Weekly Ocean News

DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK NINE: 27-31 March 2006

Ocean in the News:

(Thur.) Ice being reduced by warmer ocean water -- A glaciologist at the Goddard Space Flight Center claims that based on sea surface temperature data collected by ships and buoys, along with recent satellite data, warm water has been causing increased melt of ice caps and accelerating the flow of ice in polar regions. This melt could cause a rise in sea level. [NASA GSFC]
(Thur.) Girls just want to have air -- Zebrafish born in low oxygen waters, "dead zones", have a 3:1 male to female ratio. And those females have high testosterone levels. These conditions perpetuate the low productivity of those regions of the oceans, and they are increasing in coverage. [CNN]
(Thur.) Narwhal tusks may be sensors -- Narwhal tusks are actually a tooth whose structure suggests extreme sensitivity, perhaps to water temperatures or chemistry. [Science News Online]
(Thur.) Salt and dust in ice cores help identify past climate -- Scientists with the British Antarctic Survey report detecting small amounts of dust and salt trapped in a 3-km long ice core extracted from the East Antarctic plateau, indicating significant periodic changes in Antarctic and South American climate during the last 740,000 years. They suggest that each time the planet emerged from an ice age, southern South America became drier or windier with much dust carried to Antarctica, while the Antarctic sea ice extent responded more slowly, affecting the amount of airborne salt deposited on the ice cap. [EurekAlert!]
(Thur.) Environmental group wants more ocean protected -- The environmental group Greenpeace released a report last week calling for the United Nations to place 40 percent of the world ocean in natural preserves, thereby protecting the ocean from the adverse effects of deep-sea fishing and pollution. [ENN]
(Thur.) An increase in deep-sea fish populations noted -- A group of scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography recently reported that they found a three-fold increase in fish abundance in the deep water sections of the eastern North Pacific over the last 15 years based upon data they collected on fish and other marine animals. [Scripps Institution of Oceanography]
(Tues.) Studying underwater habitats -- A joint scientific research mission conducted by NOAA and the National Park Service recently commenced in the waters surrounding Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands using a variety of remote sensing equipment designed to study underwater habitats in these waters. [NOAA News]
(Tues.) Greenland glaciers surge seaward -- A glaciologist at the University of Washington suggests that during calving where Greenland glaciers lose large pieces of ice along their leading edge, openings are created where ice streams through more quickly. [EurekAlert!] In a related article, seismologists at Harvard University and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have been found that "glacial earthquakes" in Greenland are not only a seasonal phenomenon as they occur most frequently in summer, but have also doubled in number within the last three years. These glacial earthquakes, occurring when glaciers lurch forward, appear to indicate warmer conditions. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) Satellites help in the detection of deep ocean whirlpools -- Scientists at the University of Delaware, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Ocean University of China have been using data collected by multiple sensors onboard a variety of US and European environmental satellites to detect and monitor warm, salty, deep-water rotating whirlpools that form in the North Atlantic Ocean. [University of Delaware]
(Tues.) More krill found in Southern Ocean -- Australian scientists associated with the Australian Antarctic Division and the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre reported that they have found higher populations of krill in the deep waters off the Australian Antarctic Territory following a 10-week survey of the Southern Ocean. In addition, these deep waters have gotten warmer and saltier. [The Mercury News]
Tsunami Awareness Week in Alaska -- The Governor of Alaska, along with NOAA, has proclaimed next week (26 March-1 April 2006) as Tsunami Awareness Week in Alaska. This start of this week coincides with the 42^nd anniversary of the series of devastating tsunamis that struck southeastern Alaska following several earthquakes. [Governor's Office] As a part of Tsunami Awareness Week, a statewide test of the tsunami warning communications system in Alaska will be conducted on Wednesday. [NOAA News]
A new iceberg is detected -- Scientists with the National Ice Center report that visible images from Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellites indicate that a large iceberg, identified as iceberg D-16, recently broke free from an ice sheet in Antarctica's Queen Maud Land and entered the Weddell Sea. [NOAA News]
In the aftermath of Cyclone Larry -- Although no fatalities were caused by Tropical Cyclone Larry (the south Pacific counterpart of a hurricane) as it made landfall on the northeast coast of Australia last week, this category 5 (on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Intensity Scale) system caused much damage to the banana crop in the state of Queensland. [USA Today] Some groups have claimed that the government of Australia was slow to respond with aid to residents affected by Cyclone Larry. However, the Australian Prime Minister announced last week that a multimillion dollar aid package would be available for farmers and businesses devastated by Larry. [CNN]
Sea level may rise more quickly than expected -- Using a sophisticated climate model along with paleoclimatic data, scientists at the University of Arizona and the National Center for Atmospheric Research suggest that based upon current rates of temperature rises, Arctic summers could be as warm as during the last interglacial approximately 130,000 years ago, leading to a more rapid increase in global sea level by the end of the century than previously anticipated. They showed how projected increases in sea level could have a major impact upon coastal regions. [EurekAlert!]
Cockling deaths lead to convictions -- Three people were convicted in a British court in connection with the deaths of 21 Chinese cocklers who were washed away by rising ocean tide in Lancashire's Morecambe Bay in February 2004 while harvesting cockles from the low-lying sand. [BBC News]
Sophisticated language skills detected in whale song -- Researchers with Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have used a new mathematical computer analysis technique to determine that humpback whales use a form of grammatical syntax in their songs. [The New Scientist]
Seawater could rush in as African continent splits -- Geologists from Addis Ababa University recently became eyewitnesses to the possible development of a new ocean as earthquake activity developed in the Afar Triangle near the Horn of Africa causing crevices to split the desert floor, followed by slumping. [Spiegel Online]
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: Controlling Nutrient Input into Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay is the nation's largest estuary; it is more than 300 km (185 mi) long, 65 km (40 mi) at its broadest, and averages about 20 m (66 ft) deep. The estuary was formed by the post-glacial rise in sea level that flooded the valley of the ancient Susquehanna River. The Bay receives about half its water from the Atlantic Ocean and the other half from the more than 150 rivers and streams draining a 166,000 square kilometer land area encompassing parts of New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Major rivers that empty into Chesapeake Bay include the Potomac, Susquehanna, York, and James.

