Tag Archives: ocean currents
New study shows ocean currents are shifting toward the poles
In the past 40 years, eight of the world’s major ocean gyres (wind-driven current systems) have been slowly shifting toward the poles at a rate of about a mile every two years. Up to now, available observations have been sparse and short in duration, making it difficult to track any dynamic changes of large‐scale ocean circulation. This is what experts at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), analyzing long-term global satellite data of ocean surface temperature and sea levels found. >click to read<10:49
Cooling California Current could mean good news for fisheries, ecosystems
Ocean currents off the Northern California coast are cooling down — potentially good news for the region’s fisheries and ecosystems, battered in recent years by warm currents that have triggered a range of disruptions, from faltering salmon runs to a devastated kelp forest and abalone populations. In a report on the California Current, NOAA scientists last week said that cooler water has resulted in improved condition of zooplankton – the foundation of the ocean’s food chain – greater juvenile salmon returns, and bigger anchovy schools, a boon to larger fish and whales. On the other hand, scientists said,,, >click to read<20:24
How a father’s shipwreck launched a message across an ocean to his grieving daughter
A chain of ocean currents that connects Alaska’s Prince William Sound to a beach on Hawaii’s Big Island delivered a piece of a 3-year-old shipwreck to a grieving family. The improbable voyage of a plastic fishing gear identification tag also had human help in the person of Alaska engineer Andy Baker, whose curiosity and diligence completed the connection. An expert on floating debris called Baker’s successful investigation “a very remote chance.” “It really is a very difficult thing to do,” oceanographer Curt Ebbesmeyer said. “It takes a lot of luck, a lot of effort and a lot of time. One thing out of a thousand is traceable. That tag you are writing about is a remarkable bit of serendipity.” In this case, the luck connected a father to his daughter after his death. click here to read the story Four posts about F/V Fate Hunter from 2013 click here to review 14:02
