[Coral-List] Subject: climate Change "deniers"

[Ulf Erlingsson]

First, I agree that the climate change #2BorNot2B does not belong here.

Now you brought up a valid point, Michael, how does ocean warning affect reefs? This brings us to the topic of oceanography. There is a whole system of surface currents, gyres, and then there is thermohaline vertical circulation. The question in my opinion is, where is the increase in heat stored, as a warmer tropical surface layer, or a wider surface tropical layer, or a deeper tropical surface layer? The vast volume of the oceans get their thermohaline characteristics from their source areas, where the water sinks. It sinks where the surface waters are the heaviest (coldest and saltiest). So the deep and intermediate waters are not directly related to the heat but to the cold and evaporation, and that depends on the distribution of continents and oceans. So again, how is that thin lens of tropical surface waters affected by the predicted warming? That is the question that is relevant for coral reefs.

Ulf Erlingsson

On 2015-06 -26, at 8:37 , Risk, Michael wrote:

> There is, however, great relevance to reefs in the continued heating of the oceans. This will lead to thermal stratification, development of anoxia... there is no good news.