Image of the week : 35,000 walrus converge on Alaska beach as sea ice retreats

Female Pacific walruses and their calves traditionally spend summers far from shore, diving for benthic invertebrates over the shallow continental shelf waters of the Chukchi Sea.

These female walruses and their calves prefer to rest between forage bouts on sea ice drifting above their feeding grounds.

However, in recent years loss of summer sea ice over the continental shelf has forced many walruses to travel to the northwest coast of Alaska where they haul-out on shore to rest.

This large herd of walruses hauled out near Pt. Lay Alaska in August of 2011.
(USGS)

From CNN by Brad Lendon

Arctic ice is dwindling, the waters of the North Pacific Ocean are the warmest on record and tens of thousands of walruses have taken notice, "hauling out" on an Alaskan beach in numbers never seen before.
Photos taken by scientists working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show more than 35,000 walruses gathered, or hauled out, on a beach near the village of Point Lay, on the Chukchi Sea in northwest Alaska on Saturday.

The walruses are forced onto land when sea ice, which they use to rest between dives for food, disappears, according to NOAA. A report on Flight 240 of the Aerial Surveys of Arctic Marine Mammals, run by the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, shows no sea ice spotted on Saturday, but it showed 35,036 walruses on the beach near Point Lay, including 36 dead ones.

The number of walruses had mushroomed from an aerial survey only four days earlier, when just 1,500 were spotted at the haul-out near Point Lay.
About 50 dead walruses were spotted in that count.
A NOAA release from 2013 calls the large haul-outs a relatively new phenomenon.
Last year, a NOAA survey counted about 10,000 walruses on the beach near Point Lay.
In 2011, about 30,000 came ashore.
The large haul-outs were first noticed in 2007, NOAA said. (see USGS)

Aerial photography of a huge group of Pacific walruses that grew to an estimated 35,000, above, on Sept. 27, from 1,500 on Sept. 23, (previous picture).

Credit Corey Accardo/NOAA

"The massive concentration of walruses onshore -- when they should be scattered broadly in ice-covered waters -- is just one example of the impacts of climate change on the distribution of marine species in the Arctic," Margaret Williams, the World Wildlife Fund's managing director of the Arctic program, said in a statement.

Point Lay, near where the walruses gathered, is on the Arctic Ocean coast just above the Bering Sea. The WWF says other large haul-outs have been reported to the west of Alaska on Russian shores.
A report from the National Snow and Ice Data Center on September 22 said Arctic sea ice had reached its lowest extent of the year on September 17, the sixth-lowest amount of Arctic sea ice on record.

Tracking Pacific Walrus: Expedition to the Shrinking Chukchi Sea Ice

"We are witnessing a slow-motion catastrophe in the Arctic," Lou Leonard, vice president for climate change at the WWF, said in a statement last month.
"As this ice dwindles, the Arctic will experience some of the most dramatic changes our generation has ever witnessed. This loss will impact the annual migration of wildlife through the region, threaten the long-term health of walrus and polar bear populations, and change the lives of those who rely on the Arctic ecosystem for their way of life."

This year's ice report and massive walrus haul-out come the same month that a NOAA report said sea surface temperatures across a vast expanse of the North Pacific are 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) higher than normal.
"Not since records began has the region of the North Pacific Ocean been so warm for so long," the NOAA report says.
A heat map accompanying the NOAA report shows deep red in the Bering Sea, indicating the biggest difference from normal in that expanse of water.

 

Links :

• The Guardian : Are walrus at risk from climate change?
• USGS : Walrus radio tracking

Nat Young's mesmerizing Tahitian wave

From HuffingtonPost

There are times when nature's elements align perfectly to give us a glimpse of what heaven might look like.
When such moments arrive for pro surfer Nat Young, we all win.
This year, the California-born surfer literally rode off into the sunset while surfing the Tahitian surf break known as Teahupoo.
The results, as seen in this video, are nothing short of mind-blowing perfection as Young glides effortlessly through the golden-hued barrel -- which actually forms twice! -- toward the island's rolling green mountains and cotton candy clouds, all while the glowing sun sinks into the horizon.
In fact, Young's ride was so perfect, he won $10,000 just for catching it on camera and submitting it to the Association of Surfing Professional's GoPro challenge.
But don't let the wave's idyllic nature fool you.
Teahupoo, which translates to "broken skulls," has an extremely shallow and jagged reef and a powerfully steep wave-shape. It's an extremely dangerous wave, saved for the bravest of souls.
Hats off to you, Young, for this deliciously daring wave.

