Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Country diary: Allendale, Northumberland: Hedgehogs have everything they need in this garden

05/23/2013 - 14:59

Allendale, Northumberland: A volunteer brought boxes with breathing holes from the rescue centre. I sat and watched the hedgehogs emerge

Honesty is flowering all around the dark pile of leaves. Hellebores, fading from burgundy to antique pink, are creating a screen. Under the leaves a hedgehog is sleeping out the daytime, here in the same place that it spent the winter. This is its hibernaculum made from leaves that I heaped on this border last autumn. Perhaps thanks to my feeding it in November, it has survived the lengthy winter, along with a second hedgehog that nested in the same flowerbed.

Hedgehogs have everything they need in this garden. Plentiful food, water, undisturbed places to shelter and an absence of badgers – their only predators – have made it an ideal habitat. A month ago this garden was chosen as a release site by Northumbrian Hedgehog Rescue, an organisation funded by donations. From the back of a hatchback, volunteer Guy Pearce brought out six large cardboard boxes labelled with the names of their occupants. Each box had breathing holes, bedding, dried food, water and a hedgehog. We took them to quiet parts of the garden and left them there until dusk.

Under instructions, I took out cat food and bowls of water before opening the boxes. A half-moon cast shadows across the garden, bats flew around the roof of the house and tawny owls began calling in the wood. I sat motionless and watched as the most adventurous of the hedgehogs emerged. By morning all the boxes were empty.

It took time for one of the group to settle into the right routine. Houdini, as I named him, would forage in daylight so I would seal him back in a box until evening; he dug his way out of three boxes before emerging later and later. I have no idea how many hedgehogs now live in this garden. They can climb over the drystone walls, but the evidence is there in the morning; black droppings on the paths, a reassuring sight that they are still about.

Susie White
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ONW: Week of May 20, 2013 – Number 203

05/23/2013 - 14:31

President’s Corner

On Monday I was on an airplane to Seattle, my eyes glued to CNN, as the horrific situation unfolded from the deadly tornado that swept across Oklahoma. When truly devastating extreme events like these occur, we are clearly reminded of the value of accurate forecasting to minimize loss of life and property. Precise predictions depend on sustained federal research and development investments to understand the science underpinning these extreme events. Moreover, in the face of climate change, these storms are predicted to intensify in severity. While we mourn the tragedy in Oklahoma, I feel strongly that the storm’s devastation makes it evident that timely, accurate scientific observations and predictions are imperative to our nation’s preparedness and resilience. To this end, Ocean Leadership and UCAR submitted a co-signed letter today asking the House and Senate appropriators to emphasize the science investments which drive understanding, innovation and our nation’s economy a high priority in the federal budget process. The letter can be found here.

The reason I flew to Seattle this week was to attend the annual Ocean Observatories Initiative review. After many discussions of schedules, budgets and priorities, it was just great to take a tour which presented some of the infrastructure being designed and built by the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington for the Regional Scale Nodes component of the project. After all the hard work over the past three years, it is very exciting to see the hardware coming together for the deployments which will occur over the next two years. There is nothing like touching the titanium frames and housings and imagining all the unique and continuous data which will flow from the instruments after they are in the ocean.

Enjoy the holiday weekend. It is almost summer!

Bob

Bob Gagosian – From the President’s Office: 5-23-2013

05/23/2013 - 14:31

President’s Corner

Enjoy the holiday weekend. It is almost summer!

Bob

Noaa predicts wildly active hurricane season out of Atlantic and Caribbean

05/23/2013 - 13:54

Scientists say three to six major hurricanes will hit US, some in areas far beyond those typically associated with extreme storms

Americans were warned on Thursday to brace for an extremely active hurricane season – less than a year after the devastation of Sandy, which hit the east coast in October 2012 – with 13 to 20 named storms, including seven to 11 hurricanes.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, releasing its annual forecast, said 2013 would be prolific in raising storms out of the Atlantic and Caribbean. Of the predicted hurricanes, Noaa predicted that three to six could be major hurricanes, rated category three and packing winds of 111mph or higher.

