DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK NINE: 28 March-1 April 2011

ITEMS OF INTEREST

• Summer teacher research fellowships --
  The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences has announced that COSEE (Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence) Coastal Trends is looking to fill summer teacher research fellowship positions for this coming summer of 2011. Middle or high school science teachers are encouraged to apply through 31 March 2011 at http://www.coseecoastaltrends.net/programs/scientisteducatorpartnership/teacherresearchexperience/.

Ocean in the News:

• Eye on the tropics ---
In the South Pacific basin, Tropical Cyclone Bune formed southeast of Fiji at the midpoint of last week. This tropical cyclone, which became a category 1 tropical cyclone (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale), traveled slowly southward and then to the south-southeast late in the week and over the weekend. The NASA Hurricane Page has more information and satellite imagery on Tropical Cyclone Bune.
• Continued testing of Gulf seafood will be available to consumers --
NOAA's Fisheries Service recently announced that NOAA along with the US Food and Drug Administration will continue to re-test seafood from the Gulf of Mexico and post these results into this upcoming summer as a way to demonstrate the seafood's safety to American and worldwide consumers. This testing began last spring following the BP Deep Horizon oil spill into the Gulf in April 2010. [NOAA News]
• Orca whales dine off the North Carolina coast --
An angler describes how fishing for bluefin tuna became an adventure off the coast of North Carolina as orca whales were feeding on the tuna. [Epic Blitz] (Editor's note: Special thanks goes to Terri Kirby Hathaway, LIT Leader and Marine Education Specialist for the North Carolina Sea Grant Program in Manteo, NC, for forwarding this article. EJH)
• A celebrated albatross is a tsunami survivor --
Although numerous albatross were lost at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge from the tsunami that swept across the North Pacific, the US Fish and Wildlife Service officials recently announced that Wisdom, a Laysan albatross estimated to be at least 60 years old, and her chick survived. [USA Today]
• Huge ocean rings spin off Brazilian coast --
Researchers from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science Ocean report that large rings of warm, nutrient rich water have been spinning across the waters of the tropical North Atlantic off the coast of Brazil. These spinning rings, likened to "Frisbees(tm)," travel along in the North Brazil Current and are larger and faster than previously thought. [University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science]
• Measurements indicate continuing loss in winter Arctic sea ice --
A study conducted by the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado-Boulder indicates the annual maximum Arctic sea ice extent in winter continues to dwindle. In their analysis of satellite data, they found that the 2011 Arctic sea ice extent maximum in early March 2011 at the beginning of the melt season appears to be tied with 2006 for the lowest ever during the period of satellite surveillance that began in 1979. [University of Colorado News Center]
• Significant increase seen in freshwater content of Arctic Ocean --
Researchers at Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute have found that the freshwater content of the upper Arctic Ocean has increased by approximately 20 percent since the 1990s. This increased freshwater content near the surface not only controls the flow of heat from ocean to atmosphere or to sea ice, but affects global oceanic circulation. The researchers came to their conclusions based upon their analysis of over 5000 measured salt concentration profiles. [Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research]
• Antarctic icebergs may play role in global carbon cycle and climate --
A National Science Foundation-funded project involving multi-disciplinary scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and their colleagues from other research institutions around the nation have discovered that a floating iceberg in the Weddell Sea can cool and dilute the seas for days following passage, resulting in a rise in chlorophyll levels that may ultimately increase carbon dioxide absorption in the Southern Ocean. [NSF]
• Monitoring ice loss from polar ice caps from space --
An image made last November by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite shows the Astrolabe Glacier streaming out from the interior of Antarctica to dump ice into the sea. A graph of the temporal variations in the polar ice mass shows a net decline in ice mass since 1992. [NASA Earth Observatory]
• New imaging tool on International Space Station monitors Earth's coastal regions --
A prototype scanner called the Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO) has been operating onboard the International Space Station for 16 months, collecting environmental data on the Earth's coastal regions. The data and images obtained from HICO are being made available through an online clearinghouse operated by Oregon State University to scientists to help monitor the role that human impacts and climate change have upon the world's coastal regions. [Oregon State University]
• Seals harmed by European coastal pollution --
A researcher at Spain's University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and colleagues report that harbor seals inhabiting the waters of European ports are being harmed by highly contaminated waters due to industrial activity. [EurekAlert!]
• Ocean currents help separate dolphin populations --
Employing environmental data from satellites, researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the American Museum of Natural History, and other organizations have determined that ocean currents and temperature differences in the western Indian Ocean help separate dolphins into populations with genetic differences. [LabSpaces]
• Slow recovery of marine life after ancient mass extinction explained --
Researchers at Stanford University claim that their analysis of the limestone beds in present day southern China indicate the slow recovery of marine life following the major Permian-Triassic mass extinction (approximately 250 million years ago) was due to the subsequent explosion of algae and bacteria. This explosion in marine algae and bacteria consumed essentially all the free oxygen in the ocean for several million years after the extinction event. This event, representing the largest known mass extinction in Earth history, may have been caused by massive volcanic activity. [Stanford University News]
• New analysis of a "lost" classic experiment yields clues to origins to life --
Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Scripps Institution of Oceanography who recently re-examined the contents of the test tubes used by Stanley Miller in his classic experiments of the 1950s reported on the results of involving hydrogen sulfide gas. They found that this "lost" version of the experiment meant to simulate a prebiotic environment where hydrogen sulfide may have occurred in volcanic plumes created amino acids containing sulfur and represented the one that produced amino acids in the greatest diversity and highest abundance. Miller had not published these results, as he was reluctant to work with hydrogen sulfide due to its rotten egg odor. [NASA GSFC]
• An All-Hazards Monitor --
This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, drought, floods, marine weather, tsunamis, rip currents, Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and coral bleaching. [NOAAWatch]
• Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes --
A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, to include 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 were 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 forests, 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

1. In terms of nutrient cycling, the climax forest that originally occupied the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin was a(n) [(open)(closed)] system.
2. 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:

• 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 known 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)
• 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)

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Prepared by AMS DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2011, The American Meteorological Society.