Saturday, January 28, 2012

Pelicans and flying rays



More about this EarthFlight BBC programme
Pelicans in the Sea of Cortez are our guide to the incredible flying Devil Rays.


Links :
  • YouTube : Earthflight BBC - High-speed brown pelicans diving for sardine & anchovies

Friday, January 27, 2012

Arctic Ocean freshwater bulge detected


ESA satellites show that a large dome of fresh water has been building up in the Arctic Ocean over the last 15 years.
A change in wind direction could cause the water to spill into the north Atlantic, cooling Europe.


From BBC

UK scientists have detected a huge dome of fresh water that is developing in the western Arctic Ocean.

The bulge is some 8,000 cubic km in size and has risen by about 15cm since 2002.
The team thinks it may be the result of strong winds whipping up a great clockwise current in the northern polar region called the Beaufort Gyre.
This would force the water together, raising sea surface height, the group tells the journal Nature Geoscience.
"In the western Arctic, the Beaufort Gyre is driven by a permanent anti-cyclonic wind circulation. It drives the water, forcing it to pile up in the centre of gyre, and this domes the sea surface," explained lead author Dr Katharine Giles from the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM) at University College London.

This is a mosaic of Envisat radar images acquired between 9 and 11 September 2011 over the Arctic Ocean.
The sea ice extent highlighted in blue corresponds to the areas where more than 80% of the sea surface is covered by ice (from an analysis performed by the US National Ice Center).


"In our data, we see the trend being biggest in the centre of the gyre and less around the edges," she told BBC News.
Dr Giles and colleagues made their discovery using radar satellites belonging to the European Space Agency (Esa).
These spacecraft can measure sea-surface height even when there is widespread ice cover because they are adept at picking out the cracks, or leads, that frequently appear in the frozen floes.
The data (1995-2010) indicates a significant swelling of water in the Beaufort Gyre, particularly since the early part of the 2000s.
The rising trend has been running at 2cm per year.

Model prediction

A lot of research from buoys and other in-situ sampling had already indicated that water in this region of the Arctic had been freshening.
This fresh water is coming in large part from the rivers running off the Eurasian (Russian) side of the Arctic basin.
Winds and currents have transported this fresh water around the ocean until it has been pulled into the gyre.
The volume currently held in the circulation probably represents about 10% of all the fresh water in the Arctic.

Of interest to future observations is what might happen if the anticyclonic winds, which have been whipping up the bulge, change behaviour.
"What we seen occurring is precisely what the climate models had predicted," said Dr Giles.
"When you have clockwise rotation - the fresh water is stored. If the wind goes the other way - and that has happened in the past - then the fresh water can be pushed to the margins of the Arctic Ocean.
"If the spin-up starts to spin down, the fresh water could be released. It could go to the rest of the Arctic Ocean or even leave the Arctic Ocean."
If the fresh water were to enter the North Atlantic in large volumes, the concern would be that it might disturb the currents that have such a great influence on European weather patterns.
These currents draw warm waters up from the tropics, maintaining milder temperatures in winter than would ordinarily be expected at northern European latitudes.

The USS Annapolis rests on the Arctic Ocean after breaking through three feet of ice.

The creation of the Beaufort Gyre bulge is not a continuous development throughout the 15-year data-set, and only becomes a dominant feature in the latter half of the study period.
This may indicate a change in the relationship between the wind and the ocean in the Arctic brought about by the recent rapid decline in sea-ice cover, the CPOM team argues in its Nature Geoscience paper.
It is possible that the wind is now imparting momentum to the water in ways that were not possible when the sea-ice was thicker and more extensive.
"The ice is now much freer to move around," said Dr Giles.

Arctic Ocean mean sea-surface with respect to the geoid for the past 15 years of satellite radar altimetry data.
The Beaufort Gyre is the yellow/orange dome in the Western Arctic.
Credits: CPOM/UCL/ESA/Planetary Visions


"So, as the wind acts on the ice, it's able to pull the water around with it.
Depending on how ridged the surface of ice is or how smooth the bottom of the ice is - this will all affect the drag on the water.
If you have more leads, this also might provide more vertical ice surfaces for the wind to blow against."
One consequence of less sea-ice in the region is the possibility that winds could now initiate greater mixing of the different layers in the Arctic Ocean.
Scientists are aware that there is a lot of warm water at depth.
At present, this deep water's energy is unable to influence the sea-ice because of a buffer of colder, less dense water lying between it and the floes above.
But if this warm water were made to well up because of wind-driven changes at the surface, it could further accelerate the loss of seasonal ice cover.
The CPOM team is now investigating the likelihood of this happening with Cryosat-2, Esa's first radar satellite dedicated to the study of the polar regions.
"We now have the means to measure not only the ice thickness but also to monitor how the ocean under the ice is changing," says Dr Seymour Laxon, director of CPOM and co-author of the study, "and with CryoSat-2, we can now do so over the entire Arctic Ocean."

Links :

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Costa Concordia: marine paradise threatened by cruise ship

Paul Hanna/Reuters

From HuffingtonPost

Stone fortresses and watchtowers that centuries ago stood guard against marauding pirates loom above pristine waters threatened by a modern peril: fuel trapped within the capsized Costa Concordia luxury liner.

A half-million gallons (2,400 tons) of heavy fuel oil is in danger of leaking out and polluting some of the Mediterranean's most unspoiled sea, where dolphins chase playfully after sailboats and fishermen's catches are so prized that wholesalers come from across Italy to scoop up cod, lobster, scampi, swordfish and other delicacies.

