You might not expect to find lots of barnacles or other sea creatures clinging to a vertical surface in a cold, rapidly moving water current. Surprisingly, crustaceans can not only tolerate this environment, but are actually flourishing in the deep, upwelling waters of Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands.
2010 is expected to be a banner year for red tide algal blooms in the Gulf of Maine. The seeds, or cysts, released last year far outnumber those that caused the large outbreak in 2005.
A massive earthquake occurred along the coast of Chile at 3:34 AM local time. This is a very large earthquake that ruptured the boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates. The USGS instrumental intensity shake map shows severe shaking along the coast of Chile.
An article on the Reuters website reports that the United States economy will lose $2.4 trillion over the next twenty years if currently restricted onshore and offshore areas are not opened to oil and gas drilling. The article is based on a study done by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
“The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI), in partnership with Oregon Emergency Management and the National Weather Service, are enhancing and expanding tsunami preparedness for Oregon coastal communities with a new program called TsunamiReady, TsunamiPrepared.”
State Farm Insurance requested a 47% rate increase for providing insurance to homeowners in some of Florida’s coastal areas. The rate increase was denied so State Farm sent cancellation notices to about 125,000 policy holders.
Department of Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, says that the federal government will begin a process that might allow oil and gas companies to do seismic research off the US Atlantic coast to identify oil and natural gas accumulations.
In the last few days, Humboldt squid have been invading California’s coastal waters by the hundreds. Fishermen are having a field day catching them and getting squirted with ink.
The Karlodinium veneficum, a dinoflagellate algal microbe, emits karlotoxin to paralyze enemies and prey. Unfortunately, the karlotoxin is also responsible for poisoning and killing multitudes of fish in the Chesapeake Bay. Scientists are studying the organisms to determine what can be done to suppress lethal blooms of this harmful algae.
The average height of exceptionally large waves off the U.S. West Coast is rising substantially – from about 25 feet two decades ago, to around 50 feet now. What kind of effect will this have on coastal erosion and flooding in the Pacific Northwest?
Pacific Ocean waves are causing erosion that threatens buildings atop a cliff near Pacifica, California. Residents are evacuating because collapse appears certain.
A tanker, Eagle Otome, collided with the towing vessel, Dixie Vengeance, ripping a large hole in one of its tanks and spilling nearly 1/2 million gallons of crude oil at Port Arthur, Texas.
A tombolo is a coastal feature formed when a sand bridge develops between an island and the mainland, joining the two. This astronaut photograph by the ISS Expedition 22 crew shows the Giens Peninsula, which was created from two tombolos in the French Riviera.
This article explores three areas that will be strongly affected by sea level rise: the Solomon Islands, the Florida Keys and the northeast coast of the United States.
Oregon State University has natural hazards data in an online GIS named the “Oregon Hazards Explorer”. It allows you to navigate the state with different layers turned on such as: landslide areas (shown below), 100 year flood boundaries, coastal erosion hazard areas, seismic hazards, wildfire risk areas and more.
This photo by the Atlantis STS-129 crew shows the astronauts’ view of the area surrounding Puerto San Carlos, Baja California. Visible in this image are the dune-covered beaches, deserts, mangroves, and a variety of water features.
Rip currents are a hazard that beach visitors need to be aware of – during Australian summers, someone drowns in a rip current every few days. This video shows how to identify rip currents, and gives instructions on what to do if you are caught in one.
Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami that killed about 250,000 people around the rim of the Indian Ocean. An article and videos on the CNN website illustrate some of the observances.
A Google map of tsunami evacuation zones for the Oregon coast allows anyone to determine if they live or work in an area where special actions should be taken in the event of a strong earthquake. The website also provides tsunami safety advice for people who are in boats or buildings when a tsunami might occur. The map was a joint effort of the Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries, Oregon Emergency Management and NOAA.
CNN has a short video that shows an apartment complex near Pacifica, California where wave erosion at the base of a cliff has dangerously encroached upon the building. (Note: the video has no sound.)
NOAA has a new ship for seafloor mapping. It has a twin-hull design that is more stable than a mono-hull and particularly suited to mapping the ocean floor — it minimizes the rocking motion caused by wave action.
It is theorized that Cleopatra’s palace was dislodged by earthquakes some 1700 years ago when it fell into the sea. Archaeologists are now retrieving pieces of the complex, and hope to create an underwater museum with the ruins.
The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries has new landslide inventory maps for the Canby Quadrangle and a report on coastal erosion in Clatsop County.
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