Dan Manzo/ABC News(NEW YORK) As people around the world contend this week with the hottest temperatures ever recorded on Earth, more visual evidence of climate change is emerging with the spread of ghost forests.
The globe is naturally warming and seas naturally rise, but greenhouse gas emissions have helped amplify that change and it’s evident along coastal forests especially in the mid-Atlantic.
Ghost forests develop when sea-level rise causes saltwater to advance on the land, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. As saltwater overtakes the fresh water supply that trees rely on, the increased salinity slowly kills the trees, “leaving a haunted ghost forest of dead and dying timber.”
Each tree in a ghost forest is called a stag. A stag only stands for two to three years, meaning ghost forests aren’t like this for decades, and any visible ghost forest is relatively recent.
Virginia Institute of Marine Science associate professor Matthew Kirwan exp
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