Coastal Winds Intensifying With Climate Change, Study Says
Summer winds are intensifying along the west coasts of North and South America and southern Africa and climate change is a likely cause, a new study says.
The winds, which blow parallel to the shore and draw cold, nutrient-rich water from the deep ocean to the surface in a process known as coastal upwelling, have increased over the last 60 years in three out of five regions of the world, according to an analysis published Thursday in the journal Science.
Stronger winds have the potential to benefit coastal areas by bringing a surge of nutrients and boosting populations of plankton, fish, and other species. But they could also harm marine life by causing turbulence in surface waters, disrupting feeding, worsening ocean acidification, and lowering oxygen levels, the study says.
The shift could already be having serious effects on some of the world’s most productive marine fisheries and ecosystems off California, Peru, and South Africa.
http://www.nationalmemo.com/coastal-winds-intensifying-climate-change-study-says/
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Unfortunately, this idea is rejected out of hand by our own people.
I attended a public hearing in SF with Boxer, Salazar, and many others on the panel, the topic of which was "permitting research of offshore renewable energy technologies", and Boxer and most of "the good guys" were so concerned that big oil would somehow get in there and screw up the ocean that it was just embarrassing how little they knew.
At another public hearing people were scared to death of offshore wave generation technologies.
Thankfully, Oregon is more open minded, but if we don't start installing more renewable generation capacity, it's going to be too late very soon!!!
Checkout where the best wind energy resources are:
If there's one thing we have plenty of here in the North Country, besides winter snow, LOL, it's wind.
And that must have been fascinating, but disappointing that the decision makers weren't well informed. I'd certainly expect Salazar to be...
Lately, I've been reading a lot about bird deaths, know it's a serious concern, though don't know how reliable their data is.
Thanks for the information!
Birds and bats were victims of wind turbines, still are, but in pretty insignificant numbers compared to, say, kitteh killing and flying into windows.
Wind turbines are also accused of causing cancer and emitting EMF, as are smart meters.
The resistance to renewables from all political quarters is remarkable.
For example, progressive folks in Sebastopol, CA, are dead set against Smart Meters that can help customers save money, monitor usage, and help the grid meet demand in the best way possible.
And you probably know about the resistance to offshore wind along the Massachusetts shore by members of the Kennedy family, so sad!
Here's a bird death chart:
