The nature of climate
alarmists is to make
their gloomy predictions
for so far into the future
they can't be proven wrong
during their lifetimes !
You might do that too,
if you were a dishonest
leftist, and your scary
climate predictions
had been 100% wrong
for the past 60 years !
The Weather Channel
published an article
on its website claiming
global warming threatens
the extinction of mangrove
trees, within 30 years.
That's a very
strange prediction,
because mangroves
happen to love warm
temperatures !
It's a typical wrong
climate alarmist
prediction, based on
a flawed "study", that
uses climate models
instead of real data.
Computer models
are merely personal
opinions of the people
who programmed them.
Models are NOT data.
Mangrove trees
grow along the
shorelines
in saltwater.
They filter
water pollution,
anchor shoreline soil,
and provide breeding
grounds for many
marine species.
Mangroves are very
susceptible to frost,
so they grow throughout
the tropics, and thrive
even along the equator,
on all three continents
that span the equator.
Warming
temperatures
allow the
mangrove trees
to grow larger,
more rapidly,
and expand
their range.
A recent study
in the peer-reviewed
Journal of Ecology
reports,
“As freeze events
decline with
climate change,
mangroves expand
their range to
higher latitudes ...”
Mangroves dramatically
increase their growth
under warmer conditions.
“We found that
chronic warming
doubled plant height
and accelerated
the expansion
of mangrove
into salt marsh
vegetation,
as indicated by a
six-fold
greater increase
in mangrove cover
in warmed plots
compared to ambient
temperature plots."
Mangrove cover
increased six-fold
under warmer
temperatures !
The study also found
warmer temperatures
encouraged mangroves
to migrate further inland
from the shore.
So how does the
Weather Channel claim
global warming threatens
to make mangroves
go extinct within
30 years ?
Easy -- they lie !
The Weather Channel
cited an alarmist "study",
and then misrepresented
the conclusions to make
it appear even more
alarmist.
In the "study",
computer modelers
attempted to guess
the pace of mangrove
migration 10,000
years ago, when
global sea level
dramatically rose.
They forecast that
mangrove forests
can migrate
to higher
elevations
at a speed
that would
offset
7 millimeters
(0.27 inches)
of sea-level rise
per year.
Mangroves
forests
can actually
migrate
much faster
than that
-- the roots
can spring up
from the soil
several feet
from the trunk
of the host tree.
And mangrove
seed pods
float on the water,
so can take root
at the same pace
as the rising waters
and tides.
According to
NASA satellite
measurements,
sea level is
currently rising
at 3 millimeters
( 0.1 inches )
per year,
a pace
that has
held steady
for at least
the past
25 years.
That reality is
less than half
the sea level rise
pace the "study"
computer gamers
predict for 2050 !
In fact, mangroves
are easily keeping up
with current modest
sea-level rise.
The authors
of the "study"
speculate that
sea-level rise
will immediately
skyrocket.
They speculate
that in 30 years,
sea level will
be rising at
nearly triple
the current pace.
The notion that
sea-level rise
will nearly triple
between now
and 2050 is just
wild speculation,
not real science.
But even if
the "study"
wild guess
was right,
people could
easily plant new
mangrove trees
at the slightly
higher shoreline !