-----image(”Dave O’Gorman prepares to deploy a PMEL Argo float off of the R/V Wecoma in 2007.-Credit: ARGO/NOAA”) : 同リリースより
" Scientists can now remotely monitor the ocean’s changing chemistry with help from some of the five-foot-tall Argo floats that drift with deep ocean currents and transmit data via satellite back to land. A new and innovative method shows how readings of the acidity (pH) and total carbon dioxide (CO2) content of seawater can help scientists understand changes in the chemistry of the world’s ocean.
A U.S.-based research team and their Canadian colleagues developed the new approach by determining the relationships between seawater temperature, oxygen, pH and CO2 from observations collected on previous ship-based expeditions in the region in the last five years. These relationships were then applied to high-resolution observations of temperature and oxygen collected by an Argo float deployed in the North Pacific in early 2010.
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The journal Geophysical Research Letters published the new method today. The authors are from NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, JISAO, and colleagues from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in British Columbia and Quebec, Canada.
To determine pH and total CO2 content, scientists need measurements of dissolved oxygen concentration; about 10 percent of the floats have the sensors that can measure dissolved oxygen.
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The ocean’s absorption of CO2 causes the level of acidity in seawater to rise. This process, called ocean acidification, can have adverse effects on organisms that form calcium carbonate shells, such as corals, mussels, oysters, and feed stock for salmon like pteropods. The NOAA scientists and researchers at the University of Washington will continue investigating how organisms are impacted by these conditions.
-----image(”NOAA scientists use data from some of the floats in the Argo array to monitor changes in ocean chemistry.”-Credit: NOAA) : 同リリースより "
-----image（“Tomorrow's solution” with both the X-BOW R hull line design and the mission equipment onboard.） : 同リリースより
" ULSTEIN has established a new company, Ulstein IDEA Equipment Solutions. This company will take over the activities of former IDEA Heavy Equipment a Dutch company that ULSTEIN has cooperated with in recent years.
Ulstein IDEA Equipment Solutions will be engaged in the development and manufacturing of innovative mission and interface equipment on board vessels, mainly working in demanding markets such as offshore and dredging. ULSTEIN holds a majority interest in the new company and COO Tore Ulstein in Design & Solutions says that this establishment is part a part of ULSTEIN’s long term strategy:
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Close operation with the Global Sales Network of ULSTEIN will ensure that the new companies skills, knowledge and equipment can be sold to the far corners of the world.
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・Arctic sea ice at record low for July-----National Snow and Ice Data Center(NSIDC),August 3, 2011
-----image(”Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center”) : 上記リリースより
" Figure 2. The graph above shows daily Arctic sea ice extent as of August 2, 2011, along with daily ice extents for previous low-ice-extent years. Light blue indicates 2011, dashed green shows 2007, dark blue shows 2010, purple shows 2008, and dark gray shows the 1979 to 2000 average. The gray area around the average line shows the two standard deviation range of the data. Sea Ice Index data. "
海洋研究国際計画(International Programme on the State of the Ocean=IPSO)は、今年の4月にオックスフォード大学で開催された海洋専門家による最近研究の成果をまとめた報告書「International Earth system expert workshop on ocean stresses and impacts」を公開しました。このリポートでは、海の環境を悪化させる要因は温暖化、酸性化、低酸素化の三つだとし、いずれも人間活動が直接的にもたらしたものだとしている。これらの複合的な研究は、近年行われたもので、それにより、現在の海洋生物のおかれた状況は、深海ですでに発生している種の絶滅に象徴されるように、かつてない規模での海洋生物の大量死の危機を警告するものとなった。地球の歴史において、こうした海洋生物の大量死は、5500万年前にもあり、深海生物の50％以上が死滅したそうです。
An international panel of marine experts warns in a report released today that the world’s ocean is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.The preliminary report arises from the first ever interdisciplinary international workshop to consider the cumulative impact of all stressors affecting the ocean. Considering the latest research across all areas of marine science, the workshop examined the combined effects of pollution, acidification, ocean warming, overEfishing and hypoxia (deoxygenation).
The scientific panel concluded that:
-The combination of stressors on the ocean is creating the conditions associated with every previous major extinction of species in Earth’s history
-The speed and rate of degeneration in the ocean is far faster than anyone has predicted
-Many of the negative impacts previously identified are greater than the worst predictions.
-Although difficult to assess because of the unprecedented speed of change,the first steps to globally significant extinction may have begun with a rise in the extinction threat to marine species such as reefEforming corals
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" A high-level international workshop convened by IPSO met at the University of Oxford earlier this year. It was the first inter-disciplinary international meeting of marine scientists of its kind and was designed to consider the cumulative impact of multiple stressors on the ocean, including warming, acidification, and overfishing.
The 3 day workshop, co-sponsored by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), looked at the latest science across different disciplines.
The 27 participants from 18 organisations in 6 countries produced a grave assessment of current threats ? and a stark conclusion about future risks to marine and human life if the current trajectory of damage continues: that the world's ocean is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.
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Report Summary: long version / shorter version
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Case Study 1: The potentially deadly trio of factors ? warming, acidification and anoxia ? affecting today's oceans, by Professor Jelle Bijma, Marine Biogeosciences, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. Watch his explanation, beginning with the growing problem of anoxia, or dead zones, in the ocean.
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Case Study 2: End of paradise: Coral reefs facing multiple attacks, by Ove Hoegh-Guldberg , Director, Global Change Institute, University of Queensland
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Case Study 3: Pollution and Marine Species: new challenges of an old problem by Professor Tom Hutchinson, Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (CEFAS)
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Case Study 4: Vanishing Resource: The Tale of the Chinese Bahaba by Dr William Cheung, Lecturer in Marine Ecosystem Services, School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia
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世界資源研究所 WRI と海洋科学バージニア研究所 Virginia Institute of Marine Science（VIMS）の研究グループは、世界の海のデッドゾーン-富栄養化・貧酸素海域マップを公開しました。世界の海では、富栄養化・貧酸素海域が広がっているとされていますが、個々の国のデーターはあっても、世界規模で閲覧、情報を収集できるサイトはありませんでした。今回、貧酸素の「デッドゾーン」海域530ヶ所以上と富栄養化海域228ヶ所に関する情報をインタラクティブマップで確認しながら、情報を集め、研究者であれば、情報をアップすることもできるようになりました。
世界規模で広がる、海のデッドゾーンに関する情報の共有化が期待されます。
" Research Identifies 530 Coastal “Dead Zones” and 228 Marine Eutrophic Sites
New research by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) identifies more than 530 low-oxygen “dead zones” and an additional 228 sites worldwide exhibiting signs of marine “eutrophication.” Eutrophication occurs when water bodies are over-fertilized by nutrients that are washed into surface waters from farms and urban areas.
Analysts at WRI and VIMS have compiled the information into a web-based “one-stop shop” that provides a global database and interactive map of affected areas, as well as links to articles, photos, and other resources. The website-“Eutrophication and Hypoxia: Nutrient Pollution in Coastal Waters”- is at www.wri.org/eutrophication.
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