Natural Awakenings Twin Cities August 2023

global briefs
El Niño Is Here
New Species
Found in Deep-Sea
Mining Zone
photo courtesy of Dell_Technologies__community
sripfoto/ShutterStock.com
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, El
Niño and La Niña are the warm and cool phases of a climate pattern across
the tropical Pacific. The patterns shift back and forth every two to seven
years and vary in strength, causing changes in ocean temperature that
lead to droughts, floods and heat waves in different parts of the world.
El Niño has the strongest influence on U.S. winter weather, but in the
summer, it reduces hurricane activity in the Caribbean and Atlantic. The
pattern also makes it wetter across the southern third to half of the country,
including California, while regions in the Pacific Northwest and parts
of the Ohio Valley are dry and warm. Outside the U.S., El Niño brings drier
weather to Australia, Indonesia, India, and parts of southern Africa and
northern South America, and wetter conditions in Southeast Argentina,
parts of Chile and Northeast Africa.
This year’s El Niño formed earlier than usual, increasing the possibility of
a strong effect on the weather, which when combined with human-caused
warming, could result in record high global temperatures. Experts also say
it is possible that record hot Atlantic Ocean water may counteract El Niño’s
usual suppression of hurricanes this year.
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Biologists have discovered more
than 5,000 new species of marine
life in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone
(CCZ), an untouched seabed in
the Pacific Ocean spanning nearly
2 million square miles between
Hawaii and Mexico. Remarkably,
approximately 90 percent of the
species are entirely new to science.
In a paper published in the journal
Current Biology, scientists provided
the first list of CCZ species,
although most of them have not
yet been named or described. The
checklist focuses on multicellular
animals dwelling on the ocean floor.
This research is crucial for assessing
the potential consequences
of deep-sea mining in the CCZ.
The seafloor is rich with cobalt,
manganese, nickel, copper and
zinc—minerals that are critical for
renewable energy technologies.
Already, 31 exploration contracts
have been awarded to several mining
companies. Excavation in the
CCZ has not yet begun, and scientists,
activists and governments
have urged caution until researchers
are able to evaluate and better
understand the impact that mining
would have on this unique marine
ecosystem.
10 Twin Cities Edition NAtwincities.com