Canada CHS update in the Marine GeoGarage

As our public viewer is not yet available
(currently under construction, upgrading to Google Maps API v3 as v2 is officially no more supported),
this info is primarily intended to our B2B customers which use our nautical charts layers
in their own webmapping applications through our GeoGarage API. 

CHS raster charts coverage

84 charts have been updated (September 29, 2014)

• 1312 LAC SAINT-PIERRE
• 1313 BATISCAN AU/TO LAC SAINT-PIERRE
• 1314 DONNACONA À/TO BATISCAN
• 1315 QUÉBEC À/TO DONNACONA
• 1316 PORT DE QUÉBEC
• 1317 SAULT-AU-COCHON À/TO QUÉBEC
• 2053 PORT HOPE HARBOUR
• 2055 FRENCHMAN'S BAY
• 2058 COBOURG TO/À OSHAWA
• 2077 LAKE ONTARIO/LAC ONTARIO - WESTERN PORTION/PARTIE OUEST
• 2203A CARLING ROCK TO/À TWIN SISTERS ISLAND
• 2203B TWIN SISTERS ISLAND TO/À RASPBERRY ISLAND ISLAND AND/ET TONCHES ISLAND
• 2203C ISLE OF PINES TO/À BYNG INLET
• 2205 KILLARNEY TO/À LITTLE CURRENT
• 2207A BAY OF ISLANDS TO/À BENJAMIN ISLANDS
• 2207B LITTLE CURRENT
• 2250 BRUCE MINES TO/À SUGAR ISLAND
• 2257 CLAPPERTON ISLAND TO/À JOHN ISLAND
• 2259 JOHN ISLAND TO / À BLIND RIVER
• 2283A OWEN SOUND TO/À GIANTS TOMB ISLAND
• 2283B OWEN SOUND TO/À GIANTS TOMB ISLAND
• 2299 CLAPPERTON ISLAND TO/À MELDRUM BAY
• 2300 LAKE SUPERIOR / LAC SUPÉRIEUR
• 2310 CARIBOU ISLAND TO MICHIPICOTEN ISLAND
• 2318 HERON BAY
• 3410 SOOKE INLET TO/À PARRY BAY
• 3440 RACE ROCKS TO/À D'ARCY ISLAND
• 3461 JUAN DE FUCA STRAIT EASTERN PORTION/PARTIE EST
• 3462 JUAN DE FUCA STRAIT TO/À STRAIT OF GEORGIA
• 3724 CAAMANO SOUND AND APPROACHES / ET LES APPROCHES
• 3726 LAREDO SOUND AND APPROACHES
• 3741 OTTER PASSAGE TO BONILLA ISLAND
• 3742 OTTER PASSAGE TO/À McKAY REACH
• 3909 BRUNDIGE INLET
• 3936 FITZ HUGH SOUND TO / À LAMA PASSAGE
• 3939 FISHER CHANNEL TO/À SEAFORTH CHANNEL AND/ET DEAN CHANNEL
• 3984 PRINCIPE CHANNEL - SOUTHERN PORTION/PARTIE SUD
• 3987 KITKATLA CHANNEL AND/ET PORCHER INLET
• 4001 GULF OF MAINE TO STRAIT OF BELLE ISLE / AU DÉTROIT DE BELLE ISLE
