Sea Surface Temperature anomalies range from 1°C
(yellow), 3°C (red), and > 5°C (black).
Purple anomalies are <1°C
A two-year
experiment found that coral reefs could survive in heated water better than
expected.
BUT, the experiment only tested temperature
increases of 2°C.
The target negotiated in Paris in 2015 was to keep
average global temperatures this century to “well below” 2°C above
pre-industrial levels. Currently, the world
is on track for an increase of 2.6-3.1°C. Earth passed over the coral bleaching
tipping point in the 1980s.
It takes a 1°C
(yellow) anomaly for a month to cause coral reef bleaching, but black areas in
the map above mark Arctic Ocean anomalies more than 5°C above the average
historical temperature in the warmest month! These extreme marine heat waves
herald imminent loss of summer Arctic Ice and even more rapidly rising global
temperatures in the near future. As white Polar ice melts and is replaced by
dark blue water, the albedo effect will accelerate runaway global warming: loss
of Arctic summer ice will increase sunlight absorbed at the surface from 40% to
90%.
There is little time
left for either coral reefs or Arctic ice if we don’t reverse CO2 increase
immediately!
