Category: Oceans

Oceanside Searches for Ways to Keep Sand on Its Eroding Beaches

7/25/2021

Oceanside’s annual harbor dredging and the occasional regional sand replenishment projects are not enough to save the city’s eroding beaches, a new study shows. A proposal to build rock groins on the beach appears to be the best way to stop or at least slow the steady erosion that has been chewing away the city’s coastline since the 1940s, according to the study prepared for Oceanside by the Long Beach-based consulting firm GHD. “Sand from this (harbor dredging) program does little to really benefit the city beaches,” -San Diego Union

The Science of Predicting When Bluffs in Southern California Will Collapse

7/14/2021

In August 2019, three women were strolling along the beach of Encinitas, California, north of San Diego, when the oceanfront bluff unexpectedly crumbled, showering them with tonnes of sandstone. One of the women, who had been celebrating her recovery from breast cancer, was killed instantly, while her sister and niece later died in the hospital. That tragic event was neither the first nor the last bluff collapse in a scenic and densely populated, yet precarious, coastal region. Just a few kilometers to the south in Del Mar, a bluff collapsed following a rainstorm in 2016, undermining a busy coastal roadway. Sections of beachside cliffs came crashing down in the area in 2018, too, though no injuries were reported. In February this year, another bluff collapsed—along with the aging sea wall intended to hold it back—about 10 meters from the rail line that links San Diego and Los Angeles and serves nearly eight million passengers and numerous freight trains annually. - Smithsonian

Miami Condo Collapse Highlights Urgent Need to Adapt to Rising Seas

7/6/2021

The collapse of the condominium building in Surfside, Florida, may force what some say is a long overdue conversation about the hard realities of climate change that will transform one of the nation’s most vulnerable regions. To be sure, no evidence has emerged so far to connect climate change to the middle-of-the-night collapse of the Champlain Towers on June 24, which buried residents in the rubble. Sea level has risen eight inches in South Florida since 1981, when the 12-story condo was built—not enough to be responsible for its collapse, says Hal Wanless, a University of Miami geologist and South Florida’s preeminent voice on sea-level rise. The investigation so far is more focused on a confluence of events including delays by the homeowners association in carrying out recommended repairs and an environmental danger that’s been known for more than a century: the corrosive effects of salt water on coastal construction. - National Geographic

An SOS From The Ocean (TED Radio Podcast - 52:00)

6/27/2021

For centuries, humans have relied on the oceans for resources and food... but even the deepest sea has its limits. This hour, TED speakers discuss how we can save our seas to save our planet. Guests include marine biologists Asha de Vos, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, and Alasdair Harris, and oceanographer Sylvia Earle. - NPR

A 20-Foot Sea Wall? Miami Faces the Hard Choices of Climate Change.

6/2/2021

While some "news" channels and Facebook "experts" dispute the reality of human made climate change, those changes already are affecting Miami. - NYTimes

Mangroves Regrow in Iloilo City

5/25/2021

It is good to know that we can worth with nature.

Like many port cities in the Philippines, Iloilo City is susceptible to intense flooding and massive landslides each year. In 2011, the government completed the construction of an artificial waterway—the Jaro Floodway—to help divert floodwaters away from the city and mitigate the deadly events. But the new channel also brought an unexpected surprise: a resurgence of mangrove trees. - NASA Earth Observatory

How a Shocking Env disaster was Uncovered off the CA Coast After 70 Years

4/19/2021

Just 10 miles off the coast of Los Angeles lurks an environmental disaster over 70 years in the making, which few have ever heard about... until now. Working with little more than rumors and a hunch, curiosity guided David Valentine 3,000 feet below the ocean's surface. A few hours of research time and an autonomous robotic submersible unearthed what had been hidden since the 1940s: countless barrels of toxic waste, laced with DDT, littering the ocean floor in between Long Beach and Catalina Island. - CBS

Known For Its Floods, Louisiana Is Running Dangerously Short Of Groundwater

3/19/2021

Louisiana is known for its losing battle against rising seas and increasingly frequent floods. It can sometimes seem like the state has too much water. But the aquifers deep beneath its swampy landscape face a critical shortage. Groundwater levels in and around Louisiana are falling faster than almost anywhere else in the country, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. An analysis traced the problem to decades of overuse, unregulated pumping by industries and agriculture, and scant oversight or action from legislative committees rife with conflicts of interest. Experts warn that all of these factors threaten the groundwater that nearly two-thirds of Louisianans rely on for drinking and bathing. Combined with the expected effects of climate-fueled heat and drought, it puts Louisiana on the brink of a groundwater crisis more common in Western states. - NPR

Satellite Imagery Shows Northern California Kelp Forests Have Collapsed

3/12/2021

The coastal waters of Northern California are changing. A decade ago, hundreds of miles of the rugged seaside were flanked by thick, swaying underwater forests of amber-green bull kelp that were home to fish, abalone and a host of other species. Now, those forests have been nearly wiped out by a series of environmental events that have been falling like ill-fated dominos since 2013. A new study using satellite imagery and underwater surveys is the latest to confirm that these majestic marine ecosystems have all but disappeared, reports Tara Duggan for the San Francisco Chronicle. Satellite images dating back to 1985 show that bull kelp forests off Sonoma and Mendocino counties have declined by a devastating 95 percent since 2013, and, according to the Chronicle, researchers are concerned the kelp may not be able to bounce back anytime soon. - Smithsonian

Stronger Evidence of Slowing Atlantic Circulation - Climate ‘Achilles’ Heel’

2/27/2021

A growing body of evidence suggests that a massive change is underway in the sensitive circulation system of the Atlantic Ocean, a group of scientists said Thursday. The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), a system of currents that includes the Florida Current and the Gulf Stream, is now “in its weakest state in over a millennium,” these experts say. This has implications for everything from the climate of Europe to the rates of sea-level rise along the U.S. East Coast. Although evidence of the system’s weakening has been published before, the new research cites 11 sources of “proxy” evidence of the circulation’s strength, including clues hidden in seafloor mud as well as patterns of ocean temperatures. The enormous flow has been directly measured only since 2004, too short a period to definitively establish a trend, which makes these indirect measures critical for understanding its behavior. - Washington Post

Scientists Solve Mystery of Mass Coho Salmon Deaths - A Chemical from Car Tires

12/3/2020

When officials in Seattle spent millions of dollars restoring the creeks along Puget Sound — tending to the vegetation, making the stream beds less muddy, building better homes for fish — they were thrilled to see coho salmon reappear. But when it rained, more than half, sometimes all, of the coho in a creek would suffer a sudden death. These mysterious die-offs — an alarming phenomenon that has been reported from Northern California to British Columbia — have stumped biologists and toxicologists for decades. Numerous tests ruled out pesticides, disease and other possible causes, such as hot temperatures and low dissolved oxygen. Now, after 20 years of investigation, researchers in Washington state, San Francisco and Los Angeles say they have found the culprit: a very poisonous yet little-known chemical related to a preservative used in car tires. - LA Times

How Bad Is Plastic Pollution? Scientists Reveal a Staggering Global Estimate

10/11/2020

How bad is the problem? Our new research provides the first global estimate of microplastics on the seafloor - our research suggests there’s a staggering 8-14 million tonnes of it. This is up to 35 times more than the estimated weight of plastic pollution on the ocean’s surface. - Inverse from Frontiers in Marine Science