Oct 05 2009
What Bay?
This crossed my inbox this morning:
It’s clear: The Bay isn’t as murky
After more than a century of being murky from enough Gold Rush-era mining sediment to fill 60 Superdomes, researchers say, the Bay suddenly crossed a profound threshold 10 years ago and became much clearer.
“The conditions in the water “… changed dramatically,” said Dave Schoellhamer, a U.S. Geological Survey research hydrologist who made the finding. “We crossed a tipping point.”
The finding brings both good news and bad, as well as unknowns for scientists to investigate.
On the “good news” side, ports probably will have to do less dredging to maintain shipping channels, and the increasingly clear water means sunlight can penetrate deeper and cause more phytoplankton to bloom, which could increase the amount of life in the Bay.
On the “bad news” side, too much phytoplankton could deplete the Bay’s dissolved oxygen and kill fish.
Who the heck are they kidding? Considering the sewage spills, the fines, the oil spills, the fines, the increase in municipal dumping, oh, and just looking at the freaking water… clearer? What Bay are they looking at?
HT: Jonathan (who, once he manages to start blogging, gets a link too.)
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Interestingly I did notice a change in the bay last week. While it usually looks light brown from the building here where I work, last week it suddenly changed to blue. I thought it was odd, as I’ve never seen the bay so blue, and wondered if there was an upwelling from outside the bay.
Close up though it looks as yucky as always.