Last week, a five-day-long heat dome has wreaked havoc in western Canada and the northwestern US.
Due to this, 500 people are reported to have died in Canada and 140 in the US. But this summer has brought great devastation to the sea creatures in the Canadian sea.
It is feared that more than 100 crore sea creatures have died due to this. It is being seen as a great loss to the environment.
At present, many countries of the world are troubled by the heat, but Canada’s condition is worst.
Actually, Canada is a cold country. The temperature there usually remains between 16 to 17 degrees. There the maximum temperature never exceeded 45 degrees, but this time it has been close to 50 degrees.
This is said to be the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada.
For this reason, 500 people have lost their lives in Canada and 140 in America.
Experts are finding out how this happened?
At present, the Heat Dome is believed to be responsible for this.
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Table of Contents
What is Heat Dome?
When the atmosphere envelops the oceanic hub as a cap or dome, vast regions of intense heat are formed which are trapped beneath the high pressure ‘dome’. This generates scorching heat. This condition is called “Heat Dome”.
1 Billion sea creatures feared to die:
According to Christopher Harley, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia, more than 1 Billion marine animals are expected to die in Canada’s Pacific Coast due to this scorching heat.
He discovered this devastation during a walk on Vancouver-area beach. Where dead sea creatures were found lying everywhere.
He said, “The shore doesn’t usually crunch when you walk on it. But there were so many empty mussel shells lying everywhere that you just couldn’t avoid stepping on dead animals while walking around,”
According to Harley, the smell of rotten meat was being felt there.
Many of those animals were cooked in the water due to the heat.
Mussels are hardy shellfish, they can tolerate temperatures up to 30 degrees.
Barnacles are even sturdier, surviving the mid-40s for at least a few hours.
“But when the temperatures get above that, those are just unsurvivable conditions,” Harley said.
Sea water quality will be affected:
Mass death of shellfishes will temporarily affect water quality.
Actually, mussels and clams help in filtering the sea. They allow a sufficient amount of sunlight to make a habitat for other species.
Huge loss to biodiversity in Marine World:
Due to the mass destruction of sea creatures, there is a fear of huge loss to their biodiversity.
It also threatens the extinction of many species of marine life.
In such a situation, it is a matter of concern that due to the death of such a large number of sea creatures, their species will also be in danger. Because reproduction is slow in organisms like starfish and clams. In such a situation, it may take a long time for their population to flourish again.
Harley said, “But most of the rest of me is kind of depressed by it. A lot of species are not going to be able to keep up with the pace of change. Ecosystems are going to change in ways that are really difficult to predict. We don’t know where the tipping points are.”
The need to pay attention to the environment:
After this horrific tragedy has underlined the need for attention towards the protection of the environment.
In fact, the environment is harmed the most by the developed countries. Still, they adopt a careless attitude towards it.
Now is the time that all of us fulfill our responsibility towards the environment. So that we can give our future generations a beautiful world full of biodiversity and natural resources.