As described in more detail on pages 183-185 of your DataStreme Ocean textbook, an estuary is a complex and highly productive ecosystem where seawater and freshwater runoff meet and mix to some degree. In Chesapeake Bay, more-dense seawater creeps northward along the bottom of the estuary, moving under the less-dense fresh water flowing in the opposite direction. This circulation combined with wind-driven and tidal water motions causes salinity to decrease upstream in the Bay, from values typical of the open ocean at its mouth to freshwater values at its northern margin.

As in all ecosystems, organisms living in estuaries depend on one another and their physical environment for food energy and habitat. Phytoplankton and submerged aquatic vegetation (e.g., marsh grass) are the primary producers (autotrophs) in estuarine food chains. Chesapeake Bay consumers (heterotrophs) include zooplankton, finfish, shellfish, birds, and humans.

Human activity has greatly modified Chesapeake Bay with consequences for the functioning of the ecosystem. Much of the original forests that covered its drainage basin was cleared and converted to farmland, roads, cities, and suburban developments. These modifications accelerated the influx of nutrients (i.e., compounds of phosphorus and nitrogen), sediment, pesticides, and other pollutants into the Bay. More nutrients spur growth of algal populations and when these organisms die (in mid-summer), their remains sink to the bottom. Decomposition of their remains reduces dissolved oxygen levels in the Chesapeake's bottom water. More sediment increases the turbidity of the water, reducing sunlight penetration for photosynthesis. Presently Chesapeake Bay is on the Federal list of "impaired waters" and in need of pollution abatement and remediation. States in the drainage basin have agreed to work together to clean up the Bay but there are significant obstacles including cost.

