OCEAN: Alien metals in the Pacific & more – 13th Feb 2024

Ahoy from BA! This is Rorshok’s Ocean Update from the 13th of February twenty twenty-four. A summary of what's going down in the 70% surface of the Earth covered in saltwater.

Professor Avi Loeb, the Harvard scientist who declared to have found alien life in the Pacific Ocean last year, comes back into the fray presenting evidence in his latest study of alien metals in the same ocean. 10% of these metals’ elements are not present in our solar system. Professor Loeb and his team analyzed 850 small round objects and discovered a new composite, called BeLaU as it’s a mix of Beryllium, Lanthanum, and Uranium. The spherules likely originated from a planet's crustal rocks, with some compositions resembling the lunar crust.

This discovery led the scientists to believe the first Earth’s interstellar visitor was a meteor from another star system in twenty fourteen, which brought the alien metal to our planet. On Monday the 5th, Loeb said: "It raises the possibility that it may have been a Voyager-like meteor, artificially made by another civilization."

Another news from the skies. On Thursday the 8th, NASA launched the PACE satellite from a rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, in the framework of its new mission to study oceans. The name of the satellite stands for Plankton, Aerosol, Climate, ocean Ecosystem satellite, and will study microscopic life in our oceans. The PACE mission will track phytoplankton distribution worldwide and study atmospheric aerosols and cloud characteristics.

PACE will provide valuable data to understand Earth's oceans better and their role in the climate cycle, helping coastal communities and industries tackle climate change challenges.

Going back to the Pacific Ocean. A new study finds that four plateaus in the western Pacific Ocean are getting torn apart from forces located at their edges. The areas are in fact not rigid spots as previously imagined, but soft and weak. The team of researchers from the University of Toronto, led by Erkan Gün and Russell Pysklywec, discovered that the plateaus exhibit deformational and magmatic characteristics that indicates they have been stretched. The study is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters and suggests the need to research more the seafloor to understand the geological phenomena.

Moving on, the Atlantic ocean circulation is close to a dangerous “tipping point”. The recent study published in the journal Science Advances raises concern for the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, which is taking a hit due to the fast melting of Greenland's glaciers altering the warm and salty waters from the South. The study suggests that a definite collapse could happen within a century, causing irreparable damage for the climate system and humanity: sea levels could rise up to a meter, flooding coastal cities; global temperatures could become more erratic; Amazon’s seasons could go haywire, destroying the forest; and Europe might cool down dramatically. René van Westen, the lead author, stresses the urgency of tackling climate change head-on.

In other news, the 7th Indian Ocean Conference took place in Perth, Australia, on Friday the 9th and Saturday the 10th. The two-day meeting, themed Towards a Stable and Sustainable Indian Ocean, reunited global leaders to talk about hot topics of the region, from piracy to maritime security, conflicts, stability, climate change and sustainability. Dr. S Jaishankar, India's Minister of External Affairs, stressed the importance of constructing an international dialogue on these topics, as the Indian Ocean Region faces multiple challenges. All participants confirmed their commitment to facilitate and enhance the cooperation.

In the opening speech of the Conference, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong warned about potential conflicts in the Indian Ocean, which might disrupt the world economy. She remarked on the risks of the so-called “gray zones”, activities that stop just before a proper and complete military action but that are becoming more frequent with the growing presence of China in the region, and warned about the risks of strategic “miscalculations”.

Let’s have a look at the situation in the Red Sea. The Houthi rebels’ attacks to vessels crossing the Red Sea to reach the Suez Canal, supported by Iran, are disrupting global trades, causing the reroutes of several ships and increased costs and delays. Estimates suggest that shipping companies are paying around one extra million US dollars per vessel to avoid the Red Sea passage. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, it will take one year to see the rise of the products' prices. The oil price, though, has remained stable so far, despite the attacks. If the oil price was to rise again, this could impact the energy costs on a global level.

The Red Sea and Suez Canal situation has an impact even on the other side of the world: the demand of vessels transiting in the Panama Canal is increasing. As we talked about in previous shows, the Panama Canal faced several transit limits in the past year due to the ongoing drought that affected the area, although recent precipitation allowed the authorities to avoid further restrictions.

Panama Canal Authorites confirmed they will maintain the current level of transits, despite the increased demand, until at least April. If the rain that is expected in May actuallytakes place, the limits will be gradually removed; otherwise, authorities will consider increasing restrictions again. The canal expects up to a 700 million US dollars decrease in toll revenues and 1,500 vessels less for this fiscal year, which it will lose in September.

Moving on, a recent report by the Arctic Council revealed that the increased shipping traffic doubled underwater noise level from twenty thirteen to twenty nineteen in the Arctic Ocean. The quick increase of noise is disrupting communication and behavior of Arctic marine mammals that were used to a quiet ocean environment due to the ice that absorbs sounds. Scientists are still studying the effect that the noise will have on vulnerable species and advocating to decrease the noise pollution, in the attempt to protect all the Arctic species.

If you are interested in learning more about the Arctic look for the Rorshok Arctic Update in your favorite podcast platform and tell us what you think.

From the Arctic to the Antarctic Ocean. The acidity in the waters could double within the end of the century, as a new study published in the journal Nature Communications says. Lead researcher Cara Nissen warned this could be dangerous for plankton and krill, which are the base of the food chain for bigger fishes and whales. The entire food chain could be disrupted. Nissen said: “I think it's easily imaginable that if you impact the lower base of the food web, so plankton or krill, then these impacts can cascade all the way up.”

The researchers simulated changes in the Antarctic Ocean for the next century, highlighting the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions, which would slow the acidification process, and establish more marine protected areas to safeguard vulnerable ecosystems.

In a previous show we talk about Ocean Viking, a migrant rescue ship privately operated by the humanitarian organization SOS Mediterranee, put in administrative detention at the beginning of the year in the port of Bari, Italy, to have deviated its route towards Bari for attempting a second rescue operation. The same ship took another administrative detention lasting twenty days for alleged, non-specified violations when it entered the port of Brindisi, Italy, with 261 people aboard rescued from the open sea. On Sunday the 11th, around 100 people protested in Brindisi, Italy, against the ship’s detention, with the Italian slogan Nessun corpo è clandestino in mare, which translates as No body is clandestine at sea.

Closing with the first UN report titled State of the World’s Migratory Species. One out of five migratory species risk extinction. The situation is particularly alarming in the oceans, as the report declares that 97% of the marine species risk extinction, including whales, marine turtles and sharks.

Since migratory species often cross borders, their survival is on the hands of each single country they will pass and/or stay in, as Amy Fraenkel, head of the United Nations Environmental Monitoring Center, underlined. The report encourages common international policies to protect migratory species and their natural habitat, reducing their commercial capture at the same time.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

Last week we asked you to fill in a survey to get to know you and we got quite a few replies, thank you so so much ! We are very excited, tons of great ideas! We’ll be sharing the link to the survey one more time this week in the shownotes in case you didn’t see it. All respondents will be entered in a lottery to win a cruise in the Mediterranean… just kidding, it's in the South Pacific, but we would love to hear from you! Don’t be shy!

See you next week!