Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Friday 17 august 2018
Not just land heat waves: Oceans are in hot water, too

By CHRISTINA LARSON tion. Because oceans both
WASHINGTON (AP) — Even absorb and release heat
the oceans are breaking more slowly than air, most
temperature records in this marine heat waves last for
summer of heat waves. at least several days — and
Off the San Diego coast, some for several weeks,
scientists earlier this month said Frolicher.
recorded all-time high sea- "We knew that average
water temperatures since temperatures were rising.
daily measurements began What we haven't focused
in 1916. on before is that the rise in
"Just like we have heat the average comes at you
waves on land, we also in clumps of very hot days
have heat waves in the — a shock of several days
ocean," said Art Miller of or weeks of very high tem-
the Scripps Institution of peratures," said Michael
Oceanography. Oppenheimer, a Princeton
Between 1982 and 2016, University climate scientist
the number of "marine heat who was not involved in
waves" roughly doubled, the study.
and likely will become Many sea critters have
more common and in- evolved to survive within
tense as the planet warms, n this Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 file photo, a Guadalupe fur seal, foreground, passes by as SeaWorld a fairly narrow band of
a study released Wednes- animal rescue team member Heather Ruce feeds a California sea lion at a rescue facility in San temperatures compared
day found. Prolonged peri- Diego, with rescue crews seeing a higher than average amount of stranded sea lions. to creatures on land, and
ods of extreme heat in the Associated Press even incremental warming
oceans can damage kelp can be disruptive.
forests and coral reefs, and accelerate with global in Switzerland, who led the events in which sea-surface Some free-swimming sea
harm fish and other marine warming," said Thomas research. temperatures exceeded animals like bat rays or
life. Frolicher, a climate scien- His team defined marine the 99th percentile of mea- lobsters may shift their
"This trend will only further tist at the University of Bern heat waves as extreme surements for a given loca- routines.q

Endangered Green, Loggerhead turtles make comeback in Cyprus

By PETROS KARADJIAS and out as long as three de- key beaches in the island's
MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS cades, the results are "quite west and northwest, keep-
Associated Press spectacular," said Demet- ing curious locals and tour-
LARA BEACH, Cyprus (AP) ropoulos. ists at bay.
— For these ancient rep- This increase is especially Before this, residents would
tiles, a stretch of beach encouraging for the Green camp on the beach and
on the Mediterranean is- turtle, which lays its eggs in fire up barbeques with little
land of Cyprus has been only two countries — Turkey concern for the turtles. But
their home for thousands of and European Union mem- over time, Hadjichristopho-
years. ber Cyprus. There are only rou says the region has built
Against the setting sun, the about 1,500 female Green up a conservationist culture
tiny turtles that have just turtles that lay eggs in those — from schoolkids to adults
hatched on Lara Beach two countries, as opposed — so that folks who spot
strain against the surf to to 6,000 female Logger- something like an injured
reach the Mediterranean head — or Careta Care- turtle notify the authorities
Sea and embark on their ta — turtles that lay eggs immediately.
life's journey. In this photo taken on Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018, a conservationist across the Mediterranean. Turtles have been around
holds up a tiny sea turtle that just hatched from its nest on Cyprus'
And in 20 to 30 years, they'll protected Lara beach. According to marine bi- for 200 million years on
be back at this exact loca- Associated Press ologist and conservation Earth but have called the
tion to lay their own eggs. program co-head Myroula Mediterranean home only
After being hunted to near turtles are making a come- in 1978, there were just 300 Hadjichristophorou, Cyprus for about 10,000 years,
extinction in the first half of back thanks to pioneering turtle nests on the island's has 200-300 Green turtles said Hadjichristophorou.
the last century, the Medi- conservation efforts, Cypri- beaches where the rep- who lay eggs while the Remarkably, the turtles'
terranean's endangered ot marine biologists say. tiles return to lay their eggs. number for Loggerheads is own ingrained "biological
Loggerhead and Green When those efforts began The population has grown more than double that. GPS" brings them back to
to around 1,100 nests last Cyprus instituted its con- lay their eggs to the same
year, said Andreas Demet- servation program long beaches that their ances-
ropoulos, the founder and before any other EU mem- tors chose thousands of
co-head of a turtle conser- ber and that has paid divi- years ago.
vation program under the dends, said Hadjichristofo- "When people come here
island-nation's Fisheries and rou. Efforts include guard- with their families, their
Marine Research Depart- ing against the turtles' main children, they see the ba-
ment. predator — foxes — and bies coming out of their
That may not sound a lot, passing crucial legislation nests, this is something that
but with the turtles' repro- in 1989 that allowed con- they will never forget," said
ductive cycles stretching servationists to protect two Hadjichristophorou.q