Thursday's forecast was well above the average of 12 named storms, eight hurricanes and three major hurricanes. Administration officials also warned that the impacts of those storms – as with Sandy and Irene in 2011 – could be felt in areas far beyond those typically associated with hurricanes and tropical storms.

Sandy killed scores as it made its way across the Caribbean to the north-east US. While it was only a category two storm when it made landfall near Atlantic City in New Jersey, Sandy caused more than $75bn in damage. Lower Manhattan was knocked off the electrical grid for days because of storm surges and coastal communities have yet to recover.

"As we saw first-hand with Sandy, it's important to remember that tropical storm and hurricane impacts are not limited to the coastline. Strong winds, torrential rain, flooding, and tornadoes often threaten inland areas far from where the storm first makes landfall," said Kathryn Sullivan, the acting Noaa administrator.

Noaa scientists said there were three main causes behind the forecast of an extremely active season. They included a continuation of an atmospheric climate pattern, which includes a strong west African monsoon, that has been contributing to high activity during Atlantic hurricane season since the 1990s. Warmer ocean temperatures in the Atlantic and Caribbean oceans, where many storms originate, are also making for stronger storms. Officials said temperatures were on average about 0.8 of one degree fahrenheit above average.

El Niño, which can inhibit storm systems, was not expected to develop during this year's hurricane season. The season runs from 1 June to 1 November.

"There are no mitigating factors that we can see that will suppress the activity," said Gerry Bell, Noaa's lead Atlantic hurricane forecaster. "The computer models all point to an active, or very active, hurricane season."

Thursday's forecast was released at a time when Republicans in Congress are sharply scrutinising Noaa's role in forecasting. Earlier in the day, a house committee held a hearing to discuss privatising some of the forecasting functions that are overseen by the premier scientific agency. There has also been criticism of Noaa's messaging in advance of Hurricane Sandy, and whether its decision to officially downgrade the storm when it made landfall in New Jersey induced a false sense of security among some coastal communities.

Noaa officials, in unveiling their 2013 forecast, noted improvements to computer models that would allow better far-range prediction of storms. New Doppler radar data, to be introduced in July, will allow forecasters to better analyse rapidly changing storm conditions, officials said. However, the officials said it was impossible at this juncture to predict which coastal communities along the Atlantic coast are most likely to be hit this year.

It is also not yet clear when the storms will hit. As Sullivan noted, Sandy struck in the waning days of the hurricane season. "Hurricane Sandy was at the very end of the hurricane season and yet was one of the most devastating storms that we have ever seen," she said.

But officials said repeatedly that residents the length of the coast – and beyond – needed to prepare in advance, in order to be able to ride out storms in their homes or, if needed, have an exit plan in place. Such preparations should include putting aside a 72-hour supply of food and water at home, or having an evacuation plan in case of storm damage or flooding.

"This is a very dangerous hurricane season," said Joe Nimmich, who directs disaster response and recovery for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "If you are not prepared you may become one of the statistics we don't care to have."

Suzanne Goldenberg
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Earth's mantle affects long-term sea-level rise estimates

05/23/2013 - 13:37

New findings reveal that the U.S. shoreline -- from Virginia to Florida -- has been uplifted by more than 210 feet, meaning less ice melted than expected. This is big news for scientists who use the coastline to predict future sea-level rise.

Booker sees boost from horsemeat scandal

05/23/2013 - 13:35

Cash and carry group sees profits rise as caterers turn away from processed meats

Cash and carry group Booker has benefited from the horsemeat scandal as more caterers have turned away from processed meats and started making meals from scratch, according to the company. Chief executive Charles Wilson said: "We are the biggest meat supplier to the catering industry in the country and since the scandal we have seen quite a lot of the caterers turning back to making their own burgers and lasagnes. So, we've moved from selling pre-packaged burgers to selling more fresh mince instead."

