Great Pacific Garbage Patch
North Atlantic Garbage Patch
South Pacific Garbage Patch
Pristine beach
Clean ocean water
Swimming with marine life
Pristine beach
Friday, March 23, 2018
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a misnomer, but it's the best description we have of the over 600,000 square mile (more than twice the size of the state of Texas) trash accumulation in the Pacific Ocean. It is also described as the Pacific trash vortex, and is a gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean, between Hawaii and California, that was discovered between 1985 and 1988.
The patch is characterized by exceptionally high relative pelagic concentrations of plastic, chemical sludge, and other debris that have been trapped by the oceanic currents of the North Pacific Gyre. Its low density (4 particles per cubic meter) prevents detection by satellite imagery, or even by casual boaters or divers in the area.
There has been some controversy surrounding the use of the term "garbage patch," and photos taken off the coast of Manila in the Philippines in attempts to portray the patch in the media often misrepresent the true scope of the problem, and what could be done to solve it. Angelicque White, Associate Professor at Oregon State University, who has studied the "garbage patch" in depth, warns that "the use of the phrase 'garbage patch'is misleading. ... It is not visible from space; there are no islands of trash; it is more akin to a diffuse soup of plastic floating in our oceans." In a media article Dr. White and Professor Tamara Galloway, from the University of Exeter, call for regulation and cleanup, and state that the focus should be on stemming the flow of plastic into the ocean from coastal sources. The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) agrees, stating: "While 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' is a term often used by the media, it does not paint an accurate picture of the marine debris problem in the North Pacific Ocean. The name 'Pacific Garbage Patch' has led many to believe that this area is a large and continuous patch of easily visible marine debris items such as bottles and other litter - akin to a literal island of trash that should be visible with satellite or aerial photographs. This is not the case." (From Ocean Facts, National Ocean Service.)
Microplastics make up 94 percent of an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic in the patch. But that only amounts to 8 percent of the total tonnage. As it turns out, of the 79,000 metric tons of plastic in the patch, most of it is abandoned fishing gear - not the plastic bottles or packaging that is drawing headlines today.
A new comprehensive study by a team of scientists, published in Scientific Reports on Thursday, concluded that the 79,000 tons was 4 to 16 times larger than has been previously estimated for the patch. The study also found that fishing nets account for 46 percent of the trash, with the majority of the rest composed of other fishing industry gear, including ropes, oyster spacers, eel traps, crates and baskets. Scientists estimate that 20 percent of the debris is from the catastrophic 2011 Japanese tsunami.
Laurent Lebreton, an oceanographer with Ocean Cleanup, and the study's lead author, says the research team was looking to assess the larger pieces of trash. "I knew there would be a lot of fishing gear, but 46 percent was unexpectedly high," he says. "Initially, we thought that fishing gear would be more in the 20 percent range. That is the accepted number (for marine debris) globally - 20 percent from fishing sources and 80 percent from land."
Ghostnets, a term coined to describe purposely discarded or accidentally lost netting, drift through the ocean, entangling whales, seals, and turtles, An estimated 100,000 marine animals are strangled, suffocated, or injured by plastics every year.
But wait! There's more!! There are also two garbage patches in the Atlantic Ocean. - The North Atlantic Garbage Patch was originally documented in 1972. The patch is estimated to be hundreds of kilometers across in size, with a density of over 200,000 pieces of debris per square kilometer. The debris zone shifts by as much as 1,600 kilometers (990 miles) north and south seasonally, and drifts even farther south during the El Nino Southern Oscillation, according to NOAA. - Not to mention the South Atlantic Garbage Patch....
To study the scale of marine debris accumulation in the area, the Sea Education Association (SEA) has been doing extensive research on the North Atlantic Garbage Patch. Nearly 700,000 students from the SEA semester program have been dragging 6,100 fine-mesh nets through the Atlantic over a period of 22 years. The gyre in the North Atlantic contains plastic marine pollution in a pattern and amount similar to what has been found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
And it is a global concern. On 11 April 2013, in order to create awareness, artist Maria Cristina Finucci founded The Garbage Patch State at UNESCO-Paris in front of Director General Irina Bokova. This was the first of a series of events under the patronage of UNESCO and of the Italian Ministry of the Environment.
I urge you to write to your political leaders, wherever you live, to pass legislation to keep our oceans clean, and to help clean out what is already in them!
