Article 15 Response (Marine Sanctuary Shipwrecks)

The national marine sanctuary’s set up by NOAA and the federal government are home to many recently found ship and aircraft wrecks. Including the famous George E. Billings, a lumber carrying schooner from the early 20th century. The recent discovery of the Billings is huge because it lies in a national marine sanctuary off the coast of the Channel Islands in California. Being that it is in the sanctuary it is owned by the government and can be properly reserved. Although not directly related to environmental geology, this article shows how the government possessions of our worlds treasures (including the natural) is important in the preservation of such significant things.

Article 15 (Marin Sanctuary Shipwrecks)

Link: http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/press/2012/pr102312.html

Seventy years after it was scuttled off Los Angeles, Calif., government archaeologists have found the wrecked remains of a rare Pacific Coast schooner that was employed in the lumber trade during the early 1900s.

Today, Robert Schwemmer, maritime archaeologist for NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, presented a scientific paper on the George E. Billingshistory and its discovery in February 2011 at the eighth California Islands Symposium in Ventura, Calif.

The Billings, a five-masted schooner built in 1903 by Halls Bros. of Port Blakeley, Wash., hauled lumber from the Northwest to Hawaii, Mexico, South America, Australia and southern California. After decades servicing the lumber trade it was converted into a sport-fishing barge. In 1941, the owner decided to scuttle the aging vessel off the coast of Santa Barbara Island.

Since the early 1990s, archaeologists and historians with Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and Channel Islands National Park have searched for the Billings. The wreck was located using research provided by tech-diver Steve Lawson, researcher Gary Fabian, and Patrick Smith with Coastal Maritime Archaeology Resources.

CMAR diver Patrick Smith examines one of two massive mooring bitts discovered at the George E. Billings site. Mooring lines were secured from the mooring bitts to similar bitts on wharfs and docks called bollards. (Photo: Robert Schwemmer Sanctuaries/NOAA)

“The discovery of theBillings is a result of excellent collaboration with the local community,” Schwemmer said. “Now we can write the final chapter of not only the largest, but the last sailing vessel built by the Hall Bros. during their 30-year career of designing some of the finest ships sailing the Pacific.”

More than 150 historic ship and aircraft have been reported lost in sanctuary and park waters, with 30 having been located and surveyed. The wreck sites are protected under state and federal law, and it is illegal to disturb or damage any archaeological sites in sanctuary and park boundaries. The Billingsshipwreck remains are owned by the State of California and managed by the California State Lands Commission.

“Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and Channel Islands National Park are a world destination for sport diving,” said Chris Mobley, sanctuary superintendent. “For years, divers have shared new discoveries with both federal agencies and we commend them for their spirit of stewardship so these historic resources can be surveyed and shared with the American public.”

Article 14 Response (Arctic Winds)

Dr. James Overland’s findings of the change in wind patterns in the arctic are truly amazing. Him and his crew have spent over 5 years in the area. They have found that not only the temperature of the air has been changing, but the direction that the air is flowing. In previous years the air was flowing west-to-east but has now been recorded traveling north to south. Whether these changes are just a natural pattern of the area or something that humans have done, they are moving the cold air further south. As the warm air replaces that cold air the ice caps begin to melt and flooding around the arctic circle increases.

Article 14 (Arctic Winds)

Link: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2012/20121010_arcticwinds.html

Changes in summer Arctic wind patterns contribute not only to an unprecedented loss of Arctic sea ice, but could also bring about shifts in North American and European weather, according to a new NOAA-led study published today in Geophysical Research Letters.

A research team led by James Overland, Ph.D., of NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, Wash., examined the wind patterns in the subarctic in the early summer between 2007 and 2012 as compared to the average for 1981 to 2010. They discovered that the previously normal west-to-east flowing upper-level winds have been replaced by a more north-south undulating, or wave-like pattern. This new wind pattern transports warmer air into the Arctic and pushes Arctic air farther south, and may influence the likelihood of persistent weather conditions in the mid-latitudes.

“Our research reveals a change in the summer Arctic wind pattern over the past six years. This shift demonstrates a physical connection between reduced Arctic sea ice in the summer, loss of Greenland ice, and potentially, weather in North American and Europe,” said Overland, a NOAA research oceanographer.

The shift provides additional evidence that changes in the Arctic are not only directly because of global warming, as shown by warmer air and sea temperatures, but are also part of an “Arctic amplification” through which multiple Arctic-specific physical processes interact to accelerate temperature change, ice variability, and ecological impacts.

The study, entitled “The Recent Shift in Early Summer Arctic Atmospheric Circulation,” was co-authored by scientists from Rutgers University in New Jersey,  the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, and the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, a partnership of NOAA and the University of Washington. It can be found online.

