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From the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, c1700
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
New maps of salinity reveal the impact of climate variability on oceans
From ESA
Since the saltiness of ocean surface waters is a key variable in the climate system, understanding how this changes is important to understanding climate change.
Thanks to ESA’s Climate Change Initiative, scientists now have better insight into sea-surface salinity with the most complete global dataset ever produced from space.
If you’re a keen sea-swimmer, you may have noticed that the water can be saltier in some places than others.
This is because the saltiness of the water depends on nearby additions of freshwater from rivers, rain, glaciers or ice sheets, or on the removal of water by evaporation.
The salinity of the ocean surface can be monitored from space using satellites to give a global view of the variable patterns of sea-surface salinity across the oceans.
Unusual salinity levels may indicate the onset of extreme climate events, such as El Niño.
Global maps of sea-surface salinity are particularly helpful for studying the water cycle, ocean–atmosphere exchanges and ocean circulation, which are all vital components of the climate system transporting heat, momentum, carbon and nutrients around the globe.
A new and ongoing project for ESA’s Climate Change Initiative (CCI) – a research programme dedicated to generating accurate and long-term datasets for 21 Essential Climate Variables, required by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – has generated the most complete global dataset of sea-surface salinity from space to date.
“The project aims to make a significant improvement to the quality and length of the datasets available for monitoring sea-surface salinity across the globe,” says Susanne Mecklenburg, head of ESA’s Climate Office.
“We are keen to see this new dataset used and tested in a variety of applications, particularly to improve our understanding of the fundamental role that oceans have in climate.”
The research team, led by Jacqueline Boutin of LOCEAN and Nicolas Reul of IFREMER, has merged data from three satellite missions to create a global timeseries that spans nine years, with maps produced every week and every month at a spatial resolution of 50 km.
They used observations of brightness temperature to derive sea-surface salinity from microwave sensors onboard the SMOS, Aquarius, and Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite missions.
Dr Boutin said, “By combining and comparing measurements between the different sensors, the team has been able to improve the precision of maps of sea-surface salinity by roughly 30%.”
Salinity measurements taken since the 1950s indicate that globally, the more saline areas of the ocean are becoming saltier, and the freshwater areas are becoming fresher.
The data for this, however, are relatively coarse, taken by ships.
It is only since the beginning of the 21st century that ocean floats called Argo have been installed, on average every 300 km, to provide subsurface salinity vertical profiles between approximately 5 m and 2000 m depth at 10-day intervals.
“Monitoring salinity from space helps to resolve spatial and temporal scales that are poorly sampled by in situ platforms that make direct observations, and fills gaps in the observing system,” says Dr Boutin.
Ocean–atmosphere exchanges are driven by winds around the globe, as well as by exchanges between the surface and subsurface ocean owing to changes in the density of the water itself.
Water density depends on both temperature and salinity.
Warm water is less dense than cold water, but salty water is denser than freshwater.
At depth, ocean circulation is powered by differences in density between masses of water.
As carbon dioxide builds up in the atmosphere, increasing amounts of carbon are entering the world’s oceans, which is changing the chemical balance of seawater and leading to ocean acidification.
Marine chemistry can be studied using four parameters: partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the water; dissolved inorganic carbon; alkalinity; potential of hydrogen (pH).
Two of these parameters, along with measurements of salinity and temperature, allow us to understand the complete carbon chemistry of the ocean.
Salinity and temperature can be detected from space by their effect on electromagnetic emissions from the ocean surface.
ESA’s SMOS mission provides information on ocean salinity – a key piece of the puzzle.
Studying the global changes in salinity at the ocean surface can help climate scientists to model exchanges between the atmosphere and the ocean surface and between the ocean surface and the deeper ocean layers and predict change.
Regional changes in salinity are linked to periodic inter-annual climate events such as the El Niño.
Salinity is also implicated in the intensification of the global water cycle.
To demonstrate the benefits of the new dataset, ESA’s CCI Sea Surface Salinity project is carrying out a number of climate studies.
These are focused on an improved understanding of the water cycle in the Bay of Bengal, an area prone to severe tropical cyclones, and in the Gulf of Guinea; on understanding the role of salinity on the stratification of the upper layer of the ocean and its effect on the air–sea exchanges; and on a climate variability reconstruction in the Atlantic that encompasses the recently-observed North Atlantic salinity anomaly.
