Mar 18, 2021 06:55 PM
https://earther.gizmodo.com/the-spooky-r...1846488939
INTRO: The impacts of climate change are going from spooky to downright scary. A new report chronicles the rise of ghost forests along the East Coast as sea level rise turns soils salty and inundates formerly dry land.
It’s well-documented that the climate crisis is pushing up sea levels and increasing flooding from high tides and sea surges. That’s putting people, infrastructure, and ecosystems at risk. It’s all very scary, but one particularly spooky result of all this is ghost forests, which a new report shows are expanding.
Ghost forests are regions where soils become inundated with saltwater, killing off freshwater-dependent trees and leaving behind trunks which can either become bleached or turn black as they decay. Winds generally blow the trees’ limbs and greenery off their trunks, but once the trunks dry, they can last decades. Eventually, saltwater marsh foliage that can tolerate the salinity such as cord grass grows around the trees.
“They have a ghostly, spectral character,” Richard Lathrop Jr., who directs Rutgers University’s Center for Remote Sensing & Spatial Analysis and was a co-author of the new research, wrote in an email.
The new report, supported by the the Department of Agriculture and published by Rutgers University on Tuesday, looked into what exactly is causing these ghost forests to form and become more common. For the study, the authors analyzed existing scientific literature, interviewed forestry and biology experts, and also held a convening of scientists last January... (MORE)
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/jQDRj6Huqgc
INTRO: The impacts of climate change are going from spooky to downright scary. A new report chronicles the rise of ghost forests along the East Coast as sea level rise turns soils salty and inundates formerly dry land.
It’s well-documented that the climate crisis is pushing up sea levels and increasing flooding from high tides and sea surges. That’s putting people, infrastructure, and ecosystems at risk. It’s all very scary, but one particularly spooky result of all this is ghost forests, which a new report shows are expanding.
Ghost forests are regions where soils become inundated with saltwater, killing off freshwater-dependent trees and leaving behind trunks which can either become bleached or turn black as they decay. Winds generally blow the trees’ limbs and greenery off their trunks, but once the trunks dry, they can last decades. Eventually, saltwater marsh foliage that can tolerate the salinity such as cord grass grows around the trees.
“They have a ghostly, spectral character,” Richard Lathrop Jr., who directs Rutgers University’s Center for Remote Sensing & Spatial Analysis and was a co-author of the new research, wrote in an email.
The new report, supported by the the Department of Agriculture and published by Rutgers University on Tuesday, looked into what exactly is causing these ghost forests to form and become more common. For the study, the authors analyzed existing scientific literature, interviewed forestry and biology experts, and also held a convening of scientists last January... (MORE)