beach

The coastal squeeze

June 26, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Globally, coastal areas are being squeezed between rising seas on one side and human development on the other. The average distance from the high waterline to the first built-up area with human structures or paved roads is less than 400 yards around the world. The narrower a coast, the sooner rising sea levels cause problems.

Narrow coasts have reduced ability to defend against storm surges and other weather events. Construction close to the sea makes coastal areas extra vulnerable. Narrow coasts are also bad news for biodiversity. A study by the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research investigated plant diversity in both the Netherlands and the United States. They found that the wider the coast was, the greater the plant diversity.

In Florida and Georgia, whenever coastal zones reached a couple of kilometers in width, diversity increased rapidly. In the Netherlands, only coastal areas at least 3.8 kilometers wide reached their maximum plant diversity, but such areas are rare. Dutch sand dune areas are typically no more than a kilometer wide, leaving plant diversity at no more than half the possible level.

Limited biodiversity in narrow coastal strips can be somewhat boosted by nature management but would benefit much more by spatial planning. In the Netherlands, a spot called The Sand Motor is where a gigantic amount of sand was deposited off the coast in 2011. Since then, natural forces have spread it along the coast. Such coastal expansion could increase biodiversity. Biodiversity is not a luxury. It makes for a better future for coastal defense, a healthy drinking water supply, and a better human food supply.

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Coastal squeeze is bad for biodiversity, and for us!

Photo, posted June 21, 2017, courtesy of Mark Bias via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Redefining the perfect beach

April 30, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The iconic image of the “perfect” tropical beach is fine white sand, a few coconut palm trees, a gently sloping beach, and unobstructed views of the blue sea. This image came about to a great extent from fascination with Polynesian scenery at the time of World War II. And because of this imagery, beach resorts around the world have tried to achieve this look, often by reengineering and altering natural ecosystems to meet this artificial standard of perfection.

But natural tropical and subtropical beaches with their mangrove forests and seagrass meadows are complex ecosystems that support biodiversity, provide protection from storms, and capture carbon in significant amounts from the atmosphere.

With all this relandscaping of beaches, by the end of the 20th century, 35% of the world’s mangrove forests and 29% of its seagrasses were gone. Mangroves sequester 10 times more carbon than mature tropical forests and sea grass can pull in up to 15 times as much.

In recent years, some resort developers are starting to embrace having beachscapes in their more natural states. They are planting or preserving native vegetation and allowing sea grass to flourish. The Six Senses Laamu resort in the Maldives, a major luxury tourist destination, was a trendsetter in this way.

Coconut palms do little to prevent sand erosion, block wind, or even provide much shade. In a warming world with increasingly powerful storms, they offer little protection for the world’s beaches. They are not even native to the Caribbean, where they are now ubiquitous, having been introduced by Europeans.

Many resort developers are now rethinking the description of the perfect beach.

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Your Resort’s ‘Perfect’ Beach Is a Lie

Photo, posted March 2, 2011, courtesy of Breezy Baldwin via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The importance of shallow water

March 26, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Vacationers love beaches with shallow water. They are great for families with small kids and for less confident swimmers. Such beaches often attract intense coastal development. However, they are also fragile habitats that are disappearing around the world.

A new study led by the University of South Florida highlights the need to protect these marine ecosystems. Shallow coastal waters are known as tidal flats, and they are critical to global seafood supplies, local economies, and overall marine health. Shallow water ecosystems are interlinked with other marine habitats and are vital for the lifecycle of marine species far from shore.

Shallow water ecosystems are at risk not only from coastal development, but from harmful algal blooms triggered by human activity, from marine heatwaves, and from boats operating in sensitive habitats such as seagrass meadows. These habitats contribute millions of dollars to local economies such as those in Florida but there is not much direct habitat managements in place to protect these ecosystems.

The University of South Florida study, published in the journal Fisheries, enumerated ten core strategies that boaters, anglers, wildlife managers, and policymakers can adopt to prioritize and preserve shallow marine ecosystems from humans and from increasingly powerful weather events. Foremost among these efforts are the protection of key fish species, such as tarpon, whose protection would benefit additional species that use the same habitats.

Habitat management and restoration should be essential concerns for coastal communities to provide long-term benefits for both themselves and for the marine life that depends on shallow-water habitats.

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Why shallow water at the beach is more important than you might realize

Photo, posted February 14, 2018, courtesy of Marcelo Campi via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Sea turtles and climate change

March 24, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Life is a struggle for survival from the moment a sea turtle hatches. In fact, only one sea turtle out of every 1,000 typically reaches adulthood as a result of natural predators and other challenges. Those fortunate enough to make it to adulthood face serious threats from humans. For example, sea turtles are hunted for their meat, eggs, and shells in some regions. Their beach habitats get developed. Harmful marine debris and oil spills pollute their waters and beaches.

