Warm, Acidifying Ocean Water Spreading Pacific's "Biological Desert" Into Hawaiian Archipelago

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In recent years, several major bleaching events, linked to increasing ocean temperatures, have killed corals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, an indication that climate change is affecting even Hawai'i's most remote, pristine reefs.

Over the past decade, rising temperatures also have led to an expansion of an area considered the Pacific's biological desert, or its least productive waters, according to ocean biologist Jeff Polovina, who has studied the trend using satellite data. The expansion has encroached into part of the Hawaiian archipelago, and if the trend continues, the pristine conditions of the northern-most atolls could start to become more like the conditions off O'ahu, he said.

Researchers also recorded an expansion of the least productive waters in the Atlantic. What is worrisome, Polovina said, is that the expansions occurred at a pace much quicker than what the models predicted. "It's something we've started to focus on now," he said of the accelerating impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems. "It's sort of taken us by surprise."

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The White House recently released a report that said global warming was unequivocal, primarily human induced and the cause of changes throughout the United States. The report said Pacific and Caribbean islands face unique challenges. Due to climate change, the islands will continue to experience rises in ocean surface and air temperatures, and in the Pacific, the number of heavy rain events and the intensity of hurricanes likely will increase, according to the report. In addition, flooding will become more frequent due to higher storm surges, and coastal land will be lost to a rising sea level. The authors said the low-lying Northwestern Hawaiian Islands will be particularly vulnerable to the rising sea. Also, they noted that Honolulu's harbor experienced the highest daily average sea level ever recorded in September 2003 and that the intervals between such extreme events has declined to about five years, compared with more than 20 previously.

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