An image of the ocean floor in Google Earth before (left) and after a recent update to ocean data. The updated version corrects the grid-like markings once rumored to be evidence of the lost city of Atlantis. Credit: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Google Earth

The National Ocean Service, has a minor problem they wish to address.  While ‘navigating’ the ocean floor in Google Earth, countless amateur  oceanographers have emailed the service thinking they, by chance,  ‘discovered’ the lost city of Atlantis. Alas, while the strange grid-like patterns they found were in fact created by humans, the patterns were not the result of ancient developers of lost civilizations but, rather, are only made of data. In other words, there are no physical lines on the ocean floor. These lines are artifacts of the ocean floor mapping process.

Thanks to a recent update to ocean data in the Google Earth application, the computer data error has been fixed, the grid lines “erased” and, once again, the city of Atlantis is lost.

NOAA expects fewer inquiries regarding this mysterious, lost, underwater civilization…though we know some of you will still keep looking.

A screen grab of the the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA®) for the Gulf of Mexico. Credit: ERMA®

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced today they are partnering to enhance the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA) for the Arctic region by summer 2012. ERMA is the same interactive online mapping tool used by federal responders during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This effort will help address numerous challenges in the Arctic where increasing ship traffic and proposed energy development are increasing the risk of oil spills and chemical releases.

“This emergency response tool was invaluable when managing the Deepwater Horizon response,” said BSEE Director James A. Watson, who served as the federal on-scene coordinator for the U.S. Coast Guard during the disaster. “Adding this tool to the Arctic region would provide a tremendous boost to the current oil spill response capabilities there. We are very pleased to work with NOAA to provide this enhanced capability to those involved in planning and response activities.”

“Launching this tool for responders, media and the public during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was a groundbreaking technical achievement and one of the most significant contributions NOAA provided to the historic, large-scale response,” said Monica Medina, NOAA principal deputy under secretary for oceans and atmosphere. “Reconfiguring this application to meet the needs of responders in the remote marine Arctic environment could prove to be the most critical tool in effectively preparing for, responding to, and mitigating situations where limited assets, personnel and facilities exist. We appreciate the Department of the Interior’s willingness to support us in this important effort.”

In developing this project for the Arctic NOAA, with support from BSEE, will work with state, local and Indigenous communities as well as academia and industry to share information  on how ERMA can best support an emergency response and protect the region’s unique lifestyle and resources.

ERMA will bring together all of the available information needed for an effective emergency response in the Arctic. In an emergency situation, ERMA is equipped with near real-time oceanographic observations and weather data from NOAA, and critical information from BSEE and numerous other federal and state response agencies. Responders can further customize the tool with environmental, logistical, and operational data such as fishery closure areas, resources at risk maps, and mariner notices, depending on the need.

ERMA integrates and synthesizes real-time and static data into a single interactive map, providing a quick visualization of the situation and improving communication and coordination among responders and environmental stakeholders.

NOAA originally began developing Arctic ERMA® to address escalating energy exploration and transportation activity in the region combined with the emerging risk of spills and other accidents.

BSEE is partnering with NOAA to complete the project, with the goal of having the tool available to the response community ahead of any future drilling in federal waters offshore Alaska. When operational, Arctic ERMA® will contain information such as the extent and concentration of sea ice, locations of ports and pipelines, and vulnerable environmental resources for spill responders to make rapid, science-informed response decisions.

The Gulf ERMA was developed through a joint partnership between NOAA and the University of New Hampshire’s Coastal Response Research Center. The Gulf  ERMA was designed by NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration, the University of New Hampshire and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Since 2007, NOAA and the University of New Hampshire’s Coastal Response Research Center have worked with hazardous material response agencies and partners throughout the United States to develop, test and refine the ERMA® application to meet the needs of various regions. ERMA® sites are also in developmental or testing phases for New England, the Caribbean, Pacific Islands and Pacific Northwest.

The public can view the tool online, which currently covers the Gulf of Mexico region, by visiting http://gomex.erma.noaa.gov/erma.html.

