Tag Archives: gulf of mexico

Hazy days of summer: Southeast U.S. field work measures mercury, smog

By Guest PostJuly 16, 2013Environmentair quality, ben lee, birmingham, c 130, central pennsylvania, claudia mohr, clean sea air, climate, coal fired, colored aerosols, dan jaffe, eastern texas, felipe lopez hilfiker, field work, ground-level ozone, gulf of mexico, hazy days, Houston, joel thornton, lyatt jaegle, measure, mercury, military transport plane, nashville, natural vegetation emission, ohio river valley, pollutants, power plant, smog, southeast us, summer, university of washington, vegetation particles, very exciting data

Dozens of atmospheric scientists, including three University of Washington faculty members, are taking part in what’s being described as one of the largest atmospheric field campaigns in decades.

The six-week Southeast Atmosphere Study, through July 15, includes scientists from more than 30 different institutions. Together they are studying how pollutants combine with natural vegetation emissions to affect climate and air quality in the Southeastern U.S. (more…)

New Study Reveals How Sensitive U.S. East Coast Regions May Be to Ocean Acidification

By Guest PostApril 1, 2013Environmentacidic, acidic environment, bicarbonate, buffer capacity, carbon dioxide, carbon in ocean, carbonate, carbonic acid, changes in acidity, chemical survey, CO2, co2 levels, coastal ocean acidification, continental scale, coral, corpus christi, dic, dissolved co2, dissolved inorganic carbon, florida strait, galveston, georgia, glaciers, gulf of maine, gulf of mexico, influx of co2, labrador sea, melting sea ice, middle atlantic bight, Mississippi, ocean acidification, offshore, oysters, pteropods, rik wanninkhof, robert h byrne, ronald h brown, snails, texas, total alkalinity, tsung hung peng, university of georgia, us east coast, water ph, whoi, wie jen huang, wie jun cai, xinping hu, zhaohui aleck wang

A continental-scale chemical survey in the waters of the eastern U.S. and Gulf of Mexico is helping researchers determine how distinct bodies of water will resist changes in acidity. The study, which measures varying levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other forms of carbon in the ocean, was conducted by scientists from 11 institutions across the U.S. and was published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography.

“Before now, we haven’t had a very clear picture of acidification status on the east coast of the U.S.,” says Zhaohui ‘Aleck’ Wang, the study’s lead author and a chemical oceanographer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). “It’s important that we start to understand it, because increase in ocean acidity could deeply affect marine life along the coast and has important implications for people who rely on aquaculture and fisheries both commercially and recreationally.” (more…)

Synchrotron Infrared Unveils a Mysterious Microbial Community

By Guest PostJanuary 31, 2013Science16s rrna gene, acid mine runoff, advanced light source, alexander probst, als, ancient things, another amazing lifestyle, archaea, bacteria, barbs, berkeley lab, biochemistry, biofilm, black smokers, boiling hot springs, bsisb, carbon, christine moissl eichinger, common hydrocarbon, deep sea, deepwater horizon, dna microarray, extremophiles, fatty acids, fourier transform, functional groups, giovanni birarda, gulf of mexico, hami, hami protein, hoi-ying Holman, hooks, hydrogen atoms, infrared spectromicroscopy, inhospitable environments, jet propulsion laboratory, kasthuri venkateswaran, latin, long alkylic chains, lovers, membrane lipids, microbe samples, muehlbacher schwefelquelle, mysterious microbial community, NASA, oil plume, oil spill research, phylochip, protein strands, second genome, sippenauer moor, sm1 euryarchaeon, sm1 research team, southern germany, sr ftir, strings of pearls, sulfur springs, synchrotron ftir, synchrotron infrared, synchrotron radiation, syntrophic, todd desantis, university of regensburg

Berkeley Lab scientists join an international collaboration to understand how archaea and bacteria work together deep in a cold sulfur spring

In the fall of 2010, Hoi-Ying Holman of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) was approached by an international team researching a mysterious microbial community discovered deep in cold sulfur springs in southern Germany.

“They told me what they were doing and said, ‘We know what you contributed to the oil-spill research,’” recalls Holman, who heads the Chemical Ecology group in Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division. “They wondered if I could help them determine the biochemistry of their microbe samples.” (more…)

USGS-NOAA: Climate Change Impacts to U.S. Coasts Threaten Public Health, Safety and Economy

By Guest PostJanuary 29, 2013Environmentalaskan coastal zone, climate change, coastal ecosystems, coastal watershed, coastal zone, congress, current environmental stresses, currents, ecological changes, economic, effects, erosion, flooding, flooding related hazards, great lakes, gulf of mexico, hawaii, Health, heat related morbidity, island territories, low lying parts, margaret davidson, mid atlantic, national climate assessment, natural systems, new jersey shore, noaa, northern alaska, permafrost, public hazard, sandy and katrina, scientific data, sea ice, sea-level rise, social, southern california beach, species, storm surge flooding, storms, sunset, threaten, u.s economy, U.S. Geological Survey, united states, us coast, us coastal communities, usgs, virginia burkett, vitality

According to a new technical report, the effects of climate change will continue to threaten the health and vitality of U.S. coastal communities’ social, economic and natural systems.