"Even the Caribbean has nothing on us," said Francesco Arpino, a scuba instructor in the chic port of Porto Ercole, noting how the sleek granite sea bottom helps keep visibility crystal clear even 135 feet (40 meters) down.

Divers in these transparent waters marvel at an underwater world of sea horses and red coral, while on the surface sperm whales cut through the sea.
But worry is clouding this paradise, which includes a stretch of Tuscan coastline that has been the holiday haunt of soccer and screen stars, politicians and European royals.
Rough seas hindering divers' search for bodies in the Concordia's submerged section have also delayed the start of a pumping operation expected to last weeks to remove the fuel from the ship.


Floating barriers aimed at containing any spillage now surround the vessel.

According to the Dutch salvage firm Smit, which has been contracted to remove the fuel, there are about a half million gallons (2,400 tons) of heavy fuel oil on board, as well as some 200 tons of diesel oil and smaller amounts of lubricants and other environmentally hazardous materials.

The ship lies dangerously close to a drop-off point on the sea bottom.
Should strong waves nudge the vessel from its precarious perch, it could plunge some 90 feet (30 meters), further complicating the pumping operation and possibly rupturing fuel tanks. Italy's environment minister has warned that if the tanks break, the thick black fuel would block sunlight vital for marine life in the seabed.


A week after the Concordia struck a reef off the island of Giglio, flipping on its side, its crippled 114,000-ton hull rests on seabed rich with an underwater prairie of sea grass vital to the ecosystem.
Environmentalists warn the sheer weight of the wreckage has likely already damaged a variety of marine life, including endangered sea sponges, and crustaceans and mollusks, even before a drop of fuel leaks.

©Carlo Borlenghi

"The longer it stays there, the longer it impedes light from reaching the vegetation," said Francesco Cinelli, an ecology professor at the University of Pisa in Tuscany.
The seabed is a flourishing home to Poseidon sea grass native to the Mediterranean, Cinelli told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
"Sea grass ... is to the sea what forests are to terra firma," Cinelli said.
They produce oxygen and serve as a refuge for organisms to reproduce or hide from predators.

©Carlo Borlenghi

The Tuscan archipelago's seven islands are at the heart of Europe's largest marine park, extending over some 150,000 acres (60,000 hectares) of sea.
They include the islands of Elba, where Napoleon lived in exile, and Montecristo, a setting for Alexandre Dumas' novel "The Count of Monte Cristo," where rare Mediterranean monk seals have been spotted near the coast.
Montecristo has a two-year waiting list of people hoping to be among the 1,000 people annually escorted ashore by forest rangers to admire the uninhabited island.
Navigation, bathing and fishing are strictly prohibited up to a half mile (one kilometer) from Montecristo's rocky, cove-dotted coast.
A monastery established on the island in the 7th century was abandoned 900 years later after repeated pirate raids.

Come spring, Porto Ercole's slips will be full, with yachts dropping anchor just outside the port. A steep hill provides a panoramic view of a sprawling seaside villa, once a holiday retreat of Dutch royals, and of the crescent-shaped island of Giannutri, with its ancient Roman ruins.
Alberto Teodori, who said he has been hired as a skipper for the yachts of Rome's VIPs for 30 years, noted that the area thrives on tourism in the spring and summer and survives on fishing in the offseason.
If the Concordia's fuel should pollute the sea, "Giglio will be dead for 10, 15 years," Teodori fretted, as workers nearby shellacked the hull of an aging fishing boat.

Clean up: An oil recovery platform is seen next to the ship yesterday evening, allowing ease of access for rescuers to the liner and assuring no fuel can escape

The international ocean-advocacy group, Oceana, describes the national marine park as an "ecological diamond," favored by divers for its great variety of species.
"If the pollution gets into the water, we are ruined," said Raffaella Manno, who with her husband runs a portside counter selling fresh fish in Porto Santo Stefano, a nearby town where ferries and hydrofoils depart for Giglio.
She said fish from the archipelago's waters are prized throughout Italy for their quality and variety.
"The water is clean and the reefs are rich" for fish to feed, she said, as trucks carrying oil-removal equipment waited to board ferries to Giglio.
"The priciest markets in Italy come here to buy, from Milan, Turin, even Naples."


Concordia's captain, initially jailed and then placed under house arrest in his hometown near Naples, is suspected of having deliberately deviated from the ship's route, to hug Giglio's reef-studded coastline in order to perform a kind of "salute" to amuse passengers and islanders.
The maneuver is apparently a common practice by cruise ships, environmentalists lament.
"These salutes are an established practice by the big cruise ships," said Francesco Emilio Borrelli, a Green party official from Naples.
He said that the Greens have received reports of numerous such sightings by ships sailing by the Naples area islands of Capri, Ischia and Procida.




Even before the Concordia tragedy, environmentalists had railed against what they brand "sea monsters," – massive cruise liners releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases – sailing perilously close to the coast to thrill the passengers aboard.
"These virtual cities put at risk the richness of biodiversity, which we must never forget is at the foundation of our very survival on Earth," said Marevivo, an Italian environmental group.
Links :

  • TheGuardian : What impact will the Costa Concordia disaster have on the environment?
  • NewScientist : Will the Costa Concordia become an oil-spill disaster?
  • TheTelegraph : Graphic: Costa Concordia fuel salvage
  • HuffingtonPost : Costa Concordia fuel removal discussed

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Solar storm's effects to lash Earth until today



From
BBC

Our planet is being bombarded by high-energy particles unleashed by the strongest solar storm since 2005, scientists say.

The charged particles are mostly a concern for satellites - which they can disrupt - and astronauts.
But they can also cause communication problems for aircraft travelling near the poles.

The geomagnetic storm has been caused by a potent flare that erupted from the Sun at 0400 GMT on Monday.
The effects are likely to be felt on Earth throughout Wednesday.

A more benign effect of the outpouring of particles is the ability to see aurorae, or "Northern lights", farther south than is usually possible.

A spokesman for US space agency Nasa said that flight surgeons and solar scientists have modelled the flare's predicted effects.
They decided that the six astronauts on the International Space Station do not have to take any action to protect themselves from the incoming stream of particles.

The suns flares with activity (NASA)

Solar flares are caused by the sudden release of magnetic energy stored in the Sun's atmosphere.
In an event called a coronal mass ejection (CME), bursts of charged particles are released into space.
Nasa's Goddard Space Weather Center predicted that the coronal mass ejection was moving at almost 2,200 km/s when it was due to reach Earth's magnetosphere - the magnetic envelope that surrounds our planet - on Tuesday at 1400 GMT (plus or minus 7 hours).

This can interfere with technology on Earth, such as electrical power grids, communications systems and satellites - including satellite navigation (or sat-nav) signals.
In 1972, a geomagnetic storm provoked by a solar flare knocked out long-distance telephone communication across the US state of Illinois.
And in 1989, another storm plunged six million people into darkness across the Canadian province of Quebec.

But a spokesman for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (Noaa) Space Weather Prediction Center said the effects of this solar eruption seem likely to be moderate.

Links :

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Canada CHS update in the Marine GeoGarage


68 charts have been updated (Jan 3, 2012) :

  • 1202 CAP ETERNITE TO SAINT-FULGENCE
  • 1203 TADOUSSAC TO CAP ETERNITE
  • 1209 SAINT-FULGENCE TO RIVIERE SHIPSHAW
  • 1230 PLANS PENINSULE DE LA GASPESIE
  • 1233 CAP AUX OIES TO SAULT-AU-COCHON
  • 1234 CAP DE LA TETE AU CHIEN TO CAP AUX OIES
  • 1312 LAC SAINT-PIERRE
  • 1320 ILE DU BIC TO CAP DE LA TETE AU CHIEN
  • 2021D HAIG'S REACH LOCK TO HEALEY FALLS LOCKS
  • 2067 HAMILTON HARBOUR
  • 2228A LAKE HURON - SOUTHERN PORTION
  • 2228B GODERICH HARBOUR
  • 2260 SARNIA TO BAYFIELD
  • 2314 PORT OF THUNDER BAY
  • 3001 VANCOUVER ISLAND JUAN DE FUCA STRAIT TO QUEEN CHARLOT
  • 3050A KOOTENAY RIVER MILE 0 TO MILE 8.7
  • 3050B SHEET 2 KOOTENAY RIVER MILE 8.3 TO MILE 16.5
  • 3050C KOOTENAY RIVER MILE 15.8 TO 24.9
  • 3050D KOOTENAY RIVER MILE 24.2 TO 29
  • 3050E SHEET 5 KOOTENAY LAKE KUSKONOOK TO BOSWELL
  • 3050F KOOTENAY LAKE RHINOCEROS POINT TO RIONDEL
  • 3050G KOOTENAY LAKE RIONDEL TO KASLO
  • 3050H KOOTENAY LAKE KASLO TO LARDEAU
  • 3050I WEST ARM KOOTENAY LAKE PROCTOR LIGHT TO HARROP NARROWS
  • 3050J WEST ARM KOOTENAY LAKE HARROP NARROWS TO NINE MILE NARROWS
  • 3050K WEST ARM KOOTENAY LAKE NINE MILE NARROWS TO FIVE MILE POINT
  • 3050L WEST ARM KOOTENAY LAKE FIVE MILE POINT TO NELSON
  • 3050M WEST ARM KOOTENAY LAKE NELSON TO TAGHUM
  • 3050N KOOTENAY RIVER TAGHUM TO CORRA LINN DAM
  • 3461 JUAN DE FUCA STRAIT EASTERN PORTION
  • 3462 JUAN DE FUCA STRAIT TO STRAIT OF GEORGIA
  • 3668 ALBERNI INLET
  • 3936 FITZ HUGH SOUND TO LAMA PASSAGE
  • 3958 PRINCE RUPERT HARBOUR
  • 3974 DEAN CHANNEL BURKE CHANNEL AND BENTINCK ARMS
  • 4001 GULF OF MAINE TO STRAIT OF BELLE ISLE
  • 4003 CAPE BRETON TO CAPE COD
  • 4013 HALIFAX TO SYDNEY
  • 4016 SAINT-PIERRE TO ST JOHN'S
  • 4023 NORTHUMBERLAND STRAIT
  • 4026 HAVRE-SAINT-PIERRE AND CAP DES ROSIERS TO POINTE DES MONTS
  • 4045 SABLE ISLAND BANK TO ST. PIERRE BANK
  • 4049 GRAND BANK NORTHERN PORTION TO FLEMISH PASS
  • 4235 BARREN ISLAND TO TAYLORS HEAD
  • 4403 EAST POINT TO CAPE BEAR
  • 4404 CAPE GEORGE TO PICTOU
  • 4405 PICTOU ISLAND TO TRYON SHOALS
  • 4420 MURRAY HARBOUR
  • 4429 HAVRE SAINT-PIERRE AND APPROACHES
  • 4432 ARCHIPEL DE MINGAN
  • 4448 PORT HOOD
  • 4519 MAIDEN ARM BIG SPRING INLET AND LITTLE SPRING INLET AND APPROACHES
  • 4523 LIITLE BAY ARM AND APPROACHES
  • 4585 GREEN HEAD TO LITTLE BAY ISLAND
  • 4615 HARBOURS IN PLACENTIA BAY PETIT FORTE TO BRO
  • 4622 CAPE ST MARY'S TO ARGENTIA HARBOUR AND JUDE ISLAND
  • 4821 WHITE BAY AND NOTRE DAME BAY
  • 4822 CAPE ST JOHN TO ST ANTHONY
  • 4839 HEAD OF PLACENTIA BAY
  • 4841 CAPE ST. MARY'S TO ARGENTIA
  • 4847 CONCEPTION BAY
  • 4864 BACK ISLAND TO LITTLE DENIER ISLAND
  • 4950 ILES DE LA MADELEINE
  • 5030 GREEN BAY TO DOUBLE ISLAND
  • 5505 BELANGER ISLAND TO COTTER ISLAND
  • 7220 LANCASTER SOUND EASTERN APPROACHES
  • 7568 LANCASTER SOUND AND ADMIRALTY INLET
  • 7784 VICTORIA STRAIT


So 790 charts (1677 including sub-charts) are available in the Canada CHS layer. (see coverage)

Note : don't forget to visit 'Notices to Mariners' published monthly and available from the Canadian Coast Guard both online or through a free hardcopy subscription service.
This essential publication provides the latest information on changes to the aids to navigation system, as well as updates from CHS regarding CHS charts and publications.
See also written Notices to Shipping and Navarea warnings : NOTSHIP

UK & misc. update in the Marine GeoGarage

Today 958 charts (1831 including sub-charts) are available in the 'UK & misc.' chart layer
regrouping charts for different countries :
  1. UK
  2. Argentina
  3. Belgium
  4. Netherlands
  5. Croatia
  6. Oman
  7. Portugal
  8. Spain
  9. Iceland
  10. South Africa
  11. Malta

655 charts for UK


9 charts for Argentina :

  • 226 International Chart Series, Antarctica - South Shetlands Islands, Deception Island.
  • 227 Church Point to Cape Longing including James Ross Island
  • 2505 Approaches to the Falkland Islands
  • 2517 North-Western Approaches to the Falkland Islands
  • 2519 South-Western Approaches to the Falkland Islands
  • 3213 Plans in Graham Land
  • 3560 Gerlache Strait Northern Part
  • 3566 Gerlache Strait Southern Part
  • 4207 Falkland Islands to Cabo Corrientes and Northeast Georgia Rise

27 charts for Belgium & Nederlands :

  • 99 Entrances to Rivers in Guyana and Suriname
  • 110 Westkapelle to Stellendam and Maasvlakte
  • 112 Terschellinger Gronden to Harlingen
  • 120 Westerschelde - Vlissingen to Baalhoek and Gent - Terneuzen Canal
  • 122 Approaches to Europoort and Hoek van Holland
  • 124 Noordzeekanaal including Ijmuiden, Zaandam and Amsterdam
  • 125 North Sea Netherlands - Approaches to Scheveningen and Ijmuiden
  • 126 North Sea, Netherlands, Approaches to Den Helder
  • 128 Westerschelde, Valkenisse to Wintam
  • 207 Hoek Van Holland to Vlaardingen
  • 208 Rotterdam, Nieuwe Maas and Oude Maas
  • 209 Krimpen a/d Lek to Moerdijk
  • 266 North Sea Offshore Charts Sheet 11
  • 572 Essequibo River to Corentyn River
  • 702 Nederlandse Antillen, Aruba and Curacao
  • 1187 Outer Silver Pit
  • 1408 North Sea, Harwich and Rotterdam to Cromer and Terschelling.
  • 1412 Caribbean Sea - Nederlandse Antillen, Ports in Aruba and Curacao
  • 1414 Bonaire
  • 1503 Outer Dowsing to Smiths Knoll including Indefatigable Banks.
  • 1504 Cromer to Orford Ness
  • 1546 Zeegat van Texel and Den Helder Roads
  • 1630 West Hinder and Outer Gabbard to Vlissingen and Scheveningen
  • 1631 DW Routes to Ijmuiden and Texel
  • 1632 DW Routes and Friesland Junction to Vlieland
  • 1874 North Sea, Westerschelde, Oostende to Westkapelle
  • 2047 Approaches to Anguilla

14 charts for Croatia :

  • 201 Rt Kamenjak to Novigrad
  • 202 Kvarner, Kvarneric and Velebitski Kanal
  • 269 Ploce and Split with Adjacent Harbours, Channels and Anchorages
  • 515 Zadar to Luka Mali Losinj
  • 683 Bar, Dubrovnik and Approaches and Peljeski Kanal
  • 1574 Otok Glavat to Ploce and Makarska
  • 1580 Otocic Veliki Skolj to Otocic Glavat
  • 1582 Approaches to Bar and Boka Kotorska
  • 1996 Ports in Rijecki Zaljev
  • 2711 Rogoznica to Zadar
  • 2712 Otok Susac to Split
  • 2719 Rt Marlera to Senj including Approaches to Rijeka
  • 2773 Sibenik, Pasmanski Kanal, Luka Telascica, Sedmovrace, Rijeka Krka
  • 2774 Otok Vis to Sibenik
6 charts for Oman :

  • 2851 Masirah to the Strait of Hormuz
  • 2854 Northern approaches to Masirah
  • 3171 Southern Approaches to the Strait of Hormuz
  • 3409 Plans in Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates
  • 3511 Wudam and Approaches
  • 3518 Ports and Anchorages on the North East Coast of Oman

123 charts for Spain & Portugal :

  • 73 Puerto de Huelva and Approaches
  • 83 Ports on the South Coast of Portugal
  • 85 Spain - south west coast, Rio Guadalquivir
  • 86 Bahia de Cadiz
  • 87 Cabo Finisterre to the Strait of Gibraltar
  • 88 Cadiz
  • 89 Cabo de Sao Vicente to Faro
  • 91 Cabo de Sao Vicente to the Strait of Gibraltar
  • 93 Cabo de Santa Maria to Cabo Trafalgar
  • 142 Strait of Gibraltar
  • 144 Mediterranean Sea, Gibraltar
  • 307 Angola, Cabeca da Cobra to Cabo Ledo
  • 308 Angola, Cabo Ledo to Lobito
  • 309 Lobito to Ponta Grossa
  • 312 Luanda to Baia dos Tigres
  • 366 Arquipelago de Cabo Verde
  • 369 Plans in the Arquipelago de Cabo Verde
  • 469 Alicante
  • 473 Approaches to Alicante
  • 518 Spain East Coast, Approaches to Valencia
  • 562 Mediterranean Sea, Spain - East Coast Valencia NEW
  • 580 Al Hoceima, Melilla and Port Nador with Approaches
  • 690 Cabo Delgado to Mikindani Bay
  • 886 Estrecho de la Bocayna and Approaches to Arrecife
  • 1094 Rias de Ferrol, Ares, Betanzos and La Coruna
  • 1096 Ribadeo
  • 1110 La Coruna and Approaches
  • 1111 Punta de la Estaca de Bares to Cabo Finisterre
  • 1113 Harbours on the North-West Coast of Spain
  • 1117 Puerto de Ferrol
  • 1118 Ria de Ferrol
  • 1122 Ports on the North Coast of Spain
  • 1133 Ports on the Western Part of the North Coast of Spain
  • 1142 Ria de Aviles
  • 1145 Spain - North Coast, Santander
  • 1150 Ports on the North Coast of Spain
  • 1153 Approaches to Gijon
  • 1154 Spain, north coast, Gijon
  • 1157 Pasaia (Pasajes) and Approaches
  • 1172 Puertos de Bermeo and Mundaka
  • 1173 Spain - North Coast, Bilbao
  • 1174 Approaches to Bilbao
  • 1180 Barcelona
  • 1189 Approaches to Cartagena
  • 1193 Spain - east coast, Tarragona
  • 1194 Cartagena
  • 1196 Approaches to Barcelona
  • 1197 Plans on the West Coast of Africa
  • 1215 Plans on the Coast of Angola
  • 1216 Baia dos Tigres
  • 1290 Cabo de San Lorenzo to Cabo Ortegal
  • 1291 Santona to Gijon
  • 1448 Gibraltar Bay
  • 1453 Gandia
  • 1455 Algeciras
  • 1460 Sagunto
  • 1514 Spain - East Coast, Castellon
  • 1515 Ports on the East Coast of Spain
  • 1589 Almeria
  • 1595 Ilhas do Principe, de Sao Tome and Isla Pagalu
  • 1684 Ilha da Madeira, Manchico and Canical
  • 1685 Nisis Venetico to Nisos Spetsai including the Channels between Akra Maleas and Kriti
  • 1689 Ports in the Arquipelago da Madeira
  • 1701 Cabo de San Antonio to Vilanova I la Geltru including Islas de Ibiza and Formentera
  • 1703 Mallorca and Menorca
  • 1704 Punta de la Bana to Islas Medas
  • 1724 Canal do Geba and Bissau
  • 1726 Approaches to Canal do Geba and Rio Cacheu
  • 1727 Bolama and Approaches
  • 1730 Spain - West Coast, Ria de Vigo
  • 1731 Vigo
  • 1732 Spain - West Coast, Ria de Pontevedra
  • 1733 Spain - West Coast, Marin and Pontevedra
  • 1734 Approaches to Ria de Arousa
  • 1740 Livingston Island, Bond Point to Brunow Bay including Juan Carlos 1 Base and Half Moon Island
  • 1755 Plans in Ria de Arousa
  • 1756 Ria de Muros
  • 1762 Vilagarcia de Arosa
  • 1764 Ria de Arousa
  • 1831 Arquipelago da Madeira
  • 1847 Santa Cruz de Tenerife
  • 1850 Approaches to Malaga
  • 1851 Malaga
  • 1854 Motril and Adra
  • 1856 Approaches to Puerto de La Luz (Las Palmas)
  • 1858 Approaches to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Puerto de San Sebastian de la Gomera, Santa Cruz de la Palma and Approaches
  • 1869 Gran Canaria to Hierro
  • 1870 Lanzarote to Gran Canaria
  • 1895 Ilha de Sao Miguel
  • 1950 Arquipelago dos Acores
  • 1956 Arquipelago dos Acores Central Group
  • 1957 Harbours in the Arquipelago Dos Acores (Central Group)
  • 1959 Flores,Corvo and Santa Maria with Banco Das Formigas
  • 2742 Cueta
  • 2761 Menorca
  • 2762 Menorca, Mahon
  • 2831 Punta Salinas to Cabo de Formentor including Canal de Menorca
  • 2832 Punta Salinas to Punta Beca including Isla de Cabrera
  • 2834 Ibiza and Formentera
  • 2932 Cabo de Sao Sebastiao to Beira
  • 2934 Africa - east coast, Mozambique, Beira to Rio Zambeze
  • 2935 Quelimane to Ilha Epidendron
  • 3034 Approaches to Palma
  • 3035 Palma
  • 3220 Entrance to Rio Tejo including Baia de Cascais
  • 3221 Lisboa, Paco de Arcos to Terreiro do Trigo
  • 3222 Lisboa, Alcantara to Canal do Montijo
  • 3224 Approaches to Sines
  • 3227 Aveiro and Approaches
  • 3228 Approaches to Figueira da Foz
  • 3257 Viana do Castelo and Approaches
  • 3258 Approaches to Leixoes and Barra do Rio Douro
  • 3259 Approaches to Setubal
  • 3260 Carraca to Ilha do Cavalo
  • 3448 Plans in Angola
  • 3578 Eastern Approaches to the Strait of Gibraltar
  • 3633 Islas Sisargas to Montedor
  • 3634 Montedor to Cabo Mondego
  • 3635 Cabo Mondego to Cabo Espichel
  • 3636 Cabo Espichel to Cabo de Sao Vicente
  • 3764 Cabo Torinana to Punta Carreiro
  • 4114 Arquipelago dos Acores to Flemish Cap
  • 4115 Arquipelago dos Acores to the Arquipelago de Cabo Verde
  • Ilha de Madeira, Ponta Gorda de Sao Lourenco including the Port of Funchal

13 charts for Iceland :

  • 2733 Dyrholaey to Snaefellsjokull
  • 2734 Approaches to Reykjavik
  • 2735 Iceland - South West Coast, Reykjavik
  • 2897 Iceland
  • 2898 Vestfirdir
  • 2899 Iceland, Noth Coast, Horn to Rauoinupur
  • 2900 Iceland, North East Coast, Rauoinupur to Glettinganes
  • 2901 Iceland, East Coast, Glettinganes to Stokksnes
  • 2902 Stokksnes to Dyrholaey
  • 2955 Iceland, North Coast, Akureyri
  • 2956 Iceland, North Coast, Eyjafjordur
  • 2937 Hlada to Glettinganes
  • 2938 Reydarfjordur

47 charts for South Africa :

  • 578 Cape Columbine to Cape Seal
  • 632 Hollandsbird Island to Cape Columbine
  • 643 Durban Harbour
  • 1236 Saldanha Bay
  • 1769 Islands and Anchorages in the South Atlantic Ocean
  • 1806 Baia dos Tigres to Conception Bay
  • 1846 Table Bay Docks and Approaches
  • 1922 RSA - Simon's Bay
  • 2078 Port Nolloth to Island Point
  • 2086 East London to Port S Johns
  • 2087 Port St John's to Durban
  • 2088 Durban to Cape Vidal
  • 2095 Cape St Blaize to Port S. John's
  • 3793 Shixini Point to Port S Johns
  • 3794 Port S Johns to Port Shepstone
  • 3795 Port Shepstone to Cooper Light
  • 3797 Green Point to Tongaat Bluff
  • 3859 Cape Cross to Conception Bay
  • 3860 Mutzel Bay to Spencer Bay
  • 3861 Namibia, Approaches to Luderitz
  • 3869 Hottentot Point to Chamais Bay
  • 3870 Chamais Bay to Port Nolloth
  • 4132 Kunene River to Sand Table Hill
  • 4133 Sand Table Hill to Cape Cross
  • 4136 Harbours on the West Coasts of Namibia and South Africa
  • 4141 Island Point to Cape Deseada
  • 4142 Saldanha Bay Harbour
  • 4145 Approaches to Saldanha Bay
  • 4146 Cape Columbine to Table Bay
  • 4148 Approaches to Table Bay
  • 4150 Republic of South Africa, South West Coast, Table Bay to Valsbaai
  • 4151 Cape Deseada to Table Bay
  • 4152 Republic of South Africa, South West Coast, Table Bay to Cape Agulhas
  • 4153 Republic of South Africa, South Coast, Cape Agulhas to Cape St. Blaize
  • 4154 Mossel Bay
  • 4155 Cape St Blaize to Cape St Francis
  • 4156 South Africa, Cape St Francis to Great Fish Point
  • 4157 South Africa, Approaches to Port Elizabeth
  • 4158 Republic of South Africa - South Coast, Plans in Algoa Bay.
  • 4159 Great Fish Point to Mbashe Point
  • 4160 Ngqura Harbour
  • 4162 Approaches to East London
  • 4170 Approaches to Durban
  • 4172 Tugela River to Ponta do Ouro
  • 4173 Approaches to Richards Bay
  • 4174 Richards Bay Harbour
  • 4205 Agulhas Plateau to Discovery Seamounts


    5 charts for Malta :

    • 36 Marsaxlokk
    • 177 Valletta Harbours
    • 211 Plans in the Maltese Islands
    • 2537 Ghawdex (Gozo), Kemmuna (Comino) and the Northern Part of Malta
    • 2538 Malta

    63 international charts from NGA


    • 3 Chagos Archipelago
    • 82 Outer Approaches to Port Sudan
    • 100 Raas Caseyr to Suqutra
    • 255 Eastern Approaches to Jamaica
    • 256 Western Approaches to Jamaica
    • 260 Pedro Bank to the South Coast of Jamaica
    • 333 Offshore Installations in the Gulf of Suez
    • 334 North Atlantic Ocean, Bermuda
    • 386 Yadua Island to Yaqaga Island
    • 390 Bahamas, Grand Bahama Island, Approaches to Freeport
    • 398 Grand Bahama Island, Freeport Roads, Freeport Harbour
    • 457 Portland Bight
    • 462 The Cayman Islands
    • 486 Jamaica and the Pedro Bank
    • 501 South East Approaches to Trinidad
    • 700 Maiana to Marakei
    • 766 Ellice Islands
    • 868 Eastern and Western Approaches to The Narrows including Murray's Anchorage
    • 920 Chagos Archipelago, Diego Garcia
    • 928 Sulu Archipelago
    • 959 Colson Point to Belize City including Lighthouse Reef and Turneffe Islands
    • 1043 Saint Lucia to Grenada and Barbados
    • 1225 Gulf of Campeche
    • 1450 Turks and Caicos Islands, Turks Island Passage and Mouchoir Passage
    • 1638 Plans in Northern Vanuatu
    • 2006 West Indies, Virgin Islands, Anegada to Saint Thomas
    • 2009 Sheet 2 From 23 deg 40 min North Latitude to Old Bahama Channel
    • 2065 Northern Antigua
    • 2133 Approaches to Suez Bay (Bahr el Qulzum)
    • 2373 Bahr el Qulzum (Suez Bay) to Ras Sheratib
    • 2374 Ra's Sharatib to Juzur Ashrafi
    • 2441 Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Bozorg to Jazireh-ye Forur
    • 2658 Outer Approaches to Mina` al Jeddah (Jiddah)
    • 2837 Strait of Hormuz to Qatar
    • 2847 Qatar to Shatt al `Arab
    • 2858 Gulf of Oman to Shatt al `Arab NEW
    • 2887 Dubai (Dubayy) and Jazireh-Ye Qeshm to Jazirat Halul
    • 2888 Jask to Dubayy and Jazireh-ye Qeshm
    • 2889 Dubayy to Jabal Az Zannah and Jazirat Das
    • 3043 Red Sea, Ports on the coast of Egypt.
    • 3172 Strait of Hormuz
    • 3174 Western Approaches to the Strait of Hormuz
    • 3175 Jazirat al Hamra' to Dubai (Dubayy) and Jazireh-ye Sirri
    • 3179 UAE and Qatar, Jazirat Das to Ar Ru' Ays
    • 3310 Africa - east coast, Mafia Island to Pemba Island
    • 3361 Wasin Island to Malindi
    • 3432 Saltpond to Tema
    • 3493 Red Sea - Sudan, Bashayer Oil Terminals and Approaches
    • 3519 Southern Approaches to Masirah
    • 3520 Khawr Kalba and Dawhat Diba to Gahha Shoal
    • 3522 Approaches to Masqat and Mina' al Fahl
    • 3530 Approaches to Berbera
    • 3709 Gulf of Oman, United Arab Emirates, Port of Fujairah (Fujayrah) and Offshore Terminals NEW
    • 3723 Gulf of Oman, United Arab Emirates, Approaches to Khawr Fakkan and Fujairah (Fujayrah) NEW
    • 3775 Ra's Abu `Ali to Ra's as Saffaniyah NEW
    • 3785 Mina' Raysut to Al Masirah
    • 3907 Bahama Islands and Hispaniola, Passages between Mayaguana Island and Turks and Caicos Islands.
    • 3908 Passages between Turks and Caicos Islands and Dominican Republic
    • 3910 Little Bahama Bank including North West Providence Channel
    • 3912 Bahamas, North East Providence Channel and Tongue of the Ocean
    • 3913 Bahamas, Crooked Island Passage and Exuma Sound
    • 3914 Turks and Caicos Islands and Bahamas, Caicos Passage and Mayaguana Passage
    • 3951 Sir Bani Yas to Khawr al `Udayd



    Don't forget to visit the UKHO Notices to Mariners : NTM for 2012

    So today, for a cost of 9.9 € / month ('Premium Charts' subscription), you can have access to 2185 additional updated charts (4233 including sub-charts) coming from 3 international Hydrographic Services (UKHO, CHS, AHS).

An acid test for policy

  • The oceans are thought to have absorbed about half of the extra CO2 put into the atmosphere in the industrial age
  • This has lowered its pH by 0.1
  • pH is the measure of acidity and alkalinity
  • The vast majority of liquids lie between pH 0 (very acidic) and pH 14 (very alkaline); 7 is neutral
  • Seawater is mildly alkaline with a "natural" pH of about 8.2
  • The IPCC forecasts that ocean pH will fall by "between 0.14 and 0.35 units over the 21st Century, adding to the present decrease of 0.1 units since pre-industrial times"
From BBC

There's more this week on the critical but in some ways under-covered issue of ocean acidification.

At root, it's simple chemistry.
Carbon dioxide goes into the air from factory chimneys and hearths and car exhaust pipes, and some of it ends up dissolved in seawater, as carbonic acid.

As carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now tops 380 parts per million (ppm), whereas the past few million years have seen oscillations between about 180 and 280ppm, it's hardly a surprise that seawater is now more acid than during this recent period of Earth history.
It's been much higher in previous ages; but as always, it's not just the scale of the change that's important, but the speed.

A new study in Nature Climate Change journal has tried to measure the current rate of change against what happened in pre-industrial times.

It's reliant on computer models to provide historical estimates; but with that caveat, the numbers are startling, suggesting that the current rate of acidification is two orders of magnitude bigger than what happened at the end of the last Ice Age.
Can marine animals, plants and ecosystems live with that?
If so, what will the oceans look like in the future?
Will they still be able to provide us with the food we need?

Some experiments in the laboratory and in "natural laboratories", where CO2 seeps into the sea from the slopes of underwater volcanoes, suggest problems ahead.
For example, just last week an Australian research team found that moderately enhanced CO2 levels in seawater affect the brain chemistry of fish, changing operation of neurotransmitter chemicals that carry messages between neurons.

Observation of a natural CO2 seep near Papua New Guinea shows a healthy reef (l) away from the vent, but just seagrass (r) nearby - a picture of the seas in years to come?

Some readers may already have fingers poised ready to write comments along the lines of "it's not a rise in acidity, it's a fall in alkalinity - so don't call it acidification".
And you'd be right.
At pH8.1 and falling, seawater is heading from the alkaline towards neutral.
But although that point is correct, it's also irrelevant.
Organisms and ecosystems adapt to whatever acidity or alkalinity they find, and need time to do so; and in some cases, such as with animals that need to form shells, adaptation may be impossible.