One casualty of human modification of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem was marsh grass-reduced by 90% from historical levels. Marsh grass anchors sediment and dampens wave action thereby controlling shoreline erosion and turbidity. Marsh grass is a food source for many organisms including waterfowl and small mammals and serves as a primary nursery for crabs and many species of fish. Reduction of this habitat along with over-fishing has been implicated in the decline of populations of blue crabs, a mainstay of the Bay fishery for more than a century. Over the past decade, the number of adult female blue crabs plunged by 80%. Without adequate protection by marsh grass, blue crabs are more vulnerable to predation by striped bass (i.e., rockfish). Striped bass turned to blue crabs as a food source when fishing reduced the numbers of menhaden, their preferred food. Menhaden is a marine fish in the herring family and the Bay's top fishery by weight.

Human modification of the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin converted it from an essentially closed system to an open system. In the original climax forest, nutrients primarily cycled within the system with relatively little input to the Bay. Modification of the land for agriculture increased the area of the soil exposed to the elements and runoff from rain and snowmelt accelerated nutrient input into the Bay. In addition to such non-point (area) sources of nutrients are point sources including the effluent of wastewater treatment plants that discharge treated water into rivers and streams that drain into the Bay.

For decades, agriculture has successfully employed various cultivation practices that limit the runoff from cropland (e.g., contour plowing, strip cropping, and retention ponds.) However, less than one-third of the 300-wastewater treatment facilities located in the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin have the technology to remove high levels of nutrients from their effluent. Under current environmental regulations, states are not required to regulate the nutrient content of this discharge. But in late October 2003, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a private, not-for-profit environmental advocacy organization called on Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia to specify nutrient limits on permits they grant to all wastewater treatment facilities. In support of their recommendations, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation cited the many water quality problems stemming from excessive nutrient load in the Bay waters (e.g., algal blooms, spread of "dead zones.") According to the U.S. EPA, under the federal Clean Water Act, a state can control nitrogen pollution if it determines that environmental harm is taking place. However, the EPA estimates that as much as $4.4 billion would be required to install state-of-the-art nutrient removal technologies at all major plants (those treating more than 500,000 gallons of wastewater per day).

Concept of the Week: Questions

In terms of nutrient cycling, the climax forest that originally occupied the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin was a(n) [(open)(closed)] system.
Excessive input of nutrients into Chesapeake Bay [(spurs the growth of)(has little impact on)] algal populations and [(increases)(reduces)] the concentration of dissolved oxygen in bottom waters.

Historical Events:

