Study Observes What Happens to Ocean and Sea Ice When Cyclone Hits
Written by AZoCleantechApr 30 2021
A huge storm on par with a Category 2 hurricane was hit the Arctic Ocean in August 2016. The cyclone resulted in the third-lowest sea ice extent that has been recorded so far.
The Korean icebreaker Araon, which unexpectedly found itself in an Arctic cyclone in 2016, unlocked the key to how these storms wreak havoc on sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. Image Credit: Joo-Hong Kim, Korea Polar Research Institute.
However, the closeness of the Korean icebreaker Araon is what made the Great Arctic Cyclone of 2016 especially attractive to researchers. For the very first time, researchers were able to observe precisely what happens to the ocean and sea ice during a cyclone.
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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded US$19 million for 13 projects in traditionally fossil fuel-producing communities across the country to support the production of rare earth elements and critical minerals vital to the manufacturing of batteries, magnets, and other components important to the clean energy economy. Facing persistent shortages in domestic supply, the US has been forced to rely on imported materials, leaving clean energy technology production at greater risk of disruption.
“The very same fossil fuel communities that have powered our nation for decades can be at the forefront of the clean energy economy by producing the critical minerals needed to build electric vehicles, wind turbines, and so much more,” said Secretary of Energy, Jennifer M. Granholm. “By building clean energy products here at home, we’re securing the supply chain for the innovative solutions needed to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 – all while creating go
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But some scientists say they’re worried about what hatchery crab and other species could do to natural populations.
Throughout Alaska’s waters, shellfish populations have been in decline for decades decimated by overfishing in the 1980s and by changing ocean environments in the years since.
Bristol Bay’s world-renown sockeye salmon fishery was a bright spot in a dismal statewide salmon harvest last year. But its red king crab fishery is in steep decline.
“There’s quite a lot of concern that this [Bristol Bay red king crab] fishery could close as early as this year,” says Ginny Eckert, a professor of fisheries at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Eckert spoke at a legislative hearing earlier this month in favor of a bill that supporters say could help re-animate shellfish populations statewide, including in Bristol Bay.
Study Brings Sharper Focus to Warm Arctic Seawater Details
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A new study provides the first high-resolution observations of warm, northbound water sliding beneath the surface of the cold Beaufort Sea.
A new study provides the first high-resolution observations of warm, northbound water sliding beneath the surface of the cold Beaufort Sea.
The research, published in Nature Communications, adds to evidence that polar ice may be melting faster than models predict.
“The rate of accelerating sea ice melt in the Arctic has been hard to predict accurately, in part because of all of the complex local feedbacks between ice, ocean and atmosphere; this work showcases the large role in warming that ocean water plays as part of those feedbacks,” said Jennifer MacKinnon, a physical oceanographer at the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institute of Oceanography and lead author of the paper.
Breakup Roundup: Two things to know as the ice goes out kodiakdailymirror.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kodiakdailymirror.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.