The team is currently working with climate scientists to compare the new dataset with in situ observations from Argo floats and ships, and with the output from models.
The dataset is freely available for download from the CCI Open Data Portal.
Links :
Monday, December 2, 2019
Trade wars even scare the megarich – just look at Superyacht sales
photo : Balint Porneczi / Bloomberg
From Bloomberg by Michael Sasso
A rising economic tide lifts all boats, so the saying goes.
It turns out the opposite is true, too.
Even the super-rich are feeling skittish about the future lately, given a trade war between the U.S. and China, a Germany teetering on recession and bloody clashes in Hong Kong.
And that’s stoking anxiety among “superyacht” dealers, where a good day at the office means selling a $50 million vessel.
Sales of them are seen as a good barometer of the economy, because they’re discretionary and easily dropped at the first hint of recession.
That’s why the U.S. boating industry is nervous about a slump in sales this year.
Sales of freshwater fishing boats, popular with the middle class, are down about 6% in recent months compared with the same time last year.
Meantime, superyacht dealers had sold only 102 ships this year through September, and they appeared likely to come up far short of the 199 they shifted all of last year.
Ultimately, purchasing a superyacht comes down to confidence — or lack thereof — and all the turmoil around the world isn’t helping, said Thom Conboy, who sells them on behalf of Dutch shipbuilder Heesen Yachts.
Proposals for a wealth tax by some candidates for the U.S. presidency aren’t welcome, he adds.
For now, U.S. consumers are helping keep the American economy afloat.
The Conference Board’s widely followed consumer confidence gauge fell for a fourth consecutive month in November, but is still a fairly robust 125.5.
The measure hit a low point of 25.3 at the depths of the Great Recession.
So, the boating industry hopes the recent sales slowdown resulted from unusually wet and cold conditions in parts of the U.S. earlier this year, which kept buyers at home, and doesn’t foretell a future recession.
The anxiety in U.S. boating, featured in this week’s Stephanomics podcast, shows how global uncertainties including the trade war and Brexit are weighing on people’s confidence, even among the very rich.
Overall, consumer spending accounts for 70% of the U.S. economy, and America’s ability to keep recession at bay depends on their willingness to keep opening their wallets.
Charting the Trade War
Global trade will shrink through the end of the year as countries around the world continue to grapple with a manufacturing-led slowdown.
An index by freight giant DHL fell to a four year-low in November, capturing the uncertainty in the global economy amid still-elusive negotiations on a U.S-China trade deal, a slowdown in China and an industrial slump in Germany.
The gauge slipped 2 points in November to 45, moving further below the 50 level that divides contraction and expansion.
Today’s Must Reads
- Mega-deal holdout | Japan is not considering signing a Chinese-backed regional trade pact without India, the country’s top negotiator said ahead of a series of upcoming diplomatic exchanges that include a visit to Delhi by Premier Shinzo Abe.
- Port problems | Sri Lanka’s new government wants to undo the previous regime’s move to lease the port of Hambantota — which lies on the main shipping routes between Asia and Europe — to a Chinese venture, citing national interest.
- Post-Brexit pacts | Prime Minister Boris Johnson could not give a figure for how many trade deals the U.K. has ready ahead of its departure from the EU. “I imagine we have about a dozen we’re currently working on,” he said, naming China, India, New Zealand and Australia as examples.
- Rivers of soy | American soybeans that were once stranded on ships along China’s coast are coming ashore again just as Donald Trump declares the two nations are in the final throes of a trade agreement.
- Germany’s China worry | Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government plans to tighten restrictions on foreign takeovers amid growing concerns China is scooping up Germany’s technology jewels.
- Economic Analysis
- Italian pain | Italy's export sector has suffered more than any other of the euro area's four largest economies: It's lost about 45% of its share of world trade since 1997.
- Tracking Germany | Bloomberg Economics’ GDP tracker for Germany points to a slight improvement in underlying economic conditions going into the end of the year.
- Bloomberg : Why Superyacht Sales Are Key to the Global Economy
- GeoGarage blog : A $50 million boat for the toys you can't fit on ... / Blue Planet gives super-rich their new toys ... / Why the super-rich are taking their mega ... / The $1 billion superyacht: Bigger, longer ... / World's largest yacht launched: the 183m ... / More than a holiday: Pegaso, the luxury superyacht that doubles as a science lab
Sunday, December 1, 2019
30 years ago : anniversary of the first Vendee Globe 1989-1990
The Vendée Globe 1989-1990, officially the Vendée Globe Challenge,
is the first edition of the Vendée Globe.
