Weather records for sea water temperature are unofficial, and there are certain conditions in this reading that could disqualify it for a top mark, meteorologists said. But the initial reading on a buoy at Manatee Bay hit 101.1 degrees (38.4 Celsius) Monday evening, according to National Weather Service meteorologist George Rizzuto. On Sunday night the same buoy showed an online reading of 100.2 (37.9 Celsius) degrees.
The fact that two 100 degree measurements were taken in consecutive days gives credence to the readings, McNoldy said. Water temperatures have been in the upper 90s in the area for more than two weeks.
There aren’t many coral reefs in Manatee Bay, but elsewhere in the Florida Keys, scientists diving at Cheeca Rocks found bleaching and even death in some of the Keys most resilient corals, said Ian Enochs, lead of the coral program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory.
NOAA researcher Andrew Ibarra, who took his kayak to the area because of the hot water, said, “I found that the entire reef was bleached out. Every single coral colony was exhibiting some form of paling, partial bleaching or full out bleaching.”Florida Keys’ most resilient reefs.
Some coral even had died, he said. This is on top of bleaching seen last week by the University of Miami as NOAA increased the level of alert for coral problems earlier this month.
Until the 1980s coral bleaching was mostly unheard of around the globe yet “now we’ve reached the point where it’s become routine,” Enochs said. Bleaching, which doesn’t kill coral but weakens it and could lead to death, occurs when water temperatures pass the upper 80s (low 30s Celsius), Enochs said.
“This is more, earlier than we have ever seen,” Enochs said. “I’m nervous by how early this is occurring.”
This all comes as sea surface temperatures worldwide have broken monthly records for heat in April, May and June, according to NOAA. And temperatures in the North Atlantic are off the charts — as much as 9 to 11 degrees (5 to 6 degrees Celsius) warmer than normal in some spots near Newfoundland, McNoldy said.
Scientists estimate that 2 C of warming is enough to cause total die off of the world's coral reefs.
But hey, we sure will have generated a lot of value for shareholders.
I absolutely despise the philistines that have caused this, and the millions of philistines that are okay with this because they'd rather munch on Doritos, or waste hours of their day in a commute than spend any quality time outside.
I HATE THE ANTICHRIST! I HATE THE ANTICHRIST!
We've been asked to sacrifice the best parts of ourselves and our planet in service to a system that makes everyone feel unfulfilled. Faust got a better bargain.
I HATE THE ANTICHRIST! I HATE THE ANTICHRIST!
the antichrist is the figure that opposes the church, who are wholeheartedly capitalist property owners.
Who needs an ecosystem anyway the Free Market will solve for a world without an ecosystem it's fine
can't even take a dip in the fucking water to cool off what a load of horseshit
unlimited genocide on the first world
I went to my friends pool last weekend and even the water was too warm. I need to invite some folks to the local springs to cool off there
I'm stuck with a gas stove in fucking florida. Every time we can't get by with our instant pot, rice cooker, toaster oven, or induction hot plate it becomes a sweaty hell.
Florida, leading the way in everything awful as always.
The weird thing is sea temps can actually be higher than air temps given the right conditions. (Shallow water with a dark bottom)
100 degrees? Good thing burgerland never switched to the metric system, or the oceans would be boiling.