Today’s announcement is part of the ongoing efforts of the Interagency Working Group on Coordination of Domestic Energy Development and Permitting in Alaska, which was established by President Obama in July 2011. Chaired by Department of the Interior Deputy Secretary David J. Hayes, the working group coordinates the efforts of federal agencies responsible for overseeing the safe and responsible development of onshore and offshore energy in Alaska. The group’s goal is to improve the federal government’s efficiency, ensuring that resource development projects in Alaska comply with health, safety, and environmental protection standards while reducing our dependence on foreign oil. For more information, go to: http://www.doi.gov/alaskaenergy

Via BSEE

The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan were tragic events, but you can help NOAA in the aftermath of these disasters by staying on the lookout for debris washing up in Hawaii, Alaska, and along the West Coast.

Watch this video for a quick summary about the debris from the Japan tsunami headed toward the United States:

Click here to view the embedded video.

As the surge of water from the tsunami receded, it washed tons of debris out into the Pacific Ocean: everything from boats and pieces of crumbled buildings to appliances and all kinds of plastic, metal, and rubber objects.

The heaviest things sank near the Japanese shore, but lighter objects floated out to sea, forming large patches previously spotted by satellites and aerial photography. However, winds and ocean currents have broken up these patches to the point where debris is no longer visible from low-resolution satellites.

How do you deal with debris that could now impact U.S. shores but is difficult to find?

Citizen monitoring and reporting can help NOAA scientists better understand the location and nature of the debris generated by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Ships traveling the Pacific Ocean and beachcombers on the coast can now report significant sightings. If reporting a sighting, be sure to include what you saw, when you saw it, and where it was located.  Individuals or groups can request shoreline monitoring guides by emailing MD.monitoring@noaa.gov.

Since debris washes up on our shores regularly, you can also help by downloading the Marine Debris Tracker app for iPhone and Android phones or emailing MD.Monitoring@noaa.gov to request a shoreline survey guide to start collecting information on the amount and location of trash at your beach. This allows NOAA to track changes in how much debris is showing up on U.S. coasts

When will the debris from the tsunami in Japan reach the U.S.?

Since winds and ocean currents constantly change, it’s very difficult to predict an exact date and location for the debris’ arrival on U.S. shores without more information.

NOAA has run OSCURS (Ocean Surface Current Simulator), a numeric model for ocean surface currents, to predict the movement of marine debris generated by the Japan tsunami over five years. The results are shown here. Year 1 = red; Year 2 = orange; Year 3 = yellow; Year 4 = light blue; Year 5 = violet. The OCSURS model is used to measure the movement of surface currents over time, as well as the movement of what is in or on the water. Map courtesy of J. Churnside (NOAA OAR) and created through Google.

Independent models run by NOAA and University of Hawaii researchers agree on the general direction and drift rate of debris generated by the tsunami in Japan. Right now, models tell us some debris could pass near or wash ashore:

• In the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (a remote area spanning the distance from San Diego, Calif., to Vancouver, British Columbia) as early as the 2011-2012 winter.
• On the West Coast of the United States and Alaska in 2013.
• On the main Hawaiian Islands (circling back) in 2014 to 2016.

Researchers remind us that models are only predictions (like a weather forecast). Conditions in the ocean constantly change, and items can sink, break down, and disperse across a huge area. Because of this, scientists can’t say for sure if any debris will wash ashore.

Carey Morishige, Pacific Islands Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program, helps explain what we know about the tsunami debris right now and what dangers the debris may pose to coral reefs and coastal areas. Click to listen to the podcast below.

Listen: Japanese Tsunami Marine Debris Podcast

Is the debris radioactive?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Food and Drug Administration monitored for radioactivity following the event and found normal levels. Because most of the debris would have washed out to sea before the Fukushima nuclear disaster, it is considered highly unlikely the tsunami-generated marine debris would be contaminated with radioactive material.

Learn more at the NOAA Marine Debris Program website.

This blog post originally appeared on NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration blog and is republished here with permission.

