbear]

Generally, winds on the Oregon Coast are southerly in the winter swinging northwesterly after the passage of a low pressure system. In the summer, the winds are generally northwesterly due to the presence of the Pacific High. In fact, this "rule of thumb" prevails along the entire Pacific Coast of the US. In the article, Mr. Barth has the general wind pattern completely backwards. In fact, by mid May, the general wind direction is northwesterly. Strange conclusions indeed. A NOAA Weather Fax for the next 24 hours shows NW winds shifting to strong southerly winds. Go figure.

[Brad from Tennessee]

No facts. They use past stories on their own website as sources. Not very scholarly or credible:

[. . .For example, large areas of oxygen-poor water, often called dead zones (SN: 6/5/04, p. 360: http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20040605/bob9.asp), now form . . .]

[Nomorjer Kinov]

[blam]

"Remember when the environmentalists said Alaska's shoreline would be ruined when the Exxon-Valez spilled oil? The fish and wildlife thrived after the accident."

Yup...and, the Caribou heards thrived. The pregnant Caribou began to have their babies under the warm (elevated) oil pipelines and more Caribou babies survived as a consequence.

[bjc]

Without long term trend data these assertions are totally useless. On the east coast we have red tide which creates problems for the clam flats. These evidently have been known for eons. I would check this story out with some long time fishermen in the area - especially those who are not likely to look for a Government bail out.

[blam]

I'd look at the hot underwater vents just off the coast...may be the exit flows have increased, became more toxic, hotter?

[bjc]

I am sure these scientists have exhausted all possible alternative causes, especially the more obvious ones, before resorting to Global Warming. /s

The more this continues the more it feels like we are returning to a society as rendered in Gibson's Apocalypto where the "scientists" (the could predict eclipses) acted as priests and used their slightly greater knowledge to control the superstitious and ignorant locals. We are seeing science being attacked by a homocentric myth akin to pre-Kepler astronomy. Fortunately it will take only a few additional solar based empirical findings to blow this nonsense out of the water. Perhaps this time we can maintain the focus on the damage done by the hysteria - most of Africa is still plagues by the banning of DDT courtesy of Rachel Carson and the failure to adequately use the scientific tools we have to control diseases.

[ChildOfThe60s]

[Jhensy]

In keeping with your post...

Analyses of recent wind patterns suggest that year-to-year variability in the winds off Oregon is getting stronger, says Barth. The wind changes that the scientists have noted are consistent with what's expected in response to climate change, but the specific cause of the change in wind patterns is unknown, Lubchenco says.

Now that's hard science!

[gathersnomoss]

Fear..huh...What is it good for?...Absolutely Nothin'

[Salvation]

Oregon Ping

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[ex-Texan]

Thanks for the *ping*, Salvation. Methinks that these dead zones off the Oregon coast are related to under water volcanic activity. There are rumors about 'quake swarms' circulating on the coast. Perhaps toxic gasses are seeping upward. Perhaps lava flows are disturbing the ecology under the sea. Scientists studying such events may be keeping quiet about what they know. This is not related to man's activities but is related to 'space weather,' solar cycles and planetary changes. We are all in God's hands.

[Nailbiter]

When they atart naming scientists and experts I might start believing these articles, until then sounds like spin.
By the way my fav other is unnamed sources buzz word for made up/untrue or facts not in evidence.

[SW6906]

Let me correct one part:

"Such zones were first appeared discovered in 2002, it's not known if they occurred naturally before then"

[Labyrinthos]

Such zones first appeared in 2002, but during the past 2 years, they were longer lasting than before and had lower oxygen concentrations, says Lubchenco.

No... the zones were first discovered in 2002. Whether they have appeared periodically over the last 4 billion years is an open question