A recent computer model by NOAA-funded researchers indicates that the 1918-1919 El Niño was one of the strongest of the 20th Century. It has been linked to extreme weather events and the influenza pandemic of 1918 that killed over 25 million people. (NOAA technical report.)
The deepest hole drilled on a single expedition in the history of scientific ocean drilling was completed off the coast of New Zealand at a depth of 1927 meters.
The Mainichi Daily News has a photograph showing ash and steam emerging from the ocean’s surface above the vent of Fukutokuoka no Ba Volcano which erupted yesterday near Iwo Jima.
The SeaKeeper 1000 is a device that gathers data on weather conditions, water pH, oxygen levels, and more, from the hulls of superyachts around the world. Each machine can take over 14,000 readings daily, which are relayed to the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and WMO (World Meteorological Organization).
This page links to six research papers recently published by AGU, on the following subjects:
*First study to show that seismic imaging detects ocean’s internal tides
*Ice is “rotten” in the Beaufort Sea
*Global warming increases flood risk in mountain areas
*Worldwide nitrogen deficit constrains carbon dioxide uptake by plants
*Upper atmosphere influences weather near Earth’s surface
*New finding on key element of Earth’s lower mantle
The abstracts can be viewed online, and copies of the papers can be ordered or downloaded from the website.
“The increasing acidification of the oceans is measured in pH units, but its impacts on people will be measured in dollar signs. Commercial and recreational fishing, tourism, the protection of shorelines by coral reefs—all could be harmed by ocean acidification.” Quoted from the WHOI press release.
“One proposed strategy to offset rising levels of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere is to capture carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel-burning power plants and pump them into the ocean depths.” Quoted from the WHOI press release.
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.
January 23 marks the 50th anniversary of Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard’s historic dive inside the Bathyscaphe Trieste to the deepest part of the ocean. This record voyage in 1960 remains the only manned trip to the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench.
A group of underwater research machines, known as gliders, will soon be released into the Atlantic tropics by IFM-GEOMAR. The yellow gliders are about two meters long, are remotely controlled, and contain advanced equipment to gather information on water temperature, turbidity, and composition.
Sea level rise and fall has opened and closed the Bering Strait numerous times in the past, affecting ocean circulation and influencing the climate of the Northern Hemisphere.
Echinoderms (like brittle stars and sea urchins) sequester carbon; their bodies absorb carbon, and their remains are buried under seafloor sediment, storing the carbon in the ocean floor. The amount of carbon sequestered by the vast numbers of these organisms may be greatly underestimated.
The largest remaining piece of the slowly disintegrating B17-B iceberg, which broke off Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf a decade ago, drifted around the Southern Ocean for years before heading northward into the southern Indian Ocean, southwest of Australia.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has produced a website: “Tsunami: An interactive guide that could save your life.” It has lots of information on topics such as tsunami survival, historical tsunamis, and more.
Scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NOAA have recorded the deepest erupting volcano yet discovered–West Mata Volcano–describing high-definition video of the undersea eruption as “spectacular.” Quoted from the NSF press release.
Water flow from the North Atlantic has a significant effect on the climate of the Arctic Ocean. A color-coded computer model in this article shows where the warm Atlantic water enters the Arctic via the Fram Strait.
National Geographic has an article and video that explores why the oceans are 30% more acidic than they were in preindustrial times – before the widespread and abundant use of fossil fuels. The video features Thomas Lovejoy, former president of the Heinz Center on Biodiversity in Washington, DC.
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.
Newly released video footage and images of the West Mata underwater volcano are now available at the NSF website. The video clip below is courtesy of National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:
An article at ScienceMag.org explores the potential impact of ocean acidification on marine life. Although some species may suffer from acidification, others may benefit from the altered environment.
British Columbia has opened their new underwater observatory: NEPTUNE Canada. This video sums up the huge project, which has been ten years in the making.
A new study concludes that the Earth’s atmosphere was not formed from within the planet, such as through volcanic activity. Rather, the atmosphere and oceans may have formed from cosmic matter.
Images from NASA’s Earth Observatory show the ocean areas where El Nino is intensifying. These anomalous conditions are expected to become more pronounced in the coming months.
Some large pits have been found near the head of the Hudson Canyon, off the northeastern U.S. coast. The pits could have occurred due to gas hydrate dissolution. Additionally, high methane levels in the vicinity may be boosting the populations of marine life there.
Average water temperatures in the Kuwait Bay are rising at a much faster rate than the rest of the world. Several factors influence this trend: human actions, climate change, and forces of nature.
“A new study has yielded surprising findings about how the shells of marine organisms might stand up to an increasingly acidic ocean in the future.” Quoted from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution press release.
This is a slideshow with selections from the top ten most viewed National Geographic photo galleries of 2009. These include rare rainforest animals, doomsday predictions, the Ardipithecus ramidus skeleton, “missing link” fossils, natural wonders of the world, and more.
An interesting article on the CNN website explores property rights along the water’s edge – after beach reclaiming has been done. If the state pays for the sand used to reclaim do they own the beach or do you still own to the waterline?
Increased amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can cause ocean acidification, which in turn affects aquatic life. Some “seafood” organisms – such as crabs, lobster, and shrimp – create more shell material in response to rising CO2 levels. Other organisms’ shells – like those of clams, urchins, and conchs – start to weaken, leaving them vulnerable to predation.
Isotopes in a mud core from Lough Monreach, Ireland, show that the Younger Dryas may have occurred very abruptly. When glacial Lake Agassiz flowed into the North Atlantic Ocean almost 13,000 years ago, the “Big Freeze” set in at once, possibly chilling the ocean within mere months. Could a rapid melting of the Greenland ice sheet in current times could produce a similar effect?
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Hobart King
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