Weekly Ocean News

DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK EIGHT: 22-26 October 2007

Opportunity for Teachers: The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Teacher at Sea program is now accepting applications until December 31, 2007. Gain your "sea legs" and first-hand experience in one week to one month voyages. For more information, or to apply, see http://teacheratsea.noaa.gov.

Ocean in the News:

(Thurs.) Gulf "dead zone" project gets funding -- The University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute recently received the first year of funding from NOAA as part of a three-year project intended to study how nutrient pollution from the Mississippi River affects the "dead zone" in the northern Gulf of Mexico, a large area of low oxygen water that has depleted marine life. [NOAA News]
(Thurs.) Antarctic polynya -- A MODIS image obtained last week from NASA's Aqua satellite shows a polynya, or large oblong area of open water in Antarctica's Terra Nova Bay, surrounded by sea ice off the Scott Coast of Victoria Land. This open water area remains relatively constant and usually has an oblong form [NASA Earth Observatory]
(Thurs.) Polar-Palooza hits the road -- NASA and the National Science Foundation are sponsoring the Polar-Palooza "Stories from a Changing Planet" tour that commenced last Friday in San Diego, CA and is meant to show human exploration of the polar caps. This tour will travel to science centers across the US through 2008 and is meant to help provide education and outreach activities in conjunction with the International Polar Year. [NASA Earth Observatory]
(Thurs.) Deep-sea treasure is being plundered -- The Spanish government recently intercepted a treasure-hunt ship owned by a US-based salvage company approximately three miles off the coast of Gibraltar because of gold and silver coins that had been removed from a ship wreck of a Spanish galleon off the coast. [BBC News]
(Tues.) An invasive species from another ocean discovered in a marine sanctuary -- Marine biologists from NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science recently confirmed that red lionfish, an invasive species from the western Pacific Ocean, had been found in NOAA’s Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary in the Atlantic waters off the Georgia coast. [NOAA News]
(Tues.) Improvement efforts needed for the Mississippi River -- A study released last week by the National Research Council calls for the US Environmental Protection Agency to coordinate efforts between ten states and the federal government that monitor and protect the water of the Mississippi River, as well as the northern Gulf of Mexico. [CNN] [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) The mouth of the Mighty Miss -- Images made by the Landsat 1 satellite in 1976 and Landsat 7 in 2001 show how the Mississippi Delta in Louisiana as evolved over 25 years because of the deposition of sediments from the Mississippi River, human intervention and the effects of storm systems. [NASA Earth Observatory]
(Tues.) Thai capital at risk from rising sea -- Officials are claiming that monsoon rain, storm surges from tropical weather systems and a sinking land are threatening to submerge some sections of Bangkok, the capital of Thailand where more than 10 million people reside. Bangkok is one of 13 of the world's largest cities that could be inundated by projected sea level within this century. [USA Today]
(Tues.) A fast moving continent -- A team of scientists from Germany's GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam and India's National Geophysical Research Institute report that their new seismological methods indicate that because of its relatively thin layer, the Indian sub-continent moved very rapidly at a speed of approximately 20 cm per year, colliding with the Eurasian continent to form the Himalayan Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau approximately 50 million years ago. [EurekAlert!]
Eye on the tropics:
- No organized tropical cyclone activity occurred during this past week in the North Atlantic basin.
- In the eastern North Pacific basin off the southwest Mexican coast, Tropical Storm Kiko formed as the 11th named tropical cyclone of the 2007 hurricane season in that basin early last week. Over this past weekend, the system traveled to the northwest offshore and intensified to a strong storm system. As of Sunday afternoon, Kiko had not reached hurricane status, but it could produce strong winds, a storm surge and torrential rain along the west coast of Mexico and Baja California. [USA Today] An image from NOAA's GOES-12 satellite shows the clouds surrounding Kiko at the midpoint of last week. [NOAA OSEI]
- In the western North Pacific basin, Typhoon Kajiki, the 12th typhoon of 2007, formed on Friday near the Mariannas and intensified into a category 3 typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson scale over the weekend as it moved northward. As of late Monday (local time), Kajiki had curved toward the north-northeast, in a direction away from Japan.
A lifesaver from above turns 25 -- A highly successful international program that relies on satellites, the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking program (COSPAS-SARSAT), celebrated its 25th anniversary recently. This program has been credited with more than 22,000 rescues worldwide, including nearly 6,000 in the United States and its surrounding waters. [NOAA News]
A decade of ocean color data --An image generated from a decade of water color observations collected by the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) shows global patterns of the average chlorophyll concentrations in the upper layers of the earth’s oceans. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Restoration of New Jersey salt marsh brings new life -- A 64-acre damaged salt marsh and several small streams in Woodbridge, NJ were recently restored through a project that included NOAA Fisheries Service, the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, along with various state and local agencies. [NOAA News]
A deep-water coral mortality event is documented -- A report that represented a cooperative effort between researchers from NOAA, the US Geological Survey and the National Park Service provided the first documented description of coral loss on a deep Caribbean reef off St. John in the US Virgin Islands. A remotely operated vehicle from the NOAA ship Nancy Foster initially detected the coral mortality event. [NOAA News]
An Arctic "Report Card" issued that shows role of changing climate -- An international team of scientists recently issued a "Report Card" organized by NOAA on the environmental state of the Arctic that showed some changes in the region occurring more rapidly that those predicted by climate models. [NOAA News]
Watching the birth of an iceberg -- An animation consisting of a sequence of images obtained over a nearly one-year period from the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar instrument on the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite shows a 21 mile long by 12 mile wide iceberg breaking off the Pine Island Glacier in the West Antarctica Ice Sheet. [ESA]
Corals do it by the light of the moon -- Researchers from Australia's ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies have found that moonlight following a full moon appears to increase the sexual activity among corals on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef because of a gene that is stimulated by the faint bluish light from the moon. [ARC-Centre of Excellence]
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: Loss of Louisiana's Coast