• 4011 APPROACHES TO/APPROCHES À BAY OF FUNDY/BAIE DE FUNDY
• 4016 SAINT-PIERRE TO/À ST JOHN'S
• 4017 CAPE RACE TO / À CAPE FREELS
• 4024 BAIE DES CHALEURS / CHALEUR BAY AUX / TO ÎLES DE LA MADELEINE
• 4026 HAVRE-SAINT-PIERRE ET/AND CAP DES ROSIERS À/TO POINTE DES MONTS
• 4049 GRAND BANK NORTHERN PORTION/GRAND BANC PARTIE NORD TO\À FLEMISH PASS/PAS
• 4201 HALIFAX HARBOUR (BEDFORD BASIN)
• 4202 HALIFAX HARBOUR POINT PLEASANT TO/À BEDFORD BASIN
• 4266 SYDNEY HARBOUR
• 4275 ST PETERS BAY
• 4277 GREAT BRAS D'OR / ST. ANDREWS AND / ET ST. ANNS BAY
• 4308 ST. PETERS BAY TO/À STRAIT OF CANSO
• 4320 EGG ISLAND TO / À WEST IRONBOUND ISLAND
• 4328 LUNENBURG BAY
• 4340 GRAND MANAN
• 4381 MAHONE BAY
• 4384 PEARL ISLAND TO/À CAPE LA HAVE
• 4403 EAST POINT TO/À CAPE BEAR
• 4419 SOURIS HARBOUR AND APPROACHES / ET LES APPROCHES
• 4421 BOUGHTON RIVER
• 4447 POMQUET AND TRACADIE HARBOURS / HAVRES DE POMQUET ET TRACADIE
• 4448 PORT HOOD
• 4466 HILLSBOROUGH BAY
• 4486 BAIE DES CHALEURS / CHALEUR BAY
• 4622 CAPE ST MARY'S TO/À ARGENTIA HARBOUR AND/ET JUDE ISLAND
• 4670 FORTEAU BAY
• 4682 LARKIN POINT TO/À CAPE ANGUILLE
• 4701 SHIP HARBOUR HEAD TO/AUX CAMP ISLANDS
• 4827 HARE BAY TO / À FORTUNE HEAD
• 4841 CAPE ST. MARY'S TO/À ARGENTIA
• 4846 MOTION BAY TO/À CAPE ST FRANCIS
• 4847 CONCEPTION BAY
• 4850 CAPE ST FRANCIS TO / À BACCALIEU ISLAND AND / ET HEART'S CONTENT
• 4851 TRINITY BAY - SOUTHERN PORTION / PARTIE SUD
• 4852 SMITH SOUND AND / ET RANDOM SOUND
• 4853 TRINITY BAY - NORTHERN PORTION / PARTIE NORD
• 4856 BONAVISTA BAY WESTERN PORTION/PARTIE OUEST
• 4909 BUCTOUCHE HARBOUR
• 4913 CARAQUET HARBOUR BAIE DE SHIPPEGAN ET/AND MISCOU HARBOUR
• 4950 ÎLES DE LA MADELEINE
• 4956 CAP-AUX-MEULES
• 4957 HAVRE-AUBERT
• 5001 LABRADOR SEA/MER DU LABRADOR
• 5031 ST LEWIS SOUND AND/ET INLET
• 6218A KENORA RAT PORTAGE BAY
• 6218B KENORA RAT PORTAGE BAY
• 7220 LANCASTER SOUND EASTERN APPROACHES/APPROCHES EST
• 7621 AMUNDSEN GULF
• 7778 CORONATION GULF EASTERN PORTION/PARTIE EST
• 8048 CAPE HARRISON TO/À ST MICHAEL BAY