Booker's profits jumped 13% to £101m, on sales up from £3.5bn to £4bn a year earlier. Wilson said the rise was also due to a boost in demand from small retailers who have managed to ride through the recession relatively unscathed: "There are quite of lot of good entrepreneurs and talented people saying 'I want to set up a deli' or a new format. We've also seen a big rise in high-quality steaks being sold, with a number of Brazilian and Argentinian steakhouses driving sales."

The company bought struggling rival Makro last year with the Competition Commission deciding the deal could be completed last month. Bosses believe this will add around £10m of sales next year.

Simon Neville
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Conservation agency approved cull of endangered birds, documents show

05/23/2013 - 13:34

Natural England licensed cull of tens of thousands of lesser black-backed gulls on one of England's largest shooting estates

Tens of thousands of endangered birds have been shot, trapped and poisoned on one of England's largest shooting estates with the approval of the government agency responsible for protecting the species, a Guardian investigation has found.

The government has licensed an annual cull of lesser black-backed gulls on the Abbeystead estate on the Bowland Fells in Lancashire for decades, officially to stop water pollution. However, some experts believe the culling was also partly to protect grouse shooting interests.

The regulator Natural England now admits that, since a government-led bird conservation review occurred in 2001, "confusion" over the legal protection status of the species has allowed the culling to continue, despite its population crashing in recent years.

Chris Packham, the BBC Springwatch presenter and naturalist, has described the situation as a "travesty" and the RSPB is now calling for an urgent review.

The 23,500-acre Abbeystead estate was bought in 1980 by a trust "on behalf" of the Duke of Westminster, one of the UK's richest landowners. The duke's Grosvenor Estate manages the Abbeystead estate, which hosts pheasant and grouse shoots.

The estate was first allowed to cull the gulls in the 1970s on the grounds that droppings were polluting the watercourse. The licence to cull was last renewed by NE in 1999. But a former Abbeystead gull surveyor has admitted that the culling has been conducted, in part, to protect the "economy of the shooting estates". The species is known to eat grouse eggs.

Documents released to the Guardian under freedom of information laws show that techniques deployed over the years have included the use of a poison called alpha-chloralose, cannon-netting, gas guns, flag waving, falconry and shooting. Until 2003, 4,000-10,000 birds a year were being poisoned on the estate, according to one NE document. It is not known which culling techniques have been used since then.

The bird is a migratory gull with dark grey wings and distinctive yellow legs and bill. It has "amber" conservation status due to "serious concern about declines in many parts of its range". The UK, which it visits to breed during the summer months before returning to Portugal and west Africa in the winter, is home to 40% of the European population and more than half of these are found at fewer than 10 sites.

NE surveys of the Abbeystead population obtained by the Guardian show that in 1998 the Bowland Fells site of special scientific interest had recorded a peak population of 13,776 pairs. In 2001, 18,080 nests with eggs were recorded.

The surveys concluded that a baseline of 6,768 breeding pairs – the average population from 1983-87 – should be maintained in Bowland, but that a "loss of more than 25% is unacceptable". However, in 2012 the NE survey showed that pairs had fallen to the lowest level since records began in 1980, with just over 1,000 nests with eggs at Abbeystead/Tarnbrook. It warned that the "entire Bowland population is significantly below the level at the time of SSSI notification and is considered in unfavourable and declining condition". The survey also reported "significant and widespread culling and disturbance measures" in the area in 2012.

In 2001, government adviser the Joint Nature Conservation Committee published a review of the UK's Special Protection Areas, the sites classified in accordance with the European commission's birds directive, which seeks to legally protect endangered species and their habitats. It concluded that, alongside the hen harrier and the merlin, the gull was now a "qualifying species" within the Bowland SPA because it "supported a population of European importance". However, 12 years later, the official SPA citation document for Bowland has still not been updated to reflect that the gull should be a qualifying species deserving of legal protection.

NE admitted to the Guardian that this "mismatch" was still causing confusion, and that the culling at Abbeystead is therefore continuing legally. It said: "That the species still does not officially appear on the domestic SPA citation for Bowland is one of a number of instances where the 2001 review recommendations have yet to be translated into domestic legal documentation. There are other, similar instances at 97 other UK SPAs. The SPA Ramsar scientific working group and the Natura 2000 & Ramsar steering committee are aware of these and working towards a resolution. In the meantime, work continues to ensure that all species, which should be protected as part of an SPA, are safeguarded accordingly."

