Tag: Atlantic ocean

During an expedition with the German research vessel Polarsternoff an international team of scientists discovered more than 130 active methane seeps at the seafloor

EU, US, Canada launch Atlantic Ocean research alliance

Maritime industries have every chance to become one of the pillars of Europe 2020 strategy On Monday 28 November, Commissioner Maria Damanaki will present the new maritime strategy for growth and jobs in the Atlantic Ocean area at the high-level Lisbon Atlantic Conference. The strategy, just adopted by the European Commission,identifies challenges and opportunities in the region and takes stock of existing initiatives that can support growth and job creation.Commissioner Damanakisaid: "Europe urgently needs new far-sighted strands of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in a new low-carbon 'blue economy'. Emerging maritime industries have every chance to become one of the pillars of Europe 2020 strategy for growth and jobs. The collaborative platform offered through our Integrated Maritime Policy can help make the Atlantic region internationally renowned for its maritime excellence."The new strategy is developed under the EU's Integrated Maritime Policy and follows similar strategies for the Baltic, the Arctic and the Mediterranean areas.The Commission invites all stakeholders - national, regional and local authorities, the industry, civil society, and think tanks - to contribute their expertise and ideas to the Action Plan, which is to be designed to implement the strategy,through the 'Atlantic Forum'. The Forum will comprise a set of ...

It is expected to reach 3 million tons - record volume since the late 1980's This year the cargo transportation of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), a shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean along the Russian Arctic coast, is expected to reach 3 million tons, which is a record volume since the late 1980's, Andrei Smirnov, an official with the parent navigation company Rosatomflot said.In the late 1980's the cargo transportation volume on NSR amounted to 7 million tons. However, in the 1990's it declined almost five times down to 1.5 billion tons. Later the growth resumed and in 2010 the volume of cargo transportation reached 2.3 billion tons. The leap is explained by a number of factors, Smirnov says."Though the Northern sea route was open for foreign ships navigation 20 years ago, only in 2009 foreign ship-owners got interested in this route. Three foreign ships used the route and last year transit along the route already reached 100,000 tons. This year a Russian icebreaker has convoyed the Affinity tanker. It is likely that two-three more ships will sail the NSR this year. Many foreign shipping companies are interested in the transportation of cargos to Asia ...

Scientists are able to understand the consequences of increases in greenhouse gases New research from the University of Missouri indicates that Atlantic Ocean temperatures during the greenhouse climate of the Late Cretaceous Epoch were influenced by circulation in the deep ocean. These changes in circulation patterns 70 million years ago could help scientists understand the consequences of modern increases in greenhouse gases."We are examining ocean conditions from several past greenhouse climate intervals so that we can understand better the interactions among the atmosphere, the oceans, the biosphere, and climate," said Kenneth MacLeod, professor of geological sciences in the College of Arts and Science."The Late Cretaceous Epoch is a textbook example of a greenhouse climate on earth, and we have evidence that a northern water mass expanded southwards while the climate was cooling.At the same time, a warm, salty water mass that had been present throughout the greenhouse interval disappeared from the tropical Atlantic."The study found that at the end of the Late Cretaceous greenhouse interval, water sinking around Greenland was replaced by surface water flowing north from the South Atlantic.This change caused the North Atlantic to warm while the rest of the globe cooled. The change started about five million ...

There were four tropical cyclones or remnants plaguing the Atlantic Ocean There were four tropical cyclones or remnants plaguing the Atlantic Ocean basin on Sept. 8, 2011, and one satellite captured all four in one image: Katia, Lee, Maria and Nate.NOAA's GOES-13 satellite monitors the Atlantic and eastern U.S. and took a stunning image of Hurricane Katia in the western Atlantic between Bermuda and the U.S. East coast; Tropical Storm Lee's remnants affecting the northeastern U.S.; Tropical Storm Maria in the central Atlantic; and newborn Tropical Storm Nate in the Bay of Campeche, Gulf of Mexico. The visible image was created by the NASA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.Hurricane Katia Hurricane Katia is causing rough surf along the U.S. east coast, and fortunately that's all she'll do. On Sept. 8, 2011, her center is passing between Bermuda and the east coast of the U.S. Bermuda is still under a tropical storm watch. Katia's eye is still visible in this GOES-13 image.NASA's Aqua satellite's AIRS instrument measured the cloud top temperatures within Hurricane Katia on Sept. 8 at 2:29 a.m. EDT. The infrared data showed the coldest cloud top temperatures (-63F/-52C) and strongest thunderstorms with the ...