The patch is characterized by exceptionally high relative pelagic concentrations of plastic, chemical sludge, and other debris that have been trapped by the oceanic currents of the North Pacific Gyre. Its low density (4 particles per cubic meter) prevents detection by satellite imagery, or even by casual boaters or divers in the area.
There has been some controversy surrounding the use of the term "garbage patch," and photos taken off the coast of Manila in the Philippines in attempts to portray the patch in the media often misrepresent the true scope of the problem, and what could be done to solve it. Angelicque White, Associate Professor at Oregon State University, who has studied the "garbage patch" in depth, warns that "the use of the phrase 'garbage patch'is misleading. ... It is not visible from space; there are no islands of trash; it is more akin to a diffuse soup of plastic floating in our oceans." In a media article Dr. White and Professor Tamara Galloway, from the University of Exeter, call for regulation and cleanup, and state that the focus should be on stemming the flow of plastic into the ocean from coastal sources. The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) agrees, stating: "While 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' is a term often used by the media, it does not paint an accurate picture of the marine debris problem in the North Pacific Ocean. The name 'Pacific Garbage Patch' has led many to believe that this area is a large and continuous patch of easily visible marine debris items such as bottles and other litter - akin to a literal island of trash that should be visible with satellite or aerial photographs. This is not the case." (From Ocean Facts, National Ocean Service.)
Microplastics make up 94 percent of an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic in the patch. But that only amounts to 8 percent of the total tonnage. As it turns out, of the 79,000 metric tons of plastic in the patch, most of it is abandoned fishing gear - not the plastic bottles or packaging that is drawing headlines today.
A new comprehensive study by a team of scientists, published in Scientific Reports on Thursday, concluded that the 79,000 tons was 4 to 16 times larger than has been previously estimated for the patch. The study also found that fishing nets account for 46 percent of the trash, with the majority of the rest composed of other fishing industry gear, including ropes, oyster spacers, eel traps, crates and baskets. Scientists estimate that 20 percent of the debris is from the catastrophic 2011 Japanese tsunami.
Laurent Lebreton, an oceanographer with Ocean Cleanup, and the study's lead author, says the research team was looking to assess the larger pieces of trash. "I knew there would be a lot of fishing gear, but 46 percent was unexpectedly high," he says. "Initially, we thought that fishing gear would be more in the 20 percent range. That is the accepted number (for marine debris) globally - 20 percent from fishing sources and 80 percent from land."
Ghostnets, a term coined to describe purposely discarded or accidentally lost netting, drift through the ocean, entangling whales, seals, and turtles, An estimated 100,000 marine animals are strangled, suffocated, or injured by plastics every year.
But wait! There's more!! There are also two garbage patches in the Atlantic Ocean. - The North Atlantic Garbage Patch was originally documented in 1972. The patch is estimated to be hundreds of kilometers across in size, with a density of over 200,000 pieces of debris per square kilometer. The debris zone shifts by as much as 1,600 kilometers (990 miles) north and south seasonally, and drifts even farther south during the El Nino Southern Oscillation, according to NOAA. - Not to mention the South Atlantic Garbage Patch....
To study the scale of marine debris accumulation in the area, the Sea Education Association (SEA) has been doing extensive research on the North Atlantic Garbage Patch. Nearly 700,000 students from the SEA semester program have been dragging 6,100 fine-mesh nets through the Atlantic over a period of 22 years. The gyre in the North Atlantic contains plastic marine pollution in a pattern and amount similar to what has been found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
And it is a global concern. On 11 April 2013, in order to create awareness, artist Maria Cristina Finucci founded The Garbage Patch State at UNESCO-Paris in front of Director General Irina Bokova. This was the first of a series of events under the patronage of UNESCO and of the Italian Ministry of the Environment.
I urge you to write to your political leaders, wherever you live, to pass legislation to keep our oceans clean, and to help clean out what is already in them!
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Spring 2018
What, exactly, constitutes "spring'? Scientifically, Spring began at 10:15 a.m. (MDT) on Tuesday, 20 March this year, which was the time of the vernal equinox. At the vernal equinox, days are approximately 12 hours long, with the length of the day increasing as the season progresses. Here, in the United States, acknowledged months of spring are March, April, and May. However, in the Southern Hemisphere it is now autumn, or fall; in New Zealand, spring is from 1 September through 30 November. Swedish meteorologists define the beginning of spring as the first occasion on which the average temperature is above 0 degrees Celsius (32 F) for seven consecutive days, thus their dates for spring vary with the latitude and elevation. Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and also to ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, regrowth, and resurrection.