NE added that the reason why very few of the 2001 review's recommendations had been formally adopted was "principally due to resource issues and a need to prioritise marine SPA work". A new review was now under way, it stressed, which will "mop up many of the 2001 recommendations".

NE said it has been in dialogue with the Abbeystead estate since at least 2011 in an attempt to "seek the cessation of the current regime of disturbance and culling of [the gull] at Bowland Fells". It added: "These discussions are ongoing. Working through agreement remains Natural England's preferred approach. At Bowland Fells, as elsewhere, we pursue any modifications to existing consents on a voluntary basis with the aim of achieving a negotiated position with owner occupiers. Natural England's policy is to use enforcement as a last resort as, in most circumstances, it is a much lengthier and more costly process and can be subject to appeal."

Martin Harper, the RSPB's director of conservation, said: "The annual cull of lesser black-backed gulls in the Forest of Bowland should be halted. The gull's population is in serious decline nationally and an urgent evidence-led review is required to determine, once and for all, if there are any grounds for it to continue.

"Historically, the RSPB has reluctantly accepted the need for the Bowland population to be reduced on public health grounds to protect the water supply. We no longer think that this is still justified. The parlous state of lesser black-backed gulls around the UK is of serious concern as colonies in Cumbria and Suffolk are also in decline for reasons that are not clear; in Bowland we believe the decline can be reversed by stopping the cull."

Packham said he was "completely unaware of this travesty". He added: "In these days of widespread decline and the accompanying need for increasingly effective conservation, this perverse anomaly strikes me as particularly inexcusable on any level. The fate of a species should not be imperilled by the murderous desires of a minority. Here is a perfect opportunity for the shooting fraternity to publicly put their house in order and I sincerely hope they do."

The Grosvenor Estate said: "As we are involved in a dialogue with Natural England together with other land-owners, about the management of Bowland Fells, including the Abbeystead estate, we are not in a position to comment."

Leo Hickman
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What is the economic responsibility of corporate America? | Heidi Moore

05/23/2013 - 13:15

Even Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is calling out the private sector for not doing its part to help the frail economy

The best kind of Federal Reserve chairman is the one who doesn't believe he owes anyone anything. That is when we start to hear the truth about the economy more directly.

Seven years into his term, and unlikely to renew his engagement in Washington, Ben Bernanke has reached this state. He started out as a diplomat and an able politician who avoided offending people and adopted the appropriate Washington plumage to survive. Now he is the truth-teller we need.

He has spent seven years dealing with a do-nothing Congress with little more than perhaps quiet exasperation. Now that his term is nearly over, he is a bolder man. In his testimony before the Joint Economic Committee of Washington, he pulled no punches. He declared:

"Monetary policy is not omnipotent. We are pushing pretty hard at this point."

Bernanke has chided Congress before, subtly, on its refusal to take action with the budget and revise fiscal policy. He was not so subtle this time. Bernanke noted that long-term health of the economy is "not the Fed's job" - "that's the private sector's job and Congress's job."

Congress, we can leave aside. We know that austerity is painful and counterproductive, as the travails of Europe have shown us. If we didn't know it, Bernanke made it clear. Bernanke's mention of the private sector, however, is important. While Congress and the Fed discuss what to do about the slow economy, there are a few voices notably absent: those of any important CEOs willing to do their part to increase hiring.

The corporate and financial side of America - the private sector - is not doing its part to help the economy. Congress, as utterly useless as it has been in producing decent legislation, can only do that - legislation. Companies and banks actually hold the purse strings and hiring power, and they are not loosening them to help the economy.

Take a bill introduced by Democratic Representative John K Delaney of Maryland this week. The bipartisan bill - with 13 co-sponsors from the Republican and Democratic ranks - is devoted to improving the country's weakening infrastructure by luring corporations to contribute to the effort.