The ship strike reduction rule, enacted in December 2008, restricts vessels of 65 feet or greater to speeds of 10 knots or less in seasonal management areas along the East Coast to reduce the chances of North Atlantic right whales being injured or killed by ships.

Notices of Violation and Assessment (NOVAs) were issued yesterday by the NOAA’s enforcement section to owners and operators of vessels which traveled multiple times through the protected areas at speeds well in excess of 10 knots.

The alleged speeding violations occurred between November 2009 and January 2011 outside of New York City, Charleston, Brunswick, King’s Bay and Savannah, Ga. and Mayport, Fla. One vessel was charged with 16 counts of speeding. Vessel’s documented speeds ranged from 13 to 18 knots, and the vessels traveled these speeds for as many as 26 nautical miles.

Each count in the NOVAs was assessed at $5,750, resulting in total penalty assessments ranging from $11,500 to $92,000. None of the vessels receiving NOVAs had prior violations so the owners were given 30 days to respond the charge.

“We are pleased to return to Alaska to continue these important surveys, which will ensure the safe navigation of mariners who rely on the area’s waters for fishing, cargo delivery and recreational uses,” said NOAA Corps Capt. Donald Haines, commanding officer of NOAA Ship Rainier and the ship’s chief scientist.

NOAA’s survey effort in the area began in 2006 with the Gulf of Esquilbel and has continued south over recent years. Rainier’s sonar systems enable precise measurement of ocean depth and the creation of 3-D digital terrain models of the sea floor that reveals details about the underwater landscape and potential hazards to navigation. The first surveys of the area took place in the early 1900s. Depths then were acquired with lead lines, a method that was accurate at the point of the sounding, but lacked information about the surrounding area.

Commissioned in 1968, Rainier is one of three ships in the NOAA fleet that conduct hydrographic surveys in support of the nautical charting mission of NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey. Rainier last visited the area in 2009 before undergoing a year-long, $13.1-million major repair period during which the ship was outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment to conduct its survey missions with even greater efficiency and accuracy.

Equipped with five 29-foot survey boats and high precision sonar and positioning equipment, Rainier is one of the most productive survey platforms of its type in the world. Rainier’s crew of 50 is comprised of NOAA Corps officers and civilian wage mariners, both licensed and unlicensed. The shiptypicallyoperates eight to nine months of the year in the coastal waters of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

Homeported in Newport, Oregon, Rainier is part of the NOAA fleet of ships and aircraft operated, managed and maintained by NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, which includes civilians as well as commissioned officers of the NOAA Corps, one of the seven uniformed services of the United States.

New York Harbor. Courtesy NOAA

NOAA’s development of a new navigational chart processing system, designed to meet the changing needs of the maritime community, moves into initial limited production on September 21. The new system, which slims down the current map production process while it beefs up performance, represents a technological leap forward in creating the navigational charts used to speed ships and products safety through the nation’s maritime transportation system.

“NOAA regularly updates over a thousand nautical charts, adding data and making corrections that are critical to a wide use of applications,” explains Capt. John Lowell, director of the Office of Coast Survey. “To produce more navigation products, faster, we developed a single source production system that produces all NOAA chart products from one central database instead of the two production lines used since charting technologies first started changing in the mid-1990s.”

With greater efficiencies and versatility, the system speeds chart updates to users; presents opportunities for private industry development of customized products; and improves data exchange capabilities for multiple maritime uses. For instance, the system will integrate with other information for ocean planning and other coastal uses.

Notably, with the efficiencies gained from the new system, Coast Survey can produce more navigation products, with flexible access to more data, without a corresponding increase in budget or personnel.

In October 2004, the Office of Coast Survey began the production improvement project with Fairfax, Va.-based ManTech International Corporation, and ESRI, a leading provider of GIS technology based in Redlands, Calif. Their goal, coming to fruition now, was to develop an integrated production system for NOAA chart production.

“Technological advancements are spurring a revolution in nautical charts, and navigators need flexibility and increased access to data that mariners from the last century could only dream about,” Lowell said. “The system we developed with ManTech and ESRI provides the platform for a wide range of new applications for commercial mariners, recreational boaters and, indeed, for coastal planners along the nation’s 95,000 miles of coastline.”

