[Vision2020] Fox News Fair & Balanced?

[Ted Moffett]

In general Fox News has presented a view of anthropogenic climate change
slanted more towards the skeptics who doubt the existence of or magnitude of
the problem, but the following article from August 20, 2009 does not
demonstrate such a bias:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,541222,00.html
World in Hot Water as Ocean Temperatures Reach Record High

*Thursday , August 20, 2009*

[image: AP]

WASHINGTON —
July was the hottest month for the world's oceans in almost 130 years of
record-keeping.

The average water temperature worldwide was 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit
according to the National Climatic Data Center, the branch of the U.S.
government that keeps world weather records. June was only slightly cooler,
while August could set another record, scientists say. The previous record
was set in July 1998 during a powerful El Nino in the Pacific. The coolest
recorded ocean temperature was 59.3 degrees in December 1909.

Meteorologists said there is a combination of forces at work: A natural El
Nino weather pattern just getting started on top of worsening manmade global
warming, and a dash of random weather variations. Already the resulting
ocean heat is harming threatened coral reefs. It also could hasten the
melting of Arctic sea ice and help hurricanes strengthen.

The Gulf of Mexico, where warm water fuels hurricanes, has temperatures
dancing around 90 degrees. Most of the water in the Northern Hemisphere has
been considerably warmer than normal. The Mediterranean is about three
degrees warmer than normal. Higher temperatures rule in the Pacific and
Indian Oceans.

The phenomenon is most noticeable near the Arctic, where water temperatures
are as much as 10 degrees above average. The tongues of warm water could
help melt sea ice from below and even cause thawing of ice sheets on
Greenland, said Waleed Abdalati, director of the Earth Science and
Observation Center at the University of Colorado.

Breaking heat records in water is more ominous as a sign of global warming
than breaking temperature marks on land, because water takes longer to heat
up and does not cool as easily as land.

"This warm water we're seeing doesn't just disappear next year; it'll be
around for a long time," said climate scientist Andrew Weaver of the
University of Victoria in British Columbia. It takes five times more energy
to warm water than land.

The warmer water "affects weather on the land," Weaver said. "This is
another yet really important indicator of the change that's occurring."

Georgia Institute of Technology atmospheric science professor Judith Curry
said water is warming in more places than usual, which has not been seen in
more than 50 years.

Add to that an unusual weather pattern this summer where the warmest
temperatures seem to be just over oceans, while slightly cooler air is
concentrated over land, said Deke Arndt, head of climate monitoring at the
climate data center.

The pattern is so unusual that he suggested meteorologists may want to study
that pattern to see what is behind it.

The effects of that warm water already are being seen in coral reefs, said
C. Mark Eakin, coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration's coral reef watch. Long-term excessive heat bleaches
colorful coral reefs white and sometimes kills them.

Bleaching has started to crop up in the Florida Keys, Puerto Rico and the
Virgin Islands. Typically, bleaching occurs after weeks or months of
prolonged high water temperatures. That usually means September or even
October in the Caribbean Sea, said Eakin. He found bleaching in Guam on
Wednesday. It is too early to know whether the coral will recover or die.
Experts are "bracing for another bad year," he said.

The problems caused by the El Nino pattern are likely to get worse, the
scientists say.

An El Nino occurs when part of the central Pacific warms up, which in turn
changes weather patterns worldwide for many months. El Nino and its cooling
flip side, La Nina, happen every few years.

During an El Nino, temperatures on water and land tend to rise in many
places, leading to an increase in the overall global average temperature. An
El Nino has other effects, too, including dampening Atlantic hurricane
formation and increasing rainfall and mudslides in Southern California.

Warm water is a required fuel for hurricanes. What's happening in the oceans
"will add extra juice to the hurricanes," Curry said.

Hurricane activity has been quiet for much of the summer, but that may
change soon, she said. Hurricane Bill quickly became a major storm and the
National Hurricane Center warned that warm waters are along the path of the
hurricane for the next few days.

Hurricanes need specific air conditions, so warmer water alone does not
necessarily mean more or bigger storms, said James Franklin, chief hurricane
specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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