The start was given on November 26, 1989, in Les Sables-d'Olonne.
Titouan Lamazou (Ecureuil d'Aquitaine II), Alain Gautier (Generali Concorde), Jean-François Coste (Cacharel Pen Duick III), Philippe Poupon (Fleury Michon X), Pierre Follenfant (TBS-Charente Maritime), Jean-Yves Terlain (UAP), Guy Bernardin (O-Kay), Patrice Carpentier (Le Nouvel Observateur), Loïck Peyron (Lada Poch), Mike Plant (Duracell), Bertie Reed (Grinaker), Jean-Luc Van Den Heede (36.15 MET), Philippe Jeantot (Crédit Agricole IV)
Selected clips from Loïck Peyron's video 'Petit Tour Du Monde Illustré' edited
in 2008.
"The globe challenge: it is the absolute, the race of the century. Imagine yourself alone on a 18-metre long boat for 110 days. Alone in front of a camera to whom you will tell all your anguish about hitting an iceberg, your joy at finding and saving Poupon, your deliverance while passing Cape Horn."
Saturday, November 30, 2019
eXXpedition to end ocean plastic pollution
Created by Copernicus Service and Mercator Ocean for eXXpedition's North Pacific 2018 voyages
From Mapbox by Marena Brinkhust
On Mapbox’s Community Team, I help organizations use location tools to approach environmental challenges in a lot of different ways — but I’ve never done anything like this:
This week, I’m traveling to Antigua where on Friday I’ll set sail for a week on Leg 4 of eXXpedition, a round-the-world sailing voyage to study and spur action on ocean plastic pollution.
Over two years, 300 women from around the world will sail sections of this journey, collectively circling the globe, gathering scientific data, and connecting with communities to turn the tide on plastic waste.
The world’s oceans hold an estimated 5,250 billion pieces of plastic with a combined weight of 268,940 tons.
While the problem isn’t visible to us every day, it affects all of us.
Pieces of plastics, and toxins like pesticides that attach to them, are ingested by marine organisms and travel up the food chain until they eventually end up inside our bodies.
This is especially concerning for women because of how chemicals like bisphenol-A (the backbone of many plastics) harm our reproductive systems.
By bringing together hundreds of women across disciplines — scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs, artists, and activists — eXXpedition aims to draw attention to the local and global implications of the problem of plastic pollution, encouraging both individual choices and improved waste management practices that will benefit everyone.
Creating the eXXpedition map
Over the last few months, I’ve been working with the eXXpedition team, developers Anthony Goddard and Ryan Nevius at ZeroSixZero, and other volunteers at Mapbox to create the tracking map for eXXpedition.
We designed the map to connect eXXpedition with everyone watching from shore, and to help people explore the deeper stories and science behind the ocean circulation and plastic pollution.
Ship location coordinates are sent by the on-board YB Tracker every six hours via a satellite connection.
The route was plotted on the custom map style, which switches into a satellite base map view at high zoom levels for planned dry land stops.
To add context to the ocean voyage, the map also includes data layers for bathymetry (ocean depth), currents, wind, and models of ocean plastic gyres (vast areas where swirls of currents concentrate a massive volume of floating debris.)
We drew styling inspiration from striking data visualizations made by Dumpark and National Geographic and the tracking map that Mapbox built with the Rebelle Rally.
On top of these data layers, each crew will be adding points to share updates and photos so people can engage further with the science and stories of eXXpedition.
We will continue to add to and refine the map as it grows over the two years of the voyage.
The most interesting part for me so far has been connecting with researchers who are modeling marine plastic accumulation including Laurent Lebreton (whose data we use in the tracking map), Marcus Eriksen, and Nikolai Maximenko.
These models use data from samples collected by past ocean expeditions.
eXXpedition will advance this research by collecting further samples of microplastics, polymer concentrations in the water and coastal sediments, and the distribution of plastics by depth.
To do this, the ship must navigate to and through gyres — and coastal waters alike to examine ocean plastic pollution from source to sea.