27 March 1513...Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida (and the continent of North America) for the first time, mistaking it for another island. (Wikipedia)
27 March 1827...At the age of 18, Charles Darwin submitted his first report of an original scientific discovery to the Plinian Society in Edinburgh, Scotland. Darwin had made several discoveries about the biology of tiny marine organisms found along the Scottish coast. (Today in Science)
27 March 1899...The first international radio transmission between England and France was achieved by the Italian inventor G. Marconi.
27 March 1930...The first US radio broadcast was made from a ship at sea.
27-28 March 1964...The most powerful earthquake in US history, the Good Friday Earthquake, rocked south central Alaska, killing 125 people and causing $311 million in property damage, especially to the city of Anchorage. The earthquake in Prince William Sound, which had a magnitude of 9.2 on the Richter scale, caused some landmasses to be thrust upward locally as high as 80 feet, while elsewhere land sank as much as 8 feet. This earthquake and submarine landslides also created a tsunami that also produced extensive coastal damage. A landslide at Valdez Inlet in Alaska generated a tsunami that reached a height of 220 feet in the inlet. A major surge wave that was approximately 100 ft above low tide caused major damage to Whittier (where 13 died) and other coastal communities in Alaska. 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. Tsunami damage reached Crescent City in northern California. Tens of thousands of aftershocks indicated that the region of faulting extended about 600 miles. The Alaska Tsunami Warning Center was established because of this disaster, with a mission to warn Alaskan communities of the threat from tsunamis. [See the 1964 Prince William Sound Tsunami page from the University of Washington.] (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) ( US Coast Guard Historians Office)
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 was 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 1910...Henri Fabre became the first person to fly a seaplane after taking off from a water runway at Martigues near Marseilles, France. (Wikipedia)
29-31 March 1848...An ice dam at the neck of Lake Erie and the entrance to the Niagara River between Fort Erie, ON and Buffalo, NY caused by wind, waves and lake currents stopped flow of water over Niagara Falls for 30 hours, commencing during the late hours of the 29^th. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (The Weather Doctor)
29 March 1910...The world's largest oceanographic museum was opened in Monaco through the generosity of Prince Albert I of Monaco, a great oceanographer, statesman, and humanitarian. This museum, a part of the Oceanographic Institute, has a grandiose facade overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. (Today in Science History)
29 March 1914...The Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Ireland, which had departed Quebec the previous day for Liverpool, collided with the Norwegian collier Storstad in the fog along the St. Lawrence River, sinking with the loss of 1024 passengers and crew.
29 March 1985...The Nantucket I was decommissioned, ending 164 years of lightship service. (USCG Historian's Office)
30 March 1923...The Cunard liner Laconia arrived in New York City, becoming the first passenger ship to circumnavigate the world, a cruise of 130 days. (Today in Science History)
31 March 1932...The United States signed the Whaling Convention at Geneva with 21 other countries. (USCG Historian's Office)
31 March 1995...Coast Guard Communication Area Master Station Atlantic sent a final message by Morse code and then signed off, officially ending more than 100 years of telegraph communications. (USCG Historian's Office)
31 March 2000...The water temperature of Lake Erie at Buffalo, NY was 39 degrees Fahrenheit on the last day of March, tying the maximum temperature for the date with that of 1998. Ice was present in 61 of 74 years on the 31^st, but this was third year in a row with open water. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
1 April 1873...The British White Star steamship Atlantic sank off Nova Scotia killing 547 after striking an underwater rock near Meagher's Island while on a voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City. Only 413 people survived. (Wikipedia)
1 April 1946...The Scotch Cap Lighthouse on Unimak Island in Alaska's Aleutian Islands was shaken by two earthquakes in a 27 minute span, then obliterated by a tsunami wave. The entire five-man crew was killed and the lighthouse antenna (105 ft above sea level) was washed away. Some debris was found 115 ft above sea level. The tsunami that propagated across the Pacific Ocean was responsible for more than 165 fatalities and over $26 million in damage. Many of the casualties were on the Hawaiian Islands, especially in Hilo on the Big Island. This tsunami was responsible for the development of the current Pacific Tsunami Warning System. (University of Washington) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (US Coast Guard Historian's Office)
2 April 1513...Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon came ashore on the Florida coast near present-day St. Augustine and claimed the territory for the Spanish crown. He is reported to be the first know European to set foot in Florida. (The History Channel)
2 April 1958...One of the most destructive coastal storms in years battered New England (31 March-3 April). Some beaches between Portland, ME and Cape Cod, MA were eroded by approximately 50 ft. Miles of sea walls and bulkheads were either breached or demolished. Many beachfront cottages in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine were sandblasted. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
2 April 1926....Baden-Baden, a rotor ship invented by Anton Flettner left Hamburg, Germany on a transatlantic crossing, arriving in New York on 29 May 1926. The ship used two 9-ft diameter, 50-ft high cylinders, mounted vertically on the deck at the bow and the stern for propulsion, utilizing the aerodynamic power of the Magnus Effect, which builds air pressure behind a rotating cylinder. (Today in Science History)