DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK EIGHT: 22-26 March 2004

• An ocean - Dust Bowl connection -- Employing satellite data and a computer model, scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have studied the climate over the last century and found that lower than normal surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean along with above average Atlantic Ocean surface temperature appear to create drought conditions across the nation's midsection, which ultimately led to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. [NASA] [Editor's note: The results of this research are similar to research made by scientists from the Midwestern Regional Climate Center and the US Geological Survey noted in last week's Ocean News. EJH]
• Drilling seen as revealing deep sea secrets -- The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, led by an international team of American and Japanese scientists, will commence a 10-month expedition in June that is scheduled to obtain thousands of cores from the sea floors below the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, with the ultimate goal of obtaining geological and biological information dating back hundreds of millions of years. [Contra Costa Times]
• Caribbean corals decline -- Researchers from the Dauphin Sea Laboratory and a Florida environmental consulting firm have noted that the Island coral reefs in the Caribbean Sea are deteriorating more rapidly during the last several decades than during the last thousand years. [EurekAlert!]
• Ocean acidity changes serve as a proxy in study of ancient planetary climate -- An international team of scientists recently reported that based upon their incorporation of changes in the acidity of the ocean in their models, changes in carbon dioxide rather than those associated with cosmic ray intensity appear to have been a major factor in controlling global temperatures over the last 570 million years. The acidity of the ocean depends in part upon the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. [EurekAlert!]
• 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: Coastal Zone Management

Population growth and development are increasingly stressing the nation's coastal zone and adjacent waters. More than 60% of the U.S. population lives within 80 km (50 mi) of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Lakes-a population density that is four times the national average. The coastal population is expected to increase by 28 million people between 1994 and 2015. With rapid population growth, the coastal zone is coming under increasing pressure from many sources including urban expansion, industrial development, exploitation of marine resources, and tourism. Conflicts arise over access to the shoreline for recreation, marinas, aquaculture, and cooling waters for electric power generation. Impacts include pollution of marine and freshwater, air pollution, loss of marine and terrestrial resources, more congestion, loss of public access to beaches, and soil degradation.

The need to balance multiple uses and preservation of the coastal zone spurred the federal government to partner with states having coastlines to develop and implement plans for sustainable coastal management. The federal government assists coastal states in managing and protecting their coastal resources through the Coastal Zone Management Program (CZMP) authorized by the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972. The goals of this program are "to preserve, protect, develop, and, where possible, to restore or enhance the resources of the Nation's coastal zone" and to encourage states to develop and implement plans "to achieve wise use of the land and water resources of the coastal zone." At the federal level, NOAA's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management administers the CZMP.

The CZMP promotes comprehensive management of coastal resources. This program seeks to protect those resources for future generations while balancing competing economic, cultural, and environmental issues. The federal government supports state efforts at coastal zone management by providing financial assistance (matched by state funds), mediation of conflicts, technical services, and information. Coastal states that show satisfactory progress implementing their management plan are eligible for special federal grants (matched by state funds) to help states preserve or restore coastal areas, redevelop urban waterfronts and ports, and provide access to public beaches. Actual day-to-day coastal zone management decisions rest with the individual states.

Currently, 33 of the 35 eligible coastal states and U.S. territories have federally approved coastal zone management plans that apply to more than 160,000 km (100,000 mi) of national coastline (see interactive map showing these states and territories). All approved state coastal management plans must address a number of issues that balance use with preservation. These issues include: (1) an inventory and designation of areas of particular concern in the coastal zone, (2) a definition of permitted land and water uses that directly impact coastal waters, (3) an identification of how those uses will be controlled, and (4) an outline of broad guidelines to determine priority of uses in coastal areas.

Another provision of the 1972 Coastal Zone Management Act established the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). The U.S. Secretary of Commerce can authorize grants to coastal states to acquire, develop, and operate estuarine research reserves. Since 1972, the NERRS has expanded to include 26 sites in 19 states and Puerto Rico (see map of these reserves).

Concept of the Week: Questions

1. The U.S. Coastal Zone Management Program aims to [(balance use and preservation) (prohibit all new development)] in the coastal zone.
2. Under provisions of the 1972 Coastal Zone Management Act, management of multiple uses in the coastal zone is the responsibility of [(Federal authorities only)(state authorities only)(both Federal and state authorities)].

• 22 March 1778...Captain James Cook sighted Cape Flattery, in present day Washington State.
• 22 March 1999...Tropical Cyclone Vance produced Australia's highest measured wind speed of 166 mph at Learmonth, West Australia. Gusts reaching 185 mph were estimated in the eyewall in the Exmouth Gulf. All homes in the village of Exmouth were either damaged or destroyed. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 24 March 1989...The tanker Exxon Valdez grounded on a reef in Prince William Sound, AK, spilling 10.1 million gallons of crude oil, resulting in the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Coast Guard units responded and prevented the entire cargo from spilling, cleaned up the oil which did spill, and conducted an investigation into the causes of the accident. The spill provides the impetus for the passage of the Oil Protection Act in 1990. (US Coast Guard Historians Office)
• 25 March 2000...A rouge wave near Shelter Cove, CA swept a lady from a Canadian school group into the ocean. Four members of the group tried to rescue her, but ere overcome by the waves and currents. A fishing vessel and the US Coast Guard rescued two of the rescuers. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 26 March 1946...The International Ice Patrol resumed after being suspended during World War II. (US Coast Guard Historians Office)
• 27 March 1512...Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida.
• 27 March 1899...The first international radio transmission between England and France was achieved by the Italian inventor G. Marconi.
• 27 March 1930...The US radio broadcast was made from a ship at sea.
• 27 March 1980...Waves to 20 feet and winds to 58 mph in the North Sea southwest of Stavanger, Norway led to the collapse of an oil rig accommodation platform. The deaths of 123 of the 212 people on the platform represents the world's worst drilling catastrophe. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 28 March 1848...USS Supply reached the Bay of Acre, anchoring under Mount Carmel near the village of Haifa, during expedition to explore the Dead Sea and the River Jordan. (Naval Historical Center)
• 28 March 1964...A tsunami generated by an earthquake (which hit 9.2 on the Richter scale) in Prince William Sound, AK produced a major surge wave that was approximately 100 ft above low tide and caused major damage to Whittier (where 13 died) and other coastal communities in Alaska. The death toll from the earthquake and associated tsunami waves was at least 122, with 108 in Alaska. The earthquake and tsunami caused $311 million in property damage. The first wave took more than 5 hours to reach the Hawaiian Islands where a 10-foot wave was detected, while a wave that was 14.8 feet above high tide level traveled along portions of the West Coast, reaching northern California 4 hours after the earthquake. Nearly 10,000 people jammed beaches at San Francisco to view the possible tsunami, but no high-amplitude waves hit those beaches. (The University of Washington) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (US Coast Guard Historians Office)

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Prepared by AMS DSOcean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2004, The American Meteorological Society.