Now, climate change is exposing sea turtles to even greater threats. Rising sea levels and stronger storms threaten to erode and destroy their nesting beaches. Warming oceans disrupt currents, potentially exposing sea turtles to new predators, and damaging the coral reefs that some depend on to survive.

As these environmental challenges intensify, sea turtles are beginning to adapt in surprising ways. According to a new study by researchers from the University of Exeter in England and the Society for the Protection of Turtles in Cyprus, sea turtles are responding to climate change by nesting earlier. Researchers monitoring nesting green and loggerhead turtles in Cyprus have discovered they are returning to their regular nesting spots earlier each year to compensate for rising temperatures.

Temperature plays a crucial role in determining the biological sex of sea turtles. Warmer nest temperatures produce more female hatchlings than males.

But at least for now, sea turtles seem to be doing enough to ensure their eggs continue to hatch by nesting earlier in more ideal temperatures. While this is good news, there’s no guarantee that it will continue.

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Turtles change nesting patterns in response to climate change

Photo, posted December 20, 2021, courtesy of Cape Hatteras National Seashore via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

More Offshore Wind Proposed For New Jersey | Earth Wise

September 13, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

There have been three offshore wind projects previously approved by utility regulators in New Jersey. New Jersey is vying to become an East Coast leader in the fast-growing offshore wind industry and now developers have proposed four new projects off the New Jersey Shore.

Two of the projects would be located far out to sea where they would not be visible at all from the shore. One of them, called Community Offshore Wind, would be built 37 miles offshore from Long Beach Island. It aims to generate enough electricity to power 500,000 homes.

A second project, called Leading Light Wind, would be located 40 miles off Long Beach Island and would consist of up to 100 turbines that would generate enough electricity to power 1 million homes.

The two companies that are building the already-approved Atlantic Shores Wind Farm have submitted a bid for a new project located 10 to 20 miles offshore. In addition, a fourth application to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has also been submitted, but there is yet no public information about it.

Existing offshore projects have drawn intense opposition from homeowners in part because they are close enough to the Atlantic City and Ocean City shorelines to be seen by beachgoers, albeit as tiny objects on the horizon. The new proposed projects located far offshore would not have this problem.

The new projects can take advantage of existing federal tax credits, but the bidders say they will not seek the tax breaks from New Jersey that the earlier project received as they have also been the subject of legal challenges by opponents of offshore wind.

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4 new offshore wind power projects proposed for New Jersey Shore; 2 would be far out to sea

Photo, posted March 25, 2016, courtesy of TEIA via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Coastlines and Climate Change | Earth Wise

August 16, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Climate change poses a fundamental threat to life on earth and has already left observable effects on the planet. For example, glaciers have shrunk, oceans have warmed, heatwaves have become more intense, and plant and animal ranges have shifted.

As a result of the changing climate, coastal communities around the world are confronting the increasing threats posed by a combination of extreme storms and the predicted acceleration of sea level rise.

Scientists from the University of Plymouth in England have developed a simple algorithm-based model to predict how coastlines could be affected by climate change. This model allows coastal communities to identify the actions they need to take in order to adapt to their changing environment.

The Forecasting Coastal Evolution (or ForCE) model has the potential to be a game-changer because it allows adaptations in the shoreline to be predicted over timescales of anything from days to decades. As a result, the model is capable of predicting both the short-term impact of extreme storms as well as predicting the longer-term impact of rising seas.

The ForCE model relies on past and present beach measurements and data showing the physical properties of the coast. It also considers other key factors like tidal, surge, and global sea-level rise data to assess how beaches might be impacted by climate change. Beach sediments form the frontline defense against coastal erosion and flooding, and are key in preventing damage to valuable coastal infrastructure.

According to the study, which was recently published in the journal Coastal Evolution, the ForCE model predictions have shown to be more than 80% accurate in current tests in South West England.

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New model accurately predicts how coasts will be impacted by storms and sea-level rise

Photo, posted April 17, 2016, courtesy of Nicolas Henderson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Plastic Pollution And The Galapagos Islands | Earth Wise

July 12, 2021 By EarthWise 1 Comment

The proliferation of plastics remains one of the world’s most challenging environmental problems. Plastic pollution can be found in some of the most remote regions of the planet, including atop the world’s tallest mountains and in the deepest depths of the ocean. Even the Galapagos Islands, a volcanic archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, are no exception.

According to a new study by researchers from the University of Exeter, the Galapagos Conservation Trust, and the Galapagos Science Center, plastic pollution has been found in seawater, on beaches, and inside marine animals at the Galapagos Islands.

In the most polluted hotspots, more than 400 plastic particles were found per square metre of beach. The researchers found that only 2% of macroplastic pollution – plastic fragments larger than five millimeters – was identified as coming from the Galapagos islands. All seven of the marine invertebrate species examined – 52% of individuals tested – were found to contain microplastics.