The report, Coastal Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerabilities: a technical input to the 2013 National Climate Assessment, authored by leading scientists and experts, emphasizes the need for increased coordination and planning to ensure U.S. coastal communities are resilient against the effects of climate change. (more…)

Emerging Consensus Shows Climate Change Already Having Major Effects on Ecosystems and Species

By Guest PostDecember 22, 2012Environment, Natureamanda staudt, animal species, arizona state university, atlantic, bark beetles, biodiversity, bird population, bruce stein, carbon, climate change, coastal habitat, diversity of species, ecological systems, ecological tolerance, ecosystems, extinction, food source, gulf of mexico, human caused stressors, marine fish, mary ruckelshaus, michelle staudinger, migrating birds, nancy grimm, natural resource, pacific coast, peter kareiva, plant, pollution, rainfall, risk, shawn carter, stuart chapin, tempe, U.S. Geological Survey, united states, waterborne disease, wildlife

Plant and animal species are shifting their geographic ranges and the timing of their life events – such as flowering, laying eggs or migrating – at faster rates than researchers documented just a few years ago, according to a technical report on biodiversity and ecosystems used as scientific input for the 2013 Third National Climate Assessment.

The report, Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services, synthesizes the scientific understanding of the way climate change is affecting ecosystems, ecosystem services and the diversity of species, as well as what strategies might be used by natural resource practitioners to decrease current and future risks. More than 60 federal, academic and other scientists, including the lead authors from the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Wildlife Federation and Arizona State University in Tempe, authored the assessment. (more…)

Scientists Explore Changing Arctic Ocean

By Guest PostAugust 25, 2012EnvironmentArctic, arctic ecosystem, arctic ocean, atmosphere, burning, calcification rate, calcium carbonate, canada basin, carbon dioxide, CO2, corals, crabs, cutter healy, Environment, florida keys, food chain, fossil fuel, gulf of mexico, jonathan wynn, kim yates, lisa robbins, marcia mcnutt, marine, north pole, ocean acidification, ocean acidity, oysters, plankton, resources, robert byrne, shell, shrimp, skeleton, study, terrestrial organism, us coast guard, virgin islands

Scientists are setting sail on August 25 to study ocean acidification in the Arctic and what this means for the future survival of marine and terrestrial organisms.

The Arctic Ocean is one of the most vulnerable places on the planet for acidification, yet it is the least-explored ocean. Acidification can disturb the balance of marine life in the world’s oceans, and consequently affect humans and animals that rely on those food resources.

Ocean acidification is particularly harmful to organisms such as corals, oysters, crabs, shrimp and plankton, as well as those up and down the food chain. Higher acidity decreases an organism’s calcification rate, meaning they lose their ability to build shells or skeletons. (more…)

Going with the Flow

By Guest PostJuly 29, 2012Environmentalgal blooms, bp settlement, bruce lipphardt, buoys, carthe, deepwater horizon, dennis kirwan, drifters, google earth, gps device, gulf of mexico, helga huntley, ocean current, oceanography, oil spill, plume movement, prediction, satellite gps, university of delaware

Scientists studying ocean currents and oil spills with large-scale experiment

Scientists are releasing hundreds of floating GPS devices into the Gulf of Mexico this week near the Deepwater Horizon site to study the role of ocean currents in oil spills. The experiment is the largest in scale of its kind, deploying 300 satellite-tracked, untethered buoys, called drifters, over the course of two and a half weeks.

“We’re trying to use the drifters as a simulation of an oil spill,” said Dennis Kirwan, Mary A.S. Lighthipe Professor of Marine Studies in the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. “This is a big event in oceanography.” (more…)

Sediment Chemicals in Coastal Rivers Overall Lower in U.S. than Worldwide Averages

By Guest PostApril 8, 2012Environmentarthur j horowitz, atlantic, blackwater stream, carbon, chemical concentration, climate change, coastal zone, economic resource, elements, environmental quality, gulf coast, gulf of mexico, heavy metal, inorganic carbon, major, marcia mcnutt, mississippi river basin, nitrogen, nutrient, nutrient phosphorus, ocean, organic carbon, organic matter, pacific, sediment, sulfur, suspended sediment, toxic, trace, urbanization, usgs

Almost all the sediment-associated chemical concentrations found in 131 of the nation’s rivers that drain to the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts are lower than worldwide averages, according to a new study by the USGS. These coastal rivers are a significant pathway for the delivery of sediment-associated chemicals to the world’s coastal zones and oceans.

“I hope that the results of this new study will remind everyone that it is not only river water that can transport chemicals and pollutants, but also the associated sediment load,” said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. “Our citizens expect high environmental quality as compared with worldwide averages, but clean water alone will not suffice if river sediments are host to toxic heavy metals and concentrated organics that can produce dead zones.” (more…)