Before 2007, typical summer winds at the Arctic surface were more variable but tended to flow from the west.  Since then, the summer winds were found to blow more consistently from the south, through the Bering Strait, across the North Pole, and out toward the Atlantic Ocean relative to the mean pattern in previous decades. These winds transfer additional heat from the south toward the North Pole and push sea ice across the Arctic and out into the Atlantic Ocean, contributing to record losses of summer sea ice. The 2012 Arctic summer sea ice minimum far surpassed 2007 as the lowest on record.

“Higher pressure over the North American continent and Greenland is driving these changes in the early summer wind patterns,” said Edward Hanna, Ph.D, of the University of Sheffield.

These shifts in winds not only affect weather patterns throughout the Arctic but are also thought to influence weather in Greenland, the United States, and western Europe. Understanding such links is an ongoing area of research, the scientists said. The effects of Arctic amplification will increase as more summer ice retreats over coming decades. Enhanced warming of the Arctic affects the jet stream by slowing its west-to-east winds and by promoting larger north-south meanders in the flow. Predicting those meanders and where the weather associated with them will be located in any given year, however, remains a challenge.

The researchers say that with more solar energy going into the Arctic Ocean because of lost ice, there is reason to expect more extreme weather events, such as heavy snowfall, heat waves, and flooding in North America and Europe but these will vary in location, intensity, and timescales.

“What we’re seeing is stark evidence that the gradual temperature increase is not the important story related to climate change; it’s the rapid regional changes and increased frequency of extreme weather that global warming is causing. As the Arctic warms at twice the global rate, we expect an increased probability of extreme weather events across the temperate latitudes of the northern hemisphere, where billions of people live,” said Jennifer Francis, Ph.D, of Rutgers.

Article 13 Response (Prediction Center)

I feel that weather prediction centers are a highly intelligent decision to improve the safety of citizens. This article illustrates the first one of it kind in America, Center for Weather and Climate Prediction, on University of Maryland’s campus. It has 800 employees that work to predict hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes etc. but as well, they study weather and its patterns. These centers need to appear in most major cities to help keep the citizens safe from torrential weather. It is also interesting how they not only plan to predict weather to warn people, but to study the weather in order to learn more about it. Phoenix needs one of these.

Article 13 (Prediction Center)

Link: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2012/20121015_ncwcp.html

The federal government today officially opens a new center that is the backbone of weather and climate prediction for the nation. Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank, U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski, NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco and other federal and state officials will gather for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new Center for Weather and Climate Predictionon University of Maryland grounds to announce the new programs and collaborations the facility will support.

The 268,000 square-foot building is home to more than 800 employees of NOAA’s Center for Weather and Climate Prediction who provide the nation with a broad range of environmental services – from predicting the hurricane season and El Niño/La Niña to forecasting ocean currents and large-scale rain and snow storms. Billions of earth observations from around the world flow through environmental models, developed and managed in the new building, that support the nation’s weather forecasts.

Scientists at the center also predict how hazardous materials move in the atmosphere, conduct air quality modeling, study climate variability, monitor and predict movement of volcanic ash, and research new ways to use satellite information to safeguard the environment. Scientists also monitor hurricane and tropical cyclones worldwide and analyze fire and smoke plumes from wildfires, which NOAA satellites track.

“NOAA’s weather forecasters, scientists and researchers stand sentry over Maryland and the nation, looking out for severe weather to protect lives and livelihoods,” Senator Mikulski said. “This new NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction will be the brain center of weather operations. Investing in this center is an investment in our human capital, serving as a world class facility for a world class workforce and supporting thousands of NOAA jobs across our state. Marylanders can continue to rely on NOAA data to keep them safe every day, and I will continue to do my part to put funding in the federal checkbook to support these important operations.”

Ribbon cutting at NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction. Left to right: Dr. Louis Uccellini, director, National Centers for Environmental Prediction; Dan Tangherlini, acting administrator, GSA; Dr. Jane Lubchenco, NOAA administrator; Sen. Barbara Mikulski; Dr. Rebecca Blank, acting secretary of commerce; Laura Furgione, acting director, NWS; Dr. Wallace Loh, president, Univ. of Md.; Rushern Baker III, county executive, Prince Georges County, Md.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

“This facility is an important investment in our nation’s future,” said Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank. “It’s a place where government, academia and others can come together to make new discoveries, drive innovation, and uncover new ways to give our citizens and businesses the information they need to make smart decisions, whether that’s deciding how to ship their products to customers or just taking care of day-to-day tasks. The work that happens at this center – and the new discoveries that will be made – will lead to a better quality-of-life for all Americans.”

NOAA is developing and expanding programs for the new center to increase scientific collaboration between researchers, forecasters, University of Maryland faculty and students, and scientists across the nation and abroad. A new partnership with the University of Maryland will inspire the next generation of earth scientists by pairing undergraduates in the department of atmospheric and oceanic science with researchers at the center to earn federal requirements to become certified meteorologists and oceanographers.

