Reuters, September
LONDON (Reuters)—Europe’s seas are changing at an unprecedented rate as ice sheets melt, temperatures rise and marine life migrates due to climate change, a report by the Climate Change and European Marine Ecosystem Research (CLAMER) project warned.
LONDON (Reuters)—Europe’s seas are changing at an unprecedented rate as ice sheets melt, temperatures rise and marine life migrates due to climate change, a report by the Climate Change and European Marine Ecosystem Research (CLAMER) project warned.
Scientists examined a mass of EU-funded research on the impacts of
climate change on Europe’s marine environment and identified the gaps and
priorities for future work.
“Change has been clearly visible and is much more rapid than we thought
was possible,” Carlo Heip, chair of the CLAMER project and lead author of the
report, told Reuters on Tuesday.
Over the past 25 years, sea water temperatures have increased as Arctic
sea ice has melted. The combination of rising sea-levels and increased winds
has contributed to the erosion of 15 percent of European coasts, the report
said.
Warming has speeded up in the past 25 years at around 10 times faster
than the average rate of increase in the 20th century, it added.
From 1986 to 2006, sea surface temperature rises for European waters
were three to six times higher than the global average.
“Scenario simulations suggest that by the end of the 21st century, the
temperature of the Baltic Sea may have increased by 2 to 4 degrees centigrade,
the North Sea by 1.7 degrees, and the Bay of Biscay by 1.5 to 5 degrees,” the
report said.
Melting ice sheets and glaciers add more uncertainty. Current estimates
for 2100 suggest European sea levels could rise 60 cms and up to 1.9 metres at
some British coasts.
Sea level rise threatens populations in all low-lying areas of Europe,
but countries such as Britain, France and the Netherlands could be less
vulnerable because they are rich enough to adopt coastal protection measures.
Changes in the marine food chain have also occurred as organisms have
migrated to the Atlantic from the Pacific via seasonal ice-free passages
through the Arctic.
While some species can thrive in other oceans, any major upheaval to the
marine ecosystem could have devastating effects, the report said.
CLAMER also found that some bacteria strains were becoming more
prevalent and could be a potential threat to human health. For example, cholera
strains have increased in the North Sea over the past 50 years, perhaps due to
temperature change.
