Kasatochi Volcano - Ocean Fertilization - 2008

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=79525&src=eoa-iotd

Several researchers have proposed that we could “engineer” our environment to offset the rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. One proposal is to “fertilize” the ocean to make blooms of phytoplankton,plant-like, microscopic organisms that are the “primary producers” of the seas. Phytoplankton use sunlight and nutrients to grow and then become food for other marine life; along the way, they absorb carbon dioxide. The geoengineers propose that by putting enough iron in the right places—the mineral is often in short supply in the open ocean—phytoplankton will bloom wildly and soak up a lot of CO₂.

Nature is very good at making prodigious blooms of phytoplankton. But as a recent “natural” experiment showed, the absorption of carbon dioxide is not always so prodigious.

On August 7, 2008, a stratovolcano in the Aleutian Islands began erupting just as a storm system was passing overhead. Over several days, the explosive eruption at Kasatochi Volcano sent ash and sulfur dioxide about 11,000 meters (35,000 feet) into the air and thousands of kilometers downwind. That iron-enriched ash spread out across a vast area of the North Pacific Ocean.

“Usually ash from volcanic eruptions is swept in one narrow direction by the wind,” said chemical oceanographer Roberta Hamme of the University of Victoria. “However, the ash from Kasatochi was caught in this forming storm system, which swirled over the ocean, depositing volcanic ash over an unusually large area.”

Downwind from Kasatochi, the concentration of chlorophyll in the ocean increased by 150 percent. Hamme and other scientists saw satellite observations of both the ash plume and of the jump in chlorophyll—the sign of a phytoplankton bloom. Instruments on oceanographic buoys and gliders also captured elements of the event, as did scientists who were cruising through the area on a Fisheries and Oceans Canada ship. Hamme and the team connected the dots and concluded that the eruption led directly to a vast bloom of phytoplankton.

The image at the top of the page shows the concentration of aerosol particles as they were dispersed in the atmosphere southeast of the Aleutian Islands in August 2008. Aerosols are airborne particles such as sea salt, dust, air pollution and, in this case, volcanic ash. The measurements were made by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite.

The second map depicts the increase in chlorophyll in the ocean in the month after the eruption at Kasatochi. Chlorophyll is the pigment in plants and phytoplankton that harnesses energy from the Sun for food, and the abundance of chlorophyll (in milligrams per cubic meter) is a proxy for the abundance of plankton. The map does not show total concentrations; instead it shows how much chlorophyll rose above (green) or below (brown) the norm for August in that region. The data were acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s <Aqua satellite.

The data plot (third image) shows the total concentration of chlorophyll within the white inset box marked in the second map, including the significant increase in 2008.

In the aftermath of the eruption and bloom, Hamme and colleagues looked for the carbon impact of the event. Estimating the amount of carbon dioxide in the water before, during, and after the event, they found that the phytoplankton pulled about 0.01 Petagrams (10¹⁵ grams) of carbon out of the atmosphere. For scale, the burning of fossil fuels releases about 6.5 Pg of carbon annually, and about 2 Pg are absorbed naturally by the ocean.

“Despite the huge area of iron addition and the optimal time of year when there was plenty of sunlight, the impact of this August 2008 event was quite small in terms of carbon absorption,” Hamme added. “This tells us that iron fertilization would have to be performed on a truly gigantic scale to have an impact on our climate.”

1. References

2. Alaska Volcano Observatory (n.d.) Kasatochi Introduction. Accessed January 23, 2013.
3. Global Volcanism Program (n.d.) Kasatochi. Accessed January 23, 2013.
4. Hamme, R. C., et al. (2010) Volcanic ash fuels anomalous plankton bloom in subarctic northeast Pacific.
Geophysical Research Letters, 37, L19604.
5. NASA Earth Observatory (2008) Natural Hazards: Aleutian Islands' Kasatochi Volcano Erupts.
6. Oceanus (2007, November 13) Fertilizing the Ocean with Iron. Accessed January 23, 2013.
7. Science Now (2010, October 6) How Volcanoes Feed Plankton. Accessed January 23, 2013.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Jesse Allen, use OMI aerosol data provided by the Aura science team, MODIS chlorophyll anomaly data from the Ocean Color team, and chlorophyll data from NASA Earth Observations (NEO) courtesy of Kevin Ward. Caption by Michael Carlowicz.

What do innovative people actually do?

A very interesting discussion on Linkedin -

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/What-do-innovative-people-actually-32614.S.206163002?view=&srchtype=discussedNews&gid=32614&item=206163002&type=member&trk=eml-anet_dig-b_pd-ttl-cn&ut=1dru64PGtkFlA1

What do innovative people actually do?

Janet Sernack • Great conversation, I have spent the last 2 years researching, deciphering and modelling the intrinsic motivators, mindsets and behaviors behind the unique and globally successful Israeli entrepreneurial and innovative leadership model.
Typically and simply (nutshell version) innovators do:
- Adapt easily and collaborate with others to identify band solve problems,
- Disruptively debate to achieve high level thinking and create inflection points that result in innovative solutions, products and services,
- Improvise and experiment by prototyping, and not giving in to, and learning from failure,
- Keep the pot simmering by embracing and maximizing diversity, deviance, conflict and difference.
Happy to share more via personal conversation.

