Posted in Climate Change

Marine heatwaves are getting hotter, lasting longer and doing more damage.

On land, heatwaves can be deadly for humans and wildlife and can devastate crops and forests.

Unusually warm periods can also occur in the ocean. These can last for weeks or months, killing off kelp forests and corals, and producing other significant impacts on marine ecosystems, fishing and aquaculture industries.

Yet until recently, the formation, distribution and frequency of marine heatwaves had received little research attention.

Long-term change

Climate change is warming ocean waters and causing shifts in the distribution and abundance of seaweeds, corals, fish and other marine species. For example, tropical fish species are now commonly found in Sydney Harbour.

But these changes in ocean temperatures are not steady or even, and scientists have lacked the tools to define, synthesize and understand the global patterns of marine heatwaves and their biological impacts.

At a meeting in early 2015, we convened a group of scientists with expertise in atmospheric climatology, oceanography and ecology to form a marine heatwaves working group to develop a definition for the phenomenon: A prolonged period of unusually warm water at a particular location for that time of the year. Importantly, marine heatwaves can occur at any time of the year, summer or winter.

With the definition in hand, we were finally able to analyze historical data to determine patterns in their occurrence.

Analysis of marine heatwave trends

Over the past century, marine heatwaves have become longer and more frequent around the world. The number of marine heatwave days increased by 54 per cent from 1925 to 2016, with an accelerating trend since 1982.

We collated more than 100 years of sea surface temperature data around the world from ship-based measurements, shore station records and satellite observations, and looked for changes in how often marine heatwaves occurred and how long they lasted.

We found that from 1925 to 1954 and 1987 to 2016, the frequency of heatwaves increased 34 per cent and their duration grew by 17 per cent.

These long-term trends can be explained by ongoing increases in ocean temperatures. Given the likelihood of continued ocean surface warming throughout the 21st century, we can expect to see more marine heatwaves globally in the future, with implications for marine biodiversity.

‘The Blob’ effect

Numbers and statistics are informative, but here’s what that means underwater.

A marine ecosystem that had 30 days of extreme heat in the early 20th century might now experience 45 days of extreme heat. That extra exposure can have detrimental effects on the health of the ecosystem and the economic benefits, such as fisheries and aquaculture, derived from it.

A number of recent marine heatwaves have done just that.

In 2011, a marine heatwave off western Australia killed off a kelp forest and replaced it with turf seaweed. The ecosystem shift remained even after water temperatures returned to normal, signalling a long-lasting or maybe even permanent change.

That same event led to widespread loss of seagrass meadows from the iconic Shark Bay area, with consequences for biodiversity including increased bacterial blooms, declines in blue crabs, scallops and the health of green turtles, and reductions in the long-term carbon storage of these important habitats.

Similarly, a marine heatwave in the Gulf of Maine disrupted the lucrative lobster fishery in 2012. The warm water in late spring allowed lobsters to move inshore earlier in the year than usual, which led to early landings, and an unexpected and significant price drop.

More recently, a persistent area of warm water in the North Pacific, nicknamed “The Blob”, stayed put for years (2014-2016), and caused fishery closures, mass strandings of marine mammals and harmful algal bloom outbreaks along the coast. It even changed large-scale weather patterns in the Pacific Northwest.

As global ocean temperatures continue to rise and marine heatwaves become more widespread, the marine ecosystems many rely upon for food, livelihoods and recreation will become increasingly less stable and predictable.

Originally Published by The Conversation, continue reading here.

More information on this and related studies can be found on www.marineheatwaves.org.

Materials that make heat worse for our kids demand a rethink by designers

It is with some relief that Australians are leaving behind the excruciatingly hot days of summer. But did you ever stop to think about the role of design in making matters better – or worse? Spending all day in air-conditioned rooms before walking out to a car that has baked in the sun all day is an exercise in extremes that many of us have faced. It’s easy to forget these conditions are shaped and mediated by design.

Campaigns warn us about the dangers of leaving children in hot parked cars. However, there are many more designed microclimates in the city where “real feel” temperatures far exceed reported air temperatures. One example, where children spend many hours of the day, is the childcare centre, where we found some artificial surfaces can become dangerously hot.

Our preliminary study over the record-breaking summer of 2017-8 assessed the thermal characteristics of outdoor play spaces in three childcare centres in Western Sydney. We discovered that summer temperatures can vary dramatically, depending on the materials and environments being measured.

We measured air and surface temperatures to generate detailed information about the effects of heat on shaded and non-shaded surfaces at each facility. These included artificial materials such as “soft fall” surfaces and Astroturf, “semi-natural” materials such as bricks and woodchips, and natural materials, including sand and grass.

In full sun, the artificial surface materials became dangerously hot. Soft fall surface temperatures reached 71-84°C on days when air temperatures were in the low 30s. Astroturf heated up to nearly 100°C. Plastic toys in direct sun reached temperatures up to 73.7°C – that is one hot rubber duck!

You can see the effect of different surfaces in the thermographic image below. It shows tens of degrees of difference between soft fall and thick grass in full sun.

Hot materials undermine safety benefits

Soft fall, as the name suggests, is widely used to create “safer” environments for children should they fall. Rising heat undermines this safety benefit. Because it transforms the material into a source of potentially significant harm it also reduces the time that can be spent playing outdoors.

Contrary to their current widespread use, this study found that artificial materials like soft fall and Astroturf should be used sparingly and only in shaded settings. Shade does make a significant difference to the temperatures recorded, but shaded soft fall and Astroturf were still hotter than shaded natural surfaces. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a centre with an old camphor laurel tree supplying ample shade in the play space recorded the lowest daytime air temperatures.

A thermally healthy outdoor play space is crucial for supporting children’s social, physical and cognitive development. However, the extreme temperatures recorded in this study turn such spaces into hostile environments that leave little option but to move indoors to cope.