Many of these corporations, in protest of "high corporate taxes" that they rarely actually pay, hire expensive lawyers to avoid the entirety of their tax bills. Yet they use the nation's roads for trucking, our waterways for shipping, our bridges and city streets and airports. In small towns, one big corporation can make the entire economy, as FedEx is in its Tennessee headquarters. But how about the towns and the states that these companies just pass through on their way to making money? They don't get the same economic benefit to help with their maintenance.

While major corporations are happy to use infrastructure, they contribute very little to its maintenance as long as they don't pay their full compliment of taxes. Yet convincing these corporations to pay their full tax burden is a lost cause, as was evident yesterday when Apple CEO Tim Cook smilingly explained openly to Congress how Apple uses Irish subsidiaries to lessen its US tax bill. The lawmakers mostly met Cook's testimony with adoration. The message of his appearance on behalf of corporations everywhere was: allow us to pay lower taxes, and we will stop avoiding them.

As this ego-fed debate continues, the nation's infrastructure needs repair - hundreds of billions of dollars in repair, according to many studies - and that money isn't coming from the government. So Washington has to think carefully: how can it persuade corporations to do their duty and pick up part of the tab for the services they use?

The answer is in Congressman Delaney's bill, which proposes that companies be allowed to repatriate their foreign earnings at a lower tax rate - as low as 8%, probably - if they use some of the money to buy new infrastructure bonds. The bonds, of which only $50bn will be sold, will raise about $750bn for infrastructure investment.

With its bipartisan support and solid negotiation technique - a simple quid pro quo - the Delaney bill is likely to be successful, or at least should be. It is perhaps the first constructive answer to both a government and a corporate problem.

Still, there remains a question of whether the offshore tax holiday was ever really a plausible corporate problem, or one hyped by CEOs as an excuse to inflate their company's coffers and their stockholders' wallets rather than invest in new initiatives. Once the offshore-profits issue is out of the way, what excuse will companies have left for not investing money in the American economy and American workers?

The issue of offshore profits and a tax holiday was a red herring: US companies have not been hurting for cash. The stock market is at record highs overall, and particularly so for big companies. The stock market riches are flooding corporations in inflated stock options and paper wealth. Corporate profits, as a percentage of US GDP, are higher than ever, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve.

The 2004 tax holiday showed that the companies that took advantage actually fired workers, and that was during a good economy. There is no reason to believe they would be any more eager to hire as long as there is the excuse of a weak economy.

The truth is, the weak economy is not out of the hands of corporations. They don't have a tax problem. They don't have an economic problem. They don't have a problem of an unskilled workforce. Instead, they have an innovation problem. These companies could, for instance, invest in new initiatives or expand their business models. Very few, if any, companies are doing that. In fact, a recent study from Accenture raised the question of whether CEOs even believe in innovation as a solution any more. The survey of 512 companies found 51% said they were investing more in innovation but 46% said their companies were becoming risk-averse anyway.

This is fearful thinking, and it's the same plague that infects Congress. Just as fear has paralyzed Congress, it has scared CEOs. Yet fear is no excuse. Taxes are no excuse. Caution is no excuse.

The excuses have run out. The corporate side of America is not pulling its weight. It is not paying the fair price in economic boosterism or in taxes for all the advantages it enjoys. Instead of hearing Ben Bernanke testifying, or Congress and the Fed trading blame, maybe it's time to ask some CEOs why they have taken themselves out of the equation of getting America back on its feet.

Even more importantly, it's worth asking why we have let them.

Lower Sea Levels Influenced Tropical Climate During Ice Age

05/23/2013 - 12:55

(Click to enlarge) A vast pool of warm water stretches along the equator from Africa to the western Pacific Ocean. Now, scientists have discovered that the level of this water may have influenced the tropical climate of our Earth during the last ice age. (Photo : British Antarctic Survey)

A vast pool of warm water stretches along the equator from Africa to the western Pacific Ocean.

(From Science World Report / by Catherine Griffin) – Now, scientists have discovered that this warm water, known as the Indo-Pacific warm pool, may reveal clues about the climate during the last ice age.

