
After the Tsunami, Japan’s Sea Creatures Crossed an Ocean - joveian
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/science/tsunami-japan-debris-ocean.html
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jlmorton
> “The development of materials that can float for ages, and the rising levels
> of seas due to climate change, make the possibility of these events larger
> and larger.”

I'm very curious how the total observed sea level rise of 19cm over the past
100 years has had any measurable effect on cross-continent species transfer by
rafting.

I don't mean to belittle the current, or projected sea level rise, but merely
point out that it's unhelpful to the climate debate to falsely attribute
problems to climate change.

~~~
Retric
The source material for this stuff is things like plastic chairs. Sea level
rise may not change the trip, but it will increase the frequency for people's
stuff starting the trip as beach homes don't move until the ocean removes them
which is becoming more common.

Put another way if the ocean was 7 inches lower then fewer homes would have
been destroyed by the tsunami and less junk would have made the trip. Sea
level rise stacks with other events so there is more small events and bigger
events get magnified.

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MAGZine
This is actually not too uncommon. Natural phenomena like hurricanes,
tsunamis, etc are very good at keeping the diversity of ecosystems fresh.
Parts of the southern Pacific Ocean are, by and large, a wasteland--not a lot
of life in the water.

However, the small islands in the middle of the ocean are awash with all sorts
of interesting life, commonly having landed there in some violent event. The
warm climate actually is very good for growing vegetation, so herbivores can
proliferate if they make it on-land.

The BBC documentary South Pacific covers this v well, definitely recommend
watching.

~~~
35bge57dtjku
Didn't mangroves cross the Atlantic to the US naturally?

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craftyguy
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15367077](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15367077)

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orbital-decay
There's also a long-term experiment being performed on the International Space
Station:

[http://knts.tsniimash.ru/ru/site/Experiment_q.aspx?idE=191](http://knts.tsniimash.ru/ru/site/Experiment_q.aspx?idE=191)
(in Russian, but Google Translate seems to work well on this one)

It's not finished yet but apparently preliminary results [1] show that
microorganisms can be lifted into the upper atmosphere from the oceans
somehow.

[1]
[https://www.energia.ru/ktt/archive/2015/01-2015/01-03.pdf](https://www.energia.ru/ktt/archive/2015/01-2015/01-03.pdf)

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ianamartin
Give me your tired, your poor, your teeming masses huddled.

I know this is the wrong answer, but my hungry mouth welcomes every one of
these creatures to their new home.

