Saturday, September 25, 2010

Goa beach erosion 'could be linked to climate change'

Times of India: The extent of erosion on the state's beaches may be a result of wind speeds driving sea waves to hit the coast harder than in the past, National Centre Antartic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), scientist, Alvarino Luis said. He was speaking at a workshop on 'National green corps: Eco clubs, the gateway to green campus' organized by the Goa state council for science and technology, ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) and education department in association with CPR environmental education centre, Chennai, at the state museum in Panaji on Friday.

…"In Goa, summers have been warmer during the last few years and the minimum temperatures are also on the higher side," Luis said. Similarly, the sea-level rise may inundate more areas, but may not cause so much erosion, though it is a natural phenomenon during the monsoon, he said.

Explaining, he said a sea-level rise of 2 mm per year is negligible but it is likely that increase in wind energy may be the cause of beaches being hit by waves of more amplitude. Stating that more data is needed to explore this aspect, he said, "We have to measure the wind speeds at different locations." Rainer Lohmann, a scientist at the School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, USA, said heat waves and droughts have increased due to climate change, leading to disaster-like wildfires and crop failures. Baban Ingole, an NIO fisheries scientist, said the impact of climate change will be adverse on fisheries. "Jellyfish are now seen more often on beaches. They can tolerate higher temperatures and they feed on abundantly available food such as zooplankton and fish larvae, which are also food for bigger fishes," said Ingole….

Vagator Beach in Goa, shot by Zerohund (Dominik Hundhammer), Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

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