During early spring, the axis of the Earth is increasing its tilt relative to the sun, and the length of daylight rapidly increases for the relevant hemisphere. The hemisphere begins to warm significantly, causing new plant growth to "spring forth," possibly giving the season it's common name. Snow begins to melt, swelling streams with runoff, and frosts become less severe. In climates that have no snow, and frosts are rare, ground temperature increases more rapidly.
Many flowering plants bloom at this time of year, in a long succession, sometimes beginning when snow is still on the ground, and continuing into summer. In normally snow-less areas, spring may begin as early as February (in the Northern Hemisphere) or in August (in the Southern). Many temperate areas have a dry spring and a wet autumn, which brings flowers in this season, more consistent with the need for water, as well as warmth. Sub-arctic areas may not experience spring until the month of May or June.
While spring is a result of the warmth caused by the changing orientation of the Earth's axis relative to the sun, weather is affected by other, less predictable events. Rainfall follows trends related to longer cycles, like the solar cycle, or events created by ocean currents and temperatures. Unstable spring weather may occur more often when warm air begins to invade toward the north, while cold is is pushing south. Flooding is also most common in and near mountainous areas during this time of year, because of melting snow. "Tornado Alley" is most active in the spring, especially since the Rocky Mountains prevent the surging hot and cold air masses from spreading eastward, and instead force them into direct conflict. Besides tornadoes, supercell thunderstorms can also produce dangerous large hail and very high winds. And more so than in winter, the jet streams play an important role in unstable and severe weather in the spring.
Spring in the Southern Hemisphere is different in several significant ways from the Northern Hemisphere for several reasons. They include: (a) there is no land bridge between Southern Hemisphere countries and the Antartic zone capable of bringing in cold air without the temperature-mitigating effects of great tracts of water; (b) the vastly greater amount of ocean water in the Southern Hemisphere at all latitudes; (c) the Earth (at this time) has an orbit that brings it in closer to the Southern Hemisphere for its warmer seasons; (d) there is a circumpolar flow of air uninterrupted by large land masses; (e) there are no equivalent jet streams; and (f) the peculiarities of the reversing ocean currents in the Pacific.
** In recent decades, season creep has been observed, which means that many phrenological signs of spring are occurring earlier in many regions - by around two days per decade. **
During early spring, the axis of the Earth is increasing its tilt relative to the sun, and the length of daylight rapidly increases for the relevant hemisphere. The hemisphere begins to warm significantly, causing new plant growth to "spring forth," possibly giving the season it's common name. Snow begins to melt, swelling streams with runoff, and frosts become less severe. In climates that have no snow, and frosts are rare, ground temperature increases more rapidly.
Many flowering plants bloom at this time of year, in a long succession, sometimes beginning when snow is still on the ground, and continuing into summer. In normally snow-less areas, spring may begin as early as February (in the Northern Hemisphere) or in August (in the Southern). Many temperate areas have a dry spring and a wet autumn, which brings flowers in this season, more consistent with the need for water, as well as warmth. Sub-arctic areas may not experience spring until the month of May or June.
While spring is a result of the warmth caused by the changing orientation of the Earth's axis relative to the sun, weather is affected by other, less predictable events. Rainfall follows trends related to longer cycles, like the solar cycle, or events created by ocean currents and temperatures. Unstable spring weather may occur more often when warm air begins to invade toward the north, while cold is is pushing south. Flooding is also most common in and near mountainous areas during this time of year, because of melting snow. "Tornado Alley" is most active in the spring, especially since the Rocky Mountains prevent the surging hot and cold air masses from spreading eastward, and instead force them into direct conflict. Besides tornadoes, supercell thunderstorms can also produce dangerous large hail and very high winds. And more so than in winter, the jet streams play an important role in unstable and severe weather in the spring.
Spring in the Southern Hemisphere is different in several significant ways from the Northern Hemisphere for several reasons. They include: (a) there is no land bridge between Southern Hemisphere countries and the Antartic zone capable of bringing in cold air without the temperature-mitigating effects of great tracts of water; (b) the vastly greater amount of ocean water in the Southern Hemisphere at all latitudes; (c) the Earth (at this time) has an orbit that brings it in closer to the Southern Hemisphere for its warmer seasons; (d) there is a circumpolar flow of air uninterrupted by large land masses; (e) there are no equivalent jet streams; and (f) the peculiarities of the reversing ocean currents in the Pacific.