Significant accumulations of plastic were also found in key habitats, including rocky lava shores and mangroves. In fact, plastics were found in all marine habitats at the island of San Cristobal, which is where Charles Darwin first landed in Galapagos.

Most of the plastic pollution in the Galapagos appears to arrive via ocean currents. According to the research team, the highest levels of plastic pollution were found on east-facing beaches, which are exposed to pollution carried across the ocean on the Humboldt Current.

The pristine images of the Galapagos, a world-famous biodiversity haven, might give the impression that the region is protected from plastic pollution. But clearly that is not the case.

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Plastic in Galapagos seawater, beaches and animals

Photo, posted April 12, 2012, courtesy of Ben Tavener via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Giant Jellyfish | Earth Wise

August 28, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

There have been recent news stories about giant jellyfish washing ashore from Maine to the south coast of Massachusetts. These stories have claimed that some of these lion’s mane jellyfish have been the largest on record and even might be the largest animals in the ocean.

The truth of these accounts is rather suspect. For one thing, it is rather difficult to measure the size of a jellyfish when it is out of the water. Gravity compresses and spreads out the bell portion of the animal, and that makes up the bulk of its mass. For example, a jellyfish bell that measures four feet across on the beach would appear to be much smaller if the animal was floating in the water.

Some claims that lion’s mane jellyfish are larger than blue whales date back a full century and are very much disputable. The claimed size certainly included the animal’s long tentacles, and such things hardly compare with a blue whale.

In any event, the current spate of jellyfish sightings is not necessarily that unusual. Many factors influence jellyfish populations, including water temperature and food supply. It is possible that warming water temperatures may be influencing the jellyfish population this year, but there is not enough data to know for sure.

People do need to be cautious around lion’s mane jellyfish. They do sting and while their stings are not as bad as those of a number of other species, they can be a problem for people who have allergic reactions. Furthermore, the stinging cells remain active in a jellyfish that has washed ashore.

Sightings of these animals are continuing, and reports of larger specimens continue as well, even if they don’t compare with blue whales.

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Jellyfish larger than blue whales?

Photo, posted September 13, 2015, courtesy Derek Keats via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Coronavirus Shutdowns And The Environment | Earth Wise

May 11, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Our stories often discuss how human activities change the natural environment. With most of us confined to our homes, the lack of human activities is having profound effects on the environment. We are talking about some of these this week.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global catastrophe, but it has ironically been a boon for the environment. By taking billions of people off the streets around the globe and slashing all forms of travel, the global environment has seen dramatic changes.

Sea turtles in many countries are prospering by not having to compete with humans for precious beach space. Animals everywhere have more freedom to roam and are taking advantage of the opportunity. The Himalayas are visible from parts of India for the first time in decades.

Satellite imagery has shown dramatic drops in nitrogen dioxide emissions in China, where pollution from vehicles is a serious public health problem. Similar reductions in air pollution are evident in India, Italy and even in Los Angeles. The city that is notorious for its smog suddenly has pristine air.

In Venice, water in the canals has become clear in the absence of heavy boat traffic stirring up sediments from the bottom. Wildlife that normally is invisible such as jellyfish are being spotted.

Not all the changes to animal behavior are desirable. Some wildlife that have become dependent on humans as a source of food are becoming aggressive and are taking to the streets of cities to look for food. Monkeys in Thailand are mobbing towns and brawling, hunting for things to eat. Rats in New York City are fighting over suddenly meager food supplies.

In many ways, the natural world is reacting to much of humanity sheltering in place.

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On Earth Day 2020, coronavirus shutdowns are a gift to the environment

Photo, posted April 2, 2020, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Removing Microplastics with Magnetism

October 7, 2019 By EarthWise 2 Comments

A new method for removing microplastics from the oceans has emerged from, of all things, a science fair project. An Irish 18-year-old named Fionn Ferreira developed his project for the annual Google Science Fair and it won the grand prize of $50,000 in educational funding.

The teenager was walking on the beach in his hometown and ran across a stone with oil and plastic stuck to it and became focused on the problem of microplastics increasingly entering the environment.

His idea was to make use of ferrofluids, which are nontoxic magnetic fluids made of oil and magnetite, which is an iron-based mineral. In the presence of water, the ferrofluids attract microplastics because both have similar properties.

Ferreira added oil and magnetite to water and mixed in a solution of microplastic particles. When the microplastics latched onto the ferrofluids, he dipped a magnet into the solution several times and the magnet removed both substances, leaving clear water. After almost 1000 tests, he demonstrated the method to be 88% effective in removing a variety of microplastics from water; a result even better than his original hypothesis of an 85% removal rate.

Ferreira is planning to further his education at a prestigious chemistry institute in the Netherlands starting in the fall.

According to a recent study, Americans eat, drink and breathe between 74,000 and 121,000 microplastic particles each year and, if they drink bottle water only instead of tap water, an additional 90,000 particles. So, a science fair project that might provide a way to get rid of most these things is definitely prize-worthy.

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