Have you noticed that Jack prints a number of obviously copied crap without telling us where he got it? I get so tired of having to read all his crap that doesn't manage to have any apostrophes but always the same indicator instead. He needs to tell us where he is copying that crap from.

I must say that the behavior on this thread is so juvenile and what started out to be something to make left leaners look so good has become a bunch of junior high kids having a good time with crap.

I believe that it has earned my unwatching also.

Awww come on Jack! What do I care about coral? I live inland. Besides, I did my part for the planet today! I burned 27 gallons of gas with my v-8 engine, emptied 4 plastic water bottles, and 2 styrofome cups, and delivered thousands of plastic bottles of chemicals, narcotics, psychotropics, you name it! When it cools down a bit, I'm gonna go spray insectacide on my yard, and Roundup on some weeds. I'm going out now to cut down a tree that has been pissing me off with a chainsaw that burns a gas/oil mix.
See!!!! We ain't all bad folks!

I forgot Jack! I also delivered a bunch of chemicals to Vet clinics too. You know, antibiotics, wormers, growth hormones. You know, all that stuff that makes your steak taste so good!

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, including deniers. Deniers however, do not have scientific evidence to support their positions, rather a blind adherence to Right Wing mantras, which is keep the campaign contributions rolling in from Big Oil, and Coal.
Please explain how and why we have seen a 1.9% increase in the average world wide temperature of the earth in the last 60 years? Why don't you show the Environmental Scientists how wrong they are by providing another example of changes in the earths average temperature by 1.9 degrees in a 60 years span? What other time did the Earth go though what we are now going though which has occurred over the past 3000 years? In the past, such changes have taken hundreds, or thousands of years?

There are far more changes going on than simply coral bleaching, which incidentally are the nurseries of many fish species, Ocean temperatures are rising, as proved every day, Ocean currents are changing, fish species are slowly dying off or moving to cooler waters, Weather patterns are changing, becoming more violent, and frequent. Plant species on earth are dying off, farmers are having to change their planting schedules, and what they plant. Insect populations are expanding, and moving northwards, causing massive problems with tree populations due to boring beetles killing off huge numbers of trees. These migrating species affect humans, as we have seen with outbreaks of Zika, spread by a specific type of mosquito which is taking advantage of the increasing temperatures and expanding its territory. Then of course we have the melting ice caps, and the warming of ocean temperatures, which are melting the underside of the ice caps, causing the rising ocean levels around the earth. One additional problem with rising ocean temperatures is that the ocean volume expands as it gets warmer, so you have the problem with more water in the ocean from melting ice, and expanding water volume from warmer temperatures. Then, to add insult to injury, the melting ice caps are causing a slight shift in the earth's tilt which has been detected by scientists.

How is it that you can listen to a bunch of GOP politicians who are putting continuing political contributions to their campaign funds over your and our nation's welfare? How can you ignore the opinions of scientists trained to observe change, and analysis of our now rapidly changing climate?

The amazing thing about deniers is that addressing Global Warming would not disrupt economies, but rather result in the creation of new and better industries, jobs, and scientific developments, benefiting all of humanity, now, and in the future.

Warm Seas Lead to Extensive Coral Bleaching
acquired February - March 2016
For all of the apparent hardness of their skeletons, corals are rather fragile. Corals thrive under very specific conditions; in particular, they grow best within a small window of temperatures. If the water gets too hot or too cold, corals start to bleach and sometimes die.
The past two years have been the two hottest in the global temperature record, and coral reefs around the world are suffering because of it. The potent El Niño has amplified the problem. As a result, national and international science agencies have declared one of the worst global coral bleaching events on record.
“We are currently experiencing the longest global coral bleaching event ever observed,” said Mark Eakin, coordinator of NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch, in a February 2016 statement. “We may be looking at a 2- to 2.5-year-long event. Some areas have already seen bleaching two years in a row.”
Bleaching occurs when the algae that live inside corals (and give them some of their colors) are expelled due to stress, such as higher-than-normal water temperatures or pollution. The loss of the algae means the loss of a food source for the corals. Under extreme bleaching, corals become more susceptible to disease. Bleaching does not necessarily mean death for a reef, but it can often lead to it.
The images above and below are maps of sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) in various regions over the past year. The maps do not depict absolute temperatures; instead, they show how much water temperatures were above (red) or below (blue) the long-term average for the same months from 2003 to 2012. Gray areas are too close to land and coastal shallows for a clear signal in this data set.
The map at the top of this page shows sea surface temperature anomalies for the southwestern Pacific Ocean for February and March 2016. The map below depicts equatorial Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific waters around the Americas in October and November 2015. The final map is a global view of SSTAs from November 2015 through February 2016, the peak of this winter’s El Niño.

