Thursday, December 17, 2015

Another global warming problem in the making

Climate change rapidly warming world's lakes
Algal blooms, which can ultimately rob water of oxygen, are projected to increase 20 percent in lakes over the next century as warming rates increase. Algal blooms that are toxic to fish and animals would increase by 5 percent. If these rates continue, emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide on 100-year time scales, will increase 4 percent over the next decade.
Another article at phys.org indicates this is a real problem even for North American cities:
By the latter half of this century, toxic algal blooms like the one that cut off drinking water to the city of Toledo in 2014 will no longer be the exception, but the norm, a study suggests.

1 comment:

John said...

There is also mounting evidence that a compound produced by some of these algae blooms, BMAA, is a sufficient and independent cause of motor neuron disease. That these blooms are impacting on drinking water is a very serious issue.