Weekly Ocean News

DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK TEN: 3-7 April 2006

Ocean in the News:

(Thurs.) A space-age portrait of the Mosquito Coast -- NASA recently released a high resolution image of the coastal sections of Honduras and Nicaragua called the Mosquito Coast, obtained from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer onboard NASA's Terra satellite. This image shows a variety of colors, which indicate water clarity and sea state. [NASA Earth Observatory]
(Thurs.) Global ban on bottom trawling sought -- Early last week, the European Union called for a global ban on bottom trawling, since the Union considers the practice as threatening the biodiversity of the world's ocean. [ENN]
(Thurs.) Geothermal drilling also reveals nature of mid-ocean ridges -- A $20-million drilling project called the Iceland Deep Drilling Project undertaken by geologists in Iceland should not only increase geothermal power ten-fold, but also provide insight into the nature of the mid-ocean ridge that passes through the island nation. [BBC News]
(Thurs.) A sponge-like device removes mercury from offshore waters -- Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have teamed with a Texas filtration equipment company to develop a novel type of filtration system that removes mercury and other toxic heavy metals from the water used by offshore oil and gas platform drilling operations. [EurekAlert!]
(Thurs.) Seagrass beds are declining globally -- A researcher at the University of New Hampshire who founded a global monitoring program called SeagrassNet recently claimed that the seagrass beds around the world, which represent important shallow-water ecosystems, have been declining during the last 20 years due to a variety of reasons. [University of New Hampshire]
(Tues.) Forecast system for Great Lakes unveiled -- Officials with the NOAA Ocean Service announced last Friday that the Great Lakes Operational Forecast System had become operational on Lakes Superior, Huron and Ontario. This operational forecast system is designed to aid those interests who operate on the lakes by providing information on the present and future conditions of water levels, water currents and water temperatures. [NOAA News]
(Tues.) Major losses found in Caribbean coral reefs -- Researchers recently reported that roughly one-third of the delicate and ancient coral reefs offshore of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands have recently died because of bleaching associated with record warm sea water, followed by disease. [ENN]
(Tues.) Another major hurricane season foreseen -- Last week, the director of the National Hurricane Center, Max Mayfield, told reporters at a hurricane conference in San Juan, PR that the upcoming 2006 hurricane season in the North Atlantic Basin appears likely to be stronger than average, but possibly not quite as active as the record 2005 hurricane season that set records for the numbers of named tropical cyclones (both hurricanes and tropical storms) and for the cost to coastal communities. [USA Today]
(Tues.) What if Hazel hit today? -- The hurricane program manager for the South Carolina Emergency Management Division recently estimated that if Hurricane Hazel hit today, it would cause nearly $3 billion damage to the Palmetto State. Hurricane Hazel was a category-4 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Intensity Scale) that had winds of 140 mph and produced a 15-foot storm surge when it made landfall along the Grand Strand coast of northern South Carolina on 15 October 1954. [USA Today]
(Tues.) Small island nation develops marine park -- The Republic of Kiribati, a small nation of 33 islands in the equatorial Pacific, recently created Phoenix Islands Protected Area, which contains eight atolls and two submerged coral reef systems and represents the third largest marine protected area in the world. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) Velocity measurements of ocean surface currents now made from satellites -- A radar instrument onboard the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite has been making direct and high resolution measurements of the speed of the surface currents in the world ocean, utilizing the Doppler principle in collecting backscattered microwave radar signals. [ESA]
Link between whale stranding and sonar inconclusive -- Researchers at the National Marine Fisheries Service reported last week that they were unable to determine if the use of sonar by the US Navy resulted in the one of the largest strandings of whales along the North Carolina coast in January 2005. [NOAA News] [Washington Post] (Editor's note: Special thanks are extended to Terri Kirby Hathaway, Marine Education Specialist for the North Carolina Sea Grant at Manteo, NC and a LIT member for forwarding this link. EJH)
Another tropical cyclone hits Australia -- Tropical Cyclone Glenda, the sixth tropical cyclone (the Indian Ocean counterpart of the hurricane) of the season to approach the Western Australia coast, made landfall last Thursday along the West Australian coast north of the state capital, Perth. This cyclone was a category-5 system on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Intensity Scale, following by a week the category-5 Tropical Cyclone Larry that made landfall along the north coast of Queensland. [USA Today] NASA posted a visible image of Tropical Cyclone Glenda prior to landfall, obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer instrument onboard its polar orbiting Terra satellite. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Environmental protection to accompany rebuilding efforts along the Gulf Coast -- Environmental officials from the five Gulf Coast states and from 13 federal agencies unveiled the Governors' Action Plan for Healthy and Resilient Coasts that would strengthen environmental protection along the Gulf of Mexico as part of the recovery and rebuilding efforts in the wake of the hurricanes that damaged the region in 2005. [NOAA News]
April is Tsunami Awareness Month in Hawaii -- The State of Hawaii and the National Weather Service Office in Honolulu have declared April as Tsunami Awareness Month in the Aloha State. The National Weather Service Office is also hosting the International Tsunami Information Center in conjunction with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. [International Tsunami Information Center]
Unmanned aircraft systems help monitor the planetary environment -- NOAA scientists and their colleagues are using data routinely gathered by sensors on a variety of unmanned aircraft systems for ocean and atmospheric research, the monitoring of marine sanctuaries, shoreline and coastal water mapping and water resource management. [NOAA Magazine]
A long legal battle continues following the Valdez spill -- On the 17th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaskan fishermen have been urging Exxon Mobil to pay the $4.5-billion penalty, ending years of legal disputes. [ENN]
Harnessing the ocean waves for power generation -- A business correspondent for BBC News reports on several types of devices that have been developed and deployed to harness the wave power and turn it into electricity. [BBC News]
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:

3 April 1797...Captain Thomas Truxtun, USN, devised and issued the first known American signal book using numerary system, encompassing 10 numeral pennants, made of combinations of red, white, blue, and yellow bunting, with flags for repeaters. This signal book contained approximately 300 signals. Fog signals were made by gunfire. Night signals were made by lanterns and gunfire. (Naval Historical Center)
4 April 1581...The famous English navigator, Francis Drake, completed his circumnavigation of the world (1577 to 1580) and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I. (Wikipedia).
6 April 1894...President Grover Cleveland authorized enforcement of the Paris Award concerning the preservation of fur seals in Alaska. (USCG Historian's Office)
6 April 1909...The American explorer, Commander Robert E. Peary, USN, along with assistant Matthew Henson, and four Eskimos reported reaching the geographic North Pole; however, navigational errors may have meant that they were a few miles away from the exact pole. (Naval Historical Center) (The History Channel)
6 April 1913...USRC Seneca, a derelict destroyer (whose mission was to locate and destroy abandoned wrecks that were still afloat and a menace to navigation), inaugurated the Revenue Cutter Service's participation in the International Ice Patrol. (USCG Historian's Office)
8-10 April 1958...A global 48-hr precipitation record was established at Aurere, La Reunion Island, when 97.1 in. of rain from a tropical cyclone fell on the Indian Ocean island. (The Weather Doctor)
8-14 April 1984...Intense Tropical Cyclone Kaimsy crossed and re-crossed the northern portion of Madagascar. Winds exceeding 112 mph destroyed 80 percent of Antseranana and Mahajanga. Rainfall from this system totaled 27.99 in. Eighty-two people were killed and 100,000 were made homeless. Damage was greater than 150 million US dollars. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar) (The Weather Doctor)
9 April 1770...The English explorer Captain James Cook discovered Botany Bay on the Australian continent.