acquired October - November, 2015
The maps were built with data from the Microwave Optimally Interpolated SST product, a NASA-supported effort at Remote Sensing Systems. The research team combines measurements from the U.S. Navy’s WindSAT instrument on the Coriolis satellite and the AMSR2 instrument on Japan’s GCOM-W. The sensors observe emissions of microwaves and infrared light from the sea surface, capturing the temperature of the top few millimeters of the water.
Temperatures on these maps show above-average readings, but do not necessarily look extreme in the areas around the reefs. But keep in mind that corals are sensitive to relatively minor changes in temperature. Researchers from NOAA also point out that sustained heat stress over a long period of time—weeks to months—is more damaging than brief, extreme events.
Researchers from Australia’s Coral Bleaching Taskforce have reported that nearly 93 percent of the Great Barrier Reef has been affected in some way by the bleaching event. Temperatures around the reef most recently peaked in February and March 2016. After conducting aerial and in-water surveys, scientists observed that 81 percent of the reefs between Cairns, Australia, and Papua-New Guinea have been severely bleached, with another 18 percent partially bleached. Some reports suggest 50 percent of the corals might be dead already. Along the central latitudes of the reef system, 33 percent of the reefs were severely bleached, with another 56 partly affected. In the southernmost reaches, 1 percent was severely bleached and 74 percent had some level of distress. The central and southern portions were actually aided a bit by Cyclone Winston. The severe storm churned up enough cold water to reduce surface water temperatures and moderate the bleaching.
In the Caribbean and the reefs of the Florida Keys, bleaching events were most severe in the fall of 2015. Reefs around the Hawaiian Islands, Fiji, and other Pacific islands have been severely stressed and bleached. With 2016 global temperatures already setting records, there is concern that bleaching could occur again in 2016.

acquired November 2015 - February, 2016
References and Related Reading
The Conversation (2016, April 6) Coral Bleaching Taskforce: more than 1,000 km of the Great Barrier Reef has bleached. Accessed May 18, 2016.
The Conversation (2016, April 26) Great Barrier Reef bleaching stats are bad enough without media misreporting. Accessed May 18, 2016.
NOAA (2016, February 23) El Niño prolongs longest global coral bleaching event. Accessed May 18, 2016.
NOAA Climate.gov (2016, May 6) Great Barrier Reef suffers through record-breaking bleaching event. Accessed May 18, 2016.
Science (2016, April 19) Survey confirms worst-ever coral bleaching at Great Barrier Reef. Accessed May 18, 2016.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using multi-satellite microwave sea surface temperature data from Remote Sensing Systems. Caption by Michael Carlowicz.
Instrument(s):
Coriolis - WindSat
GCOM-W1 - AMSR-2

Warm Seas Lead to Extensive Coral Bleaching
acquired February - March 2016
For all of the apparent hardness of their skeletons, corals are rather fragile. Corals thrive under very specific conditions; in particular, they grow best within a small window of temperatures. If the water gets too hot or too cold, corals start to bleach and sometimes die.
The past two years have been the two hottest in the global temperature record, and coral reefs around the world are suffering because of it. The potent El Niño has amplified the problem. As a result, national and international science agencies have declared one of the worst global coral bleaching events on record.
“We are currently experiencing the longest global coral bleaching event ever observed,” said Mark Eakin, coordinator of NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch, in a February 2016 statement. “We may be looking at a 2- to 2.5-year-long event. Some areas have already seen bleaching two years in a row.”
Bleaching occurs when the algae that live inside corals (and give them some of their colors) are expelled due to stress, such as higher-than-normal water temperatures or pollution. The loss of the algae means the loss of a food source for the corals. Under extreme bleaching, corals become more susceptible to disease. Bleaching does not necessarily mean death for a reef, but it can often lead to it.
The images above and below are maps of sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) in various regions over the past year. The maps do not depict absolute temperatures; instead, they show how much water temperatures were above (red) or below (blue) the long-term average for the same months from 2003 to 2012. Gray areas are too close to land and coastal shallows for a clear signal in this data set.
The map at the top of this page shows sea surface temperature anomalies for the southwestern Pacific Ocean for February and March 2016. The map below depicts equatorial Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific waters around the Americas in October and November 2015. The final map is a global view of SSTAs from November 2015 through February 2016, the peak of this winter’s El Niño.

