How Bad Is Global Warming?

[Luther Blissett]

The Algae Problem in Lake Erie Isn’t Going Away Anytime Soon
The Great Lake is sick, and Toledo’s toxic algae is just a symptom

By Victoria Jaggard
smithsonian.com
August 5, 2014 5:11PM

With the water ban lifted, more than 400,000 people in the Toledo, Ohio, area are once again able to turn on their taps. But the bloom of toxic algae in Lake Erie isn’t going away anytime soon, and the troublesome scum serves as a warning that one of the largest supplies of fresh water in the United States is in trouble

“These blooms are not going to be eradicated in the short term,” says Timothy Davis, a researcher at NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “They are a symptom of a larger problem: a lot of our lakes are sick, and so you get these harmful events occurring.”

Blooms of the toxic algae Microcystis are fed by phosphorus running into the Great Lakes from nearby farms, which use the nutrient as fertilizer. The algal menace has been popping up every year in the western basin of Lake Erie since the early 2000s.

The blooms have been getting worse in the past few years thanks to three main influences, says Gary Fahnenstiel, a researcher at the Graham Sustainability Institute at the University of Michigan:

• Warmer average temperatures in the lake mean longer growing seasons for algae and bigger, more persistent blooms.
• Climate change has also increased the intensity of regional storms, and heavier rains wash more phosphorus from the fields into the lake.
• Zebra and quagga mussels native to Eastern Europe found their way into Lake Erie via ballast water from cargo boats. These mussels feed on phytoplankton, but they reject the toxic Microcystis, while excreting nutrients that fuel the growth of the bad algae. This has created an ecosystem where the toxic terrors can thrive at higher concentrations than they otherwise would.

Despite the severity of recent blooms, Toledo’s water troubles this month can be mostly attributed to bad luck, Fahnenstiel says.

“Other water intakes in the western basin had no problems during this crisis,” he says. “Toledo just happened to have algae congregate near the intake pipes, and I’m not sure why. There is something unique here that allowed them to have a water issue.”

Unusually high winds – another effect of climate change -- are the most likely culprit, Davis says. Normally the algae float on the surface of the water, suspended several feet above the intake pipes that send drinking water to nearby towns. But winds can churn the water and mix algae deeper into the lake.

“We had high winds out of the north that drove the bloom to the south shore, and algae congregated around the water intake,” he says. Water treatment facilities can remove some of the algae from water being piped in, and then can filter out any remaining toxin with activated carbon, Davis says. In Toledo’s case, the amount of algae that reached the intake pipes caught water managers off guard, and they probably did not use enough carbon to handle the load.

The water ban was unusual. But if the blooms are not eradicated, such events may become more regular occurrences in Toledo and other cities that draw fresh water from the basin, says Carol Stepien, director of the Lake Erie Center at the University of Toledo.

Last September, an especially bad bloom forced officials to enact a water ban in Carroll Township, to the east of Toledo, that affected about 2,000 people. And with this year’s bloom predicted to be severe, Stepien thinks the situation is ripe to repeat in the coming weeks.

“We’re not even in the peak of the bloom season yet. That usually happens around the end of August to mid-September. So I would expect this will happen again,” she says.

Things could get even more dire in future years, Davis says: “Right now, scientists are predicting that warmer temperatures and more nutrient loading will cause blooms of greater size and greater toxicity that last longer.” That’s why several projects are already under way to help control pollution while still maintaining local agriculture and supporting farmers, he says.

“We’re trying to use high-tech systems, like being able to scan fields with satellite imagery to see where the ground is already saturated with nutrients, so farmers can only use the levels of fertilizer they need,” Davis says.

Aside from the risks to drinking water, surface algae can still be a danger to pets and to recreational swimmers, making the blooms a critical issue for any affected waterway, including the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, Stepien added.

“I’m looking out my window now and the lake is very pretty,” she says. “But when I get up close I can see the greenish tinge. We need stricter regulations, enforcement, and more research dollars. We’ve known exactly what we need to do for some time, and we need to do it now.”

