According to an online report from The Sydney Morning Herald, climate change-related damage to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef will cost us some $37.5 billion during this century.

If greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced globally, the Great Barrier Reef is expected to be one of the first of Australia’s World Heritage sites seriously damaged. But chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation Dr John Schubert warned that with climate change happening much faster than predicted, Australia must plan to ”adapt” the reef to save it from some level of damage scientists say is inevitable.

According to the article:

”There needs to be extra emphasis on the adaptation side,” said Dr Schubert, who is also the outgoing chairman of the Commonwealth Bank and sits on the board of BHP-Billiton and Qantas. He said the report by Oxford Economics was a conservative assessment of the losses if the reef was damaged by permanent bleaching.

Anemone Fish - Great Barrier Reef

Bleaching (due to higher water temperatures) is not the only threat facing coral reefs. With atmospheric CO2 levels rising fast, ocean acidification is fast becoming THE major threat to all marine ecosystems.

The oceans absorb a lot of the CO2 emitted by human activities. When it dissolves in seawater it forms carbonic acid – this makes the oceans more acidic.

Shell-forming sea creatures (including coral polyps) can only deposit calcium in their shells when pH is between a certain critical range (see diagram).And if they can’t harden their shells they can’t survive, or form coral reefs for that matter.

As the oceans become more acidic, it is likely that large areas will become less hospitable to marine life – this will damage ocean food webs significantly as many crustaceans (and related species) are food for fish and other animals higher up the food chain.

More about ocen acidification coming soon…

The world’s ocean surface temperature was the warmest on record for June, breaking the previous high mark set in 2005, according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA. Additionally, the combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for June was second-warmest on record. The global records began in 1880.

Global Climate Statistics

• The combined global land and ocean surface temperature for June 2009 was the second warmest on record, behind 2005, 1.12 degrees F (0.62 degree C) above the 20th century average of 59.9 degrees F (15.5 degrees C).
• Each hemisphere broke its June record for warmest ocean surface temperature. In the Northern Hemisphere, the warm anomaly of 1.17 degrees F (0.65 degree C) surpassed the previous record of 1.12 degrees F (0.62 degree C), set in 2005. The Southern Hemisphere’s increase of 0.99 degree F (0.55 degree C) exceeded the old record of 0.92 degree F (0.51 degree C), set in 1998.
• The global land surface temperature for June 2009 was 1.26 degrees F (0.70 degree C) above the 20th century average of 55.9 degrees F (13.3 degrees C), and ranked as the sixth-warmest June on record.

The global ocean surface temperature for June 2009 was the warmest on record, 1.06 degrees F (0.59 degree C) above the 20th century average of 61.5 degrees F (16.4 degrees C).

Ocean surface temperature warmest on record for June

Notable Developments and Events

• El Niño is back after six straight months of increased sea-surface temperature anomalies. June sea surface temperatures in the region were more than 0.9 degree F (0.5 degree C) above average.
• Terrestrial warmth was most notable in Africa. Considerable warmth also occurred in Siberia and in the lands around the Black and Mediterranean Seas. Cooler-than-average land locations included the U.S. Northern Plains, the Canadian Prairie Provinces, and central Asia.
• Arctic sea ice covered an average of 4.4 million square miles (11.5 million square kilometers) during June, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. This is 5.6 percent below the 1979-2000 average extent. By contrast, the 2007 record for the least Arctic sea ice extent was 5.5 percent below average. Antarctic sea ice extent in June was 3.9 percent above the 1979-2000 average.
• Heavy rain fell over central Europe, triggering mudslides and floods. Thirteen fatalities were reported. According to reports, this was central Europe’s worst natural disaster since the 2002 floods that claimed 17 lives and caused nearly $3 billion in damages.