It is predicted that the Mississippi River Delta may be inundated in less than a century. The major problem is that there is not enough sediment accumulating in the delta.
A short article on the Reuters website reports that Exxon is drilling three deep water exploration wells in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya.
Portions of Cape Cod have experienced serious beach erosion. One area near Chatham is reported to have lost several houses since a barrier island was breached by a storm in 2007.
Human activities are having a noticeable effect on ocean waters off the United States West Coast. Scientists have been collecting data for two years now to see which areas have changed the most, and how. Their results are presented in the form of an impact score map.
The US Navy scuttled a retired ship, the USNS General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary about seven miles south of Key West. The goal was to make what could become the world’s second largest artificial coral reef. The goal is to produce habitat, diving opportunities and a fishing destination.
A promising natural gas hydrate deposit has been found in the Gulf of Mexico. This deposit differs from others - it is in a sand reservoir which might make it producible by conventional methods.
An article on the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute website explores seafloor oil seeps. The image below is from NASA’s Earth Observatory and shows slicks from natural seeps in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Coral Triangle spans portions of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. This rich coral environment is in jeopardy as climate change modifies habitats.
An interesting article in the Wall Street Journal describes how British Petroleum is using some of their deep water platforms in the Gulf of Mexico as central facilities for satellite fields which are twenty or more miles away.
A release from the Minerals Management Service…. “Gulf of Mexico oil production is forecasted to increase substantially over the next several years, possibly reaching 1.8 million barrels of oil per day. Gas production is forecasted to continue its decline over the next four years due to aging projects in shallow water.”
Brian Romans has a brief posting about Chesapeake Bay bathymetry and how you can view it in Google Earth. He also points to NOAA’s Estuarine Bathymetry website where you can get lots of data about estuaries of the United States.
Department of Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, visits offshore rigs on the outer continental shelf and explains their role in the energy future of the United States.
Protect your important field notes by writing them in a waterproof notebook with waterproof ink. You work hard to collect important field data, don’t take chances with it. Available in spiral and cloth-bound formats.
A new Department of Interior report says that about 20% of the electricity consumed by Atlantic coast states could be made through offshore wind power. The report documents that oil and gas are not the only energy resources of the coastal area.
Dave Petley has an interesting post with informative images titled: “Coastal landslides and tsunami hazards (and the wonder that is Google Earth).” He gives a summary of a recent EOS article by researches at the Geohazard Reserach Centre at Portsmouth University.
In Senegal, land and homes are being lost to coastal erosion. In this part of west Africa the average rate is a few feet per year but in extreme areas it can be over 100 feet per year.
This article from EARTH Magazine discusses how dust and natural aerosols may affect the ocean. Experiments with algae were conducted to gain more insight on the topic.
In this article from EARTH Magazine, Nate Burgess writes about a visit to the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. He made the trip to participate in the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle program, which helps sustain sea turtle populations.
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Hobart King
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