Green Options

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.

According to this year’s report, Americans consumed a total of 4.908 billion pounds of seafood in 2007, slightly less than the 4.944 billion pounds in 2006. The average American ate 16.3 pounds of fish and shellfish in 2007, a one percent decline from the 2006 consumption figures of 16.5 pounds. But what most concerns scientists is the growth in imported farm-raised seafood coupled with declines global fishstocks.

Two low-flying unmanned aircraft are cruising over Greenland this month to closely observe the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet and its potential contribution to global sea level rise in the coming century. The flights will help scientists determine whether the ice sheet’s melt rate will accelerate in the future.

The drones are flying out of Ilulissat, half way up Greenland’s west coast, for three weeks through the end of this month. Scientists studying the rapidly vanishing Greenland ice sheet need to fill gaps in their data that was collected through satellite imagery.

If you know where to look, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Website is a rich resource for anyone interested in all things Earth: from the fragile ecosystems of the U.S.’s 13 marine sanctuaries to the latest on which natural or man-made disasters are wreaking havoc on different parts of the globe.

Knowing where to look is absolutely key, because much of NOAA’s most fascinating information lies

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