Weekly Ocean News

DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK TEN: 6-10 November 2006

Ocean in the News:

(Thurs.) NOAA diving program is highlighted -- The NOAA Diving Program, which includes more than 500 active divers, along with a respected dive training mission, is featured in the NOAA Magazine. [NOAA Magazine]
(Thurs.) North Sea roughened by stormy weather -- An image obtained early last week from the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) sensor on NASA’s Aqua satellite shows the white glint due to whitecaps and murky coastal waters of the North Sea off Denmark that were stirred by a storm system that traveled across the region, accompanied by hurricane-force winds (at least 74 mph). [NASA Earth Observatory] This storm sank a Swedish ship, with the loss of one life and stranded horses in the Netherlands. Rescuers were able to rescue a herd of approximately 100 horses that were marooned in flooded fields of northern Netherlands at the end of last week. Earlier, a storm surge had pushed waters of the North Sea into the fields occupied by the horses. [USA Today]
(Thurs.) Ancient marine "monster" found in Montana -- Experts at Montana State University recently declared that fossils found in central Montana represent the nearly complete skull of a long-necked plesiosaur, an ancient sea reptile that lived approximately 70 million years ago in seas that covered what is now the Treasure State. [Montana State University]
(Thurs.) New marine species discovered -- An international team of researchers recently completed a three-week expedition to the French Frigate Shoals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument and reported that over 100 new marine species were discovered. [EurekAlert!]
(Thurs.) Model to predict organizational response to extreme events is developed -- Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Washington are developing a dynamic computer model of organizational processes that could be used to predict how the culture of an organization, such as FEMA or the Coast Guard, affects its response to an extreme event, such as Hurricane Katrina. [Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute]
(Tues.) Collapse of world commercial fisheries foreseen -- A four-year study of ocean productivity and marine species population statistics by scientists at Dalhousie University, Stanford University, Plymouth Marine Laboratory and other institutions has led them to the conclusion that commercial fish stocks will be depleted from the world ocean by 2050, the result of overfishing and the effects of other human activity upon ocean ecosystems, including pollution. The scientists are also concerned with the overall effect upon the ocean ecosystem's productivity and stability in the next 50 years. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) Large coral are disappearing from Caribbean -- A biology professor at the California State University, Northridge has claimed that many of the larger species of coral have been disappearing and replaced by smaller varieties of coral on reefs in the Caribbean Sea, including waters surrounding the US Virgin Islands and Jamaica. This phenomenon appears to be associated with higher water temperatures, pollution and overfishing. [ENN]
(Tues.) Partnership leads to marine debris removal -- A multi-agency effort that included personnel from NOAA, U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources recently removed more than 13 tons of derelict fishing gear from the fragile coral reefs within the new Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument. [NOAA News]
(Tues.) Expanded World Ocean Database released -- Last week, NOAA officials announced that an expanded collection of scientific information pertaining to the world ocean, such as larger ocean temperature data set, has been released on the internet by the National Oceanographic Data Center as World Database 2005. [NOAA News]
(Tues.) What goes around, comes around -- Greenpeace has found a huge, swirling vortex of plastic debris in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The plastics are thought to be mainly from land pollution but also from ship jettisons. The debris causes a threat to sea life of being eaten or carrying invasive species. [CNN News]
Eye on the tropics -- In the western Pacific, Typhoon Cimaron moved erratically across the South China Sea last week. Viet Nam was spared a hit. [USA Today] This typhoon had previously been a supertyphoon with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph, prior to making landfall on Luzon in the northern Philippines, where 19 people were killed. An image from the Japanese MTSAT-1 satellite late last week showed Typhoon Cimaron moving toward the southwest over the South China Sea. [NOAA OSEI] Earlier, the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite showed Supertyphoon Cimaron before it made landfall on Luzon. [NASA Earth Observatory]
One hurricane forecast appears to be holding true -- While the more well known hurricane experts at the National Hurricane Center and Colorado State were predicting an active 2006 hurricane season earlier this past summer, scientists at North Carolina State University had made a forecast of a less active season based upon a unique method for analyzing Atlantic water temperatures. This forecast, which predicted five or six hurricanes and one or two land falling hurricanes, now appears to be more accurate. [USA Today]
Study of Hurricane Isabel reveals intensity clues -- Scientists with the Hurricane Research Division of the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory claim that they have a better understanding of the role that small-scale circulation regimes within a hurricane's eyewall has upon the intensity of the hurricane, based upon their analysis of data collected from Hurricane Isabel as it intensified to Category 5 status over the North Atlantic in 2003. [NOAA News]
Historic tropical cyclone tracks are plotted -- NASA scientists, along with their NOAA colleagues are conducting research into hurricane formation and the possible relationship between global change and the number of tropical cyclones. Such research involves building a global climatology of tropical cyclones, such as a seen by a map showing the tracks of all tropical cyclones over the last 150 years. A newly updated Earth Observatory’s fact sheet, Hurricanes: The Greatest Storms on Earth, is available. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Dead zone departs the Oregon coast -- Researchers at Oregon State University recently reported that the large "dead zone" containing low levels of oxygen in Pacific Ocean waters off the Oregon coast earlier this late summer and early fall appears to have dissipated due to a shift in wind patterns over the region from the north to the south. [Seattle Times] [EurekAlert!]
Return of Lake Erie dead zone to be studied -- Researchers at the University of Michigan recently received a grant from NOAA that will be used to fund a 5-year study of why dead zones, with oxygen-depleted waters, have returned to Lake Erie, which could result in distress for the fishery and tourism industries. [NOAA News] [University of Michigan]
Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floods, and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Concept of the Week: Solving the Mystery of Seamount Ecosystems

The United States Commission on Ocean Policy reports that less than 5% of the ocean floor has been explored. This is beginning to change as scientists and engineers develop and apply new technologies to investigate deep ocean waters and the sea bottom (refer to Chapter A in your DataStreme Ocean textbook). Consider, for example, the effort to obtain a better understanding of seamount ecosystems.

