Title: Sea Surface Temperature : Ocean Health Index
Headings: Sea Surface Temperature
Sea Surface Temperature
Overview
How Was It Measured?
What Are The Impacts?
Sea Surface Temperature (SST) in Relation to Air Surface Pressure and El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
ECOLOGICAL IMPACT
HUMAN HEALTH IMPACT
ECONOMIC IMPACT
What Has Been Done?
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United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - California Institute of Technology
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
References

Content: 2011). Local threats combined with SST and acidification will likely threaten more than half of all reefs within two or three decades and 90% of reefs by 2050 (Burke et al. 2011). A rise in sea level will reduce the area of any salt marshes and or mangrove forests that cannot retreat landward, compromising their ability to store carbon, protect coastlines, enhance biodiversity and act as nursery areas for fisheries. HUMAN HEALTH IMPACT
As SST increases, sea levels are subject to rise due to thermal expansion and the melting of glaciers and ice caps. Sea level rise will be most apparent in locations that are subsiding geologically and less apparent in locations subject to geologic uplift. The rate of global sea level rise has increased over the past few decades. In many areas sea level rise will increase the rate of coastal erosion and flooding. Saltwater will contaminate coastal groundwater, jeopardizing water sources used for drinking and agriculture. In some areas surface waters used for growing crops may also be contaminated with salt.