In this new study, researchers investigated preserved geological clues (called “proxies”) of rainfall patterns that occurred during the last ice age. At the time, the Earth was dramatically cooler than it is today.

Massive glaciers covered much of the planet, and the Arctic ice sheet extended much further than it does today. The researchers then compared these rainfall patterns with computer model simulations in order to find a physical explanation for the patterns inferred from the proxies.

“For our research, we compared the climate of the ice age with our recent warmer climate,” said Pedro DiNezio, lead author of the study, in a news release. “We analyzed about 100 proxy records of rainfall and salinity stretching from the tropical western Pacific to the western Indian Ocean and eastern Africa. Rainfall and salinity signals recorded in geological sediments can tell us much about past changes in atmospheric circulation over land and ocean respectively.”

So what did they find? The researchers discovered that much of the Indo-Pacific warm pool was far drier during this ice age. They also found that several regions, such as the western Pacific and western Indian Ocean were, surprisingly, wetter.

The researchers weren’t done yet, though. They then matched up the rainfall and salinity patterns with simulations from climate models. They found that only one model of the 12 they used showed statistical agreement with the proxy-inferred patterns of the rainfall changes. The model that did agree, though, also corresponded with the rainfall and salinity indicators–two entirely independent sets of proxy data covering distinct areas of the tropics.

What does that mean exactly? The dry climate during the ice age was driven mainly by reduced convection over a region of the warm pool called the Sunda Shelf. Today, the shelf is submerged beneath the Gulf of Thailand. In the past, though, this shelf was above sea level when the oceans were almost 400 feet lower than they are today.

“Our research resolves a decades-old question of what the response of tropical climate was to glaciation,” said DiNezio. “The study, moreover, presents a fine benchmark for assessing the ability of climate models to simulate the response of tropical convection to altered land masses and global temperatures.”

The findings were published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Vast Methane-Based Ecosystem Uncovered

05/23/2013 - 12:50

(Click to enlarge) Tightly packed mussels formed mounds around the seep site. The rugged bottom appearance shows up on the sonar of the ROV Jason. (Credit: Image courtesy of Deepwater Canyons 2013 Expedition, NOAA-OER/BOEM/USGS)

A marine research expedition sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has led to the discovery of perhaps the world’s largest methane cold seep by two university-based research teams and their partners, UNCW announced today.

(From ScienceDaily) – The seep lies deep in the western North Atlantic Ocean, far from the life-sustaining energy of the sun. Mussels blanketing the the seep rely on bacteria that use the methane to make energy. The process, known as chemosynthesis, forms the basis for life in the harsh environment and could help scientists better understand how organisms can survive under these types of extreme conditions.

“UNCW and FSU have done two previous cruises together and this is perhaps our biggest discovery,” said UNCW researcher Dr. Steve Ross. “Studies of this kind and of these communities help scientists understand how life thrives in harsh environments, and perhaps even on other planets.”

The new seep discovery is only the third documented seep site on the U.S. Atlantic Coast, and by far the most extensive; the two seep areas at this site are estimated to be at least a kilometer long and in places hundreds of meters across. Sea cucumbers were also seen tucked into the tight mounds of mussels and shrimp swam above them. Many species of fishes, including some with unusual behaviors, were also common around the unique ecosystem..

Stationed aboard NOAA’s Ronald H. Brown research vessel, the research teams used the diverse capabilities of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), Jason II, to document and study the newly discovered methane seep.. The teams have been able to capture high definition video, sample the sediment at the site, collect live mussels for genetic and reproductive studies, collect large dead shells and rocks for aging analysis, take water samples to examine water chemistry, and sample associated animals to examine food webs.

The seep discovery could potentially play an important role in advancing scientific understanding of hydrocarbon resources and gas hydrates (important possible future energy resources) along the US continental slope .

Major funding for the research expedition was provided by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, with NOAA providing funding for the Ronald H. Brown and Jason ROV. US Geological Survey and other collaborators also provided a variety of resources.

Breaking Waves: Ocean News

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