Author: admin

by Seppo Knuuttila

A great source of information about the Baltic Sea – its state, research, activities and more can be found at http://www.itameriportaali.fi/en_GB/. The site is multilingual in three languages (Finnish, Swedish and English). The portal is the fruit of a cooperation between the Finnish Environment Institute, the Finnish Meteorological Institute and the Ministry of Environment in Finland.         

Within the site one can find several interesting sections.  Baltic Sea Now provides the latest available data collected in real time on waves, algae, ice and sea level. The Baltic Sea information section contains articles and reports collected since 1997, and is a veritable mine of material on hydrography, ice conditions, open sea, sea bottom, eutrophication, harmful substances and invasive species. Tips for improving coastal water conditions are found under the Protection section and the Research area has a variety of articles and links to several areas including the voyages of the two research vessels Aranda (open sea) and Muikku (large lakes). Recent events and news are to be found in the Current section which is updated frequently, thus ensuring that the information on the portal is never stale.

Finally there is also a great Gallery with videos, spectacular images and even live webcam feeds. An educational game for the young ones (and not so young) is available from the main page to add a more lighthearted area to the Baltic Sea portal.

20 May – European Maritime Day

Since the declaration in Strasbourg in 2008, every 20^th May Europe comes together to celebrate the Maritime Day. The aim is to make people reflect on the importance of the sea in many aspects of our everyday life – whether for leisure, work, economy or transport.

A large conference for stakeholders is organized every year, and in 2012 this honour is given to Sweden – where the event will be held in the former shipyard area of Gothenburg. It will be split over three days with public events happening on the actual day, and then conferences and workshops on the 21^st and 22^nd. Interventions by politicians, industrialists and researchers will give a holistic panorama of the issues facing our seas today, and provide also space for people to air their views.

More information can be found on http://www.emd2012.se/

by Jo Foden, Cefas, UK

The RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton on her maiden voyage 100 years ago,  on 10^th April 1912 (http://www.rmstitanic.net/).  Just five days later it famously hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean and sank, never reaching the destination of New York.  RMS Titanic was the largest floating man-made object at that time and was carrying 2,224 people.  Only 710 survived the disaster. 

There have been several events organised to mark the anniversary.  In Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the ship was built, the new ‘Titanic Belfast Exhibition Centre’ has been opened (http://www.the-titanic.com/Home.aspx).  In Southampton, England, descendants of some of those who died on the RMS Titanic have thrown wreaths from the Southampton dock from where it departed.  A minute’s silence was observed in the city, which had been home to more than 500 of the crew who died.  Hundreds of children paraded through the streets, each holding pictures of the ship’s crew.  Halifax, Nova Scotia, is where many of the dead were buried.  Other events to mark the anniversary included a public seminar, a play, a film festival and a music tribute. 

To commemorate the occasion, a memorial cruise on the MS Balmoral set sail from Southampton at 3 pm on Sunday, April 8 2012, stopping off at the Irish port of Cobh (http://titanicmemorialcruise.co.uk/).  It will retrace the route of the RMS Titanic, this time safely, all the way to New York.

by Jo Foden, Cefas, UK

As carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere in increasing quantities, pH declines in the world’s oceans and the effects on coral reefs could be more harmful than previously thought. A study by Friedrich et al. (2012) looked at the effects of decreasing pH and carbonate ion concentrations, i.e. ocean acidification, on coral reefs. 

Since reef-building corals need carbonate to build their skeletons, decreasing carbonate ion concentrations will likely lead to weaker, more brittle coral skeletons and slower coral growth rates. Image B shows degradation of healthy coral by acidification. The authors of the study used three earth-system models using historical data and simulations of CO₂ emissions to compare natural sources of CO₂, such as seismic activity, with anthropogenic sources, similar to what happens with industrialisation.At present anthropogenic acidification already exceeds the level of natural variability by up to 30 times, on regional scales. The prediction is that by the end of the 21^st century calcification by coral will be 40% lower than it was pre-industrialisation. 

Friedrich et al. (2012) show that at monitoring sites in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the current rates of ocean acidification exceed those experienced during the last glacial termination (beginning 17,000 years ago), by up to two orders of magnitude.

References and links:

Friedrich, A. Timmermann, A. Abe-Ouchi, N. R. Bates, M. O. Chikamoto,M. J. Church, J. E. Dore, D. K. Gledhill, M. González-Dávila, M. Heinemann, T. Ilyina, J. H. Jungclaus, E. McLeod, A. Mouchet & J. M. Santana-Casiano (2012) Detecting regional anthropogenic trends in ocean acidification against natural variability. Nature Climate Change, doi:10.1038/nclimate1372.

http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1372.html

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/279na5.pdf

The new 2012 issue of Tsunami Society’s Journal “SCIENCE OF TSUNAMI HAZARDS” is now available. This Certified, OPEN ACCESS Journal is included in the prestigious international academic journal database DOAJ maintained by the University of Lund in Sweden with the support of the European Union. “SCIENCE OF TSUNAMI HAZARDS” is also preserved and archived at the National Library, The Hague, NETHERLANDS and at the Library of Congress, Washington D.C., USA. Older issues are also archived at the US Los Alamos Laboratory Library. Furthermore, “SCIENCE OF TSUNAMI HAZARDS” is included in EBSCO and ELSEVIER Publishing databases, which give the journal additional global exposure and readership in the databases of 90% of the academic institutions worldwide, including nation-wide access to databases in more than 70 countries.

