Bikini Atoll's Nuked Coral Reef Bounces Back to Life

[Angel Heart]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351767,00.html

Bikini Atoll's Nuked Coral Reef Bounces Back to Life
Monday, April 21, 2008

Half a century after the atomic blasts that devastated Bikini Atoll, vast expanses of corals in the area seem to be flourishing once again, much to the surprise of scientists.

American government scientists detonated a hydrogen bomb on the tiny island (a part of the Marshall Islands in the western Pacific) on March 1, 1954, and about 20 other nuclear tests were carried out on the atoll between 1946 and 1958.

Many of the natives were moved to Kili Island and today are compensated by the United States government.

More...

 

[Dr Grump]

Moral of the story is to nuke all atolls with coral on them??

 

[Ravi]

Only 50 years, huh? I guess in the overall scheme of things that's pretty quick.

 

[BrianH]

Is it really so suprising to find out that something is "growing" where there was once nuclear radiation. Before you know it, the coral will be abnormally large, deformed, and glowing. j/k

 

[waltky]

Granny thinks coral is like a canary inna coal mine...

Coral reefs head for 'knock-out punch'
4 January 2018 - Repeat bouts of warmer seawater are posing a significant challenge to the world's tropical corals.

A study of 100 reefs, published in Science Magazine, shows the interval between bleaching events in recent decades has shortened dramatically. It has gone from once every 25-30 years in the early 1980s to an average of just once every six years today. Bleaching is caused by anomalously warm water, which prompts coral polyps to eject their symbiotic algae. This drains the corals of their colour and is fatal unless conditions are reversed in a reasonably short time.

A diver surveys bleached/dead corals on Zenith Reef, part of the Great Barrier Reef​

But even if temperatures fall back quickly, it can still take many years for damaged reefs to fully recover. "If you go into the ring with a heavyweight boxer, you could probably stand up for one round, but once that second round comes - you're going down," said Dr Mark Eakin from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). "The acceleration in the return rate of bleaching events matches up very well with what the climate models have been telling us - that predict that by mid-century most of the world's coral reefs will be suffering yearly, or near yearly, heat stress," he told BBC News.

Striking difference between bleached and healthy coral on the Great Barrier Reef​

One telling observation in the assessment is that as global warming has progressed - the "cold" phases in the famous La Niña-El Niño ocean oscillation have today become warmer than the "hot" phases were three decades ago. "There basically are no cool years anymore; they are just years that aren't too hot," said Dr Eakin. Aside from their beauty, tropical corals provide important ecosystem services upon which the livelihoods of many millions of people depend. Reefs, for example, afford coastal protection from big waves, storms, and floods; they also act as key spawning and nursery grounds for economically important fish and other aquatic species.

A turtle swimming over a destroyed reef in the Indian Ocean​

This study concentrates on the climate challenge to corals, but many reefs are also experiencing other stresses, including pollution, overfishing and habitat destruction. Unsurprisingly, the authors, led by Prof Terry Hughes from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Australia, call for renewed efforts to constrain and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. But it is interesting to note how more radical conservation solutions are now increasingly being discussed. These touch on topics such as engineered super-corals that are better able to cope in very warm water, and how you might go about artificially cooling a reef at times of high stress.

Coral reefs head for 'knock-out punch'

 

[frigidweirdo]

Bikini Atoll's Nuked Coral Reef Bounces Back to Life

Bikini Atoll's Nuked Coral Reef Bounces Back to Life
Monday, April 21, 2008

Half a century after the atomic blasts that devastated Bikini Atoll, vast expanses of corals in the area seem to be flourishing once again, much to the surprise of scientists.

American government scientists detonated a hydrogen bomb on the tiny island (a part of the Marshall Islands in the western Pacific) on March 1, 1954, and about 20 other nuclear tests were carried out on the atoll between 1946 and 1958.

Many of the natives were moved to Kili Island and today are compensated by the United States government.

More...

Only 50 years later..... but hey, it might show what happens when humans are not allowed somewhere.

 

[WinterBorn]

Just because the coral polyps are the size of dinner plates and the "large tree-like branching coral formations" were trying to grab the divers, no need to panic.

 

[Old Rocks]

So, is the moral of this piece that we just as well go ahead and have a nuclear war? That everything will be hunky dory fifty years later?

 

[Moonglow]

Who is digging this crap from the trash bins?

 

[yiostheoy]

Bikini Atoll's Nuked Coral Reef Bounces Back to Life

Bikini Atoll's Nuked Coral Reef Bounces Back to Life
Monday, April 21, 2008

Half a century after the atomic blasts that devastated Bikini Atoll, vast expanses of corals in the area seem to be flourishing once again, much to the surprise of scientists.

American government scientists detonated a hydrogen bomb on the tiny island (a part of the Marshall Islands in the western Pacific) on March 1, 1954, and about 20 other nuclear tests were carried out on the atoll between 1946 and 1958.

Many of the natives were moved to Kili Island and today are compensated by the United States government.

More...

Same is true of Chernobyl.

The Earth gets over stuff.

But it takes time. This is called half-lives.

 

[Old Rocks]

"This doesn't mean radiation is good for wildlife, just that the effects of human habitation — including hunting, farming and forestry — are a lot worse," Smith said in a statement.

However, some scientists think the scope of this study was too limited. Timothy Mousseau, a professor of biological sciences at the University of South Carolina who was not involved in the new study, told NBC News that he thought the study did not address the effect that radiation has on animal populations and didn't have a control group (a group in an experiment or study that does not receive treatment or, in this case, exposure to radiation) to compare the results to those of typical populations.

Overall, the wildlife population around Chernobyl is much lower compared to that in other protected regions in Europe, which seems to indicate that radiation is having an observable effect on the wildlife, he added.

After the March 2011 nuclear leak at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, researchers closely examined animals that were exposed to radioactive particles from the disaster. Scientists reported radiation-related mutations in local butterfly populations, notably pale grass blue butterflies. A 2014 study published in the journal Scientific Reports also showed signs of radiation exposure in the blood of Japanese monkey species, and scientists think it's likely this exposure will make the monkeys more susceptible to infectious disease.

Nearly 30 Years After Chernobyl Disaster, Wildlife Returns to the Area

Much lower population for the same amount of ground is indictative of a problem.

 

[Spycraft]

Fox News trying to downplay Nukes? Castle Bravo was a total disaster:

Castle Bravo revisited