A multi-year ocean heat wave known as “the Blob” may have temporarily disrupted the biological pump that cycles carbon dioxide deep into the Pacific Ocean for up to thousands of years at a time, a new study has found.
The study brought together researchers from the University of British Columbia, the Hakai Institute and DFO’s Institute of Ocean Sciences. Together, they analyzed 271 biological samples collected along a 1,425-kilometre path stretching from the south coast of Vancouver Island into the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
The results, published last week in the journal Communications Biology, showed significant changes in microbial species living on the ocean’s surface before, during and after the Blob first appeared in 2013.
That change, say the researchers, could signal a re-ordering of the tiniest life at sea — microbes and plankton that act as one of the lungs of the global climate system, releasing but ultimately scrubbing more carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere every year.
“The Blob is one of the biggest heat waves we have on record in history… There’s only going to be more of them as we go on with time because of climate change,” says lead author Sachia Traving, a marine microbiologist now at a deep ocean institute at the University of Denmark.
“It could push the bacterial communities into a change where the change is permanent… It won’t be able to recover back to the original state.”
Monthly average sea surface temperature for May 2015. Between 2013 and 2016, a large mass of unusually warm ocean water (‘the Blob’) dominated the North Pacific. NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center
HOW DOES THE ‘BIOLOGICAL PUMP’ WORK?
The life-or-death balance known as the ocean’s “biological pump” begins near the sea surface. As miniature photo-synthesizers, phytoplankton sit at the bottom of the food chain, using the sun’s energy to convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into solid organic material.
They are a key part of an ocean system that is thought to scrub up to 30 per cent of human-produced greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere every year.
Some phytoplankton feed krill, shrimp and jellyfish, which in turn feed bigger fish, eventually making it into the mouths of sea life like sharks and dolphins. But not everything in the sea is eaten alive, and like on land, the dead eventually offer a meal to the tiniest of creatures.
Enter microbic bacteria and archaea. Together, they act as garburators for rotting sea life, breaking down dead organic matter like whale poop, dead carcasses, seaweed — and plankton.
Microbe populations latch on to this dead organic matter and begin to break it down. Whatever gets metabolized near the sea’s surface gets converted into carbon dioxide, eventually bleeding back into the atmosphere. Under normal conditions, much of the organic matter sinks deep into the ocean, their dead bodies taking the carbon to the ocean floor where it can stay for thousands of years.
“That’s really great because that makes the ocean this huge carbon sink that actually stores a significant amount of carbon dioxide in organic form,” says Traving.
By absorbing energy from the sun and combining it with carbon from the atmosphere, phytoplankton form the base of aquatic food webs. NOAA MESA Project
OCEAN HEAT WAVES THREATEN A FINE BALANCE
Scientists have generally assumed the role microbes play remains stable over time, mostly because they account for a huge diversity of species and population sizes.
But research has increasingly found warmer sea surface temperature can throw that stability out of whack, according to Traving.
When the Blob spread in 2015 — one of the biggest ocean heat waves in modern times — sea surface temperatures spiked between 1 and 4 C, extending as deep as 200 metres.
As nutrient levels, including chlorophyll, dropped, the size of phytoplankton cells decreased. The fear, say scientists, is that the trend toward smaller phytoplankton means less carbon getting scrubbed out of the atmosphere and buried deep in the ocean.
That was bad enough, says Traving. To make matters worse, the research team found warmer seas offered prime conditions for several new species of bacteria, many of them who live independently of phytoplankton. Without latching on to the plankton, they remain at the surface, tiny engines thriving as they burn through dead matter.
“If (microbes) are very active and they process a lot of organic material, they will also respire a lot of the carbon back, which will eventually end up in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide,” says Traving.
Traving says more research needs to be done to understand the scale of the phenomenon. What is certain, is that the climate crisis is expected to lead to more Blob-like heat waves all over the world’s oceans. It’s not a stretch, says Traving, to say that could push these ocean-roaming bacteria into a permanent change.
“Maybe the Blob itself wasn’t really a tipping point as a stand-alone event. But if we get more of those and closer together in the future, then yes, the ecosystem will collapse and it’s gonna like reorder itself in a whole new way.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
