Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
17/05/2017
1
“Charleston Flooded” BATIK by Mary Edna Fraser, Charleston, SC, USA
A Perspective on Coastal Marine
Pollution
Stephen Macko
Department of Environmental Sciences
University of Virginia
May 17, 2017
Facts on Ocean Pollution Over 80% of the pollution in the
ocean is runoff from the Land Almost 90% of all floating
materials in the ocean is plastic Marine debris, especially plastic,
kills more than one million seabirds and 100,000 mammals and sea turtles every year
Dead Zones which are areas of oxygen deficient water were life ceases to exist, have increased drastically over the past decade
Most of the oil entering the ocean does not originate from major “accidents” or spills
17/05/2017
2
Difficulties in Identifying the Sources of Coastal Marine Contamination
Point Source
Non-point Source
Types of Coastal Marine Pollution
Metals, Chemicals, Oil, Nutrients, Plastic (garbage), Noise, Sewage,
Carbon Dioxide
17/05/2017
3
Shipping Routes: 20%
17/05/2017
4
The “usual” suspects
Methane has >10-20 times
the effect of carbon dioxide,
but does not reside in the
atmosphere as long
Most of the emissions come
from the developed world,
and chiefly a few countries.
This will change with higher
and warmer seas.
17/05/2017
5
The ocean is now > 0.1 pH units lower than pre-
industrial times and contains about 400 billion
tonnes of fossil fuel CO2.
The “other “ Carbon Dioxide problem
Photo Stephen Macko
Metal Sulfide
Deposits
17/05/2017
6
Slide courtesy: Se-Jon Ju, KIOST
Slide courtesy: Se-Jon Ju, KIOST
17/05/2017
7
http://teachers.sduhsd.net/hherms/herms/ocean/sedimentation/nodules.gif http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/McGrawHill/Encyclopedia/images/CE403150FG0010.gif
Impacts: Manganese Nodules “Harvesting”
• contain concentrations of valuable minerals
• iron, manganese, copper, nickel, cobalt
Fertilizers
Fertilizers that runoff from farms and lawns is a huge problem for coastal areas. The extra nutrients cause Eutrophication.
The run off encourages algal growth which decomposes and depletes the water's dissolved oxygen and suffocates other marine life.
Eutrophication is caused by the addition of artificial or natural substances, such as nitrates and phosphates, through fertilizers or sewage, to an aquatic system.Eutrophication has created enormous dead zones in several parts of the world, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Baltic Sea
17/05/2017
8
SewageIn many parts of the world, sewage flows untreated, or under-treated, into the ocean. For example, 80% of urban sewage discharged into the Mediterranean Sea is untreated.
This sewage can also lead to eutrophication. In addition, it can cause human disease and lead to beach closures.
Dead Zones in the
Gulf of Mexico
17/05/2017
9
Chemicals accumulate in organisms, becoming concentrated in their bodies and in the surrounding water s and sediments. These animals are in turn eaten by larger animals, which can travel large distances with an increased chemical load.
People become contaminated by eating contaminated seafood.
Evidence is mounting that a number of man-made chemicals can cause serious health problems -including cancer, damage to the immune system, behavioral problems, and reduced fertility.
Chemicals: Pesticides, Herbicides, Endocrine Disrupting Compounds
17/05/2017
10
Metals
Mercury
Minamata Disease
About 3000 victims
At Fukushima in 2014, a peer review estimated that 80% escaped into the Pacific Ocean.
Radioactive materials continue to be released into the Pacific via groundwater.
17/05/2017
11
Plastic
Unlike most other trash, plastic
isn't biodegradable Sunlight does
eventually break down the plastic,
reducing it to smaller and smaller
pieces, but that just makes matters
worse. The plastic still never goes away,
it just becomes microscopic and may
be eaten by tiny marine organisms,
entering the food chain.
The world produced 300 million tonnes
of plastic each year, about 5-10% ends
up in the ocean, 70% of which
eventually sinks
8 MT/year;10,000 piece/ sq Km
17/05/2017
12
Oceans to have more plastic than fish by 2050
Plastic packaging is usually used only once then discardedWorld Economic Forum
17/05/2017
13
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Demand for fossil fuels will remain high as population grows
Source: IEA
17/05/2017
14
Oil Spills
Oil spills have huge and immediate economic, social, and environmental impacts.
