Now there is no question that the earth has gotten warmer in the past decades - though it is now known that it has not gotten as warm as was recently claimed and with the recent discovery that the places where the temperatures have been taken have been moved from cooler areas to... warmer areas...., that warming trend may be even less than was thought even a short time ago.
But whatever the recent past was, it appears as if we are headed into a cooling period that will be far more devastating to mankind than any global warming could ever be. So if there is any kind of affect on the earth's temperatures by man - hopefully it will be enough to save us.
Winter chill takes toll on Florida Keys coral
Scientists begin early assessments of the damage on marine life, but initial reports are bleak.
By Curtis Morgan
January 31, 2010
Reporting from Miami
January's bitter cold may have wiped out many of the shallow-water corals in the Florida Keys.
Scientists have only begun assessments, but initial reports are bleak. The damage could extend from Key Largo through the Dry Tortugas islands west of Key West, a vast expanse that covers some of the prettiest and healthiest reefs in North America.
Given the depth and duration of the frigid weather, Meaghan Johnson, marine science coordinator for the Nature Conservancy, expected to see losses. But she was stunned by the devastation when she joined a dive team surveying reefs in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The divers were looking for "bleaching," a telltale indicator of temperature stress in corals.
Star and brain corals, large species that can take hundreds of years to grow, were as white and lifeless as bones, frozen to death, she said. Dead sea turtles, eels and parrotfish also littered the bottom.
"Corals didn't even have a chance to bleach. They just went straight to dead," Johnson said. "It's really ecosystem-wide mortality."
The record chill that gripped South Florida for two weeks took a heavy toll on wildlife -- particularly marine life.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported that a record number of endangered manatees had succumbed to the cold this year -- 77, according to a preliminary review. The previous record, 56, was set last year.
The warm Gulf Stream is believed to have protected deeper areas, but shallower reefs took a serious, perhaps unprecedented, hit, said Billy Causey of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.More at the above link.