Climate change?

[Woolly Bugger]

Why seas are surging
What one tide gauge reveals about America's climate future

SAVANNAH, Ga. — The Fort Pulaski tide gauge sits on a small, narrow pier just 15 miles east of Savannah, Georgia. It is one of more than a hundred stations across the country that track high and low tides, temperatures, wind speeds, air pressure — and the rising seas.

For 90 years, this station has returned a steady stream of data to scientists, locals and ship captains, helping them track the rhythms of the ocean and avoid perilously low tides.

It has also shown a dangerous trend: Since 2010, the sea level at the Fort Pulaski gauge has risen by more than 7 inches, one of the fastest rates in the country, according to a Washington Post analysis of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data for 127 tide gauges.

Similar spikes are affecting the entire U.S. Southeast — showing a glimpse of our climate future.

https://wapo.st/49NZEFa

[Woolly Bugger]

Stop international work, Trump administration tells ocean agency

The Trump administration has told the federal government's ocean and atmosphere scientists to stop their international work.

Word came down verbally in all-staff meetings throughout the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday: All "international engagements" were on hold.

Staff were told to stop having discussions or meetings, real or virtual, on international topics.

The edict included directions not to email or work with "foreign national colleagues," according to WIRED, which first reported it.

NOAA employees told KUOW that career officials with the agency struggled to interpret the edict and tell employees which specific activities were prohibited.

"[The agency] is seeking guidance currently on whether or not email exchanges regarding science are included in this," an internal document obtained by KUOW said.


>>>Its many branches include the National Weather Service, the National and Pacific Tsunami Warning Centers, and NOAA Fisheries, responsible for everything from salmon catches to endangered orcas.

The agency is also a major hub of climate monitoring and research. Project 2025, the conservative Heritage Foundation's blueprint for the Trump administration, calls NOAA "one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry," suggesting the agency be "broken up and downsized."

"If you care about the weather, if you care about the ocean, if you care about the climate," former NOAA deputy director Andrew Rosenberg told NPR, "then you are dependent to a significant degree on the work that NOAA does. Whether you know it or not."

Since storms, tsunamis, and salmon all travel freely, much of NOAA's work is necessarily international.

"The ocean has no borders," one scientist who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution told KUOW. "We cannot adequately do our jobs if we can't interact with scientists abroad."

"'They can't be serious,' that's what I thought," another scientist said.

https://www.opb.org/article/2025/02/08/trump-noaa-stop-work/

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Trump's Pause on Cross-Border Collaboration Threatens Weather Forecasting and Fisheries Research
"A dangerous, closed minded, knee jerk ideological policy that could literally cost lives."

Canadian climate and fisheries experts are reeling after the Trump administration ordered researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—the US government agency in charge of weather forecasting, climate research, and fisheries—to temporarily stop communicating with "foreign nationals."

The move, which was first reported Wednesday by Wired, could devastate weather and oceanic forecasting, climate change research, and Canada's ability to manage and study key fish stocks like Pacific salmon and halibut, experts and advocates say.

"This is not a small blow for climate research—it is a body blow," said Tzeporah Berman, a long-time Canadian climate advocate and expert. If implemented permanently, the move would hamstring some of the world's most important climate monitoring data and modeling, making it hard to assess the scale of the crisis and craft effective responses.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/trump-pause-research-communications-foreign-nationals-noaa-weather-service-climate-science-fisheries/

[Woolly Bugger]

Supreme Court restricts the EPA's authority to mandate carbon emissions reductions

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday dealt a major blow to the Environmental Protection Agency's power to regulate carbon emissions that cause climate change. The decision by the conservative court majority sets the stage for further limitations on the regulatory power of other agencies as well.

By a vote of 6 to 3, the court said that any time an agency does something big and new – in this case addressing climate change – the regulation is presumptively invalid, unless Congress has specifically authorized regulating in this sphere.

"That's a very big deal because they're not going to get it from Congress because Congress is essentially dysfunctional," said Harvard law professor Richard Lazarus, an expert on environmental law. "This could not have come at a worse time" because "the consequences of climate change are increasingly dire and we're running out of time to address it."

https://www.npr.org/2022/06/30/1103595898/supreme-court-epa-climate-change#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20Supreme%20Court%20on%20Thursday%20dealt%20a,the%20regulatory%20power%20of%20other%20agencies%20as%20well.

