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Japan Earthquake Appears to Increase Quake Risk Elsewhere in the Country

By Guest PostMay 26, 2011Environmentaftershocks, boso, coulomb stress triggering, earthquake, geological evidence, honshu island, izu islands, Japan, japan sea, jian lin, kyoto university, magnitude, mainshocks, microearthquakes, mount, nagano, normal faults, ross s stein, sanriku hokobu, sendai, stress, toda, tohoku earthquake, tohoku mainshock, tokyo area, tsunami, usgs, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

Japan’s recent magnitude 9.0 earthquake, which triggered a devastating tsunami, relieved stress along part of the quake fault but also has contributed to the build up of stress in other areas, putting some of the country at risk for up to years of sizeable aftershocks and perhaps new main shocks, scientists say.

After studying data from Japan’s extensive seismic network, researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Kyoto University and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have identified several areas at risk from the quake, Japan’s largest ever, which already has triggered a large number of aftershocks. (more…)

After Japan Nuclear Power Plant Disaster: How Much Radioactivity in the Oceans?

By Guest PostMay 21, 2011Environmentatlantic, atmosphere, baltic, bioaccumulation of radionuclides, black seas, cesium, cesium isotopes, Chernobyl, chernobyl incident, earthquake, Environment, fukushima, fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant, fukushima plant, henrieta dulaiova, human sources of radiation in atmosphere, iodine, Japan, ken buesseler, national science foundation, nuclear power plant, pacific oceans, radiation level in oceans, radioisotopes, radionuclides, satellite image, seawater, tracer, tsunami, woods hole oceanographic institution

*National Science Foundation awards rapid-response grants to establish ocean radionuclide levels from Fukushima*

Among the casualties of the March 11, 2011, earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan was the country’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

A result of the loss of electricity, overheating at the power plant led to significant releases of iodine, cesium and other radioisotopes to the environment. (more…)

Emerging Explorers Award to WHOI’s Kakani Katija

By Guest PostMay 20, 2011Environment, Nature, Sciencebiogenic ocean mixing, copepods, dian fosseys, edmund hillarys, emerging explorers, engineering diagnostic techniques, jacques cousteaus, kakani katija, motion of oceans, national geographic, ocean currents, oceanographic applications, sea creatures, swarms of tiny krill, swimming animals, terry garcia, tom kleindinst, weather patterns, whoi, winds and tides, woods hole oceanographic institution

Kakani Katija, a postdoctoral scholar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), has been selected as one of 14 National Geographic Emerging Explorers for 2011 for her investigation into the role swimming animals might play in mixing and moving the oceans and other large bodies of water.

National Geographic’s Emerging Explorers Program recognizes and supports uniquely gifted and inspiring adventurers, scientists and storytellers making a significant contribution to world knowledge through exploration while still early in their careers. The Emerging Explorers each receive a $10,000 award to assist with research and to aid further exploration. The program is made possible in part by the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation, which has supported the program since its inception in 2004. (more…)

Eddies Found to be Deep, Powerful Modes of Ocean Transport

By ShamsMay 1, 2011Environment, Scienceadams, computer models, deep sea phenomenon, deep-sea moorings, dennis j mcgillicuddy, diane k adams, east pacific rise, east scotia ridge, el niño, eruption, hydrothermal vents, indian ridge, jets, lauren s mullineaux, mid atlantic ridge, ocean, ocean bottom, ocean eddies, sea creatures, surface ocean dynamics, underwater mountain range, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

*Study Finds Connection between Atmospheric Events and the Deep Ocean*

Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and their colleagues have discovered that massive, swirling ocean eddies–known to be up to 500 kilometers across at the surface–can reach all the way to the ocean bottom at mid-ocean ridges, some 2,500 meters deep, transporting tiny sea creatures, chemicals, and heat from hydrothermal vents over large distances.

The previously unknown deep-sea phenomenon, reported in the April 28 issue of the journal Science, helps explain how some larvae travel huge distances from one vent area to another, said Diane K. Adams, lead author at WHOI and now at the National Institutes of Health. (more…)

Prey-tell: Why Right Whales Linger in the Gulf of Maine

By Guest PostApril 27, 2011Nature, Sciencealgae eating copepod, baleen whales, behavior of the whales, calanus finmarchicus, dramatic impact, endangered animals, gulf of maine, mark baumgartner, nantucket, north atlantic, sand lance, sei whales, vertical migration, vertical migration behavior, whale population, whales, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

As they might with most endangered animals, scientists consider the whereabouts and activities of right whales extremely important. “It is helpful to know where they go, why they go there and what they do when they’re there,” says Mark F. Baumgartner of the biology department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

Baumgartner and his colleagues studied the behavior of right whales and sei whales—both endangered species of baleen whales—in the waters of the Gulf of Maine to the east of Nantucket. They found that the location, the length of stay, and perhaps the very abundance of the whales may be dependent on an interesting vertical migration pattern by the copepods on which the whales feed. It seems to be a case, he said, of “how the behavior of the prey influences the behavior of the whales.” (more…)

‘Hot-Bunking’ Bacterium Recycles Iron to Boost Ocean Metabolism

By Guest PostJanuary 13, 20111 commentSciencebiochemical trick, biogeochemistry, carbohydrates, crocosphaera watsonii, cyanobacteria, ecosystem dynamics, essential nutrient, frederica valois, hot-bunking bacterium, marine bacterium, marine microbes, nitrogen, organic nitrogen, photosynthetic enzymes, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

In the vast ocean where an essential nutrient—iron—is scarce, a marine bacterium that launches the ocean food web survives by using a remarkable biochemical trick: It recycles iron.

By day, it uses iron in enzymes for photosynthesis to make carbohydrates; then by night, it appears to reuse the same iron in different enzymes to produce organic nitrogen for proteins. (more…)

Listen Up: Ocean Acidification Poses Little Threat to Whales’ Hearing

By Guest PostOctober 13, 2010Environmentabsorption, acidic, animals, atmospheric carbon dioxide, boric acid, CO2, decibel, hearing, ilya udovydchenkov, ivan lima, mathematical models, noise levels, ocean, ocean acidification, scott doney, seawater, sound propagation, sound waves, tim duda, whales, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

Contrary to some previous, highly publicized, reports, ocean acidification is not likely to worsen the hearing of whales and other animals, according to a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientist who studies sound propagation in the ocean. (more…)

What Lives in the Sea? – First Census of Marine Life Reveals Thousands of New Species

By Guest PostOctober 6, 2010Nature, Scienceanimal plankton, autonomous underwater vehicles, auvs, celebes sea, census of marine life, chris german, cmarz, coml, decade of discovery, deep-sea imaging systems, deep-water chemosynthetic ecosystems, larry madin, lost city, marine geochemist, marine zooplankton, mid-atlantic ocean, NASA, peter wiebe, remotely operated vehicles, rovs, sonar, squidworm, tentacles, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

The Census of Marine Life, a ten-year project to catalog all life in the sea, discovered more than 6,000 new species during its “decade of discovery,” scientists reported as they unveiled its results at a finale event in London Oct. 4-6. The collaboration combined the efforts of scientists from research organizations in more than 80 nations, including the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). (more…)

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