A visiting scientist program will promote innovation in environmental prediction by offering rotating assignments to foreign meteorologists and scientists who will help accelerate science advancements that support NOAA’s mission. This mutual sharing of ideas and experience between U.S. and international researchers, academics and applied scientists will advance the field of atmospheric sciences and help create a Weather-Ready Nation, one that is capable of anticipating and responding to extreme weather, water and climate events.

Architects designed the energy-efficient building, equipped with a green roof and rainwater bio-retention, to reflect NOAA’s environment and science mission and the important public work carried out within its walls. The work environment encourages scientific interaction by co-locating scientists from across disciplines and creating an open concept design to promote greater communication and collaboration. Ultimately, integrating NOAA units – researchers and modelers, data managers, duty meteorologists and satellite analysts – will allow for more accurate environmental predictions, advanced ecosystem forecasting and acceleration of new ideas from research to operation.

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes

Article 12 Response (Marine Sanctuary)

Since 1975, NOAA has been creating national marine sanctuaries to preserve natural beauty, famous shipwrecks, and endangered wildlife. There are 13 total marine sanctuaries with one marine national monument. They differ in size from a square quarter mile, to 5,300 square miles. The most notable is Monterey Bay; also known for its famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. These sanctuaries preserve the environment for future generations to enjoy. Endangered species such as various types of whales, sea otters, and many fish use these waters to breed and raise their young. In Virginia, one such site protects the area where the USS Monitor has its famous fight with the Confederate ironclad ship the Virginia during the civil war. These sanctuaries are a great thing for the preservation of nature off shores in America. I hope activists continue to push the creation of such places.

Article 12 (Marine Sanctuarys)

Link: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2012/newnew_20121023_onms40thanniversary.html

For 40 years, NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary System has preserved and protected some of the most spectacular and treasured resources in the world’s oceans. The system, consisting of a network of underwater parks consisting of more than 150,000 square miles of America’s oceans, includes beautiful coral reefs, lush kelp forests, whale migration routes and underwater archaeological sites.

“Over the past four decades, NOAA’s sanctuaries have protected our nation’s most vital and iconic coastal marine resources so that future generations can enjoy and learn from them,” said Daniel J. Basta, director of NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. “Through active research, management and public engagement, sanctuaries sustain healthy environments that are the foundation for thriving communities and stable economies.”

Following an oil spill off Santa Barbara, Calif. in 1969, Congress passed the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act in 1972, now known as the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. The Act was signed into law by President Nixon and directed NOAA to lay the groundwork for the National Marine Sanctuary System, which now includes 13 sanctuaries and one marine national monument.

“The National Marine Sanctuaries Act is the strongest piece of legislation protecting ocean areas today,” Basta said.

A humpback whale breaches in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

Download here. (Credit: SBNMS file photo by Ari Friedlaender. Photo taken under NOAA Fisheries Permit #605-1904.)

Ranging in size from one-quarter square mile inAmerican Samoa’s Fagatele Bay to more than 5,300 square miles in Monterey Bay, California, sanctuary waters provide secure habitats for species close to extinction and protect historically significant shipwrecks and artifacts. Sanctuaries also serve as natural classrooms for students and researchers, provide cherished recreational spots, and support local economies.

Within the sanctuary system’s protected waters, giant humpback whales breed and calve their young, temperate coral reefs and kelp forests thrive, and shipwrecks tell stories of our maritime history in underwater archaeological sites.

Since 1972, NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries has worked cooperatively with the public and federal, state, and local officials to promote conservation while allowing compatible commercial and recreational activities. The primary objective of a sanctuary is to protect its natural and cultural features while allowing people to use and enjoy the ocean in a sustainable way.

NOAA’s Sanctuary System includes: Thunder Bay, Stellwagen Bank, Monitor, Gray’ Reef, Florida Keys,Flower Garden Banks, Fagatele Bay, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale, Channel Islands, Monterey Bay,Gulf of the Farallones, Cordell Bank and Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuaries andPapahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

Some noteworthy accomplishments during the past 40 years include:

• A diver swims above the bow of the USS Monitor.

  Download here. (Credit: NOAA)

  The designation of the first national marine sanctuary in 1975 to protect the wreck of the USS Monitor off the coast of Newport News, Va. The Civil War-era ship is best known for its battle with the Confederate ironclad Virginia in Hampton Roads, Va., in March of 1862.

