General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I thought the sea star 'melting' was a problem related to acidification? [View all]RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Atmospheric deposition. Which rain washed down into the ocean.
I don't have links, but I did follow the fact that until recently, the Oregon coast held populations of healthy sea stars. Today they don't. When I was looking at that about 4 months ago, I found that at that time in Washington, in the specific area around Hanford, had near record rains. Rains which would have washed atmospheric deposited material into the Columbia river and into the ocean. Now the sea stars in Oregon are dying off as the star's research news details.
For decades radioactive atmospheric deposition from nuclear bomb testing was found in traceable amounts in the Pacific. Which could have caused previous years sea star deaths. The DOE has been studying the effects of that on the Aleutians, as linked in post #1. Then, in 2012, they found it from Fukushima.