While the new system moves into initial production this month, the transition of data covering all U.S. waters will take several years, progressing in sets of charts as geographically located in U.S. Coast Guard Districts. As the data is transitioned to the new system, chart users will see more congruity between paper charts that are now produced on one system and electronic charts produced on another. Under the new system, cartographers will enter the same data into a single system and the changes will be sped along to all associated products.
NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey has been the Nation’s trusted source of navigational charts and data since it was organized in 1807 by President Thomas Jefferson. Today, mariners and other users download nearly 300 million free navigational charts annually from  www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov. Users can get fast notice of updates to electronic nautical charts from Coast Survey’s Twitter updates.\

Via NOAA

The container ship Margrethe Maersk, operated by the Maersk Line, steams toward California in May 2010. Photo credit: NOAA

A new NOAA-led study looked to confirm what the shipping industry and regulators have thought all along; when vessels switch to use low-sulphur fuel, harmful ship emissions are reduced dramatically.  Read below for the press release on the study by NOAA. 

NOAA – New clean fuel regulations in California and voluntary slowdowns by shipping companies substantially reduce air pollution caused by near-shore ships, according to a new NOAA-led study published online today in Environmental Science & Technology.

The study examined a container ship operating under a 2009 California regulation requiring that ships switch to low-sulfur fuels as they approach the California coast, and also adhering to a voluntary state slowdown policy, intended to reduce pollution. The research team found that emissions of several health-damaging pollutants, including sulfur dioxide and particulate matter, dropped by as much as 90 percent.

Findings of this study could have national and global significance, as new international regulations by the International Maritime Organization require vessels to switch to lower-sulfur fuel near U.S. and international coasts beginning in 2012. The research team found reductions in emissions even where none were expected, meaning even greater reductions in air pollution, and associated respiratory health effects in humans, than regulators originally estimated.

“This study gives us a sense of what to expect in the future, for the people of California, the nation, and even the globe,” said Daniel Lack, chemist with NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. “This really is where science gets fun – a study with first-rate institutions, equipment and people, probing the effects of policy. It’s important to know that the imposed regulations have the expected impacts. The regulators want to know, the shipping companies want to know, and so do the people.”

In May 2010, a NOAA research aircraft flew over a commercial container ship, Maersk Line’s Margrethe Maersk, about 40 miles off the coast of California. Researchers on the aircraft used sophisticated custom instruments to ‘sniff’ the ship’s emissions before the ship switched to lower-sulfur fuels (by law, within 24 miles of the California coast) and slowed down voluntarily.

A few days later, scientists aboard the NOAA-sponsored Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute’s research vessel Atlantis sampled emissions of the same ship as it cruised slowly within the low-sulfur regulated zone.

Sulfur dioxide levels, which were expected to drop, did do so, plummeting 91 percent from 49 grams of emissions per kilogram of fuel to 4.3 grams. Sulfur dioxide is best known as a precursor to acid rain, but can degrade air quality in other ways, directly and indirectly through chemical reactions in the atmosphere. In particular, emissions of sulfur dioxide lead to formation of particulate matter in the atmosphere which poses serious public health concerns.

Particulate matter pollution, regulated because it can damage people’s lungs and hearts, dropped 90 percent from 3.77 grams of emissions per kg of fuel to 0.39 grams.

Unexpectedly, black carbon levels also dropped, cut by 41 percent, the team reported. Black carbon comprises dark-colored particles that can warm the atmosphere and also degrade air quality.

In 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its Canadian equivalent, Environment Canada, estimated that shifting to low-sulfur fuels near coasts could save as many as 8,300 lives per year in those two countries, and ease the acute respiratory symptoms faced by another 3 million. But that 2009 assessment did not include the observed drops in several pollutant categories that Lack and his colleagues found, so the authors suggest the impacts could be greater.

Finally, the new paper discusses the net radiative (warming vs. cooling) effect of the ship’s fuel switch. Changes in the emissions of various air pollutants – some which have a warming effect, others which have cooling effects – likely mean net warming.

