OCEAN: Plane Crash & more – 23rd Jan 2024

Ahoy from BA! This is Rorshok’s Ocean Update from the 23rd of January twenty twenty-four A summary of what's going down in the 70% surface of the Earth covered in saltwater.

A small aircraft that crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Half Moon Bay, California, is under investigation. The incident took place on Sunday the 14th. Witnesses reported erratic flight and engine trouble before the Cozy Mark IV aircraft crashed. The search for two people onboard started immediately, but the National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday the 16th that there were actually four people onboard. On Monday the 15th, The San Mateo County Coroner's Office found the body of one of the passengers, which was later identified on Wednesday the 17th. They are still looking for the pilot and the other two passengers.

Still in the Pacific Ocean. The US spacecraft Peregrine One, launched last week for a Moon landing mission, suffered a propulsion fault, leading to its destruction on Thursday the 18th. Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, the private operator, directed the craft into the Earth's atmosphere to burn up after losing signal in the tracking station of Canberra, Australia. If any fragments managed to reach the Earth's surface, their impact would have occurred in the South Pacific Ocean, south of the Fiji Islands, in the afternoon of the same day.

Moving on to the Atlantic Ocean. Scientists just uncovered the biggest deep-sea coral reef off the US Atlantic coast. It stretches 310 miles (or 500 kilometers) from Florida to South Carolina and reaches widths of sixty-eight miles (or 110 kilometers). Sharks, swordfish, sea stars, octopuses, and other marine animals are living in the extensive reef. Researchers knew about the reef’s presence in the Atlantic, but this is the first time they measured the reef’s size, thanks to the new mapping technology that produces 3D images. Scientists of the non-profit Ocean Exploration Trust and of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration federal agency published the maps in the Geomatics journal.

To check out the study and the maps, follow the link in the show notes!

In other news, according to a study by the initiative Sea Around Us at the University of British Columbia, yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean are in a critical situation. The research reveals a 70% decline in overall biomass over the past seventy years, with a 54% decrease in yellowfin tuna since nineteen fifty. The study shows reduced abundance, smaller size, and the lowest biomass of yellowfin tuna since twenty fourteen. The authors of the study recommend urgent actions like fishing capacity reduction and better enforcement of catch limits to prevent a potential collapse of yellowfin tuna populations in the Indian Ocean, emphasizing the species' crucial role in marine ecosystems and its significant economic impact.

More on the Indian Ocean. Admiral R Hari Kumar, the Chief of Naval Staff, announced on Wednesday the 17th that the Indian Navy is taking an aggressive position against piracy in the region, deploying more warships under the Maritime Anti-Piracy Act of twenty twenty-two. The Navy has conducted anti-piracy activities since two thousand eight, and it increased its presence after recent incidents. Admiral Kumar ensured the Navy was monitoring the situation in the Red Sea and highlighted the Navy's commitment to self-reliance by twenty forty-seven.

Next up, Cyclone Belal swept across the Indian Ocean, causing havoc in Mauritius and Réunion. The Cyclone hit Mauritius on Tuesday the 16th, causing flash floods, heavy rain, and wind over 100 kilometers (more than sixty miles) per hour, leaving almost 9,000 people without power, and one dead on a flooded highway. In Reunion, one homeless person who couldn’t find shelter died. The country is on red alert and all the residents are urged to stay home. Cyclone Belal is the strongest cyclone of the season and it keeps moving in the Indian Ocean.

On another note, a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences proposed a new theory on how humans reached North America 13,000 years ago. The journalist Andrew McLemore explains that, according to the research, there was an arrival through a “sea ice highway.” During the last glacial maximum, 20,000 years ago, stronger glacial winds and lower sea levels caused currents that were twice stronger than present tideways. Navigating through these currents could have been very dangerous, so it’s more likely that humans used this sea ice highway, walking across the ice. 14,000 years ago, the Alaskan current reduced, facilitating easier coastal travel by boat.

The Ocean Networks Canada and the Spanish National Research Council established an underwater observatory in the Antarctic Ocean at the Spanish Base Juan Carlos I. The entities are collaborating to address the lack of observations in the region. With this new observatory, the Ocean Network Canada is expanding its monitoring of the oceans beyond Canadian waters. The observatory will produce almost real-time data about the conditions of the Southern Ocean. Through satellite transmission, the observatory will be able to send data on biogeochemical and physical ocean processes every thirty minutes.

Let’s take a quick look at the Panama Canal. As we talked about in previous shows, the severe drought in the region, which started last year, caused a 36% reduction in ship transits in the Canal. Canal authorities anticipate losses between 500 million and 700 million US dollars in twenty twenty-four, up from previous estimates of 200 million US dollars. The current number of daily transits amounts to twenty-four (down from thirty-eight before the drought), and the authorities are looking for new water sources.

On Thursday the 18th, in the Central Mediterranean Sea, the Humanity One rescue ship, operated by the German NGO SOS Humanity, intercepted a distressed wooden boat carrying at least 126 people, including thirty minors and a newborn. The survivors were suffering from hypothermia, dehydration, and exhaustion after being adrift for hours. The refugees said they departed from the Libyan coast two days before, after experiencing human rights violations in Libya. The Mediterranean Sea remains a crucial and often fatal migration route, with almost 3,000 known deaths in twenty twenty-three, the deadliest year since twenty seventeen.

Moving on to water pollution. A Mullaloo resident complained about potential wastewater contamination amid an algal bloom that led to the closure of a popular Perth beach, Australia. Mullaloo Beach was closed on Wednesday the 17th because of the presence of a blue-green algae called trichodesmium that can be dangerous to human health. The Western Australia’s Water (WA’s) Corporation refutes claims of a link between the algal bloom and treated wastewater discharge. Authorities attribute the bloom to calm water conditions and hot weather, asserting it is naturally occurring, not due to pollution. Despite the denial, community members are asking for a parliamentary inquiry into the facility's infrastructure. A recent meeting involving WA's Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, the Water Corporation, and local representatives addressed community concerns and moved the first steps to find potential solutions.

Closing with watersports. The third leg of the Ocean Globe Race sees the fleet sailing in ideal conditions for a “Champagne Sailing" towards Cape Horn. The competition is hard among the yachts, which present different dimensions. The smallest yachts are leading, showing the skills of a reduced-dimension vessel, with Triana FR heading, followed by Galiana WithSecure FI and White Shadow ESP. The competition is close with nine boats at the forefront. Despite the situation being currently enjoyable, all crews are very aware that they are soon entering the Southern Ocean, where the conditions won’t be favorable anymore.

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

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