Tag: NOAA

WHOI Scientists A new study provides a composite picture of the environmental distribution of oil and gas from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It amasses a vast collection of available atmospheric, surface and subsurface chemical data to assemble a "mass balance" of how much oil and gas was released, where it went and the chemical makeup of the compounds that remained in the air, on the surface, and in the deep water.In June 2010, a WHOI-led team used the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry in the Gulf of Mexico to define and characterize the deepsea hydrocarbon plume from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Sentry, equipped with a miniaturized mass spectrometer called TETHYS, was able to crisscross plume boundaries 19 times to help determine the trapped plume's size, shape, and composition. (Photo by Chris Reddy, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)The study, "Chemical data quantify Deepwater Horizon hydrocarbon flow rate and environmental distribution," is published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.The lead author, NOAA research chemist Thomas Ryerson, assembled an all-star team of 14 scientists from diverse backgrounds and organizations including academia, private research institutions and federal labs, all of whom played important roles ...

11,130 tons of gas per day New NOAA-led analysis shows gases and oil in three chemically different mixtures deep underwater, in the surface slick, in the airBy combining detailed chemical measurements in the deep ocean, in the oil slick, and in the air, NOAA scientists and academic colleagues have independently estimated how fast gases and oil were leaking during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.The new chemistry-based spill rate estimate, an average of 11,130 tons of gas and oil compounds per day, is close to the official average leak rate estimate of about 11,350 tons of gas and oil per day (equal to about 59,200 barrels of liquid oil per day)."This study uses the available chemical data to give a better understanding of what went where, and why," said Thomas Ryerson, Ph.D., a NOAA research chemist and lead author of the study. "The surface and subsurface measurements and analysis provided by our university colleagues were key to this unprecedented approach to understanding an oil spill."The NOAA-led team did not rely on any of the data used in the original estimates, such as video flow analysis, pipe diameter and fluid flow calculations. "We analyzed a completely ...

Bits and Pieces of People's Lives Bits and pieces of people's lives, that is what one reporter said; we are not to think of the Japan tsunami debris as litter when it begins to wash up on our shores in 2013, but rather as bits and pieces of people's lives. But is it already washing up on our shores?2011 ended with a wave of sensationalized headlines from British Columbia, Alaska and Washington, reporting sightings of debris from the Japan tsunami already reaching shore on the West Coast; setting off a contentious debate between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and a few independent oceanographers and flotsam trackers. Waiting for word on the other side of the Pacific, are the people of Japan whose missing families and friends are symbolically represented in the bits and pieces of debris.While painting a picture of 20 million tons of plastic and paper and metal and wood stretching a thousand miles across the Pacific Ocean, some news stories are also raising fear of radiation as a result of the Fukushima meltdown, and others even speak of the possibility of macabre scenes of body parts washing up on our beaches as severed feet in tennis ...

2011 mission concludes joint seafloor survey operations A recent mission marked the completion of a five-year collaboration between the United States and Canada to survey the Arctic Ocean. The bilateral project collected scientific data to delineate the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the coastline, also known as the extended continental shelf (ECS).The U.S. has an inherent interest in knowing, and declaring to others, the exact extent of its sovereign rights in the ocean as set forth in the Convention on the Law of the Sea. For the ECS, this includes sovereign rights over natural resources on and under the seabed including energy resources such as: oil and natural gas and gas hydrates; "sedentary" creatures such as clams, crabs, and corals; and mineral resources such as manganese nodules, ferromanganese crusts, and polymetallic sulfides.The 2011 joint Arctic mission spanned nearly six weeks in August and September and was the fourth year to employ flagship icebreakers from both countries, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy and the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent. "This two-ship approach was both productive and necessary in the Arctic's difficult and varying ice conditions," said Larry Mayer, Ph.D., U.S. chief scientist on the Arctic mission ...