The project was funded by NOAA and the California Air Resources Board and conducted in close collaboration with the Maersk Line.

“These scientific findings clearly demonstrate that ships off our coast now emit significantly less sulfur pollution than in the past,” said California Air Resources Board Chairman Mary D. Nichols. “This is good news for California and for the nation. When the federal regulations kick in for ships to use low-sulfur fuel, communities throughout America that live near shipping lanes and next to ports will see clean air benefits.”

The new paper, Impact of Fuel Quality Regulation and Speed Reductions on Shipping Emissions: Implications for Climate and Air Quality, is available at the Environmental Science & Technology website. Lack’s 28 co-authors are from 10 research institutions from both the U.S. and Canada.

Via NOAA

Weakened Irene Rakes Coast; Mammoth, Slow-Moving Storm Leaves a Sprawling Trail of Damage Far Inland

Hurricane Irene menaced the Eastern seaboard, pounding tens of millions of Americans with wind, rain and floods—but largely sparing New York after an unprecedented shutdown of the largest U.S. city ahead of the massive storm.

In New Jersey, the ocean surge and rainfall caused severe inland flooding. Gov. Chris Christie said damages there would total at least $1 billion and could reach “tens of billions of dollars.” Virginia’s governor called the blackout in his state its second-largest ever and warned that electricity might not be restored for a week.

Irene’s massive size and slow journey along 1,100 miles of U.S. coastline left an extraordinarily broad impact. At least 19 deaths were attributed to Irene as devastation ranged from North Carolina to Vermont. Toppled trees, fallen debris and flooding caused hundreds of roads to be closed over the weekend. Up and down the coast, some 2.4 million people evacuated.

As darkness fell on Sunday, Irene continued to wreak havoc. With the storm moving north, the number of power outages in Massachusetts eclipsed half a million, and dramatic flooding began in the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River Valley. Officials reported heavy flooding in central Vermont, and water continued to rise on some areas of New Jersey.

Between 15 and 20 heating-oil trucks were pushed into the Ramapo River after a 9-inch torrent of rain fell near Tuxedo Park, N.Y., and the stream overflowed. “An environmental disaster is floating down the river,” said Mayor Tom Wilson in an interview. “There’s fuel spilling into the river. … It’s everywhere.”

As the storm struck near New York City on Sunday, high winds and torrential rains ripped through nearby beach towns in New Jersey and Long Island and triggered inland flooding and power outages for hundreds of thousands of residents. Power was cut off for as many as four million people up and down the East Coast. In Philadelphia, Mayor Michael Nutter said his city faced historic rising waters.

In New York City itself, however, fears of widespread catastrophe went largely unrealized. By Sunday morning, tourists trickled back into a mostly abandoned Times Square, and New Yorkers were clamoring for the subway system to be turned back on.

As Irene traveled from the Caribbean to the U.S., the storm tripled in width to more than 600 miles, engulfing areas inhabited by more than 60 million people. Total losses are still being calculated, but due to its extensive range, the damage could total in the billions of dollars. By the time Irene neared Canada late Sunday night, it was downgraded to a post-tropical storm.

Water had risen nearly 10 feet in the creek behind the home of Mick Hayes, a plumber in Mays Landing, N.J. His power went out Saturday evening. When the started flooding, he rigged a series of pumps, powered by a generator in the back of his pickup truck, in hopes of diverting a chest-high torrent to the other side of a nearby road.

“I’ve got pumps on top of pumps on top of pumps,” said Mr. Hayes. But the water continued to rise. “You can’t stop mother nature. It is what it is.”

In New York Harbor, Staten Island—which helped buffer Manhattan from the worst of the storm—lost power in some areas and saw heavy flooding. Some residents worked through the night to fight the water. To the dismay of his pregnant wife, Kevin Justesen, a 41-year-old teacher, climbed onto his roof during the storm to cover a leaking skylight. “My wife told me if I do that again, we’ll be getting divorced,” he said Sunday.