So 693 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

New map exposes previously unseen details of seafloor

What would the Earth look like if we could drain the oceans?
Accessing two previously untapped streams of satellite data, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and their colleagues have created a new map of the world’s seafloor, creating a much more vivid picture of the structures that make up the deepest, least-explored parts of the ocean.
Thousands of previously uncharted mountains rising from the seafloor and new clues about the formation of the continents have emerged through the new map, which is twice as accurate as the previous version produced nearly 20 years ago

From Scripps by Mario Aguilera

Mysteries of the deep come alive as satellite data bring thousands of uncharted sea mountains and new clues about deep ocean structures into focus

Accessing two previously untapped streams of satellite data, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and their colleagues have created a new map of the world’s seafloor, creating a much more vivid picture of the structures that make up the deepest, least-explored parts of the ocean.

full screen view

Thousands of previously uncharted mountains rising from the seafloor and new clues about the formation of the continents have emerged through the new map, which is twice as accurate as the previous version produced nearly 20 years ago.

Global map of marine gravity

(image: David Sandwell)

Developed using a scientific model that captures gravity measurements of the ocean seafloor, the new map extracts data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) CryoSat-2 satellite, which primarily captures polar ice data but also operates continuously over the oceans, and Jason-1, NASA’s satellite that was redirected to map the gravity field during the last year of its 12-year mission.

Marine gravity model of the North Atlantic (10 mGal contours).

Red dots show locations of earthquakes with magnitude > 5.5 and they highlight the present-day location of the seafloor spreading ridges and transform faults.

This gravity information shows the details of the plate tectonic history of the rifting of these continents including the subtle signatures of fracture zones that are currently buried by sediment.

 Marine gravity model of the Central Indian Ocean (10 mGal contours). Red dots show locations of earthquakes with magnitude > 5.5 and they highlight the present-day location of the seafloor spreading ridges and transform faults.

The image is centered at the Indian Ocean Triple Junction where three major tectonic plates meet (African plate – left; Indo-Australian plate – right; Antarctic plate bottom.

This region of the Indian Ocean is very poorly charted and includes the search area for the Malaysian flight MH370 that was lost March 8, 2014.

Combined with existing data and drastically improved remote sensing instruments, the new map, described in the journal Science, has revealed details of thousands of undersea mountains, or seamounts, extending a kilometer or more from the ocean bottom.
The new map also gives geophysicists new tools to investigate ocean spreading centers and little-studied remote ocean basins.
“The kinds of things you can see very clearly now are abyssal hills, which are the most common land form on the planet,” said David Sandwell, lead scientist of the paper and a geophysics professor in the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) at Scripps.

 Vertical gravity gradient (VGG) model of the Indian Ocean Triple Junction.

The image is centered at the Indian Ocean Triple Junction where three major tectonic plates meet (African plate – left; Indo-Australian plate – right; Antarctic plate bottom.

Vertical gravity gradient (VGG) model of the Southwest Indian Ridge.

This is the slowest spreading ridge on the Earth and has large fracture zone signatures that record the rifting and spreading between Africa and Antarctica.

The authors of the study say the map provides a new window into the tectonics of the deep oceans. Previously unseen features in the map include newly exposed continental connections across South America and Africa, and new evidence for seafloor spreading ridges at the Gulf of Mexico that were active 150 million years ago and are now buried by mile-thick layers of sediment.

The high-resolution multibeam sonar bathymetry data show that the newly charted seamount is not very prominent and rises just over 600 m from its base.
The summit of the seamount rises 1,100 meters from the 5,100-meter-deep ocean floor.
(3D view of the SouthWest side of the seamount with 23° slopes)

However, it's wide enough to be detected in the gravity signal.

- courtesy of Larry Mayer,  University New Hampshire -

“One of the most important uses of this new marine gravity field will be to improve the estimates of seafloor depth in the 80 percent of the oceans that remains uncharted or is buried beneath thick sediment,” the authors say in the report.
“Although CryoSat-2’s primary mission is in the cryosphere, we knew as soon as we selected its orbit that it would be invaluable for marine geodesy, and this work proves the point,” said Richard Francis, a coauthor of the paper and project manager for the development of CryoSat-2 at the European Space Agency, and honorary professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London.

Interpolation of ocean-floor shape by satellite

•  Most ocean maps are derived from satellite altimeter measurements
• Satellites infer ocean-floor features from the shape of the sea surface
• They detect surface height anomalies driven by variations in local gravity
• The gravity from the extra mass of mountains makes the water pile up
• In lower-mass regions, such as over trenches, the sea-surface will dip
• Limited high-resolution ship data has calibrated the satellites' maps

The new map also provides the foundation for the upcoming new version of Google’s ocean maps to fill large voids between shipboard depth profiles.
“The team has developed and proved a powerful new tool for high-resolution exploration of regional seafloor structure and geophysical processes,” says Don Rice, program director in the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Division of Ocean Sciences.
“This capability will allow us to revisit unsolved questions and to pinpoint where to focus future exploratory work.”
“The use of satellite altimeter data and Sandwell’s improved data processing technique provides improved estimates of marine gravity and bathymetry world-wide, including in remote areas,” said Joan Cleveland, Office of Naval Research (ONR) deputy director, Ocean Sensing and Systems Division. “Accurate bathymetry and identifying the location of seamounts are important to safe navigation for the U.S. Navy.”