Tsunami Society International participates with DOAJ, the University of Lund in Sweden, the European Library at the Hague and European research libraries to help digitize all articles in “SCIENCE OF TSUNAMI HAZARDS” and make them searchable online with the submission of metadata. A great deal of time has been spent in this effort so that the visibility and usage of the articles included in the journal can be increased even more.                                                       

Furthermore, attention is called to the CALL FOR PAPERS for the 5th International Tsunami Symposium scheduled to be held on August 31 – September 1, 2012 in Davos, Switzerland – in conjunction with the Global Risk Forum’s IDRC – Davos 2012. The joint Symposium will be focusing primarily on (but not limited to) Tsunami Risk Analysis and Disaster Management. It will follow a Plenary Tsunami Session of the main GRF/4th International Disaster Risk Conference.

The Plenary Session is being organized by Tsunami Society International. Attending delegates will be introduced to the need for a holistic approach in coping and addressing also the array of tsunami risks facing vulnerable areas in all of the world’s oceans and seas. In view of the 2011 tsunami damage to the Fukuhima-Daichi nuclear power plant (NPP) in Japan, a special session to address the tsunami safety issues of NPPs and other critical facilities will also be included in the subsequent Symposium. Thus the deadline for submission of abstracts has been extended to June 30, 2012.

Finally, Tsunami Society International is a non-profit organization and its Journal “SCIENCE OF TSUNAMI HAZARDS” is highly recognized and maintained as an open-access scholarly publication to ensure maximum distribution and global readership. The organization depends on your membership or renewal of your membership to offset expenses and continue this work.

All recent and past issues of the journal can be viewed and downloaded from the Tsunami Society International Web Site. Because some of the individual files are large, both they and the Journal are provided in compressed form as well to facilitate speed of viewing and downloading.

Please visit the website at: http://tsunamisociety.org

Subduction zones are described as the movement of the earth’s plates. When these collide the cold crust sinks and the other plate overlaps on top of it. For Geologists this simplified explanation is not enough; they suspect that the plates become locked together and later on after centuries spring back and create an earthquake.

The Pacific Northwest Cascadia fault is a subduction zone fault that stretches from mid-Vancouver Island to Northern California, capable of producing a 9 magnitude earthquake. This puts a number of States in danger since it causes a tsunami and at present no instrument is measuring its strain. The past shows that Cascadia’s last big event in 1700 was very similar to the March 2011 Japanese earthquake including a tsunami that travelled across the Pacific. This is proof that what is recorded onshore is not indicative of what is happening offshore hence the need of underwater sensors. In fact researchers started to install these sensors to find out more about the faults and get some information prior the hitting of an earthquake. However in March 2011, whilst ship KAIYO was installing the underwater seismic observations, an earthquake broke out in a different fault causing a lot of problems to the communities living on the coast. No one had thought that the Tohoku coast could generate such earthquakes. Part of the reason for this, is the lack of devices that could help in predicting these phenomena and diminishing some of the related disasters. However at present Japan has 50 observatories offshore compared to the 8,700 on land.

Susan Avery, WHOI president and director expects that real time data flowing from the fault will become more accurate to aid emergency response more readily. Hole, McGuire and Collins will work on installing tiltmeters at approximately 4 kilometres above the Cascadia subduction zone thrust interface. This will be located in a 300 metre deep borehole and will use an existing seafloor cable infrastructure, NEPTUNE Canada, enabling immediate access to data. The tiltmeter at Cascadia subduction should be up and running by summer 2013. According to McGuire this instrument will allow scientists to collaborate across disciplines as well as provide interesting borehole signals.

References:

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110824/full/476391a.html

http://www.hydro-international.com/news/id5319-First_RealTime_Seafloor_Earthquake_Observatory.html

In Greek mythology, Calypso was the daughter of the titan Atlas (also known as Oceanus) and was a nymph living on the magical island of Ogygna. As referred to by Homer in ‘The Odyssey’, she seduced and imprisoned Odysseus on his journey home from the Trojan War, and promised him immortality if he would sojourn permanently with her in the cave. Some people are convinced that Ogygna is indeed the island of Gozo, within the Maltese archipelago, which consequently is also known as Calypso. Over Ramla bay, the most prominent sandy beach in the Maltese Islands, one finds Calypso’s cave, a complex labyrinth which was reputed to extend to sea level in places.