NOAA will begin a year-long survey of the sea floor This winter, NOAA will begin a year-long survey of the sea floor in the Port of Houston and Galveston Bay navigational areas, to aid efforts to bring more trade, more cargo, more jobs, and more economic benefits to the Houston area. The navigation survey team arrived in Galveston this week, to begin pre-survey preparations with mariners and federal partners."With bigger ships, crowded sea lanes, and more uses of ocean areas, shipping today is increasingly a task of precision and accuracy," explained NOAA Corps Cmdr. Todd Haupt, chief of the Office of Coast Survey's Navigation Response Branch. "Hurricanes can change the shape of the ocean floor and move underwater debris, which can cause problems for mariners. NOAA's navigation team will conduct hydrographic surveys to search for changes caused by Hurricanes Ike and Rita as well as other strong storms.""Pilots need precise and up-to-date depth measurements as they navigate, and our task is to re-measure the ocean depths, search for dangers to navigation, and give mariners the information they need to protect lives and increase shipping efficiencies." The survey project, part of NOAA's mapping and charting mission, is managed by NOAA's Office ...

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Bill would keep vessels with illegally caught seafood out of U.S. ports A bill introduced in Congress yesterday would prevent pirate fishing vessels from entering U.S. ports to offload their illegally caught seafood. This pirate fishing is often called illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.The Administration bill, which implements an international agreement the United States helped negotiate, would benefit U.S. fishermen, seafood buyers, and consumers by keeping illegal seafood out of global trade. It is sponsored by U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, who introduced it in the Senate yesterday, and is co-sponsored by Sens. Begich, Snowe, Whitehouse, Murkowski, and Rockefeller."Illegal fishing undermines fishermen in the U.S. and worldwide who fish sustainably and legally, and it can devastate fish stocks and ocean ecosystems," said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. "As one of the top importers of seafood globally, the U.S. is committed to combating illegal fishing and ensuring a level playing field for our fishermen. The international agreement and this bill will close the world's ports to illegal fishing."Illegal fishing deprives law-abiding fishermen and coastal communities around the world of up to $23.5 billion in revenue every year, and undermines efforts ...

Basic nautical chart elements and symbols The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued an updated version of Chart No. 1.The chart provides descriptions and depictions of the basic nautical chart elements and symbols used on nautical charts issued by NOAA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)Source: NOAA

Successful restoration and near decade-long monitoring effort by NOAA Corals damaged in 2002 when a boat ran aground in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary are now thriving following a restoration and near decade-long monitoring effort, according to a new NOAA report released. With hundreds of groundings happening each year in the sanctuary, lessons learned from this coral reef restoration and monitoring will guide future restoration efforts.Following a 2002 boat grounding near Key West, restoration biologists assessed the damage and reattached broken corals.In August 2002, the 36-foot long boat Lagniappe II ran aground on a shallow coral reef near Key West, Fla., damaging approximately 376 square-feet of living coral in the sanctuary. After sanctuary staff assessed the damage to the reef, restoration biologists used special cement that hardens under water to reattach 473 corals and coral fragments that had been toppled or dislodged during the grounding. The majority of affected corals were boulder star coral, a primary reef building coral in the Florida Keys.To determine the progress of their restoration efforts, the sanctuary and the National Coral Reef Institute of Nova Southeastern University's Oceanographic Center, used digital photographs and highly specialized computer software to count the types and amounts of ...

Natural Resource Damage Assessment State of the Gulf Summit 2011 Houston, TX Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans & Atmosphere and NOAA AdministratorTHE GULF OF MEXICO ECOSYSTEMWhen he issued the Executive Order to establish the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, President Obama called the Gulf Coast a "national treasure". Indeed, it is that -- and more, it is also an international treasure. Different stakeholders may focus on a subset of the Gulf's bounty: highlighting seafood or wildlife or recreational opportunities, or gas and oil, or transportation.But this national and international treasure is an integrated system. The coasts, the blue water, the people are all interconnected and interdependent. Our vision for the Gulf must also be holistic.Well before the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Gulf and its residents were challenged by multiple threats. Now, our collective focus is squarely on how to restore the health, prosperity and resilience of this coupled human-natural system. NOAA'S ROLE AND PERSPECTIVESThe focus that NOAA brings to this restoration reflects our overall approach: science-based, collaborative, holistic, and with an eye toward the future, as described in the National Ocean Policy.We will continue to champion an integrated approach that is ecosystem-based, takes climate ...