According to the Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Task Force, Louisiana has been losing its coastal wetlands (bayous, marshes, and swamps) to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico at an alarming rate of about 65 to 100 square km (25 to 38 square mi) per year for the past several decades. This loss adversely affects fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico and makes the coastal zone more vulnerable to storm surges such as that produced by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Since the early 1930s, the state's coastal wetlands have shrunk by an area equivalent to the state of Delaware. According to USGS estimates, an additional 1800 square km (700 square mi) could be lost by mid-century. The price tag for reversing this trend, restoring some marshes, and protecting the remaining 15,000 square km (5800 square mi) of wetlands could top $14 billion and take decades to complete. Many people argue that the value of Louisiana's coastal wetlands is well worth the expense.

As much as 75% of the fish and other marine life in the northern Gulf of Mexico depend on Louisiana's coastal wetlands. The wetlands are a nursery for commercially important catches of shrimp, crawfish, blue crab, and oysters. It is a food source for larger fish including yellow fin tuna, red snapper, and swordfish. In 2003, about three-quarters of the nation's fish and shellfish catch by weight came from Louisiana's waters. In addition, the wetlands are a stopover for millions of birds migrating between North and Central/South America. Furthermore, wetlands and associated barrier islands protect the ports, buildings, and other coastal zone structures from storm surges. Wetlands are particularly important in buffering the levees surrounding New Orleans, much of which is below sea level.

Many factors contribute to the loss of Louisiana's coastal wetlands. Thousands of kilometers of pipelines transporting oil and natural gas through the marshes plus the extensive network of navigation channels allow saltwater to intrude the wetlands. Increased salinity of the originally fresh or brackish waters kill wetland grasses, shrubs, and other vegetation that anchor soil in place. The canals also allow tidal currents to flow farther inland, accelerating erosion of wetland soils. The most important factor, however, is the consequence of flood control structures (levees) constructed along the banks of the Mississippi River. Levees constrict the flow of the river so that waters and suspended sediment discharge rapidly into the Gulf. Deprived of a continuous input of sediments and vegetation-supporting nutrients, existing sediments compact, wetlands subside and Gulf waters invade the wetlands. With the anticipated continued rise in sea level due to global climate change (discussed in Chapter 12 of your textbook), erosion of Louisiana's coastal wetland may accelerate in the future.

Plans to reverse the loss of Louisiana's coastal wetlands (the Coast 2005 plan and the Louisiana Coastal Area plan) seek to restore the structure and function of coastal wetlands. One proposal is to breach some levees along the lower Mississippi. This partial diversion of the Mississippi would increase the supply of sediments to the wetlands. Closing or installing locks on some navigation canals would reduce saltwater intrusion. In addition, dredged sediment would be used to re-build wetlands and restore barrier islands.

Concept of the Week: Questions

The most important factor contributing to erosion of Louisiana's coastal wetlands is [(saltwater intrusion)(levees along the banks of the Mississippi River)].
Global climate change that is accompanied by a rise in sea level is likely to [(accelerate)(have no effect on)] the rate of erosion of Louisiana's coastal wetlands.

Historical Events:

22 October 1988...A "nor'easter" swept across the coast of New England. Winds gusted to 75 mph, and large waves and high tides caused extensive shoreline flooding. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
23-24 October 1918...The Canadian steamship Princess Sophia carrying miners from the Yukon and Alaska became stranded on Vanderbilt Reef along coastal British Columbia. A strong northerly gale hampered rescue attempts, and the next day, the ship sank with the loss of the 268 passengers and 75 crewmen onboard. (The Weather Doctor)
25 October 1859...The Royal Charter Storm, named after the loss of the fully rigged ship Royal Charter off the coast of Anglesey, England, drowned about 500 people, along with the loss of gold bullion. The ship was one of over 200 vessels wrecked between 21 October and 2 November, with the loss of around 800 lives. This tragedy led to the introduction of gale warnings in June 1860. (The Weather Doctor)
25 October 1941...South Greenland Patrol expanded to include three cutters of the Northeast Greenland Patrol and form the Greenland Patrol. (USCG Historian's Office)
25-26 October 1980...The combination of unusually high tides and southeasterly winds gusting to 75 mph generated waves with heights to 25 ft, resulting in serious flooding, beach erosion and sea wall damage along the Maine coast. Wind damage was considerable and as many as 100,000 homes were without power for up to 40 hrs. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
27 October 1728...Captain James Cook, the famed British naval officer who was one of the first of the scientific navigators, was born on this date. Captain Cook surveyed the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland before making three expeditions into the Pacific Ocean where he became the first Englishman to explore previously uncharted locations. On his various voyages, he conducted astronomical observations and his ship's botanist studied the flora and fauna that were collected. (Today in Science History)
28 October 1492...The famous Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus, landed on Cuba. (Wikipedia)
28 October 1991...Typhoon Thelma devastated the Philippines. Reports indicated that 6000 people died by catastrophic events related to the storm including dam failure, landslides, and extensive flash flooding. The greatest number of casualties occurred on Leyte Island where an 8-ft storm surge struck Ormoc, accounting for over 3000 fatalities. (The Weather Doctor)