Anyway, there's a wealth of evidence out there that ocean acidification is of concern - perhaps even more than the climatic effects of CO2 emissions - so I'm not going to provide a catalogue here.
If it is of concern, you might think there would be some kind of international agency or treaty or framework charged with tackling it.
If you think that, you'd be wrong.

Acidification currently falls through the dividing lines that separate various UN institutions.
The climate change convention doesn't mention it, largely because it emerged as a potentially serious issue after the convention's establishment in 1992.
These days, acidification often crops up in speeches at the annual climate meetings, but rarely makes it into agreements.
Treaties on oceans, meanwhile, cover issues such as rights of access for shipping, fisheries, and pollution of the locally-acting kind.

And where should acidification fit, bearing in mind that the cause of the problem is so closely tied to the one supposedly being addressed in the climate convention whereas the impacts would be scattered around those relating to marine life, food and economic activity?
June's Rio+20 summit offers a way to put the issue on the tables of presidents and prime ministers; and it's a move being actively pursued.
Unesco's International Oceanographic Commission is one of the UN bodies keen to see acidification high up the Rio agenda; and this week, its executive secretary Wendy Watson-Wright explains why on the RTCC group's website.
As with climate impacts, there is an agenda concerned with dealing with the impacts of acidification, as well as the agenda concerned with reducing the trend itself.

A few years back, for example, scientists showed that keeping the fish population balanced and healthy on a reef offers some protection against impacts of rising water temperatures and acidity.
There's are ways to do this sort of thing through existing national and international mechanisms - provided the importance and the methods filter through.

Acidification is on the Rio agenda in the sense that the initial draft has a clause reading "We also propose to implement an international observing network for ocean acidification and to work collectively to prevent further ocean acidification".
Is that enough?

Links :

Monday, January 23, 2012

Birds flying faster due to climate change

Wind speeds over the Southern Ocean have been increasing over the past three decades
and those stronger winds are boosting birds in the area to faster flying speeds
(picture Paul Tixier)

From DiscoveryNews

Wind speeds over the Southern Ocean have been increasing -- and pushing birds to faster speeds

Climate change has increased wind speeds, causing many birds to travel faster.
Wandering albatrosses are benefiting from the changes now, with shorter trips, improved breeding, and weight gain.
The benefits may be temporary, because pattern shifts could prevent birds from reaching foraging areas.

Wind speeds over the Southern Ocean have been increasing over the past three decades and those stronger winds are boosting birds in the area to faster flying speeds, according to new research.

The wind speed shift is linked to climate change in the study, which was published in the latest issue of Science.
The impact, at least for now, is a boon for certain birds.
It shortens the length of their foraging trips, improves their breeding success, and is even causing birds to gain over two pounds in weight.

The scientists focused their study on the wandering albatross, a bird that spends most of its life in flight, touching down on land mostly just to find food or to breed.
The windy Crozet islands in the Southern Ocean have been home to one population of such albatrosses for ages.
The researchers believe that other birds, like petrels, have been affected by the wind changes too.

"Winds have increased overall at the world's oceans, with some areas being more affected than others, but still the increase is global," lead author Henri Weimerskirch told Discovery News.
"The advantage we have with the Crozet is that we have a long term record of the population parameters, and also the movements of the birds, which is a unique situation."

Weimerskirch, a researcher at France's Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chize, and his team analyzed 40 year's worth of information on the Crozet albatross population.
For decades, researchers have monitored the birds' feeding and breeding, and in 1989 they began outfitting the birds with satellite transmitters to track their travels.

The researchers found that westerly winds in the Southern Ocean have increased, on average, by 15 percent over the past few decades.
Both female and male flight speeds got a boost as a result, with females alone traveling about 311 miles per day in 1990, but about 435 miles per day as of 2010.

Easier flights for the birds have improved their breeding success, allowing them to grow larger.
As it is, this species has the largest wingspan of any living bird.
It's possible that the weight gain is an adjustment to the speedier winds, allowing the birds to experience greater wing loading while in flight.

In addition to heightened wind speeds, the westerlies in the Southern Ocean are also now gradually moving poleward.
All animals in the region, from birds to their prey, have likely been affected by the changes.

"Many albatrosses and petrels are using wind for their movements, either when they search for food during central place foraging movements, or for their migratory movements over the oceans, thus these changes should undoubtedly affect many other species," Weimerskirch said.
"They should affect the food web, by increasing current strength, turbidity and therefore production, but this aspect is not well known so far."

At present, birds appear to be benefiting from the wind shifts, which the researchers attribute to climate change.
But these positive consequences of global warming may be temporary if patterns of wind in the southern westerlies follow predicted climate change scenarios.

Weimerskirch explained that models predict wind strength will continue to increase, and that the poleward shift will continue.
By 2080, the westerly flow now centered around Crozet will be further to the south, taking away the bird's easy ride.
At present the birds are also under constant threat from longline tuna fisheries, which have indirectly killed many albatrosses and other animals.

Scott Shaffer, an assistant professor of biology at San Jose State University, studied wandering albatrosses back in the late 1990s, as part of his doctoral thesis.
Shaffer told Discovery News that he was struck by the changes documented to the birds' body weight.
"This is one of the most surprising aspects of the study and is consistent with the changes in wind patterns because wind is everything to these birds and body mass changes influence their flight performance," Shaffer said.
"To see such changes over this time period is amazing."

Links :
  • LiveScience : Albatrosses soar easier on change of winds