A seamount is a submarine mountain of volcanic origin (now extinct) that rises more than 1000 m (3300 ft) above the ocean floor. Usually a seamount summit is 1000 to 2000 m (3300 to 6600 ft) below sea level. They occur as isolated peaks, chains (e.g., Emperor Seamounts in the North Pacific; New England chain in the North Atlantic), or clusters. The term "seamount" was first applied in 1936 to the Davidson Seamount located off the coast of Southern California. Scientists estimate that perhaps 30,000 dot the ocean floor with as many as two-thirds located on the Pacific Ocean bottom. However, fewer than one thousand seamounts have been named and only a handful of seamounts has received detailed scientific study.

In recent years, discovery of unique life forms on seamounts has spurred scientific interest in seamount ecosystems. Many nations, including the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, are supporting scientific cruises to observe and collect specimens from seamount ecosystems. Seamount ecosystems are unusually productive and are home to unique species. Some seamount surveys have found that certain seamount species are endemic, that is, they live on only one seamount or a few nearby peaks. For example, up to one-third of all species living on some seamounts off New Caledonia are endemic while up to half of the invertebrates and fish on the Nazca seamount off Chile are endemic. In the northeast Pacific, large-scale eddies may transport larval fish from coastal environments to isolated seamounts located out at sea. Furthermore, some scientists argue that seamounts may function as stepping stones that allow for migration of species over lengthy periods--perhaps over millions of years. In addition, some seamounts may serve as aids to navigation for fish that migrate over long distances. For example, hammerhead sharks may use the magnetic field surrounding seamounts to find their way.

The recent effort to survey and explore seamount ecosystems has reached new urgency with the realization of the devastating impact of commercial fish trawlers on those ecosystems. In some cases, trawling has striped off most marine life (e.g., coral gardens) from the surface of seamounts leaving behind mostly bare rock. Typically, trawled seamounts have only half the biomass and considerably fewer species than undisturbed seamounts. Scientists anticipate that a better understanding of seamount ecosystems will help make the case for their conservation and inform the most effective strategies for their protection. Australia is one of the first nations to protect seamount ecosystems, establishing the Tasmanian Seamount Marine Reserve in 1999. The reserve covers 370 square km (140 square mi) and includes more than a dozen seamounts.

Concept of the Week: Questions

Seamounts are extinct submarine volcanoes that occur primarily in the [(Atlantic) (Pacific)(Southern)] Ocean.
Commercial fish trawling has [(little if any)(a devastating)] impact on seamount ecosystems.

Historical Events:

6 November 1528...Shipwrecked Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca became the first known European to set foot on Texas soil, near present-day Galveston Island. (Wikipedia)
9 November 1913...The "Freshwater Fury," a rapidly deepening extratropical cyclone, caused unpredicted gales on the Great Lakes. Seventeen ships, including eight large ore carriers on Lake Erie sank drowning 270 sailors. Cleveland, OH reported 17.4 in. of snow in 24 hrs, and a storm total of 22.2 in., both all-time records for that location. During the storm, winds at Cleveland averaged 50 mph, with gusts to 79 mph. The storm produced sustained winds of 62 mph at Port Huron, MI, wind gusts to 80 mph at Buffalo, NY. (9^th-11^th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
9 November 1932...An unnamed hurricane struck Cuba, with winds reaching approximately 210 mph at Nuvitas. However, a storm surge was the main killer of 2500 of the 4000 residents of Santa Cruiz del Sur. Essentially no storm records exist, as the observer drowned, with records and instruments washed away. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
10 November 1993...Violent storm over the Black Sea closed the Russian oil terminal port of Novorossisk for 20 days. "Bora" winds reported as high as 112 mph sank at least seven ships. (The Weather Doctor)
10 November 1975...Another "freshwater fury" hit the Great Lakes. A large ore carrier on Lake Superior, the Edmund Fitzgerald, sank near Crisp Point with the loss of its crew of 29 men. Eastern Upper Michigan and coastal Lower Michigan were hardest hit by the storm, which produced wind gusts to 71 mph at Sault Ste Marie, MI and gusts to 78 mph at Grand Rapids, MI. Severe land and road erosion occurred along the Lake Michigan shoreline. A popular song by Gordon Lightfoot was inspired by the storm. (David Ludlum) (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
Editors note: In 2000, the National Weather Service Forecast Office at Marquette, MI created a web page commemorating the 25^th anniversary of the sinking and describing the advances in marine weather forecasting over the last quarter century. EJH
11 November 1099...Violent storm in the North Sea killed 100,000 people in England and The Netherlands. (The Weather Doctor)
12 November 1956...(date approximate) The crew on the icebreaker USCGC Glacier saw what may have been the world's largest iceberg. Observed about 150 mi west of Antarctica's Scott Island, the iceberg was about 60 mi wide by 208 mi long, or roughly the size of Maryland. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
12 November 1974...A salmon was caught in the River Thames, England - the first in more than 130 years. (Today in Science History)