High-Resolution Multibeam Mapping of Mid-Atlantic Canyons to Assess Tsunami HazardsUSGS - For the past 5 years, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, have been studying submarine canyons and landslides to assess the potential for landslide-generated tsunamis along the U.S. east coast. This study was requested and funded by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which is concerned about the potential impact of tsunamis on new and existing nuclear power plants. Recent devastating tsunamis in Samoa (2009), Chile (2010), and Japan (2011) offer sober reminders of the importance of accurately identifying and characterizing the natural events, or "sources," that can generate tsunamis.
International Team Studies Impacts of Oil and Gas Drilling on Cold-Water Corals in NorwayUSGS - Oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, as in the Gulf of Mexico, involves deep-sea drilling. Commonly, areas of interest for hydrocarbons overlap areas where cold-water corals (also called deep-sea corals) live. These corals do not have photosynthetic algal symbionts (zooxanthellae) like tropical corals, but they do create complex habitat for hundreds of other animals, including fishes, crabs, and shrimp. These cold-water coral reefs are centers of biodiversity in deep water. Regulations exist to keep drilling from occurring too close to the corals; however, drilling mud (a slurry of clays used to keep the drill lubricated) can form long plumes of particulates that may affect corals some distance from the drilling operation.
Where’s the Beach? Under the Seaweed.THE NEW YORK TIMES - An invasion of seaweed that is extraordinary in volume and geographic scope has been besieging the eastern Caribbean since June, sending resorts and government agencies from Anguilla in the north to Tobago in the south scrambling to rid beaches of the smelly, brown, bug-attracting algae before the impending high season.
Scientists call for end to deep-sea fishingTHE WASHINGTON POST - Industrial fishing in the deep sea should be banned because it has depleted fish stocks that take longer to recover than other species, according to a paper to be released this week by an international team of marine scientists. The article, published in the scientific journal Marine Policy, describes fishing operations that have in recent decades targeted the unregulated high seas after stocks near shore were overfished.
Coral Reefs in the Pacific NorthwestCURRENTS- You may be surprised to know that corals are not only found in warm and bright tropical waters, but a stunning variety of corals live right off our coast here in the Pacific Northwest. These beautiful, deep-water corals take food right out of the water, so they don’t rely on sunlight and symbiotic algae for food like their warm-water cousins. They don’t grow very quickly, but they can live for hundreds of years.