Indoor activities tend to be more sedentary, which is linked to reduced physical fitness and rising obesity. We already spend around 90% of our time indoors in environments (including cars) that depend on air conditioning for habitability.

Of course, you can only air-condition a space effectively if it is enclosed. The rise of the “indoor biome” has been associated with poor air quality and a raft of other complex hazards.

Yet childcare centres with cool, comfortable outdoor play spaces, designed to enable both mobility and a connection with nature, are far from the norm in our rapidly densifying cities. The newest centre in our study, for example, had the smallest outdoor activity space, with the least shade, very limited natural ground cover and the greatest proportion of soft fall. This raises questions about the impact of design trends on the quality of outdoor activity spaces.

It is worth noting too that, given the level of demand, there is often little choice about where a child might be offered a place.

Climate change makes design even more important

How accountable should designers be for the everyday living environments that they create? For example, could the designers of the past have known about the environmental, social and cultural impacts of one of the most transformative designs of the 20th century, the car?

Perhaps not, but things have changed. The need to adapt to a changing climate makes good design important for our survival. And that, in turn, demands designers take greater responsibility for the harms arising from their work.

Originally published by The Conversation, continue reading here.

The Investor Perspective on Climate Change

The 2018 National Sustainability in Business Conference will be held at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, Brisbane over Thursday 8 and Friday 9 March.

Emma Herd is the Chief Executive Officer at the Investor Group on Climate Change and joins us next month at the Conference as a Keynote Speaker to discuss ‘The Investor Perspective on Climate Change’.

Emma Herd

Investors have a critical role to play in managing the financial risks of climate change and driving investment into low carbon solutions. In the two years since the Paris Agreement was finalised, global investors have stepped up their efforts to address climate change, through corporate engagement, investment decision making and financial disclosure. Hear form the Investor Group on Climate Change on the latest in investor policy and practice as the community wakes up to the economic impacts of climate change.

Emma Herd has been Chief Executive Officer at the Investor Group on Climate Change since August 2015. Emma has worked in climate change, sustainability, public policy and finance for almost twenty years.

Prior to IGCC, Emma spent 15 years at Westpac Banking Corporation where she worked at the vanguard of climate change and finance. She held a range of roles across carbon finance and emissions trading, ESG Risk assessment, public policy and advocacy, sustainability strategy development and corporate affairs across Westpac Institutional Bank and Westpac Banking Corporation. She started her career working in Parliamentary Committees (Senate and House of Representatives) in Parliament House, Canberra.

Emma is a Non-Executive Director of the Carbon Market Institute and a member of the Queensland Climate Change Advisory Council. She holds a Bachelor of Asian Studies (Thai) Hons.

Click here to download the conference program.

Visit the 2018 National Sustainability in Business Conference website for further information and to register today!

 

Understanding Climate-Related Risk at an ASX-Listed Company

The National Sustainability in Business Conference will be held in Brisbane from the 23-24 March 2017.

Mr Jordan Groeneveld, Principal Advisor Sustainability, Strategy Team at Aurizon joins us this month to discuss ‘Understanding Climate-Related Risk at an ASX-Listed Company’ and will run through:

Jordan Groeneveld

        • What is climate-related risk?
        • What is driving companies to disclose information publicly relating to climate-related risk?
        • Why would an Australian rail company need to understand climate change policy in India?

This session will focus on sustainability reporting of ASX200 companies, and describe the approach taken at Aurizon, a top 50 ASX listed company that provides rail-based transport and infrastructure services across Australia.

Click here to download the conference program.

For more information on the 2017 National Sustainability in Business Conference and to secure your spot today, please visit the conference website.

 

Mental health and psychosocial impacts of climate change for rural Australians

Climate change is arguably the biggest global health threat of the 21st century (U.S. Global Change Research Program, 2016). The safe limit for temperature increase is 1.5oC, but if we continue with business-as-usual, global temperature will rise between 3.7o and 4.8oC, with catastrophic consequences (IPCC, 2014). Already we see climate disruption around the globe which will certainly increase: unprecedented heatwaves, severe drought, bushfires, flooding of cities and land, major storms.

Climate change increases the severity or frequency of health problems already affected by weather factors, as well as creating unprecedented health problems in new places. Groups especially at risk include communities that rely on the natural environment for sustenance and livelihood, and populations living in areas most susceptible to extreme weather (Dodgen et al., 2016), like rural and regional communities in Australia.

Every impact of climate change, be it extreme weather devastating human settlements, changed rainfall and temperature reducing food security and land habitation, or ill health from shifting disease vectors, has flow-on effects on people’s psychological, social, and emotional wellbeing. Climate change is as much a psychological and social problem as an environmental catastrophe.

Climate change impacts on people’s mental health and psychosocial wellbeing in many ways. Many people are already experiencing emotions like anxiety, fear, despair and anger, and these feelings will intensify and spread as global average temperatures continue to rise and disrupt climate.  There is a significant risk of mental health problems like depression and PTSD following extreme weather events that are more frequent and intense with climate change.

Then there are the psychological impacts caused by climate change’s more gradual impacts, like sea level rise, changed  agricultural conditions, associated increases in food insecurity, changes in land use/habitation, associated increases in displaced people, ecosystem disruptions, greater wear and tear on infrastructure, associated increases in disruptions to transport, energy supply, and increases in cost of living. These all have flow-on effects on relationships, stress levels, substance use, family breakdown, reduced social participation etc (Clayton et al., 2014).

Understanding the psychological impacts of climate change is a crucial step in coming to terms with and then psychologically adapting to a climate-changed world and reality.

Dr Susie Burke PhD
Senior Psychologist, Public Interest, Environment and Disaster Response
Australian Psychological Society