** In recent decades, season creep has been observed, which means that many phrenological signs of spring are occurring earlier in many regions - by around two days per decade. **
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Dappled Horses
I have always loved horses with dapples whether they are the traditional dappled grays of the old-fashioned rocking horse, or dapples on solid color horses. But what causes dapples? First, it's based on genetics, but nutrition and grooming also have a hand it in.
Dappling is the existence of irregular spots on the horse or pony's skin. On equines, dapples are circles of slightly different shade than the rest of the coat. And they are mysterious. They can appear, disappear and reappear at various stages of the animal's life. Your care can also contribute to the appearance of dapples.
Many gray horses have dapples at some point in their lives. They are typically not born with this marking, and many times aren't even born gray; they can be born with any base color, usually black, but also chestnut or brown. They gray as they get older, gradually developing those circular dapples, but they are usually short-lived. As the gray horse ages, the dapples fade, the hair whitens, and the dapple disappear completely.
Horses of other colors - browns, chestnuts, bays, blacks, duns and palominos - don't dapple predictably or intensely like grays do, but some do have the genetic disposition for dapples. Sometimes they last the entire year, sometimes only for the season after they lose their winter coat. Dapples can be difficult to see, and sometimes the light needs to reflect at just the specific angle for them to be visible. Good grooming and good health will accentuate them. If your horse or pony is healthy, and you groom him properly and regularly, but you still don't see dapples, then your equine simply doesn't have the genes in it's DNA to produce dapples.
A lot of people believe the appearance of dapples on a non-gray horse is an indication of good health. They are not wrong, but they are not entirely correct, either. Good nutrition is necessary for a healthy coat and skin, allowing dapples to appear in horses that are genetically disposed to them. In particular, your equine needs protein, a fat source, the trace minerals copper and zinc, and vitamin A for a good coat. Feeding your horse a diet of high-quality forage such as good pasture grass or hay that isn't old will give your horse most of these needed nutrients; a commercial grain will round out their diet.
Another measure to promote skin and coat health, and to bring out any dapples, is regular worming to rid your horse or pony of parasites. These parasites rob your horse of the nutrients that he absorbs from his/her feed. The result is a dull, drab coat that lacks any luster. Often in such cases, the equine won't be able to shed, or will shed unevenly. Make sure your mount gets plenty of water and exercise; both of these help deliver nutrients to the skin and coat.
I must add on that I am always amazed at the dappling on the ponies of Chincoteague and Assateague... They are an amazingly hardy breed!
Dappling is the existence of irregular spots on the horse or pony's skin. On equines, dapples are circles of slightly different shade than the rest of the coat. And they are mysterious. They can appear, disappear and reappear at various stages of the animal's life. Your care can also contribute to the appearance of dapples.
Many gray horses have dapples at some point in their lives. They are typically not born with this marking, and many times aren't even born gray; they can be born with any base color, usually black, but also chestnut or brown. They gray as they get older, gradually developing those circular dapples, but they are usually short-lived. As the gray horse ages, the dapples fade, the hair whitens, and the dapple disappear completely.
Horses of other colors - browns, chestnuts, bays, blacks, duns and palominos - don't dapple predictably or intensely like grays do, but some do have the genetic disposition for dapples. Sometimes they last the entire year, sometimes only for the season after they lose their winter coat. Dapples can be difficult to see, and sometimes the light needs to reflect at just the specific angle for them to be visible. Good grooming and good health will accentuate them. If your horse or pony is healthy, and you groom him properly and regularly, but you still don't see dapples, then your equine simply doesn't have the genes in it's DNA to produce dapples.
A lot of people believe the appearance of dapples on a non-gray horse is an indication of good health. They are not wrong, but they are not entirely correct, either. Good nutrition is necessary for a healthy coat and skin, allowing dapples to appear in horses that are genetically disposed to them. In particular, your equine needs protein, a fat source, the trace minerals copper and zinc, and vitamin A for a good coat. Feeding your horse a diet of high-quality forage such as good pasture grass or hay that isn't old will give your horse most of these needed nutrients; a commercial grain will round out their diet.
Another measure to promote skin and coat health, and to bring out any dapples, is regular worming to rid your horse or pony of parasites. These parasites rob your horse of the nutrients that he absorbs from his/her feed. The result is a dull, drab coat that lacks any luster. Often in such cases, the equine won't be able to shed, or will shed unevenly. Make sure your mount gets plenty of water and exercise; both of these help deliver nutrients to the skin and coat.
I must add on that I am always amazed at the dappling on the ponies of Chincoteague and Assateague... They are an amazingly hardy breed!
Sunday, March 18, 2018
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