ESA STUDY REVEALS THE 2019 “HORRIFIC” AMAZON FIRE SEASON WAS ACTUALLY INLINE WITH THE 2001-2018 AVERAGE

by Poppaloff, March11, 2020 in Electroverse


Never has the phrase “don’t believe the hype” been so relevant.

Last year media outlet after media outlet pumped the horror of the fires in the Amazon: “The Earth is burning up – The Earth is burning up.” However, the latest study released from the ESA points to the fact that last year’s burn, although 70% up on the previous year, was in fact in line with the previous seventeen years of acreage burn figures.

“While forest fires are common in the Amazon, they vary considerably from year-to-year driven by changes in climate, as well as variations in deforestation and forest degradation,” the ESA wrote.

The 2019 fires triggered an international demand for updated information about active fires, most importantly in Brazil. However, these figures were never compared to the number of blazes over a longer time period, reads a watchers.news article.

Using information from ESA’s Fire CCI project, researchers studied fire-ravaged areas in South America in 2018 and 2019, then compared the data to the annual average from 2001 to 2018. The report indicated that the total burned area in South America was roughly 70 percent more in 2019 as compared to the same period of 2018– however, only a fraction more than the annual average over the previous 17 years:

 

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Study: No Evidence Ocean Acidification Harms Coral Reef Fish Behavior

by C. Idso, March10, 2020 in ClimateChangeDispatch


Paper Reviewed: Clark, T.D., Raby, G.D., Roche, D.G., Binning, S.A., Speers-Roesch, B., Jutfelt, F. and Sundin, J. 2020. Ocean acidification does not impair the behavior of coral reef fishes. Nature 577: 370-375.

In an incredibly important and revealing paper published in the journal Nature, Clark et al. (2020) write that “establishing a robust and independently replicated database of the effects of ocean acidification on fishes is essential to gain a reliable understanding of the consequences of climate change on marine ecosystems.”

Such a database, they add, is critical “before drawing broad conclusions and implementing management measures.”

Unfortunately, too many have been far too eager to jump to conclusions when it comes to estimating the impacts of ocean acidification.

And in this regard, Clark et al. note that “a number of highly publicized studies have reported detrimental effects of elevated CO2 levels on the sensory systems and behaviors of fishes, with coral reef fishes appearing to be the most sensitive despite experiencing large daily and seasonal fluctuations in nature (for example, 100-1,300 µatm).”

Such projected detrimental effects include “alterations in olfaction, hearing, vision, learning, behavioral lateralization, activity levels, boldness, anxiety, and susceptibility to predation,” which have led to “dire predictions for fish populations and marine ecosystems.”

But how solid is this body of research?

Clark et al. note there are two important red flags that call the pessimistic ocean acidification projections of fish into question.