Solomon Islands Acropora

Aquadude1 · Dec 14, 2023

The Florida temp thing this summer while high is possibly blown out of proportion. 1931 showed higher temps in Florida but surface water temps were not taken. It is not a fair statement to say its the highest temp in history because we do not have enough data points throughout history. It is a possibility that mass coral die offs are one of the ways reefs grow so rapidly, the dead coral skeletons providing a fresh foundation for new corals to grow. This is just a theory, I'm not claiming fact.

ReefEco · Dec 14, 2023

Aquadude1 said:
The Florida temp thing this summer while high is possibly blown out of proportion. 1931 showed higher temps in Florida but surface water temps were not taken. It is not a fair statement to say its the highest temp in history because we do not have enough data points throughout history. It is a possibility that mass coral die offs are one of the ways reefs grow so rapidly, the dead coral skeletons providing a fresh foundation for new corals to grow. This is just a theory, I'm not claiming fact.

While storms and other events regularly destroy parts of reefs, and then new coral grows over - It is wishful thinking that the kind of mass coral die offs we are seeing today are in any way a part of any natural, positive process. Just the opposite.

Aquadude1 · Dec 14, 2023

ReefEco said:
While storms and other events regularly destroy parts of reefs, and then new coral grows over - It is wishful thinking that the kind of mass coral die offs we are seeing today are in any way a part of any natural, positive process. Just the opposite.

I don't have enough information to blindly accept or refute that.

ReefEco · Dec 14, 2023

Its good that you're not blind, so you can look at this nifty data : ) One shows how global temperatures follow Co2 concentrations in the atmosphere over the last 800,000 years. There is a natural variation, and a natural lag between when Co2 increases, and temps follow. The far right jump in Co2 is the last 100 years basically. The second chart is the last 150 years showing more detail in the jump - where Co2 concentrations correspond to temps. The Co2/temp increases started roughly with the industrial revolution, when humans started to add an unnatural amount of Co2 to the atmosphere, more quickly that at any point in the last 800,000 years. The single largest reason corals bleach, by far, is because the ocean temps have increased, because of global temp increases. As you can see from the two graphs, Co2 concentrations and temps are unnaturally high, unnaturally impacting reefs. 1+1=2. Cause and effect. Source: NOAA.

Aquadude1 · Dec 14, 2023

ReefEco said:
Its good that you're not blind, so you can look at this nifty data : ) One shows how global temperatures follow Co2 concentrations in the atmosphere over the last 800,000 years. There is a natural variation, and a natural lag between when Co2 increases, and temps follow. The far right jump in Co2 is the last 100 years basically. The second chart is the last 150 years showing more detail in the jump - where Co2 concentrations correspond to temps. The Co2/temp increases started roughly with the industrial revolution, when humans started to add an unnatural amount of Co2 to the atmosphere, more quickly that at any point in the last 800,000 years. The single largest reason corals bleach, by far, is because the ocean temps have increased, because of global temp increases. As you can see from the two graphs, Co2 concentrations and temps are unnaturally high, unnaturally impacting reefs. 1+1=2. Cause and effect. Source: NOAA.

Both of those charts are based on levels of co2 found in ice cores. That data is circular in that it assumes the age of the ice and the earth to prove itself. There is also evidence that co2 most likely migrates put of these air pockets over time. These graphs put recent measured reproducible data on the same stage as assumptions of the past and that is not fair.