Mr. Sean Connick, T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, today (June 29th) launched a milestone report on the effects of climate change on Ireland’s marine ecosystems.
Minister Connick (left) with Marine Institute CEO Dr. Peter Heffernan at the launch of the reports.(Photo: Jason McGarrigle)
The document - Irish Ocean Climate and Ecosystem Status Report 2009 – details a number of significant observations recorded in recent years including: increases in sea surface temperature, increased wave heights off the south west coast and an increase in the number of warm water species in Irish waters, ranging from microscopic plankton to swarms of jellyfish.
This report is one of three projects funded as part of the Marine NDP Research Programme (Sea Change) under the Environmental Policy Research Measure.
“It could be argued that one of the greatest challenges our marine food industries - such as fishing and aquaculture - are the effects of marine climate change,” said Minister Connick. “These changes will be primarily driven by the Atlantic Ocean. Research is therefore urgently required to improve our capability to predict marine climate change so that we can preempt and deal with the economic, social, political and environmental consequences that might follow.”
One key finding of the report is that increases of sea surface temperature of 0.6°C per decade have been taking place since 1994, which are unprecedented in the past 150 years. This in turn is linked to an increase in microscopic plants and animals, along with species of jellyfish. Further up the food chain, increased numbers of most warm water fish species have been observed in Irish waters, along with sightings of exotic species such as snake pipefish. Declines in number of seabirds have also been observed which may have a climate link.
(Bloom of the jellyfish Aurelia aurata. Photo: Michelle Cronin)
“Ireland is strategically placed to play a key role in monitoring ocean-induced changes in our climate and environment,” said Dr. Peter Heffernan, CEO of the Marine Institute. “Geographically the warm southern waters of the Atlantic drift come closer to Ireland than any other country in Europe, where they merge with the cooler northern waters off the coasts of Galway and Mayo. It is here that the predicted biological shifts in marine species diversity or abundance are most likely to occur, making Ireland an ideal laboratory for the study of marine climate change.”
In the long term, the Irish Ocean Climate and Ecosystem Status Report 2009 report predicts that global mean sea level may rise by up to 0.88 m by 2100. This, when combined with the increase in wave heights of 0.8 m that have already been observed off southwest Ireland, could lead to an increased threat of coastal erosion and flooding.
‘We assembled a team who extensively reviewed and analysed our extensive marine databanks on oceanography, plankton and productivity, marine fisheries and migratory species such as salmon, trout and eels with the specific aim of identifying any pattern that might be linked to climate change,” said Dr. Glenn Nolan of the Marine Institute who managed the team. “In some instances these data were painstakingly assembled over a considerable period of time, indeed one of the time series extends back over five decades.”
A second report which reviews the effect of ocean acidification in Irish waters “Ocean Acidification: An Emerging Threat to our Marine Environment - 2010” has also been completed which highlights the growing threat to marine life and fragile ecosystems around the coast as a direct consequence of increased carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere.
(Photo: Magnified picture of Coccolithophorid protozoa covered in minute calcium carbonate platelets which are vulnerable to ocean acidification )
The report recommends that a nationally coordinated multidisciplinary marine climate change and ecosystem monitoring programme be established that will enable better evaluations to be made of the threats posed to the marine environment and economy by ocean acidification. It emphasises closer links between climate change, ocean acidification and environmental policy development especially in relation to mitigation strategies to reduce carbon emissions.
Sea Change – A Marine Knowledge, Research & Innovation Strategy for Ireland, identified climate change as a priority area for research over the period 2007 to 2013 and this report represents a significant contribution towards achieving the objectives of the marine research programme. It addresses the need to increase our understanding of the drivers and regulators of climate so as to improve the accuracy of advice to Government while at the same time provide key inputs into the national climate change programme of the EPA.
It will also improve the reliability of predictive models, and allow researchers to downscale global climate model predictions to the regional/local scale. As an island nation, it is important to continue to support investment in marine climate change research. This in turn will strengthen Ireland’s ability to develop knowledge-based scenarios on climate change impacts on the various marine sectors and include these in all future social, economic and environmental strategies.