Long Island, home to more than 2.8 million people, suffered power outages, flooding in many low-lying areas and waves that pummeled coastal towns. But damage was less than expected. “We’re somewhat relieved,” said Islip Town Supervisor Phil Nolan.

After blowing through New York, Irene continued up the Hudson Valley, no longer a hurricane but still spawning intense rain, tornadoes and unpredictable flooding across a vast area.

In New England, the Berkshire Mountains community of North Adams, Mass., was forced to close more than a dozen roads in and out of the town as Hoosic River rose dramatically. “This has pretty much put a stranglehold on the city,” said Michael Cozzaglio, police director for the city of 15,000.

The hurricane carried its most powerful punch in North Carolina, when it struck land on Saturday near Cape Lookout, N.C., on the southern tip of the Outer Banks. Parts of the state had storm surges of as much as eight feet, and at least five people were killed in the state. More than 450,000 residents were without electricity, according to emergency officials. One estimate put damages in North Carolina at more than $400 million.

The movement of goods in a large portion of the U.S. also came to a virtual standstill, as transport companies such as FedEx Corp., United Parcel Service Inc. and major railroads like CSX Corp. and Amtrak shut down services before and during the storm. Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy briefly banned tractor-trailers from roads in the state.

The New York Stock Exchange—which could have been flooded if some of the more dire predictions for Irene had come true—announced it would open as normal on Monday.

Officials in New York City and other areas took aggressive steps before the storm to move residents out of vulnerable areas and fortify key infrastructure such as the subway system and power grid. In serial press conferences, leaders including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. Christie hammered that residents should leave threatened areas and issued dire warnings.

In New York, Mr. Bloomberg issued mandatory preemptive evacuations of 370,000 people from wide swaths of the city, a move no mayor in recent recollection had previously taken.

New York subways, area airports and trains in the region all shut down by midday Saturday. Airlines canceled more than 10,000 flights in the region. Restaurants shuttered early. With no mass transit available, thousands of workers couldn’t reach their jobs, prompting more businesses to close down. By nightfall Saturday, the city was eerily quiet.

Thousands of New Yorkers took shelter in emergency centers established by the city, the American Red Cross and other humanitarian groups. But far more simply stayed home to wait out the weather. Cory Stambler and Dara Bloomfield, both 22 years old, hosted a marathon viewing of disaster films in her Upper West Side apartment and ate all her perishable food in case the power went out.

On Beach 133rd St. on the Rockaway peninsula in Queens, longtime residents were counting on a five-foot-high wall of rough concrete facing Jamaica Bay at the end of their block.

“You don’t have to worry about the high water,” Dennis Cummins was saying at 9 a.m. Mr. Cummins, a retired firefighter, 71 years old, was standing out on the sidewalk in front of his house with a bunch of neighbors, all of them worrying about the high water.

“It’s not coming over that wall,” Mr. Cummins said.

Geni Smilowitz, 69, hustling into an SUV with her 75 year-old husband, Martin, on Saturday said she still remembered Hurricane Donna, which roared into the neighborhood with 90-mile-per-hour winds and massive flooding in September 1960.

“This one is worse,” she worried Saturday as the storm was bearing down. “I have a premonition. So we’re going to my son’s house.”

By the time the rain came to the neighborhood Saturday evening, the block was mostly empty, but Mr. Cummins and his wife stayed. Later, he walked down to the wall.

“The water was three feet below the top,” he said. “Absolutely nothing came over that wall.”

Jerry A. DiColo, Jennifer Levitz, Erica Orden and Andrew Grossman contributed to this article.

(c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

The above is the latest time-lapse video of Hurricane Irene’s formation and landfall from NOAA’s Visualization lab via their YouTube channel.

This video from NASA’s Youtube Channel shows footage from cameras mounted on the International Space Station capturing new views of Hurricane Irene at 4:27 p.m. EDT on August 26, 2011. Accompanied by narration from Expedition 28 Flight Engineer Mike Fossum of NASA, the video showed the massive system moving north at 14 miles an hour packing winds of 100 miles an hour some 300 miles south-southwest of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.