Marine navigation is one aspect of the voyage that I am most excited to learn about, so stay tuned for my report back on how we navigate from Antigua to Bonaire and Aruba.
Setting sail
Ocean plastic pollution is a daunting problem, and for years I’ve felt like there’s nothing that an individual can do to change it.
I’m excited to join eXXpedition and connect with the community of changemakers charting a course of action.
Join me and Mapbox in supporting the mission of eXXpedition:
Follow @eXXpedition on social media — and share your #eXXpedition support! (Twitter Instagram Facebook)
Donate to support eXXpedition.
Support ocean conservation organizations and local anti-plastic campaigns.
Use the SHiFT Toolkit to reduce your use of disposable plastics.
This week, I’m traveling to Antigua where on Friday I’ll set sail for a week on Leg 4 of eXXpedition, a round-the-world sailing voyage to study and spur action on ocean plastic pollution.
Over two years, 300 women from around the world will sail sections of this journey, collectively circling the globe, gathering scientific data, and connecting with communities to turn the tide on plastic waste.
The world’s oceans hold an estimated 5,250 billion pieces of plastic with a combined weight of 268,940 tons.
While the problem isn’t visible to us every day, it affects all of us.
Pieces of plastics, and toxins like pesticides that attach to them, are ingested by marine organisms and travel up the food chain until they eventually end up inside our bodies.
This is especially concerning for women because of how chemicals like bisphenol-A (the backbone of many plastics) harm our reproductive systems.
By bringing together hundreds of women across disciplines — scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs, artists, and activists — eXXpedition aims to draw attention to the local and global implications of the problem of plastic pollution, encouraging both individual choices and improved waste management practices that will benefit everyone.
“Through the Gyre.”
eXXpedition tracking map shows ship location, route, and modeled concentration of ocean plastic.
eXXpedition tracking map shows ship location, route, and modeled concentration of ocean plastic.
Creating the eXXpedition map
Over the last few months, I’ve been working with the eXXpedition team, developers Anthony Goddard and Ryan Nevius at ZeroSixZero, and other volunteers at Mapbox to create the tracking map for eXXpedition.
We designed the map to connect eXXpedition with everyone watching from shore, and to help people explore the deeper stories and science behind the ocean circulation and plastic pollution.
Top: Bathymetry (data: Natural Earth) and wind layers.
Bottom, ocean currents (data: CMEMS) visualized across zoom levels.
Ship location coordinates are sent by the on-board YB Tracker every six hours via a satellite connection.
The route was plotted on the custom map style, which switches into a satellite base map view at high zoom levels for planned dry land stops.
To add context to the ocean voyage, the map also includes data layers for bathymetry (ocean depth), currents, wind, and models of ocean plastic gyres (vast areas where swirls of currents concentrate a massive volume of floating debris.)
Ocean plastics pollution visualized by Dumpark
Ocean plastics pollution visualized by National Geographic
On top of these data layers, each crew will be adding points to share updates and photos so people can engage further with the science and stories of eXXpedition.
We will continue to add to and refine the map as it grows over the two years of the voyage.
The most interesting part for me so far has been connecting with researchers who are modeling marine plastic accumulation including Laurent Lebreton (whose data we use in the tracking map), Marcus Eriksen, and Nikolai Maximenko.
These models use data from samples collected by past ocean expeditions.
eXXpedition will advance this research by collecting further samples of microplastics, polymer concentrations in the water and coastal sediments, and the distribution of plastics by depth.
To do this, the ship must navigate to and through gyres — and coastal waters alike to examine ocean plastic pollution from source to sea.
Marine navigation is one aspect of the voyage that I am most excited to learn about, so stay tuned for my report back on how we navigate from Antigua to Bonaire and Aruba.
Ocean plastic concentration on the part of the route I’ll be sailing.
Setting sail
Ocean plastic pollution is a daunting problem, and for years I’ve felt like there’s nothing that an individual can do to change it.
I’m excited to join eXXpedition and connect with the community of changemakers charting a course of action.
Join me and Mapbox in supporting the mission of eXXpedition:
Follow @eXXpedition on social media — and share your #eXXpedition support! (Twitter Instagram Facebook)
Donate to support eXXpedition.
Support ocean conservation organizations and local anti-plastic campaigns.
Use the SHiFT Toolkit to reduce your use of disposable plastics.
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