The complete Irish Ocean Climate and Ecosystem Status Report 2009 and Report summary are downloadable from:
http://www.marine.ie/NR/rdonlyres/E581708D-6269-4941-836F-6B012DD7A4BD/0/IrishOceanClimateandEcosystemStatusReport2009.pdf
http://www.marine.ie/NR/rdonlyres/7528902D-2467-4F3E-BF21-39D81AEA4D37/0/SummaryIrishOceanClimateandEcosystemStatusReport2009.pdf
The Ocean Acidification Report can be downloaded from:
http://www.marine.ie/home/publicationsdata/publications/Marine+Foresight+Publications.htm
ENDS
These projects were carried out with the support of the Marine Institute under the Sea Change Strategy and the Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation (2006-2013), funded under the National Development Plan 2007–2013.
For further information please contact:
Dr. John Joyce – Communications Manager. Phone: 087 2250871
Email: john.joyce@marine.ie
Notes to Editor:
i) Climate Change and the Ocean
The ocean and the atmosphere are closely linked systems, exchanging gases, particles, heat, and momentum. Atmospheric reservoirs of carbon dioxide, stable in medieval times and until the 19th century, have risen dramatically in the past 200 years producing a 38% increase since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
The observed rapid increase of the Earth’s temperature over the past century is thought to be a result of the high levels of green-house gas emissions caused by various human activities. This alteration affects the heat exchanges across the air-sea interface, with predictable consequences on marine processes such as ocean dynamics (stratification and circulation patterns), ecosystem productivity, and the distribution of organisms.
The ocean also directly absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Over the past 200 years about a third of the carbon dioxide emissions generated by human activities have sunk into the oceans. This is causing the seawater to become more acidic (decrease in pH), a process known as ocean acidification. Even if we succeed in curbing the present-day carbon dioxide emissions, the acidification process will still affect marine ecosystems during the full course of the century.
ii) The Role of the Marine Institute in Ocean Climate Change Research
Climate change research can be divided into four principal components:
- Modelling / predictive studies
- Impacts
- Mitigation
- Adaptation.
The Marine Institute’s involvement with climate change on a day to day basis relates mainly to monitoring the marine and catchment environment and related ecosystems. Its work is focused on how best to refine its future advice to take account of climate related impacts. The advice component of Marine Institute Activity is also linked to adaptation and advising on the role of adaptive management to overcome or adapt to change including climate related impacts.
The data collected by the Marine Institute is of direct relevance to those involved in climate change modelling and indeed the future structure of operational models will depend on research results emanating from climate modelling and scenario building. For this reason it is the Marine Institute’s intention to input into these areas of research and where possible refine the collection of monitoring and other research data to best accommodate an input to the modelling and predictive areas of research.
Given current financial constraints the Institute will focus on existing core programmes and how best these can be refined to provide basic information on climate related impacts. The Institute is, however, cognisant of the need for long-term critical observations in the marine environment and the role these play in informing ongoing advice and predictive modeling. In the case of the marine environment, the Institute manages key national assets which could be used to assemble such data sets. The Institute will therefore seek to support and maintain a small number of key national monitoring programmes, which may not directly relate at present to day-to-day advice, but are vitally important in supporting such advice into the future.
It is envisaged that the Institute will engage in climate related research at three levels:
long term monitoring in a small number of key areas including; weather buoy locations; Malin Head observatory; Burrishoole catchment monitoring and annual North-West Atlantic transects.
refinement of the core monitoring and research work to take account of climate impacts which have the potential to yield important information on climate change (e.g. marine fisheries data collected under the Data Collection Framework and chemical and physic-chemical data gathered under the Shellfish Waters Directive) and
involvement with climate change modeling and predictive studies both through direct involvement on a project by project basis and through engagement with key national and international climate change fora.
In summary the Institute’s role will include:
- Emphasis on the delivery of various outputs relevant to the monitoring of climate change impacts and mitigation advice that are observable from the marine environment and ecosystem through the Institute’s on-going integrated monitoring programmes.
- Augmentation of this work by carefully targeted research funding opportunities from both national and international funding sources.
- Utilisation of recommendations on future research activities produced by the Marine Climate Change project team as an in-house resource to inform future targeting of both national funding programmes and proposals to external funding sources.
- Establishment of an in-house climate change technical/scientific coordination group to maximise the relevance, efficiency and added-value of our outputs in this arena on an on-going basis.
- Consolidation of the profile and value of the outputs produced and the importance of marine dynamics to the whole climate change arena at appropriate national and international levels