While he believes the water ban in Toledo was a one-off event, Fahnenstiel thinks the extreme situation could spur action to clean up the basin and better manage runoff.

“It typically takes a crisis to get people to do things. This may be the crisis that will help stimulate movement to control phosphorus in the basin,” he says.

[Luther Blissett]

Warmer Ground Blows 'Rather Spooky' Crater in Gas-Rich Russian North

…

However unlikely, if such an event happened at the Bovanenkovskoye gas field, less than 20 miles away, it could cause an industrial accident, an archaeologist from the Scientific Center of Arctic Studies, Andrei Plekhanov, told Nature News.

The edges of the crater continue to melt, with material falling down, possibly more than 200 feet, to the bottom. "You can hear the ground falling," Plekhanov said. "You can hear the water running, it’s rather spooky.”

Yamal has become a region of strategic importance for Russian energy. "There is no alternative to Yamal!" Gazprom, the Russian gas producer says on its website. The area is vital to the "sustainable development of the Russian economy and welfare."

The Bovanenkovskoye field is the Yamal Peninsula's most important. It holds about 4.9 trillion cubic meters of gas, dwarfing the 2.4 tcm Marcellus Shale formation in the U.S. Russia plans to build pipelines to move the gas from the far north to hubs in central and western Russia, which supply Europe.

Scientists can't say yet if there’s a specific long-term risk to the industry from cratering related to chronic higher temperatures. The more likely threat to gas industry operations on the Yamal Peninsula comes this week from Western sanctions over the Kremlin’s activity in Ukraine.

[Iamwhomiam]

Thanks, Luther.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/algae-blooms-making-toledo-water-undrinkable-are-thriving-1407107871

Algae's Return Deals Setback to Lake Erie's Revival
Once Hailed as Environmental Success, Polluted Waterway Needs Second Comeback

By Andrea Gallo
Updated Aug. 4, 2014 7:38 p.m. ET



Lake Erie was declared dead in the 1960s and '70s, and then scientists championed it as one of the environment's biggest revival stories. But bright green algal blooms have been returning to the lake since the early 2000s, and scientists say the toxic blue-green algae indicate that Lake Erie needs a second comeback.

Lake Erie is the shallowest and smallest Great Lake by volume, which makes it especially sensitive, according to scientists. Phosphorus and nitrogen from farm runoff, livestock runoff and sewage systems contributed to the algal bloom that led to restrictions on drinking water for 500,000 people in and around Toledo, Ohio, this weekend, scientists say. They say the added nutrients might not affect the other Great Lakes as intensely.

Geography and bad luck are also hurting Toledo, which is near Lake Erie's shallow, western basin. Isabel Escobar, chemical and environmental engineering professor at the University of Toledo, said winds can sometimes break up the blooms or blow them out into the middle of the lake, where they don't menace water supplies. But this year, winds have been too gentle to break up the blooms and have generally been pushing them toward Toledo's water intake crib, she said.

Lake Erie's problems decades ago were the results of industrial pollution and phosphorus, which used to be widely mixed into laundry detergents and ended up in the lake, according to Jennifer Caddick, engagement director at the Alliance for the Great Lakes, a group that advocates for healthy lakes for a variety of users. Around the same time, the Cuyahoga River in Ohio famously caught fire from pollution problems.

"We're right back to where we were in the '70s," said Jeff Reutter, director of the Ohio Sea Grant College Program and Stone Laboratory at Ohio State University. Dr. Reutter said he worked to cut back phosphorus in Lake Erie the first time around, and that the lake needs at least a 40% phosphorus reduction to be healthy again.

Ms. Caddick said the Clean Water Act, which regulated pollutants entering U.S. waterways, and restrictions on phosphorus in detergents helped to clean Lake Erie decades ago. Dr. Reutter said improved sewage treatment also helped curb the added nutrients at the time.