[Woolly Bugger]

Protections against drug trafficking and climate change under threat from US federal funding freeze

Protections against drug trafficking and climate change could be under threat in the Pacific's freely associated states, as US president Donald Trump freezes and reshapes foreign aid to the region.

In the Marshall Islands, Marjuro's sole FBI agent has been sent packing, potentially hampering drug and corruption investigations.

Meanwhile funding for climate-related projects under the Compact of Free Association pacts might be re-directed to other areas.

Guam's former delegate to the US House or Representatives, Robert Underwood said even though COFA funding has been secured for the next 20 years, the US government could still re-direct the funds away from projects that don't align with its values.

'Even though the money has been approved, it still has to go through a process of sectoral grants, which is subject to a committee,' he said.

'How the new administration views these grants and their nature could be affected tremendously by the perspective of the new administration.'

Mr Underwood said Pacific states would have to revamp their language if they hope to secure climate-related funding.

'Climate change is no longer approved language, you have to come up with other things like climate resilience or projects of that nature. So the dialogue, the terms of the conversation has shifted dramatically,' he said.

Palau president Surangel Whipps jr said he hopes US president Donald Trump gives Pacific nations the opportunity to outline climate concerns.

'If he doesn't want to call it climate change lets call it natural disasters, but we do have challenges and we need partnerships,' he said.

https://www.abc.net.au/pacific/programs/pacificbeat/fears-cofa-funding-could-be-directed-away-from-climate-programs/104964354

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Global sea level rose higher than expected last year. Here's why.

Last year's rate of average global sea level rise was 0.23 inches per year, higher than the expected 0.17 inches per year, NASA found. The rise follows are trend of rapidly increasing rates over the past 30 years.

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Oceans last year reached their highest levels in three decades — with the rate of global sea level rise increasing around 35 percent higher than expected, according to a NASA-led analysis published Thursday. The unexpected rise in global levels is concerning, particularly as an indicator for what to expect around coastal cities, many of which are already experiencing more damaging flooding.

"Because the oceans cover more than two-thirds of the planet, global sea level rise is an important yardstick for the Earth's overall climate," said Josh Willis, a sea-level researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Last year's rate of average global sea level rise was 0.23 inches (0.59 centimeters) per year, higher than the expected 0.17 inches (0.43 centimeters) per year, NASA said in the release.

https://wapo.st/4kxVdU7

[Woolly Bugger]

Ebeye breakwater project in full swing

Hall Contracting Pty Ltd has just released the latest update from the Ebeye breakwater project in the Republic of the Marshall Island (RMI).


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The first of two 40,000-tonne armor rock shipments arrived on site this week after a 30-day voyage to Ebeye where Hall is constructing a 1.8km seawall.

Ahead of the barge's arrival, the team constructed an unloading facility to transport the rock ashore which involved repurposing concrete that had been discarded along the beachfront to form a road to the facility.

The second shipment is expected to arrive in June, Hall said.

As one of the world's smallest and lowest-lying island nations, RMI is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change and severe weather events.

https://www.dredgingtoday.com/2025/03/14/ebeye-breakwater-project-in-full-swing/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJBRalleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHZR4aM_cBI8DIY7QGHHnRGFpAXY8p7mZMdRMlgvT0jmxYJT2cHj7RbhdJw_aem__Ev3gDdL6Z5GurOb8wD9RQ


This is in the Kwajalein Atoll where they develop and test anti-ballistic missile technology, radar developemnt, unarmed nuclear warhead recovery from balistic missles test launched from Vandenbury AFB, and Trumps new initiative to develope and "iron dome" for the US

[trout-r-us]

"U.S. rivers are experiencing unprecedented and unexpectedly intense warming."

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/climate-change/us-rivers-are-experiencing-unprecedented-unexpectedly-intense-warming-rcna233002

[Woolly Bugger]

"U.S. rivers are experiencing unprecedented and unexpectedly intense warming."

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/climate-change/us-rivers-are-experiencing-unprecedented-unexpectedly-intense-warming-rcna233002

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