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Scientists solve a 14,000-year-old ocean mystery

By Guest PostJuly 30, 2013Environmentabundance of isotopes, amoeba like foraminifera, bering sea, carbon dioxide, chaetoceros diatom, China, climate change, element, fossil record, ggc 37, iron hypothesis, kamchatka peninsula, ken buesseler, last ice age, loess plateau, melting glaciers, neodymium, north pacific ocean, norway, ocean mystery, ocean with iron, pacific, perfect storm, phoebe lam, phytoplankton, post ice age, russia, sediment cores, spore, strontium, university of bergen, university of bristol, whoi

At the end of the last Ice Age, as the world began to warm, a swath of the North Pacific Ocean came to life. During a brief pulse of biological productivity 14,000 years ago, this stretch of the sea teemed with phytoplankton, amoeba-like foraminifera and other tiny creatures, who thrived in large numbers until the productivity ended—as mysteriously as it began—just a few hundred years later.

Researchers have hypothesized that iron sparked this surge of ocean life, but a new study led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists and colleagues at the University of Bristol (UK), the University of Bergen (Norway), Williams College and the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University suggests iron may not have played an important role after all, at least in some settings. The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, determines that a different mechanism—a transient “perfect storm” of nutrients and light—spurred life in the post-Ice Age Pacific. Its findings resolve conflicting ideas about the relationship between iron and biological productivity during this time period in the North Pacific—with potential implications for geo-engineering efforts to curb climate change by seeding the ocean with iron. (more…)

Fishing for Answers off Fukushima

By Guest PostNovember 19, 2012Environmentcatastrophic damage, cesium, contaminated sediment, contamination, dai ichi, earthquake, fish, fukushima, fukushima prefecture, implication, Japan, japanese coast, japanese public, ken buesseler, maff, marine environment, mitsuo uematsu, northeast, northwest, nuclear power plant, ocean, pacific ocean, public health, radiation, radiation level, radioactive isotope, radionuclides, reactor site, release, seafloor, seaweed, shellfish, tokyo, triple disaster, tsunami, university, world

Japan fisheries data provides a look at how the ocean is faring 18 months after the worst accidental release of radiation to the ocean in history

Japan’s “triple disaster,” as it has become known, began on March 11, 2011, and remains unprecedented in its scope and complexity. To understand the lingering effects and potential public health implications of that chain of events, scientists are turning to a diverse and widespread sentinel in the world’s ocean: fish.

Events on March 11 began with a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the fourth largest ever recorded. The earthquake in turn spawned a massive 40-foot tsunami that inundated the northeast Japanese coast and resulted in an estimated 20,000 missing or dead. Finally, the wave caused catastrophic damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, resulting in the largest accidental release of radiation to the ocean in history, 80 percent of which ended up in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. (more…)

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to Lead Expedition to Measure Radioactive Contaminants in the Pacific Ocean

By Guest PostJune 3, 2011Environmentacoustic doppler current profiler, adcp, assessment, atlantic, cesium 137, contamination pathways and dispersion, drinking water standard, fukushima nuclear power plant, fukushima plant, gordon and betty moore foundation, gulf stream, iodine and cesium isotopes, Japan, kaimikai o kanoloa, ken buesseler, kuroshio current, levels and dispersion of radioactive substances in the pacific ocean, marine organisms, moore funding, nick fisher, ocean current, phytoplankton, radiation, radioactive contaminants, radioactivity in ocean, radioisotope geochemistry, radionuclides, reactors, research vessel, spain, susan avery, tepco, tokyo electric power company, tokyo institute of technology, university of bremen, university of hawaii, us environmental protection agency, vicki chandler, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will lead the first international, multidisciplinary assessment of the levels and dispersion of radioactive substances in the Pacific Ocean off the Fukushima nuclear power plant—a research effort funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

“This project will address fundamental questions about the impact of this release of radiation to the ocean, and in the process enhance international collaboration and sharing of scientific data,” said Vicki Chandler, Chief Program Officer, Science at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. “It is our hope that through this adverse event, we can increase our current knowledge about various natural and man-made sources of radioactivity in the ocean, and how they might ultimately impact ocean life and health around the world.” (more…)

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Scientists solve a 14,000-year-old ocean mystery

Fishing for Answers off Fukushima

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to Lead Expedition to Measure Radioactive Contaminants in the Pacific Ocean