Warm Water Squid Reported Off Alaskan Coast

fenris_23 writes "The associated press is reporting Humboldt Squid - a species that lives in the warm waters off the Baja coast - have recently been observed off the coast of Alaska. 'A large Humboldt squid caught offshore from Sitka is among numerous sightings of a species seen for the first time in waters of the Far North, and the first of the species recovered from British Columbia waters.' This may help corroborate a similar slashdot story covering rising CO2 levels measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory where the possibility was raised that rising sea temperatures are reducing the Earth's ability to manage greenhouse gases."

Comments

What is wrong?

[n54]

Migration of individual animals and species due to changes in the climate isn't a new thing. The earth is not static, it evolves and has cycles, so it's a long shot (not to say junk science) to claim it corroborates theories on a specific cause of those climate changes.

It's still moderately interesting but how come this is considered a bigger science story than this?

Is /. really that broken?

Re:What is wrong?

[jeif1k]

The earth is not static, it evolves and has cycles, so it's a long shot (not to say junk science) to claim it corroborates theories on a specific cause of those climate changes.

Yes, climate "evolves and has cycles". But those "cycles" don't just happen by themselves, they are caused by changes in the environment, atmosphere, radiation, etc. Currently, it evolves in the direction of getting warmer, and that is something that deserves a scientific explanation.

It just happens that CO2 levels are a highly plausible explanation of it. If you have a specific other explanation, please share it with us. Right now, your alternative theory seems to be "shit happens", and that really is junk science.

It's still moderately interesting but how come this is considered a bigger science story than this?

You don't need PCA in order to see trends in that data, you can use your own eyes. On the other hand, even if done correctly, PCA is probably a bogus procedure for this kind of analysis. So, you have a stupid response to a stupid analysis. Frankly, even observing a single warm water squid in cold water tells you more.

Re:So, science is liberal?

[n54]

Do you think scientists are lying about the oceans warming up?

Some might be twisting and nudging the facts a little but that isn't interesting compared to the simple fact that science do make mistakes from time to time, even big ones. Some people seem to think that science is infallible which is simply dangerous and weakens science in the long term. It's pretty obvious that global warming is a hot potato (pun intended) and also that this has compromised the quality of science regarding it (tendency for large scale panic usually has this effect). That should be a problem for all concerned as it reduces the chances of finding the correct answers on a question vital to us all.

Re:So, science is liberal?

[fenris_23]

Nobody claimed that because squids are farther north, then it must be because of rising CO2 levels.

The point was that one of the three hypotheses about why the CO2 levels recorded in Hawaii was rising sea temperatures. If this hypothesis were true, then there must be some testable predictions. I don't think anybody needs to argue that if sea temperatures rise, then warm-water species can migrate to areas previously too cold to sustain them.

The point is that there is could be an interesting connection. Don't discredit suggestions merely because they don't fall in line with your political agenda. That is junk science.

This was just an observation that may or may not corroborate a hypothesis explaining another anomalous observation. If you want to discredit it, then prove that there must be some other reason that the squid are now being observed where we would not have expected to observe them. Or, you could prove that rising sea temperatures could not have caused the rise in CO2 levels. That is how you discredit something in science.

Because we all know...

[b-baggins]

...that pulling a squid out of the ocean is a far more effective way of measuring water temperature than using a thermometer.