 Depths over seamounts, including Reed Bank and Palawan, in the South China Sea are pictured

In addition to Sandwell and Francis, coauthors of the paper include R. Dietmar Muller of the University of Sydney, Walter Smith of the NOAA Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry, and Emmanuel Garcia of Scripps.
The study was supported by NSF, ONR, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and ConocoPhillips.

Links :

• BBC : Satellites detect 'thousands' of new ocean-bottom mountains / map in 3d
• NationalGeographic : Interpolation of ocean-floor shape by satellite 
• Wired : Super-detailed interactive 3-D seafloor map
• Nature : Gravity map uncovers sea-floor surprises
• SciencesMag : Satellites reveal hidden features at the bottom of Earth's seas
• Retracking CryoSat-2, Envisat and Jason-1 radar altimetry waveforms for improved gravity field recovery

Earth's oceans get numerical ratings for overall health

The world's oceans get a 'D' in a health report card called the Ocean Health Index.

Still, researchers say, with all the problems facing our seas, the result was better than expected.
(Photo : University of California Santa Barbara)

From TechTimes by Jim Algar

It's report card time for the world's seas, as a newly released Ocean Health Index has graded the globe's marine expanses in terms of overall health.

The index, produced by a coalition led by scientists at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California, Santa Barbara and by Conservation International, covers the 15 ocean regions of the world beyond national jurisdiction -- the world's high seas.
The University of British Columbia, the New England Aquarium and other institutions also contributed data to the index.

The average score?

On a typical school report card, it would be a "D" with 67 out of a possible 100, based on a "quantifiable assessment of the capacity of our oceans to deliver benefits and resources sustainably," the index's website said. (see Press Release)

 The new Ocean Health Index is designed to assess the importance of the seas to people as well as other species. Here, a man paddles over a coral reef in Bird's Head, Raja Ampat, Indonesia.

Photograph courtesy Sterling Zumbrunn, Conservation International

The oceans were rated on their contribution to maintaining a healthy climate, safeguarding biodiversity and providing sustainable food sources, UCSB researchers say.
To determine the scores, the researchers looked at ecological, economic, social and political factors and combined them all in a computer model for a final grade.
The index identified pollution, overfishing, climate change and the lack of marine protections as key problems.

There was variation around the world, the researchers noted, with the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean both scoring above the 67 average, receiving a grade of 72.HuffingtonPost : Despite Its Remoteness, Antarctica's Health Matters
"Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are protected by distance from many of the threats caused by human populations, such as chemicals, excessive nutrients, and pathogens and trash," noted Greg Stone, chief scientist at the Moore Center for Science and Oceans at Conservation International.

  UPI/Matthew Healey

The improvement in scores since the previous index released in 2012 was likely due to conservation measures that have slowed the decline in ocean health seen since the beginning of the industrial era, the researchers said.
"The score of 100 that is set as a target for each goal reflects a status that is feasible to achieve and can sustainably produce maximum benefits now and in the future," says Steve Katona, managing director for the Ocean Health Index.

"Any score below 100 means there is room for improvement."

Still, he said, given recent bad news of overfishing, deaths of coral reefs, pollution and climate change, the score should be seen as better than many people may have expected, he says.
"If you come home with a paper from school, your parents aren't real happy if it's a 67, but most people expected a score for the ocean that was worse," he said.

Links :

• NYTimes : Introducing the Ocean Health Index
• PSmag : Is the Global Ocean healthy? We can answer that now
• UCSantaBarbara : Rating the Planet’s Oceans
• National Geographic : Ocean Health Gets "D" Grade in New Global Report Card
• HuffingtonPost : Despite Its Remoteness, Antarctica's Health Matters