FLHurricane.com: Habitat

Here is a link to a camera at the North Pole

http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/latest/noaa1.jpg

Each day a new picture is taken and posted here. I have been watching from day to day, a few weeks ago it was just white with ice and snow. Now there is open water. In the short period of time I have watched it the displayed temperature has not been at or below 0 degrees C.

Last year in a trip to Maine's off shore islands I noticed a very significant reduction in the Arctic Tern and Seagull population. There were Crows (perhaps Ravens) in areas I have never seen them before.

In five decades I have seen the coastal Maine waters environment change significantly. There used to be kelp beds so large that ledges and underwater rocks could be easily seen while navigating a boat in unfamiliar waters. Small sharks (Dogfish) would school in the hundreds. Herring was so plentiful that sardine factories were located all up and down the coast. The Herring disappeared first, then the kelp and the Dogfish. In the warm relaxing days of August jellyfish by the millions flooded the bays and island waters. You couldn't dip an oar without hitting one. They are not to be seen. The summers are cooler and the winters more gray and moderate now. I would never have believed so much of the environment could change in my lifetime. It doesn't seem possible.

I watch the weather every day as I always have. Something more than we understand is being added to the mix.

(Post moved to a more appropriate Forum.)

Edited by Ed Dunham (Sun Jul 27 2008 02:58 PM)