Pacific Ocean

Ignacio may get company in eastern Pacific

harminka — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:14:47 -0500

Tropical Storm Ignacio may not be alone in the Eastern Pacific Ocean for long. There are two areas of showers and thunderstorms that forecasters are watching for development, farther east and closer to land.

Typhoon Vamco Has 45-mile Wide Eye

harminka — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 07:28:26 -0500

Typhoon Vamco is being as stubborn in its quest to live in the Pacific Ocean as Bill is in the Atlantic Ocean this week, and NASA satellite data confirmed that the large storm has a huge eye, about 45 miles in diameter!

Pacific Tsunami Is A Greater Threat greater

harminka — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:23:52 -0500

The potential for a huge Pacific Ocean tsunami on the West Coast of America may be greater than previously thought, according to a new study of geological evidence along the Gulf of Alaska coast.

Tropical Storm Carlos Could Potentially Impact Hawaii

JoeSimmons — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:18:03 -0500

Tropical Storm Carlos continues to strengthen today in the warm waters of the Eastern Pacific, and will likely become a hurricane sometime today or tonight. As Carlos continues to churn out to sea, forecast paths indicate that the storm will begin approaching the Hawaiian Islands by mid to late next week.

Invasives threaten salmon in Pacific Northwest

harminka — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 06:47:13 -0600

Many native fishes in the Pacific Northwest are threatened or endangered, notably salmonids, and hundreds of millions of dollars are expended annually on researching their populations and on amelioration efforts. Most of the attention and funding have been directed toward to the impacts of habitat alteration, hatcheries, harvest, and the hydrosystem—the "all H's."

Scientists take steps to improve climate predictions

harminka — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:46:08 -0500

The clouds being investigated in this study are known as marine stratocumulus clouds. They tend to form adjacent to continents where deep, cold, upwelling water reaches the sea-surface. This cools the surface air, condensation occurs and clouds form. These clouds are capped by warm air that descends into this region.

Complex ocean behavior studied with artificial upwelling

harminka — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:57:39 -0500

A team of scientists is studying the complex ocean upwelling process by mimicking nature – pumping cold, nutrient-rich water from deep within the Pacific Ocean and releasing it into surface waters near Hawaii that lack the nitrogen and phosphorous necessary to support high biological production.

Pacific shellfish ready to invade Atlantic

harminka — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:46:41 -0500

As the Arctic Ocean warms this century, shellfish, snails and other animals from the Pacific Ocean will resume an invasion of the northern Atlantic that was interrupted by cooling conditions three million years ago, predict Geerat Vermeij, professor of geology at the University of California, Davis, and Peter Roopnarine at the California Academy of Sciences.

West Coast Governors Launch Ocean Action Plan

Armen Hareyan — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:54:48 -0500

California, Oregon and Washington Will Work Together To Safeguard Critical Marine Resources As West Coast Governors Launch Ocean Action Plan.

Pacific coast turning more acidic

harminka — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:48:34 -0500

An international team of scientists surveying the waters of the continental shelf off the West Coast of North America has discovered for the first time high levels of acidified ocean water within 20 miles of the shoreline, raising concern for marine ecosystems from Canada to Mexico.

El Niсo may have been factor in Magellan's Pacific voyage

harminka — Fri, 16 May 2008 06:21:45 -0500

A new paper by North Carolina State University archaeologist Dr. Scott Fitzpatrick shows that Ferdinand Magellan’s historic circumnavigation of the globe was likely influenced in large part by unusual weather conditions – including what we now know as El Niсo – which eased his passage across the Pacific Ocean, but ultimately led him over a thousand miles from his intended destination.

How iron gets into the North Pacific

harminka — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:00:55 -0500

Most oceanographers have assumed that, in the areas of the world's oceans known as High Nutrient, Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) regions, the iron needed to fertilize infrequent plankton blooms comes almost entirely from wind-blown dust. Phoebe Lam and James Bishop of the Earth Sciences Division at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have now shown that in the North Pacific, at least, it just ain't so.