Saturday's ocean hit 21.1 degrees on the Copernicus scale as a plant raft cut methane
Copernicus put Saturday's global sea surface temperature at 21.1 degrees Celsius, above the 21.09 degrees high of 2024. A Phillip Island plant raft cut lagoon methane, while plowed grasslands fill with a different kind of plant.
Science··Night
The ocean reached 21.1 degrees at the end of August
Copernicus satellite estimates put the daily global average sea surface temperature at 21.1 degrees Celsius on Saturday, above the previous daily high of 21.09 degrees set in 2024. Warm-water days of this size normally fall in March or April. Samantha Burgess, the strategic lead for climate at Copernicus, called the reading a clear signal of an ocean under growing stress and said El Niño is adding heat on top of decades of human-driven warming. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center puts the likelihood of very strong El Niño conditions in the autumn and winter above 90 per cent. The Met Office notes India's summer monsoon is already running well below normal.[1]
A Phillip Island plant raft cut lagoon methane
Over a two-year trial at a treatment plant on Phillip Island in south-eastern Australia, a floating wetland of 330 square metres cut methane emissions by up to 66 per cent and carbon dioxide by up to 36 per cent compared with a comparison lagoon, with nitrogen emissions down 18 per cent. The platform was installed at the Westernport Water treatment plant and studied by RMIT University with Westernport Water and CSIRO. Lukas Schuster said the reductions became apparent about four months into the trial. The authors propose that plant roots hanging in the water host microbial communities that consume nutrients and pollutants. The trial covers one facility, and the authors say the approach needs testing across other lagoon types before the numbers can be generalised.[2]
Once plowed, grassland fills with a different kind of plant
A global comparison of 742 plant species from six continents finds that grasslands converted to farmland and then left to recover fill up with faster-growing, taller competitors rather than the long-lived, drought-tolerant perennials of never-plowed grassland. In one case the height difference was still there 300 years on. The analysis, led from Michigan State University, contrasted old-growth grasslands that were never converted with secondary grasslands at various stages of recovery, and compared plant traits rather than species lists alone. Lars Brudvig said the differences between old-growth and secondary grasslands are remarkably consistent around the globe. Ashish Nerlekar said that when these plants reproduce the next generation does the same, and that old-growth grassland does not quickly return once lost. The study is a comparative analysis across sites and it establishes a consistent pattern.[3]