Scientists say a transition from small farms to industrial-sized operations has increased runoff in recent years, and that climate change, with more intense storms and warmer temperatures, has created an ideal environment for algae to grow.

"Imagine you're at an all-you-can eat buffet, and you gorge yourself," Ms. Caddick said. "That's what's happening with this algae."

While Lake Erie seems the most susceptible of the Great Lakes, other waterways aren't immune, scientists say. Green Bay, part of Lake Michigan, is also a narrow and shallow area where algal blooms have been occurring, according to Ms. Caddick.

Timothy Davis, a research ecologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab, said algal blooms have been detected on every continent aside from Antarctica.

"Lake Erie is kind of the most dramatic example of those conditions," Ms. Caddick said.

Coming soon to a lake nearby you...

Lake Champlain has same blue-green algae as Erie

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Vermont officials say Lake Champlain has the same blue-green algae blooms that are possibly to blame for contaminating drinking water in Lake Erie but the algae is more of a threat to swimmers than to drinking water.

Officials say the intakes for the drinking water are deep in Lake Champlain while the algae blooms tend to be on the surface.

The lake is regularly monitored for algae. Officials say if algae is spotted near intakes, a recommendation is made that the water be tested for toxins.

Last week officials in Toledo, Ohio, warned 400,000 people not to drink the water because of contamination possibly from algae on Lake Erie.

A bigger threat in Vermont is to swimmers. Blue-green algae can release a toxin that can sicken swimmers and pets.

Tiny pdf: Experimental Lake Erie Harmful Algal Bloom Bulletin - NOAA

[url]www2.nccos.noaa.gov/coast/lakeerie/bulletin/bulletin_current.pdf[/url]
‎
Evolution of 2011 Lake Erie algae bloom, the worst yet:

Taken from this article:
http://www.cleveland.com/science/index.ssf/2013/04/record-sized_lake_erie_algae_b.html

And this, from amusing planet, with plenty of photos,
http://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/03/toxic-algae-bloom-on-lake-erie.html

[Sounder]

The preceding article seems misplaced because it is not about ' How bad is Global Warming'.

We had a very cold winter this last year and the water temp only rose to the sixties in July in the big lakes.

There is however the Fermi 2 power plant nearby that discharges large amounts of hot water.

This is about runoff and Fermi 2 produced hot water, not AGW, in my opinion.


This propaganda style correlates with previous thought directing operations such as;

Tobacco and cancer

Cannabis and Drugs

Muslims and Terrorism

So we declare 'war' on cancer and mark tobacco as the main culprit, distracting us from considering the influence that combinations of complex chemicals, that are so deeply built into our 'modern' culture, have on the increase in cancer rates.

We declare 'war' on drugs and push as a central tenet the idea that Cannabis is a 'gateway' drug. Forget addressing a dysfunctional culture, it's much simpler to cash in on the prison industrial complex.

Terrorism is killing indiscriminately, as in Eastern Ukraine or Gaza. Yet in our mind we associate terrorism with Muslims. Repetition works.


We have no need and derive no benefit from putting all our eggs into one basket.

[Ben D]

Sounder....everything is caused by global warming....http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/warmlist.htm...and....http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/globalwarming2.html.....

[Iamwhomiam]

Sounder, you failed to indicate which of the several articles you wrongly felt were off-topic. Only one dealt with a very small algae bloom in Lake Michigan. The others discussed the Lake Erie algae bloom over time.

If you feel that those reporting the warming temperatures of our Great Lakes are lying, or that the current warming is not exacerbated by global warming, please provide something to substantiate your viewpoint.

Without supporting evidence you sound like a spoiled child with hands covering your ears shouting, "NO, NO, NO!"

Fermi 2, same GE boiling water reactor design as Fukushima's, most obviously contributes to the warming of the shallow western waters of Lake Erie.


