There will be considerable challenges and consequences involving climate change, particularly sea-level rise, during the next century along the South Texas coast. Scientists have shown that a rising global sea-level will have a disproportionate effect in South Texas due to the flat topography. As shorelines move landward, marine and estuarine habitats will change or migrate also.
Other probable climate change impacts will include: alterations in freshwater inflows from rivers; changes in estuarine ecosystem functioning; more frequent or longer-lasting droughts; increased incidence of extreme salt concentrations in some coastal ecosystems; changes in various kinds of habitats (increases in some, and decreases in others); and, further reductions in certain estuarine-dependent species: e.g. oysters, blue crabs, shrimp (click here for more information).
Several bays can be observed along the coast of Texas, USA, north of the border with Mexico. The dark green bay in the center of the Texas coastline is Corpus Christi Bay, a scenic semi-tropical bay next to the major city of Corpus Christi.
It is an important natural estuary that supports a diverse collection of wildlife, and attracts many tourists. The bay’s abundance of petroleum and natural gas has attracted industry.
It is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by Mustang Island, and is fed by the Nueces River and Oso Creek from its western and southern extensions, Nueces Bay and Oso Bay.
Nueces Bay is fed by the Nueces River, forming a natural estuary, which renders it ecologically and economically vital to the surrounding area. It serves as a habitat for the propagation of fish and shellfish, which sustain diverse species of birds and other wildlife. The bay is threatened by pollution from the heavy industry on its southern shore, which prevents oyster farming.
EOSnap celebrates our 6000th post by focusing on the new “borders” feature of the Chelys Satellite Rapid Response System (SRRS). The feature allows users to download satellite images that show not only a true, traditional view of the terrain below, but also the borders of countries. The feature is particularly useful for seeing the outline of land despite cloudcover. It can also be used to show the location of lakes.
In the main image, the border between Egypt and Sudan is clearly visible as a horizontal line. The contours of Lake Nasser, which would otherwise be invisible except for its southern tip due to heavy cloud cover (see thumbnail image “Egypt, without borders” for a look at the original, borderless image), are easily distinguishable, highlighted in blue. The thumbnail image of Mozambique shows the country’s shoreline despite an area of convection, in this case a potential area of cyclone formation, looming over the coast. The thumbnail image of Bolivia and Peru focuses on Lake Titicaca, and clearly shows where the lake is divided between the two countries. The thumbnail image of southern USA, in addition to sediments from the Mississippi River, shows the border between Louisiana (right) and Texas (left), as well as the Toledo Bend Reservoir, despite the thick clouds covering the upper half of the image.
Two fires can be seen ablaze in southern USA. The larger of the two, which is easy to spot as a bright white plume by the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, is located southwest of Houston, Texas, near San Antonio Bay. The other fire, whose plume of smoke is fainter and more grey in color, is located across the Louisiana border, southeast of the Toledo Bend Reservoir.
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