Lake Erie algal bloom cleanup falling far short of 40 percent phosphorus reduction goal

By James F. McCarty 11 October 2017 (The Plain Dealer) – Approaching the end of another summer marked by a substantial algal bloom in Lake Erie’s western basin, environmental and conservation groups released separate reports Tuesday that came to the same conclusion: Ohio, Michigan and Ontario are falling far short in their efforts to reduce […]

Nitrogen cycle in coastal waters: Hamburg Harbor becomes a nitrate hotspot

By Tim Schröder 3 August 2017(Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht) – Nitrogen compounds are an important factor in the production of algal biomass. The team led by biologist Kirstin Dähnke from the Institute of Coastal Research at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht has been carrying out extensive Elbe nitrogen measurements for this reason.These measurements have shown that regions upstream from […]

Global warming projected to increase harmful algal blooms in U.S. freshwaters significantly – “The impact of climate change goes way beyond warmer air temperatures, rising sea levels, and melting glaciers”

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, 15 August 2017 (Tufts Now) – Harmful algal blooms known to pose risks to human and environmental health in large freshwater reservoirs and lakes are projected to increase because of climate change, according to a team of researchers led by a Tufts University scientist. The team developed a modeling framework that predicts that the […]

Image of the Day: Satellite view of plankton bloom in Washington’s Hood Canal, 31 July 2017

By Kathryn Hansen 2 August 2017 (NASA) – Looking over the edge of a boat, it would be easy to mistake the jewel-toned waters for the Caribbean Sea. But you are more likely to find geoducks and barnacles than you are to find grouper and white sandy beaches. In the Pacific Northwest, the water does […]

Toxic waste from U.S. pot farms alarms experts – “They are like superfund sites”

By Sharon Bernstein; editing by Ben Klayman and Richard Chang 6 August 2017 WEAVERVILLE, California (Reuters) – Pollution from illegal marijuana farms deep in California’s national forests is far worse than previously thought, and has turned thousands of acres into waste dumps so toxic that simply touching plants has landed law enforcement officers in the […]

Gulf of Mexico dead zone is the largest ever measured

2 August 2017 (NOAA) – Scientists have determined this year’s Gulf of Mexico “dead zone,” an area of low oxygen that can kill fish and marine life, is 8,776 square miles, an area about the size of New Jersey. It is the largest measured since dead zone mapping began there in 1985.The measured size is […]

Jurassic drop in ocean oxygen lasted a million years

12 May 2017 (University of Exeter) – Dramatic drops in oceanic oxygen, which cause mass extinctions of sea life, come to a natural end – but it takes about a million years. The depletion of oxygen in the oceans is known as “anoxia”, and scientists from the University of Exeter have been studying how periods […]

Global ocean de-oxygenation quantified – “The oxygen losses in the ocean can have far-reaching consequences”

KIEL, 15 February 2017 (Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel) – The ongoing global change causes rising ocean temperatures and changes the ocean circulation. Therefore less oxygen is dissolved in surface waters and less oxygen is transported into the deep sea. This reduction of oceanic oxygen supply has major consequences for the organisms in the […]

Depleted fish stocks and huge dead zone signal tipping point in the Bay of Bengal

By Amitav Ghosh and Aaron Savio Lobo31 January 2017 (The Guardian) – The Bay of Bengal’s basin contains some of the most populous regions of the earth. No less than a quarter of the world’s population is concentrated in the eight countries that border the bay1. Approximately 200 million people live along the Bay of […]

The blob that cooked the Pacific Ocean

By Craig Welch10 August 2016 (National Geographic) – The first fin whale appeared in Marmot Bay, where the sea curls a crooked finger around Alaska’s Kodiak Island. A biologist spied the calf drifting on its side, as if at play. Seawater flushed in and out of its open jaws. Spray washed over its slack pink […]

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