acquired October - November, 2015
The maps were built with data from the Microwave Optimally Interpolated SST product, a NASA-supported effort at Remote Sensing Systems. The research team combines measurements from the U.S. Navy’s WindSAT instrument on the Coriolis satellite and the AMSR2 instrument on Japan’s GCOM-W. The sensors observe emissions of microwaves and infrared light from the sea surface, capturing the temperature of the top few millimeters of the water.
Temperatures on these maps show above-average readings, but do not necessarily look extreme in the areas around the reefs. But keep in mind that corals are sensitive to relatively minor changes in temperature. Researchers from NOAA also point out that sustained heat stress over a long period of time—weeks to months—is more damaging than brief, extreme events.
Researchers from Australia’s Coral Bleaching Taskforce have reported that nearly 93 percent of the Great Barrier Reef has been affected in some way by the bleaching event. Temperatures around the reef most recently peaked in February and March 2016. After conducting aerial and in-water surveys, scientists observed that 81 percent of the reefs between Cairns, Australia, and Papua-New Guinea have been severely bleached, with another 18 percent partially bleached. Some reports suggest 50 percent of the corals might be dead already. Along the central latitudes of the reef system, 33 percent of the reefs were severely bleached, with another 56 partly affected. In the southernmost reaches, 1 percent was severely bleached and 74 percent had some level of distress. The central and southern portions were actually aided a bit by Cyclone Winston. The severe storm churned up enough cold water to reduce surface water temperatures and moderate the bleaching.
In the Caribbean and the reefs of the Florida Keys, bleaching events were most severe in the fall of 2015. Reefs around the Hawaiian Islands, Fiji, and other Pacific islands have been severely stressed and bleached. With 2016 global temperatures already setting records, there is concern that bleaching could occur again in 2016.

acquired November 2015 - February, 2016
References and Related Reading
The Conversation (2016, April 6) Coral Bleaching Taskforce: more than 1,000 km of the Great Barrier Reef has bleached. Accessed May 18, 2016.
The Conversation (2016, April 26) Great Barrier Reef bleaching stats are bad enough without media misreporting. Accessed May 18, 2016.
NOAA (2016, February 23) El Niño prolongs longest global coral bleaching event. Accessed May 18, 2016.
NOAA Climate.gov (2016, May 6) Great Barrier Reef suffers through record-breaking bleaching event. Accessed May 18, 2016.
Science (2016, April 19) Survey confirms worst-ever coral bleaching at Great Barrier Reef. Accessed May 18, 2016.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using multi-satellite microwave sea surface temperature data from Remote Sensing Systems. Caption by Michael Carlowicz.
Instrument(s):
Coriolis - WindSat
GCOM-W1 - AMSR-2

What other time did the Earth go though what we are now going though which has occurred over the past 3000 years? In the past, such changes have taken hundreds, or thousands of years?




Try researching the Medieval Warm Period during the 10th Century. The Vikings settled Iceland, had settlements in Western Greenland, Newfoundland and Labrador. Wine grapes grew in Great Britain. Where are they now? It was likely warmer then than now!

Then the earth went through The Little Ice Age 1,200-1,300, ending in 1850. It got colder during the Little Ice Age. The climate changed over time. The Vikings abandoned their settlements in Western Greenland. The North Atlantic current changed. The Portugues who fished for cod off the coast of Spain had to move their fishing fleets off the coast of North America to catch them.

The earth came out of the last Ice Age of 4 in a row. It got warmer. The earth went into the Little Ice Age. It got colder. We are still coming out of the last Ice Age. It will likely get warmer before the earth goes into another Ice Age.

Climate Change deniers in general don't deny cyclic Climate Change due to the earths and sun's natural cycles. They just aren't buying off on human caused climate change. It hasn't been proven. There is NO Climate Change model that can accurately predict what is taking place, or has accurately predicted what has taken place.

Coral is more sensitive to human caused pollutants. Try looking at the effects of Fukushima radiation in the Pacific for some of the real answers.

Try looking at the sun's natural 7 and 14 year sun spot cycles. Try looking at the earths rotation and wobble as it travels around the sun in an elipse. Full cycles take about 12,500 years.