How Climate Change is Damaging the Great Lakes

http://ecowatch.org/2013/how-climate-change-is-damaging-the-great-lakes/?goback=%2Egde_2414449_member_206000259

How Climate Change is Damaging the Great Lakes

A+A-0

01-18-2013

ThinkProgress

By Matt Kasper

Great Lakes Michigan and Huron set a new record low water level for the month of December, and in the coming weeks they could experience their lowest water levels ever. It’s becoming certain that, like the rest of the country, the Great Lakes are feeling the effects of climate change.

Last year was officially the warmest year on record for the lower-48 states. The hot summer air has been causing the surface water of the Great Lakes to increase in temperature. One might think this causes more precipitation around the lakes, but the warmer winter air is causing a shorter duration of ice cover. In fact, the amount of ice covering the lakes has declined about 71 percent over the past 40 years. Last year, only 5 percent of the lakes froze over—compared to 1979 when ice coverage was as much as 94 percent.

Furthermore, the continuing effect of the historic drought in the Midwest is causing increased levels of evaporation. This combination of climate change side-effects results in low water levels for the Great Lakes.

The impact climate change has on the five lakes—Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario—will have serious implications for aquatic life, as well as high economic costs for communities.

• The Great Lakes stretch from Minnesota to New York. They account for more than 80 percent of North America’s surface freshwater, and provide drinking water to 40 million U.S. and Canadian citizens.
• Many industries in the region that depend on trade through the lakes will face navigation challenges, and will have to reduce the amount of cargo carried.
• Tourism and recreational activities that are vital to coastal communities will surely feel the negative economic effects. Activity associated with recreational fishing alone is estimated to be at least $7 billion annually.
• Infrastructure investments will need to occur, as the necessity for extending docks and dredging increases.
• And the habitats of fish, birds and other mammals will be altered.

The two maps below developed by the Great Lakes Environmental Assessment and Mapping project (GLEAM) illustrate the severity of the environmental impacts on the lakes, as well as the warming temperature of the lakes.

The researchers behind GLEAM note that water surface temperatures between 2000 and 2100 will warm at rates ranging from 0.37-0.93 degrees Celsius per decade in Lake Superior, and 0.20-0.60 degrees Celsius per decade in Lake Eire as a result of climate change. Research conducted by the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s Large Lakes Observatory(LLO) found that summer surface water temperatures on Lake Superior have increased 2.5 degrees Celsius between 1979 and 2006. As climate change continues, fueling more frequent and more extreme droughts, we will continue to see more reductions in the extent and duration of winter ice cover.

Researchers at GLEAM are not alone in this finding. Several different climate models for the Great Lakes region all predict that lake levels will decline over the next century. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) uses two different modeling approaches, researching the net effect of precipitation due to climate change, and the warming lakes and air surrounding the lakes are leading to increased evaporation levels.

The third National Climate Assessment draft, the most comprehensive peer-reviewed analysis of how climate change impacts regions and sectors across the U.S., was released last week. It found that the likelihood of extreme events like intense heat waves, mild winters and lack of ice cover on the lakes will occur with greater frequency. The draft also finds:

• The Great Lakes are warming at rates faster than the world’s oceans. This will also stimulate blooms of harmful algae in the lakes, leading to toxic cyanobacteria.
• Climate change will likely heighten the impact that invasive species have in the Great Lakes.

Phytoplankton Video

Ashort and interesting video about Phytoplankton

http://vimeo.com/46431468

by Dr Emmanuel Reynaud

Algal bloom in River Torrens, Adelaide, Australia

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-07/city-lake-blighted-by-another-algal-bloom/4454818

Another algal bloom has occurred in the Torrens Lake less than a month after the State Government committed $1 million to fix the problem.

Outbreaks of blue green algae have become an annual occurrence in the lake as temperatures soar over summer.

Water Minister Paul Caica announced plans to release up to 40 megalitres a day into the lake to limit algal counts before they could reach problem levels in December.

That spending followed a $1.2 million trial by the Adelaide City Council to improve water quality last summer.

But the attempt failed because of pumping problems.

Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood says the water is now being tested daily and renewed efforts are under way to try to flush the algae out.

He says the Lake can remain open until two outbreaks have occurred.

"We're flowing water down the Torrens at the moment to flush out the Torrens and we're also doing a number of other treatments," he said.

"We're still learning, adapting and evolving but at this stage it's not officially closed until we get two separate outbreaks and at this stage it's looking okay."

Mr Yarwood says the latest bloom is not proof the council's program is failing.

"This is a really complicated system. This is about urban development, this is about people illegally dumping lawn clippings and things like that into the Torrens," he said.

"It's not just a council responsibility, it's not just a State Government responsibility. This is the community's responsibility.

"Algal blooms in the River Torrens are never a good outcome but we're certainly keen to work with the State Government and we'll continue to do trials to minimise the impacts."

All choked up

All choked up

11 January 2013

This has led to algae becoming the dominant group of aquatic plants almost everywhere in the UK, and especially in static water like reservoirs, gravel pits, lakes and ponds. They might be easy enough to remove from a garden pond, but to UK water companies they represent a major and increasing cost.

http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/features/story.aspx?id=1309&cookieConsent=A

There is no discussion of various types of algae and no mention of Diatom Algae.

Lipids from Diatoms