Molasses Spill in Hawaii
By: Emily Michaud 8D
Summary
Facts
• Molasses can support the growth of algae, which is unhealthy for the reefs.
• Professor RIchmond said, "They have little unicellular algae that live inside that basically make them solar powered, so they're losing their major source of energy, but in addition, the coral's just simply dying flat out."
• The chemistry of the water is causing the fishes cells to break.
• Some are saying that the molasses is in some ways worse than an oil spill.
• Molasses is similar to nitrogen in the way that it creates "dead zones."
Sources
http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Video/130912/nc_knhl_molasses3_130912.vmodv4.jpg
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/14/molasses-spill-coral-reef_n_3927503.html
http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/52321579eab8eaab01966707-480/dead-fish-molasses-spill.jpg
Vocabulary
The reef in Honolulu Harbor suffered from bleaching and death.
Invertebrate- An animal that does not have a backbone.
The invertebrates the lived in the harbor were all killed.
Algae- A group of nonflowering plants that can either be unicellular or multicellular that most commonly grow in bodies of water.
The coral contains algae that makes it survive off of the sun.
Seabed- The floor of the ocean.
The seabed of Honolulu Harbor was covered with dead sea animals.
Matson
Questions I have:
How long will it take for the molasses to be completely cleaned up?
How does the molasses spill affect the people who live in the area?