It’s in the papers and on TV. It spreads across the Internet (including this very post), and it is finding its way into the classroom. Global climate change is nothing new. And it certainly isn’t going away. Not yet, anyway.
The first known migration of blue whales from the coast of California to the Gulf of Alaska and areas off the coast of British Columbia since 1965 has been documented by scientists, suggesting that historical migration patterns are being established by these amazing marine mammals.
Scientists have been warning us that global warming may severely threaten the survival of marine populations for several years now. But in a new study, published in Science this past Friday, they may have just found the ocean’s equivalent of the canary in the coal mine when it comes to fluctuating ocean temperatures. There’s just one little problem. This canary is worth $500 million.
Twenty years ago last month, the supertanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Prince William Sound and ran aground, releasing 40 million liters {approximately 10 million gallons) into the surrounding sea and onto the beaches. It remains the worst oil spill in US maritime history. In the days that followed, impact inventories revealed the lethal outcome: a quarter of a million sea birds had been killed, along with 22 Orca whales, nearly 3000 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, and unknown millions of fish eggs.In 1991, the Alaskan and US Governments reached an agreement with Exxon Mobil in a 900 million dollar settlement, almost 200 million of which was set aside for scientific study of the disaster and its impact on the PWS ecosystem. Exxon Mobile also funded its own studies (generating 400 papers and reports) which were frequently in disagreement with the government scientists’ reports and findings.
Twenty years after, the Exxon Valdez spill has become the most studied maritime, industrial disaster ever. A news report in Science Magazine (March 26, 2009) by Lila Guterman (with Jacopo Pasotti reporting) presented some of the scientific findings from the post-spill research.
The last time you visited an aquarium, you probably saw one. With their zebra-like stripes, multiple spines, and elaborate fins, they’re quite beautiful and incredibly distinctive. But red lionfish are also voracious carnivores that breed like rabbits and are poisonous to boot. And they’re invading the coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
For the past eight years, NOAA has been collecting data from inexpensive instruments attached to lobster pots, in a little-known program called eMOLT. Lobsters don’t have the sex appeal of NOAA’s newest recruit, the Click to Continue Reading
I’ve always thought that we need to deal with problems here on Earth before exploring other planets, and it looks like NASA at least partially agrees with me. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA-N Prime spacecraft lifted off at 2:22 a.m. PST today aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from NASA’s Space Launch Complex 2. NOAA-N Prime will monitor environmental events around the world—including fires, crop productivity, and methane air pollution levels.
In terms of promoting and supporting the greatest variety of life, reef corals are the “rain forests” of the oceans.The corals themselves also have commercial value (for jewelry, aquarium decoration, etc.). Corals–symbiotic colonies of plant-like and animal-like creatures–have existed on this planet for tens of millions of years. However, some 45% of all coral species went extinct around the same time as the dinosaurs did. Hardest hit were a group of photosynthesizing, algae-harboring corals known as zooxanthellates. The symbiotic , red-brown algae that co-exist with these corals (and provide their energy source) are known as zooxanthellae.
Marine scientists have noted for several years now the spread of a coral disease known as Yellow Band Disease (YBD)–so named for the yellowish bands that spread across coral polyps–but had attributed its spread to thermal stress caused by global warming. Thermal stress is known to weaken much marine life, including corals, shellfish, and some species of zooplankton. But in November of 2008, researchers at Woodshole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, isolated the bacteria that caused YBD–actually four species of Vibrio bacteria that combine with the indigenous Vibrio bacteria to attack zooxanthellae (see the paper in the Journal of Applied Microbiology).
Oregon State University professor Jane Lubchenco has been added to Obama’s growing cabinet. Lubchenco, a marine biologist, will head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Temperatures in the Arctic last fall hit record highs, an international team of scientists reported Thursday. According to the authors of the annual Arctic Report Card, temperatures were more than 9 degrees Fahrenheit above normal and are predicted to remain nearly as high this year.
“The year 2007 was the warmest year on record in the Arctic,” said Jackie Richter-Menge, a climate expert at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, N.H, and editor of the latest Arctic Report Card.
The material presented in the paper is peer-reviewed by topical experts of the Climate Experts Group of the Arctic Council.
The harvest of soft shell and peeler blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay has been declared a commercial fishery failure by U.S. Government. The federal declaration is an important step in providing economic assistance to the communities reliant upon crab production.
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