Local people lose their livelihoods as fisheries and tourism areas are temporarily closed; the clean up costs are enormous; and tens of thousands of marine animals and plants are killed or harmed.
And the damage goes on. The chemicals used to break up the oil can be toxic, and it's impossible to remove all the spilled oil. Even after an area has been cleaned up, it can take decades or more to fully recover: Exxon Valdez.
There's also the problem of the oil that sink, which can contaminate the seabed and smother marine organisms.
This oil can also resurface. In 2001, a cyclone off the island of Yap in Micronesia disturbed the oil tanker USS Mississinewa, which was sunk during World War II. For two months, thousands of liters of oil and gasoline leaked out of the rusted ship wreck onto the beaches of the atoll, stopping the 700 islanders from fishing. There are hundreds of other shipwrecked tankers around the world.
Oil Transport
17/05/2017
15
1967 Torrey Canyon119,000 tonnes
Amoco Cadiz 1978; 227 tonnes
17/05/2017
16
Amoco Cadiz 1978;; 227 tonnes
17/05/2017
17
17/05/2017
18
0.5 million Tonnes spilled, 1980-1981
17/05/2017
19
Deepwater HorizonBP / Transocean registered out of
Marshall Islands
20 April – 19 September 2010
210M gallons= 660,000 tonnes
68,000 square miles
Failed blowout preventer
Ixtoc 1 PEMEX
June 1979- March 1980
130M gallons; 30,000
gallons/day; 11,000 sq miles
2M gallons of Corexit sprayed
Lowest end
of winter ice
2017
Lowest end of
summer ice 2012
17/05/2017
20
Arctic Resources
25 geologic regions
USGS
Perhaps 100 billion barrels of oil
13% of world’s undiscovered oil
30% of world’s undiscovered gas
84% is offshore, shallow deposits
US EEZ: 30 billion barrels of oil
74 billion barrels gas(eq)
Closest Coast Guard 1000mi
17/05/2017
21
17/05/2017
22
Impacts: Shipping route 40% shorter across the Arctic
Source: UPEP GRID Arendal
1969 Manhattan transits NW passage with 1 barrel of oil
17/05/2017
23
Figure 17_07
While the path forward looks
complex and risky
Photo credit: Stephen Macko
We depend on you
17/05/2017
24
There is no other option Winston Churchill
Terima kasih
Thank you
17/05/2017
25
The ocean is now > 0.1 pH units lower than
pre-industrial times and contains about 400
billion tons of fossil fuel CO2.
17/05/2017
26
Declining pH of the Ocean:increasing acidity, declining carbonate
Year 1750 2000 2100?
CO2 ppm 275 375 (1.36x) 750 (2.73x)
pH of the
Ocean8.24
8.13
(1.29x H+)
7.87
(2.35x H+)
Lowest pH in millions of years
Effect is highly predictable
17/05/2017
27
Coccolithophores and Ocean Acidification
A bloom of coccolithophore plankton
recorded near Newfoundland in 1999 by
NASA’s SeaWiFs satellite
Acidification of the
ocean waters means
difficulty in calcification
by phytoplankton
Graphic courtesy Introduction to
Oceanography, Sverdrup et al. Prentice HallRecognize change
cascades with
trophic level
17/05/2017
28
Zooplankton also.
Foraminifera: composed of
calcium carbonate
Arctic pteropod (pelagic
sea mollusk) Limacina
helicina (Spitzberg)
pteropod Limacina
helicina helicina.
a–d, Live pteropod, Clio pyramidata, collected from the subarctic Pacific exposed to
undersaturated (aragonite) for 48 h. The whole shell (a) : the shell surface (b) etch pits
and exposure of aragonitic rods; the prismatic layer (c), peeling (d) advanced dissolution.
No exposure
17/05/2017
29
Lower pH negatively affects larval stages of planktonic stages: increased mortality, affects hardening of chitin with
calcite formation
Blue king crab zoea Juvenile blue king crab
Coral Reefs
17/05/2017
30
Potential economic impact of ocean acidification on US fisheries (Cooley and Doney, 2009)