I honestly doubt you read any of the articles and limited your reading to viewing the pretty green but shockingly toxic pictures.

Tell me, how does the war on cancer, cannabis, or Muslims have anything at all to do with global warming?

For one supposedly so hell-bent on bizarre, unproven and fantastic theories, you have little credibility with me on the topic of global warming or its ramifications. You've repeatedly made clear your view, deny, deny, deny. Nothing new, ever.

If you want to refute that our warming waters being fed by inadequate and inefficient sewage and storm water treatment facilities and agriculture runoff are toxifying our potable water supplies and that warm water releases by several nuclear reactors does not aid in the warming now causing the blooms, or that please do so astutely. If you want to argue global warming has not contributed to the warming of the waters, please also do do so astutely. You offer nothing at all related to arguing the point. Why?

You believe global warming is a hoax perpetuated by the powers that be (for some undisclosed secret reason) and I believe you've swallowed the PTB's position hook, line and sinker, which is to keep burning fossil fuels and build more nuclear power plants, keep production and profits up while denying established science. Along with Bendy da truth, with his ridiculously sourced copypasta, you both represent to me the real danger and obstacle to effecting meaningful change. (perhaps of any kind beneficial to our greater population?)

You two have proved Barnum's Theory, at least to my satisfaction. And you two continue on with your denials without ever presenting convincing evidence to support your ridiculous claims, like that the tremendous amount of pollution we continue to release each and every passing day does not negatively impact our atmosphere or our increasingly acidic and warming waters. One can only hope your spheres of influence are as narrow as your minds.

Your arguments, if one could rightfully call them that, brings to mind an old song Lyric, "Which side are you on, boy, which side are you on."

[Iamwhomiam]

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.



If you took a basketball and put it inside an uninflated balloon you would have a good representation of just how thin our atmosphere is.

Seems some here need to go back to school to better understand how precarious our situation is.

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/atmosphere.html

[Ben D]

Sounder....everything is caused by global warming....http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/warmlist.htm...and....http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/globalwarming2.html.....

Sounder....I mean everything...the AGW crowd are already adding Ebola virus to the list..http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/08/05/will-climate-change-worsen-ebola-outbreaks/...

[Lord Balto]

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.



If you took a basketball and put it inside an uninflated balloon you would have a good representation of just how thin our atmosphere is.

Seems some here need to go back to school to better understand how precarious our situation is.

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/atmosphere.html

My short term memory isn't all that great anymore, so I may have posted this before, but...

The Holocene Period, in which we currently find ourselves, began with the end of the last glacial period. That was, dare I say it, a case of major global warming. And one of the things that positively exercises the defenders of scientific orthodoxy is the notion that there was advanced civilization in the last ice age, and I can't see blaming that period of global warming on too many campfires. In fact, during the Holocene there have been periods of cooling and periods of warming, lasting hundreds if not thousands of years. That a minor 100- or 200-year blip in average temperature can be blamed on human activity by scientific types who clearly have no understanding of long term climate trends, and that vast armies of intellectuals can swallow this unjustified conclusion, positively astounds me, at least it would if I didn't understand the high level of ape psychology operating in human society.

Just as an example. let me quote you a few witnesses to the global catastrophe of AD 536 that led to the black plague and other nasty consequences:

The Byzantine historian Procopius:

"And it came about during this year that a most dread portent took place. For the sun gave forth its light without brightness like the moon during this whole year, and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear, nor such as it is accustomed to shed."

John of Ephesus, at Byzantium:

"There was a sign from the sun, the like of which had never been seen and reported before. The sun became dark and its darkness lasted for eighteen months. Each day, it shone for about four hours, and still this light was only a feeble shadow. Everyone declared that the sun would never recover its full light again."

Cassiodorus Senator, in Italy:

"The sun seems to have lost its wonted light, and appears of a bluish color. We marvel to see no shadows of our bodies at noon, to feel the mighty vigor of the sun's heat wasted into feebleness, and the phenomena which accompany transitory eclipse prolonged through almost a whole year. The moon too, even when its orb is full, is empty of its natural splendor."