Times have changed, but perils still threaten the Mediterranean basin, although their nature is somewhat different from when Homer penned his masterpiece. The risk of oil from marine spillages beaching on shores, hitting important economic resources and causing irreversible environmental damage is a very realistic menace in the stretch of sea between Malta and Sicily. Especially in a small island state like Malta where economic assets are concentrated in space, the damage would be even more devastating. Risk is high because the islands are situated along the main shipping lanes of the Mediterranean Sea.

Risks can be highly minimised by using the best tools for surveillance, operational monitoring against pollution threats, as well as a capacity to respond with informed decisions in case of emergency. CALYPSO is a research project that intends to utilise a top-end technology, consisting of an array of High Frequency (HF) radars, to monitor in real-time meteo-marine surface conditions. Like the nymph Calypso, the HF Radars will vigilate on the stretch of sea extending from Malta to the Sicilian shores.

The project is partly financed by the EU European Regional Development Fund under the Operational Programme Italia-Malta 2007-2013, and co-ordinated by Prof. Aldo Drago from the Physical Oceanography Unit of the University of Malta. It brings together 3 other partners from Malta – namely Transport Malta, Civil Protection Department and Armed Forces of Malta – and 4 partners from Sicily – ARPA Sicilia, IAMC-CNR Capo Granitola, Universita’ degli Studi di Palermo (UNIPA) and Universita’ di Catania (CUTGANA). The consortium consists of research entities and also public entities with responsibilities for civil and environmental protection, surveillance, security and response to hazards.

The project will set up a permanent and fully operational HF radar observing system, capable of recording (in real-time with hourly updates) surface currents in the Malta Channel. The system consists of HF radar installations on the northern Malta and southern Sicilian shores. The radars are expected to be installed in summer this year, and the whole system will be operational by end of 2012.

More information on http://www.capemalta.net/calypso/

JERICO is the result of the collaboration of twenty seven partners coming from seventeen European countries. JERICO is an FP7 project that takes advantage of the different backgrounds of the partners involved, who are contributing their invaluable and diverse experience and expertise when it comes to coastal observations that derive from the technology used for data collection though results and dissemination of informational material.

The operational monitoring of the coastal seas is an important issue when it comes to the health of the marine environment as well as in the provision of data for management of marine activities, research and a range of other applications. Despite the fact that Europe already has in general some good practices when it comes to the maintenance of marine observation systems and provision of quality data on a global and regional scale, coastal observations still lack the required standardisation due to the minor interest being expressed solely through short term projects which are usually adapted to the domestic interests of the distinct countries. This has brought up a number of issues within the research community which are now aiming to increase the consistency and sustainability of these scattered infrastructures by addressing them within a common pan-European context.

JERICO intends to support this idea of proposing a European approach for all the European coastal marine observatories by integrating existing infrastructures and technologies such as moorings, gliders and drifters into one single network. The activities intended to be held within the project will help the project participants to discuss common good practices to be used in this context when it comes to design, implementation, acquisition, maintenance and distribution of data from these coastal observatories, together with definitions of quality standards to be utilized within such a framework. The project also aims to open the European infrastructure for international research which will benefit the overall European contribution to climate change and other research areas.

Apart from the aim to amalgamate the current infrastructures, JERICO will also be looking for ways on how these can be improved. In fact, a number of joint researches will be organised to identify the new and upcoming technologies to be installed in the next generation of coastal observatories. Focus of the research will be on emerging technologies and on the biochemical section. JERICO will be using the data captured to be a major source of coastal data inputs while answering the needs of environmental researchers and managers.

For further information please visit the website: http://ec.europa.eu/research/conferences/2012/euro-mediterranean/index_en.cfm

Barcelona 2-3 April 2012

The EU believes that research and innovation are key instruments in promoting sustainable economic growth and job creation. The Southern Mediterranean region called for innovative and ambitious responses from the European Union. The European Commission has established all Mediterranean countries as priority. The EC has also developed a new strategy which is found in two joint Communications of the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Hence the EU has developed the strategy named CKIS (Common Knowledge and Innovation Space) which is linked to Smart Growth and the EU’s innovation agenda.

Due to this the European Commission’s Research and Innovation DG together with other EU entities is holding a conference whose aims are:

• Defining the aims and key factors of a medium to long term agenda of Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation in Research and Innovation based on the ideas of policy makers and scientists.
• The promotion of collaboration between the European Commission, EU member states and South Mediterranean Policies and programmers to enhance the latter’s scientific competencies with the aim of benefiting the whole region.

The conference will host a number of representatives from different sectors of the EU entities and others from the countries concerned speak about the issue at hand.

For further information please visit the website:  http://ec.europa.eu/research/conferences/2012/euro-mediterranean/index_en.cfm

The new Jerico website has now been launched.