Weekly Ocean News

DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK EIGHT: 17-21 March 2008

Ocean in the News:

(Thurs.) A graduate researcher is recipient of NOAA’s David Johnson Award -- A graduate research associate at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi, Texas recently received the prestigious NOAA David S. Johnson Award for his use of satellite ocean temperature data to track whale movements in the North Pacific Ocean. This award recognizes young scientists for their innovative use of environmental satellite data. [NOAA News]
(Thurs.) Smelt protection to be considered -- NOAA's Fisheries Service is formally accepting a petition from the Cowlitz Indian Tribe to list eulachon (smelt) populations in the waters of Washington, Oregon and California for protection under the Endangered Species Act because of a severe decline in smelt runs in recent years. [NOAA News]
(Thurs.) Charter boat interference case settled -- A settlement agreement has been reached between NOAA’s Fisheries Service and a Maryland fisherman who had been charged with violating the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, resisting arrest and other offenses in August 2007. [NOAA News]
(Thurs.) Breakup of an iceberg captured by satellite -- Images obtained by the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar and Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer instruments onboard the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite showed the splitting of the large A53A iceberg in the waters of the South Atlantic Ocean off South Georgia Island. [ESA]
(Tues.) Tautog fishery to close -- NOAA's Fisheries Service has ordered New Jersey’s commercial and recreational fishery for tautog, a popular recreational saltwater fish species, closed on 1 April 2008 after finding that the state had failed to implement necessary measures to conserve this fish species. [NOAA News]
(Tues.) Review of winter across the US and the globe -- Scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center reported that preliminary climate data for the recently-concluded winter season (December 2007 through February 2008) was the coolest since 2001 across the coterminous US, as well as across the entire planet. While above average temperatures were reported across the Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf Coast States, temperatures were below average across the Upper Midwest, the central Plains and a large section of the West. In addition, Pacific storms were responsible for bringing heavy precipitation across the West, resulting in a large snowpack. Above average winter precipitation was reported across much of the nation, with New York State reporting its wettest winter in 113 winters. However, sections of the northern Plains, especially North Dakota, and the southern Plains, primarily Texas, had much below average winter precipitation totals. Presence of a moderate to strong La Niña event appears to have resulted in combined global land and sea surface temperatures for the last three months to be lowest since 2001. Northern Hemisphere snow cover reached record areal coverage in January, which was followed by above average snow cover through February. [NOAA News]
(Tues.) Puget Sound rockfish to be protected -- Following the acceptance of a petition filed by an Olympia, WA resident, NOAA’s Fisheries Service will assemble a team of biologists to examine the decline of five Rockfish specifies in the waters of Puget Sound and determine if these species should be listed under the Endangered Species Act. The five species that are at near record low levels are the bocaccio, canary rockfish, yelloweye rockfish, greenstripe rockfish and redstripe rockfish species. [NOAA News]
(Tues.) Arctic climate models to play role in polar bear decision -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requested output statistics from climate models as part of the information needed as it considers a proposal to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. A climatology professor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison evaluated existing models to identify which best represented the observed changes in sea ice, deemed critical for polar bear habitat. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) Ethanol production could worsen "dead zone" in Gulf of Mexico -- Researchers from the University of Wisconsin and the University of British Columbia warn that the rush of the US to produce corn-based ethanol as a fuel alternative could expand the "dead zone", or a oxygen deficient region in the Gulf of Mexico because of nutrient pollution from croplands entering the waterways draining into the Gulf. [EurekAlert!]
Last DART buoys are deployed -- Last week, NOAA deployed the final two Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART™) buoys off the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, completing the network of 39 buoy stations across the Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico designed as the integral part of the nation's tsunami warning system. [NOAA News]
Eye on the Tropics -- Two tropical cyclones were found over waters of the South Indian Ocean at the start of last week. Tropical Cyclone Jokwe, which had become a category 3 tropical cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Intensity scale, continued its southward trek through the Mozambique Channel. By the end of the week it had weakened and dissipated. An image obtained from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on a NASA satellite shows the temperature of the cloud tops surrounding Jokwe. [NASA Hurricane Page] An image from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite also shows Tropical Cyclone Jokwe. [NASA Earth Observatory] Kamba, another category 3 tropical cyclone, also traveled across the South Indian Ocean to the southeast of Diego Garcia. By midweek, this cyclone dissipated. An image from the AIRS sensor shows Tropical Cyclone Kamba. [NASA Hurricane Page] An image made from data collected by the Meteosat-7 satellite at the start of last week shows the clouds surrounding the two relatively intense tropical cyclones (Jokwe and Kamba) in the Indian Ocean. [NOAA OSEI]
Ice "bergs" seen on Lake Michigan -- A series of high resolution MODIS images from NASA's Aqua satellite and photographs from an airplane show floating ice "bergs" being carried across the waters of southern Lake Michigan by strong winds from the southwest. [Milwaukee/Sullivan National Weather Service Forecast Office]
Seventh-grader wins student scientist award -- A seventh-grade student from San Francisco, CA recently won the Farallones Young Marine Scientist Award from NOAA’s Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary for her "fishy" science project entry in the 26th annual San Francisco Middle School Science Fair. [NOAA News]
Meteorites added to the primordial soup -- Scientists at the Carnegie Institution have discovered that two meteorites collected in Antarctica contained amino acid concentrations ten times larger than levels previously found in other meteorites, leading to speculation that the early solar system may have been rich in the organic building blocks of life and that the meteorites contributed to the primordial organic soup that spawned life on planet Earth. [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: 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:

17 March 1891...The British steamer SS Utopia sank off the coast of Gibraltar, killing 574 people. (Wikipedia)
17 March 1898...The USS Holland, the first practical submarine, was demonstrated by John Holland as it made its first dive in the waters off Staten Island, New York for one hour and 40 minutes. (Naval Historical Center)
17 March 1941...USCGC Cayuga left Boston with the South Greenland Survey Expedition onboard to locate airfields, seaplane bases, radio and meteorological stations, and aids to navigation in Greenland. (USCG Historian's Office)
17 March 1959...The submarine USS Skate (SSN-578) surfaced at the North Pole. (Naval Historical Center)
20 March 1866...The immigrant ship Monarch of the Seas left Liverpool, England, but was never seen again. The ship with 738 people was officially declared "lost" after 130 days.. A message in a bottle was found at Plymouth, supposedly sent by a passenger. In July wreckage was found around the Dingle coast in Southern Ireland.
20 March 2000...A large iceberg measuring approximately 170 mi by 25 mi calved off Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf near Roosevelt Island. The iceberg was approximately 2.5 times the size of New York's Long Island. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
22 March 1778...Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy 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)