Imagine what would have happened if they had been using "green" energy in the form of solar power.

[DrEvil]

So we declare 'war' on cancer and mark tobacco as the main culprit, distracting us from considering the influence that combinations of complex chemicals, that are so deeply built into our 'modern' culture, have on the increase in cancer rates.

Minor off-topic quibble: This is just stupid. Tobacco has never been seen as the main cause of cancer, it's been seen as the main cause of lung-cancer. Most cancers are not caused by smoking, and that's common knowledge.

[Sounder]

Tell me, how does the war on cancer, cannabis (Drugs), or Muslims (Terrorism) have anything at all to do with global warming?

They all provide sinecure for sycophants.

Next question.

Thanks Lord Balto for another perspective on the awesome picture.

[Sounder]

Sounder » Thu Aug 07, 2014 12:28 pm wrote:So we declare 'war' on cancer and mark tobacco as the main culprit, distracting us from considering the influence that combinations of complex chemicals, that are so deeply built into our 'modern' culture, have on the increase in cancer rates.

Minor off-topic quibble: This is just stupid. Tobacco has never been seen as the main cause of cancer, it's been seen as the main cause of lung-cancer. Most cancers are not caused by smoking, and that's common knowledge.

How the mind works can be stupid too. It's done mostly through association; war on cancer-> tobacco bad-> vilify tobacco, ignore all the other shit, but make so much noise that the less informed segment of the population is (once again) assured that the wizards running the show really do care about the issue and the general community. Leads to being able to continue producing shit because the intellectuals got brainwashed and in turn became the useful idiots that distracted the rest of us from identifying the true threats to our communities.

Standard PR hack work. If you don't know how that works, you will soon.

I for one am happy to see the leading PR firms declare their fealty to the AGW cause.

Darn tootin good evidence as to where the money is at on this issue also.

[DrEvil]

Sounder » Thu Aug 07, 2014 12:28 pm wrote:So we declare 'war' on cancer and mark tobacco as the main culprit, distracting us from considering the influence that combinations of complex chemicals, that are so deeply built into our 'modern' culture, have on the increase in cancer rates.

Minor off-topic quibble: This is just stupid. Tobacco has never been seen as the main cause of cancer, it's been seen as the main cause of lung-cancer. Most cancers are not caused by smoking, and that's common knowledge.

How the mind works can be stupid too. It's done mostly through association; war on cancer-> tobacco bad-> vilify tobacco, ignore all the other shit, but make so much noise that the less informed segment of the population is (once again) assured that the wizards running the show really do care about the issue and the general community. Leads to being able to continue producing shit because the intellectuals got brainwashed and in turn became the useful idiots that distracted the rest of us from identifying the true threats to our communities.

Standard PR hack work. If you don't know how that works, you will soon.

I for one am happy to see the leading PR firms declare their fealty to the AGW cause.

Darn tootin good evidence as to where the money is at on this issue also.

If your idea of evidence is that "leading PR firms" (which ones?) are "declaring fealty" (aka "getting paid by a customer") to "the AGW cause" (who?), then you need to look up the definition of evidence.

(And as usual you're utterly ignoring the billions being spent by big energy to get people to spout exactly the kind of nonsense you're.. uh.. spouting.)

[Ben D]

(And as usual you're utterly ignoring the billions being spent by big energy to get people to spout exactly the kind of nonsense you're.. uh.. spouting.)

Yeah Sounder...come clean and tell us how much you get?

[Sounder]

If your idea of evidence is that "leading PR firms" (which ones?) are "declaring fealty" (aka "getting paid by a customer") to "the AGW cause" (who?), then you need to look up the definition of evidence.

This is evidence as to where the money is on this issue. It's right there in the last sentence, what 'evidence' refers to, -read much. I will respond no more to baiting or puerile remarks.