• The first place in the world — Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary — where mooring buoy technology is used to avoid anchoring on coral. The technology developed at the sanctuary is used to protect coral reefs and seagrass beds in marine protected areas in more than 50 countries.
• The creation of the Beach Watch, one of the first citizen-science monitoring projects within NOAA. Established at Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary off San Francisco, the volunteer program is one of several across the sanctuary system.
• The designation of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, off eastern Michigan, established to protect its nationally significant collection of shipwrecks in Lake Huron. The sanctuary’s Great Lakes Visitor Center has become a major tourist destination and economic stimulant in the region. According to a 2005 study on total visitor spending, the sanctuary has contributed $92 million in sales, $35.8 million in personal income to residents, and 1,704 jobs.
• Brittlestars drape a brain coral in Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

  Download here. (Credit: G.P. Schmahl/NOAA)

  The designation of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, as the single largest conservation area in the U.S. and UNESCO World Heritage site. One of the largest marine conservation areas in the world, monument encompasses 139,797 square miles of the Pacific Ocean – an area larger than all the country’s national parks combined.

• The shifting of shipping lanes in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, off the coast of Massachusetts, to protect endangered whales in the sanctuary. Since this recommendation, the risk of ships striking whales has been reduced by 81 percent.

Article 11 Response (Antarctic Ozone)

A large hole in the Earth’s ozone layer above Antarctica is the smaller than it was in the past, a hopeful sign? Recorded on September 22nd, the hole spanned 8.2 million square miles whereas in September 2000, the hole was measured at 11.5 million square miles. This is a good sign that the ozone layer may heal itself eventually. It has been predicted that for the hole to return to its early 1980’s state, it will take over 40 years (2060). The recovery of the ozone layer, which protects us from some of the sun’s harmful rays and helps preserve a moderate temperature on Earth, is a good sign that humans efforts to preserve our environment is working. I hope that the hole continues to decrease; i know that i will do my best to stay “green.”

Article 11 (Antarctic Ozone)

Link: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2012/20121024_antarcticozonehole.html

Warmer air temperatures high above the Antarctic led to the second smallest seasonal ozone hole in 20 years, according to NOAA and NASA satellite measurements. This year, the average size of the ozone hole was 6.9 million square miles (17.9 million square kilometers). The ozone layer helps shield life on Earth from potentially harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation that can cause skin cancer and damage plants.

The Antarctic ozone hole forms in September and October, and this year, the hole reached its maximum size for the season on Sept. 22, stretching to 8.2 million square miles (21.2 million square kilometers), roughly the area of the United States, Canada and Mexico combined. In comparison, the largest ozone hole recorded to date was in 2000 at 11.5 million square miles (29.9 million square kilometers).

The Antarctic ozone hole began making a yearly appearance in the early 1980s, caused by chlorine released by manmade chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs. The chlorine can rapidly break apart ozone molecules in certain conditions, and the temperature of the lower stratosphere plays an important role.

“It happened to be a bit warmer this year high in the atmosphere above Antarctica, and that meant we didn’t see quite as much ozone depletion as we saw last year, when it was colder,” said Jim Butler with NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo.

Even 25 years after an international agreement was signed to regulate production of ozone-depleting chemicals, the ozone hole still forms each year. In fact, it could be another decade before scientists can detect early signs of Antarctic ozone layer recovery, according to a paper by NOAA researchers and colleagues published last year. The ozone layer above Antarctica likely will not return to its early 1980s state until about 2060, noted NASA atmospheric scientist Paul Newman.

Ozone levels at the South Pole continue to plummet every Antarctic spring, when a coincidence of environmental factors and manmade chemicals still in the atmosphere promote reactions that eat away at the protective ozone layer. This year (in yellow) ozone levels did not drop as low as they have in recent years.

Download here. (Credit: NOAA.)

The length of time needed for this full recovery is due in part to the large quantity and long lifetime of ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere. Climate change may also affect the rate of ozone recovery by cooling the stratosphere, which has several competing effects on ozone depletion.

Monitoring the ozone’s state remains important because the ozone layer acts as Earth’s natural shield from DNA-mutating UV radiation. Under the mandate of the Clean Air Act, NOAA and NASA scientists keep a close eye on the ozone layer’s health with satellite data, ground-based measurements and balloon-borne instruments.

A new ozone-monitoring instrument on Suomi-NPP weather satellite, the Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite (OMPS), will be key to that effort. OMPS will extend the satellite record of ozone hole extent, which dates back to the early 1970s, and will provide more detail about ozone levels at various layers in the atmosphere and around the globe.

“OMPS Limb instrument looks sideways, and it can measure ozone as a function of height,” says Pawan Bhartia, NASA atmospheric physicist and OMPS instrument lead.
“This OMPS instrument allows us to more closely see the vertical development of Antarctic ozone depletion in the lower stratosphere where the ozone hole occurs.”

Balloon-borne and ground-based instruments provide ozone data when darkness prevents satellite observations. “The sun doesn’t rise above the South Pole horizon until about Sept. 22, by which time ozone depletion has already begun,” said NOAA atmospheric scientist Irina Petropavlovskikh.

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Visit us atwww.noaa.gov and join us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels.