At least 28 people in Turkey and Greece have perished after a fierce quake struck off the shore of a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea – also leaving more than 800 injured, according to news media.
The tremor triggered tidal waves that hit coastal areas and islands in both countries.
In a message through his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, the UN chief extended his condolences to “the bereaved families and to the Governments and people of Greece and Turkey” and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
Rescue efforts
Rescue efforts continued throughout the night, searching for survivors under mounds of crushed concrete from damaged buildings in the Turkish coastal city of Izmir.
Turkey's Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum told journalists that some 100 survivors had been pulled out alive from the rubble so far, as another 180 remained trapped.
State-run media cited Turkey's national disaster agency Afad in reporting that rescue workers are being hampered by nearly 400 aftershocks, 33 of which are greater than 4.0 magnitude.
The Secretary-General commended the local response efforts underway and said, “the United Nations stands ready to assist if required”.
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder
Meanwhile, Volkan Bozkir, President of the General Assembly, reminded that “natural disasters don't respect borders”.
“That's why we have to remember each other's humanity and shared history and work together to combat such threats”, he said.
And the UN refugee agency, UNHCR expressed its solidarity with the people of Greece and Turkey, saying: “Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected”.
Within their bulbous bodies, Steller sea lions of the western Aleutian Islands seem to carry more mercury than sea lions closer to mainland Alaska.
By looking at tiny bits of fish and squid, a graduate student is trying to find out where that mercury is coming from.
Steller sea lions drape their chocolate bodies over rocks lining the Alaska coast. From those rocks, they plop into deep ocean water, and suddenly become graceful, among the most powerful swimmers in the sea.
Full-grown male Steller sea lions are heavier than the largest bull moose and can live 20 years. Females weigh half as much, despite being just a few feet shorter than the 11-foot males.
Numbers of Steller sea lions in the western Aleutian Islands of Alaska crashed in the 1970s and 1980s. Government officials listed them as endangered in 1997. Sea lion groups in other areas of Alaska are not endangered, but there is something going on with sea lions in the western end of the Aleutian arc, near Attu, Shemya and Buldir islands.
Michelle Trifari, in her work for a master’s degree, will try to tease out the answers in labs at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Using samples of fish and squid netted during commercial fishing trawls from 2013 to 2015, Trifari will “work down their food chain to try to figure out where the mercury might be entering,” Trifari said.
Mercury — an element released when we burn gas and oil, as well as when volcanoes erupt and permafrost thaws — in high concentrations is bad for living things like Steller sea lions and people.
Scientists found 10% of the sea lion pups they worked on at western Aleutian rookeries had mercury in their hair exceeding toxic levels. They also found mercury levels in Pacific cod and arrowtooth flounder were much higher in the western Aleutians than the same fish sampled in the eastern Aleutians, around Adak and Amchitka.
Sea lions, which can hold their breath and dive for more than 15 minutes, eat any fish they can catch, and also squid and octopus. Trifari will take a look at specks of muscle from walleye pollock, Atka mackerel, flounder, Pacific cod, rockfish and sculpin that are waiting in a UAF freezer.
This winter, Trifari will perform these tests at the Alaska Stable Isotope Facility and the Marine and Ecotoxicology Trophic Assessment Laboratory at UAF. She hopes to find a few answers: Who eats who in the cold waters of the Bering Sea and Northern Pacific Ocean, and is one of these fish or squid passing a heftier dose of mercury on to Steller sea lions?
For likely the first time, biologists captured a wild, elusive ram’s horn squid, or Spirula spirula, live on video.
The deep ocean — particularly the twilight zone, a dark realm extending some 660 to 3,300 feet below the surface — is little known and woefully unexplored. When navigating the depths in submersibles or using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), marine biologists can spot rarely (or never) seen creatures. In late October, a Schmidt Ocean Institute expedition filmed the Spirula spirula floating vertically at some 2,850 feet underwater.
"Exciting news!" the institute, which explores the ocean, tweeted on Oct. 27. "This appears to be the FIRST observation of Spirula, aka ram's horn squid, alive + in its natural environment. Very rarely seen or captured, they have many extinct relatives, but are only living member of genus Spirula, family Spirulidae, and order Spirulida."
At 54 seconds into the 55-second clip below, the squid exhibits its astonishing speed, as it bolts out of the frame.
Exciting news! This appears to be the FIRST observation of Spirula, aka ram's horn squid, alive + in its natural environment. Very rarely seen or captured, they have many extinct relatives, but are only living member of genus Spirula, family Spirulidae, and order Spirulida. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/re4rZyRuER
The ram’s horn squid is so named for the shape of its coiled, interior shell, which the animals use to control their buoyancy in the ocean. The intriguing shells wash up on beaches, and some are sold online.
"It’s the majesty of nature,” Nathan Robinson, a researcher at the Oceanogràfic Foundation, a marine conservation organization, told Mashable about the deep sea tussle.
A North Sea platform about 45 miles (70kms) east of the Aberdeen, UK (Photo: Andy Buchanan/AFP via ... [+]Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
Early in October 2020, Premier Oil (LON:PMO) – one of the UK's most indebted oil and gas companies – agreed to a merger with Chrysaor, in a reverse takeover that will ultimately see the former's creditors being paid $1.23 billion in cash, and its shareholders with around 5.45% of the combined London-listed entity.
On the face of it, there is little in the deal to raise eyebrows in a distressed market. Premier is one of the world's oldest leading independent exploration and production (E&P) company calling the North Sea its backyard. It traces its history back to the 1930s, but underwent a painful debt restructuring in 2016-17 after the last oil glut.
Amidst the current plunge in crude oil demand triggered by the COVID-19 crisis, its net debt stood $1.9 billion, several times over its market capitalization of $182 million. Given Premier's precarious position, a merger with Chrysaor, another major North Sea producer built on a portfolio of North Sea's British sector fields previously owned by Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips, seems to be a natural pathway.
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But beneath the surface, this seemingly natural merger offers a glimpse into the ever growing role of private capital in the North Sea, as oil and gas majors continue their retreat from the mature hydrocarbon prospect.
Chrysaor's largest shareholder is Harbour Energy, an investment vehicle of private equity (PE) group EIG Global Energy Partners which has splurged close to $6 billion since 2017 acquiring a North Sea foothold from oil majors.
Pending regulatory and Premier shareholders' approval, the merged company is expected to be nearly 40% owned by its new PE backers. Linda Cook, currently CEO of Harbour Energy, will be running it.
The combined company's total production of 270,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), which includes 200,000 beopd from Chrysaor and 70,000 boepd from Premier, would make it the biggest hydrocarbon producer in the British Sector of the North Sea, grabbing a spot previously held by BP.
It's a crown that BP hasn't been keen to hold in any case following a series of divestments by the oil major in recent years. In 2017, BP sold its iconic Forties Pipeline System (FPS) which was opened in 1975 to transport crude oil from the company's Forties field in the North Sea – then the UK's first major offshore oilfield – to petrochemicals tycoon Sir Jim Ratcliffe's privately-held conglomerate Ineos.
The move put the 235-mile pipeline system that links 85 North Sea oil and gas assets, belonging to over 20 firms, to the UK mainland and Grangemouth refinery in the hands of Ineos. The acquisition, which accounts for the delivery of 40% of British oil and gas output, built on Ineos' earlier acquisition of holdings in the Breagh and Clipper South gas fields in the Southern North Sea.
A year before, BP merged its Norwegian North Sea assets with Det norske, creating a new entity Aker BP, in which a 40% stake is owned by holding company Aker, which itself is majority-owned by billionaire Kjell Inge Røkke.
And let's not forget, while the Premier-Chrysaor merger has ended it – BP was attempting to flog other North Sea assets, including the Andrew platform and its controlling stake in five surrounding fields, as well as its minority stake in the Shell-operated Shearwater field, to Premier earlier this year.
The five fields - Andrew, Arundel, Cyrus, Farragon and Kinnoull – all produce via the Andrew platform, which is about 140 miles (225km) north east of Aberdeen and has been run by BP since 1994.
BP and struggling independents are by no means alone in having their divestments and assets in the maturing basin being scooped up by PE backed companies. Austria's OMV sold its British North Sea assets to Siccar Point, backed by Blackstone BX and Bluewater, for up to $1 billion just as BP was spinning off its Norwegian holdings into Aker BP in 2016.
Within a few quarters of these deals, Engie sold its E&P division including some North Sea assets, to Neptune, backed by private equity funds Carlyle Group CG and CVC, in a $3.9 billion deal.
In 2019, Chevron CVX sold its North Sea assets to Israeli investment group Delek for $2.6 billion, while ExxonMobil sold its Norwegian North Sea holdings to Var Energi, a joint venture between PE fund HitecVision and Eni, for $4.5 billion. Separately HitecVision's NEO unit bought British North Sea oilfields from Total.
Suncor, Total and ExxonMobil are all tipped for further North Sea divestments in the run up to H1 2021, with PE money in the running for many of the assets on offer in a distressed market. These deals more or less confirm that the North Sea, once a coveted offshore E&P frontier for big oil and gas majors, is now a massive hunting ground for PE players. Private capital unquestionably rules the North Sea roost.
PORTLAND, Maine (WMTW) - Halloween at Hadlock Field is still a go, although with some new safety guidelines.
Fans of the Sea Dogs were paid a surprise visit by the team’s mascot Friday.
Slugger the Sea Dog was out all day making, safe and socially distance, special deliveries.
WMTW caught up with him at the Animal Refuge League where he was surprising volunteers there with buckets of candy, t-shirts and of course, whoopie pies!
“We’ve missed fans, and we’ve had some events at the ballpark over the summer, golf, dining on the field. Slugger, we try to get him out as much as we can, but I think we miss the fans, and I think the fans miss slugger, and this is one way to get slugger out,” said Jim Heffley of the Portland Sea Dogs.
Each year Slugger makes sure to get in costume for Halloween. He seems to like Marvel superheroes. He was Captain America last year.
CAMDEN, Maine (WABI) - A popular Christmas tradition is coming back to the Midcoast area, despite the pandemic.
The 34th annual Christmas By the Sea will take place in Camden, Lincolnville, and Rockport on December 4-6.
This year they are taking a more virtual approach to keep everyone safe.
The weekend will include tree-lightings, holiday music, and a visit from Santa Claus himself.
He will be making an appearance in Camden harbor.
“Our goal this year, rather than having kids sit on Santa’s lap, we’re going to have virtual conversations with Santa,” said Jody Landrith, Chairperson for Christmas by the Sea. “Santa is coming to town. I had a conversation with him and his elves last week, and he is very excited to join us!”
There will also be a virtual story time, a family scavenger hunt, and more.
On October 30, when a powerful magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck under the Aegean Sea, dozens of buildings collapsed and water rushed into the streets of the coastal city of Izmir, Turkey, and on the island of Samos, Greece. At least 14 people have died and more than 400 were injured.This region is no stranger to earthquakes, with a written record of tectonic destruction stretching back centuries. But while many earthquake-prone places around the world can trace their seismic activity to the meeting of just two main tectonic plates, the situation is far messier around the Aegean. The source of all the shaking is instead a complicated geologic jigsaw that makes up the area, cut through with a web of faults."This is definitely one of the most complex regions in the world," says Joao Duarte, a marine geologist from the Instituto Dom Luiz at the University of Lisbon.Red circles show earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater in the past year.The Link Lonk
October 31, 2020 at 04:58AM
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Greece and Turkey earthquake driven by wild tectonics of the Aegean Sea - National Geographic
sea.indah.link Windward reef islands of Majuro atoll. (Photo credit: Kristian McDonald)
Low-lying reef islands such as the Marshall Islands could become unstable by mid-century and permanently lost as soon as 2080 if measures to adapt to rising sea levels are not implemented, according to research led by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Earth scientists.
Coral reef atoll islands are home to thousands of people around the world, but researchers still do not agree on how sea-level rise will impact these islands and their communities. Conflicting scientific messages generate confusion and can hinder progress in building community resilience to accelerating sea-level rise.
In the study published in Earth’s Future, Haunani Kane and Chip Fletcher, from UH Mānoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, used an integrated model that incorporates the 5,000-year geological history of the Marshall Islands with updated emissions and sea-level rise projections to understand what will happen to atoll islands over the course of the century. The results suggest higher water levels will rapidly increase flooding by extreme tides and more destructive waves. Salt water inundation will increasingly inundate the Marshall Islands and deteriorate their freshwater resources and agro-forests as early as in the decades leading up to mid-century.
Reducing exposure, increasing resilience
Retrieving geologic cores from the fossil reef flat. (Photo credit: Karl Fellenius)
Islanders can proactively bolster their islands’ natural ability to adapt and change by preserving and restoring reef ecosystems that protect coasts and provide new sediment to the structure of the island. Communities can reduce their exposure to climate-related hazards with nature-based and biocultural solutions such as wetlands, vegetated coastal buffers, aquaculture, and other projects that increase the distance between the shoreline and community assets. Slowing coastal erosion and wave inundation while increasing habitat and biodiversity, carbon sequestration, recreation opportunities, and cultural activities, are important for increasing resilience, especially now, in the first half of the century.
Reef islands are low-lying islands made up of wave deposited sand and coral. They support lush agro-forests and thin rain-fed freshwater aquifers. Researchers have debated how these islands will be affected by climate change-driven sea-level rise because they have not been subjected to rising seas before. Most of these islands formed in the past few thousand years as sea level in the tropical Pacific was lowering in response to deepening ocean basins surrounding formerly glaciated northern continents. Now, because of global warming, sea level is rising and the rate of rise is accelerating.
“Some scientists argue that because of their geologic history, reef islands could be resilient to human-caused sea-level rise, but most such studies consider islands and their people to be separate entities,” said Kane, a coastal geologist with UH Hilo and lead author of the study.
“We found that as really being disconnected from the way that we live on islands,” she added. “This study eliminates some of the confusion and the gaps in knowledge related to how sea-level rise will impact low-lying islands because it considers the impacts upon and resilience of both the place and the people.”
Modeling future change
To address this disconnect, Kane and Fletcher developed a model that treats islands and their people as inseparable components. The model uses a mixture of fossil data, historical photographs, and modern observations of tide and wave events to understand the geological processes of the Marshall Islands over 5,000 years. Using this information about how the islands have grown and responded to past changes over time, they projected each island’s ability to adapt to the increasing rate of sea-level rise.
They found that individual islands will respond slightly differently depending on their shape and location.
“Even within one nation, there are differences in how islands will respond,” said Kane.
“Getting this right is critically important,” said Fletcher. “There are disturbing signals that planning for multi-meter sea level rise this century is the prudent course of action. Fossil fuel use is outpacing renewable energy. Five years ago, 189 nations promised to tighten emission restrictions by 2020, only 10 have followed through. The rate of global warming has departed from a trend of several decades. Researchers have concluded that portions of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet are showing the first signs of structural weakening. And we have a lack of scientific thinking at the highest levels of government. In my mind, these add up to a very grim future for shoreline communities around the world who fail to act.”
This year, Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN) and Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund are joining efforts to support biologist Luis Fonseca in saving endangered sea turtles in Santa Rosa National Park, located in the Northwest Pacific of Costa Rica. In addition to sea turtles, the national park is home to several other species of flora and fauna—including jaguars.
Jaguars are the largest of big cat species in the Americas. Their populations have been declining due to habitat loss, poaching, and the loss of wild prey. However, in places like Santa Rosa National Park, researchers have shown a recovery in the population of these animals. Luis Fonseca and his team (Coastal Jaguar Conservation and Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund) have witnessed this recovery, as in recent years they have seen an increase in jaguars on the beaches.
To learn more about the interactions between the growing jaguar population and sea turtles, members of Turtle Island Restoration Network helped donate ten camera traps that have been placed around the beaches of Naranjo and Nancite, where these cats feed on sea turtles that come to the beaches to nest. This month the cameras captured footage of a jaguar eating a sea turtle carcass, as well as some stunning shots of jaguars interacting with the habitat!
This month, the camera traps Turtle Island Restoration Network members help donate to the program captured footage of a jaguar eating a sea turtle carcass!
Jaguar populations have been declining due to habitat loss, poaching, and the loss of wild prey.
Luis Fonseca and his team (Coastal Jaguar Conservation and Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund) have seen an increase in jaguars on the beaches.
We are excited to gather more data on the relationship between sea turtles and jaguars, and are grateful to everyone who is collaborating on this initiative!
Donations to our Save the Leatherback program are tax-deductible and welcome here.
Sea ice has yet to form this year in key parts of the Arctic (Photo: Kathryn Hansen, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
Amid recording-breaking high temperatures in the far north linked to climate disruption, Arctic Ocean ice is unusually late to re-form this year. Jennifer Francis, senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, speaks with Host Steve Curwood about how a delay in sea ice freeze can disrupt the ecosystems of the North and weather systems as far south as Florida.
Transcript
CURWOOD: From PRX and the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios at the University of Massachusetts Boston, this is Living on Earth. I’m Steve Curwood.
You may recall the extreme winter weather we’ve had in recent years in the US, ranging from unusual warmth in Alaska, to prolonged cold as far south as Florida, even the early snows this year in the upper Midwest are all linked to deep gyrations in the jet stream. And it looks like we could be in for another winter of weather extremes thanks in part to the impact on the jet stream by the loss of sea ice in the Arctic. The main nursery for Arctic sea ice in Siberia usually starts icing over in the fall but for first time on record the Laptev Sea is ending October without its usual sea ice. Jennifer Francis is a Senior Scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, and joins us now for more. Jennifer, welcome to Living On Earth!
FRANCIS: Thank you so much for having me, Steve.
CURWOOD: So tell us: Why is there a delay in the Arctic sea ice formation this year towards Siberia? What's going on?
FRANCIS: Well, the main reason is that we had a very unusual spring and summer up in the Arctic. And all around really the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. We lost a lot of sea ice this year. We came very close to breaking the record minimum amount of sea ice that occurs in September. It was very, very warm across Siberia this summer. We saw a record high temperature not only for Northern Siberia, but also for the Arctic as a whole of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, it was just an astounding event. And so by losing all that sea ice in the summer, you get rid of this very white surface that reflects most of the sun's energy back to outer space, so it never enters the climate system at all. So instead, we had this very dark ocean surface sitting there, which absorbs all that extra heat, it warms up the water all summer long. And so now we've got all that extra heat that built up all summer and it's gradually escaping back to the atmosphere. But until all that extra heat escapes, the sea ice won't form because the surface of the water has to get to the freezing point. And so by having all that extra heat, it is slowing the formation of the ice this fall.
CURWOOD: And just to be clear, all that we're seeing now with this loss of sea ice is closely related to climate change.
FRANCIS: Absolutely. There's no other explanation for why the ice is going away.
CURWOOD: Now, why does this matter, and particularly to humans?
Arctic sea ice formation during the colder seasons is crucial for the climate system to regulate global temperatures. (Photo: Aerohod, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)
FRANCIS: So locally, the humans who live up in that part of the world are accustomed to having that ice there so that they can go out on the ice, they hunt for animals, that's part of their traditional culture, it's very important source of their food. And when the ice is missing, it really disrupts all of their cultural traditions. And also it affects the animals that they're hunting. So by not having that ice there, we're seeing a big disruption to the food web, the marine food web. The ice generally blocks a lot of the sun's energy from entering the water; that light is needed by the algae that formed there. So, by having things very different from normal, we're seeing a lot of differences in the kinds of animals that live in the water up there -- big shifts in the ecosystem.
CURWOOD: So what you're telling me is that this lack of sea ice is related to some of the volatility in the weather that we've seen last year, when forecasters are talking about the polar vortex. There's a relationship here, I gather.
FRANCIS: There certainly is. The Arctic is a very important component of the large scale climate system. And by changing it as much as we have, meaning that literally, we've lost half of the sea ice in just 40 years in terms of how much area it covers in the summertime, that is just a tremendous change in a very important part of the climate system. And it's happened very, very quickly. And we know that by warming the Arctic so fast and reducing that North-South temperature difference, it is going to have an impact on the large scale wind patterns, which translates to our weather. So yes, by losing all that sea ice, we are definitely having an impact on both the weather patterns that we normally think of happening, but also causing more extreme weather events as well.
A delay in Arctic sea ice formation will disrupt marine food webs. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)
CURWOOD: So let's dig a little bit deeper into the notion of climate disruption and what might be happening with the warming of the Arctic. Overall, it's getting a lot warmer. But yet some of the research shows that this will lead to more extremes in temperatures at lower latitudes. Tell me how that works.
FRANCIS: Right. So the jetstream is this boundary between the cold air to the north of it and the warm air to the south of it. So when it takes one of these big northward swings, say over Alaska, it allows all of that warm air from the south to penetrate way, far north much farther north than it would. And so Alaska experiences very warm temperatures. But then on the flip side of that, on the downwind side, we tend to also see these large southward dips in the Jetstream, which, in contrast, allow the very cold air from the Arctic to plunge much farther south.
CURWOOD: So in a few decades, it's likely that Arctic sea ice will continue to shrink if we stay on this trend until perhaps there's no more ice left during the summer. What do you think would happen if this downward trend in Arctic sea ice continues?
FRANCIS: Well, I don't think that downward trend is an if. It's definitely going to continue. It jumps around from year to year but overall we're seeing a very steady very noticeable downward trend in the amount of sea ice in all seasons. It's largest in the summer. But we are also seeing the decrease in the sea ice in the winter. So what's going to happen is that we expect sometime around the year 2040, it could come sooner could be a little later, we expect to see a summer where there's virtually no ice at all left in the Arctic Ocean. And if that happens, it's going to basically make all of the changes that we're already seeing happening just get worse. We're going to see even bigger disruptions to the marine food web, more difficult living conditions for the people who live up in the high latitudes, bigger changes also to the weather patterns because we're going to absorb that much more heat up in the Arctic Ocean, that extra heating is going to accelerate the melting of glaciers and the Greenland ice sheet which contribute directly to sea level rise. We're going to see that extra heat accelerate the thawing of permafrost. And when that happens, we expect to see a big release of extra carbon dioxide and methane that's basically tied up in that frozen soil. And we also expect to see perhaps some opportunities for further exploitation of resources up there. So shipping, which has been on the rise very dramatically up in the far north, because of the loss of sea ice ships can now take a much shorter path from Eurasia to the North American continent. But also there's a lot of interest in exploiting the oil and the resources that are up there. Because now without sea ice there, it becomes much less expensive and more feasible. So that's what's on the table if we continue, well, when we continue to lose all the sea ice up there.
Scientists expect the Arctic sea ice to continue to recede in coming decades until there is no more ice left in the summer. (Photo: NASA, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)
CURWOOD: As a researcher whose long study this area, how alarming is this? How much of an alarm bell does this sound to you as a scientist, and actually, for us as citizens?
FRANCIS: We've been watching the Arctic change for many years in such dramatic and rapid ways that the alarm bells have been ringing for a while. This part of the world we know is sensitive to climate changes. It's been known for a long time that when the globe is a whole warms a little bit, the Arctic warms a lot more. So it really is a bellwether in terms of climate change. And finally, I think the alarm bells are starting to be heard by people other than scientists who study the region because it's having such big impacts on things like sea level rise and weather patterns and extreme weather. And we can connect those dots now for people. The research has gotten to that point where we can show these huge changes in the Arctic and how they affect everybody on the planet.
CURWOOD: Jennifer Francis is a senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Thanks so much for taking the time with us today.
Rescuers search for survivors Friday in a collapsed building in Izmir, Turkey, after a powerful earthquake struck Turkey's western coast and parts of Greece. Mert Cakir/AFP via Getty Imageshide caption
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Mert Cakir/AFP via Getty Images
Rescuers search for survivors Friday in a collapsed building in Izmir, Turkey, after a powerful earthquake struck Turkey's western coast and parts of Greece.
Mert Cakir/AFP via Getty Images
Updated at 3:25 p.m. ET
At least 14 people died Friday in Turkey and Greece after a powerful earthquake struck off the shore of a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea. Emergency crews are working to find victims and survivors of the earthquake, which registered a magnitude 7.0, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. More than 100 aftershocks have been felt, Turkish officials said.
The earthquake's worst effects are being reported in western Turkey, where officials said 12 people are dead and more than 600 are injured. At least 17 buildings were destroyed or damaged in Izmir — one of Turkey's largest cities, which was known in antiquity as Smyrna.
One person died by drowning, according to Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority. The agency said search and rescue crews are still trying to reach anyone who might be trapped or injured.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan "to offer my condolences for the tragic loss of life from the earthquake that struck both our countries."
The Greek leader added, "Whatever our differences, these are times when our people need to stand together."
The strong quake struck north of Néon Karlovásion, a small town on the Greek island of Samos. At least eight people were injured there, according to Greek state-run broadcaster ERT. But it also reported that two high school students, a boy and a girl, died in the city of Samos after a wall lining a narrow street collapsed on them.
The earthquake crumbled old buildings on the island; it also triggered a wall of seawater that flooded stores and swept cars away, ERT reported.
A strong earthquake shook parts of Turkey and Greece on Friday after striking north of the Greek island of Samos. USGS/Screenshot by NPRhide caption
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USGS/Screenshot by NPR
A strong earthquake shook parts of Turkey and Greece on Friday after striking north of the Greek island of Samos.
USGS/Screenshot by NPR
The quake shook a broad section of western Turkey – particularly Izmir, where hundreds of thousands of people live some 40 miles from the quake's epicenter. Turkey said its military is rushing relief supplies and personnel to the area.
Friday's earthquake is an "intraplate event," the USGS said, resulting from the Africa plate grinding along the Eurasia tectonic plate. The earthquake, which hit roughly 155 miles north of the main boundary between those plates, is largely consistent with earlier temblors in the region, the agency said.
"While commonly plotted as points on maps, earthquakes of this size are more appropriately described as slip over a larger fault area," the USGS said. It added that a 7.0 magnitude quake would normally have a fault area of 50 by 20 kilometers — about 31 by 12 miles.
Each year, the Africa plate moves northward around 10 millimeters (around 4/10 of an inch), the agency said.
This is a developing story. Some things that get reported by the media will later turn out to be wrong. We will focus on reports from government officials and other authorities, credible news outlets and reporters who are at the scene. We will update as the situation develops.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) says there's an 80% chance a tropical wave in the eastern Caribbean Sea forms into a tropical depression this weekend or early next week.
According to NHC, the system continues to become better organized. There's a 70% chance of development over the next 48 hours and an 80% chance over the next five days.
8am EDT: Shower activity with a tropical wave in the eastern Caribbean Sea has become better organized overnight. A tropical depression is now likely to form this weekend or early next week as this system moves westward through the Caribbean Sea.https://t.co/NERCKMhgQUpic.twitter.com/de3W5ffHFe
Glassy marine sponges have quite a “backbone.” According to a new study, one species’ intricate skeletal structure is impressively strong, outperforming comparable configurations humans use for lattice-style bridges.
Harvard University researchers hoping to build stronger and lighter structures looked for inspiration in the deep-water sponge Euplectella aspergillum, whose tubelike skeleton forms a square grid with diagonal reinforcements. They compared it with existing human-made lattice structures, such as those used in covered-bridge designs since the 1800s, stress-testing simulated objects and even crushing 3-D-printed miniature replicas of each of them—and the sponge structure came out on top. These results are perhaps not surprising, considering E. aspergillum’s millions of years of evolution, the researchers say. The new work was detailed in September in Nature Materials.
“In many fields, such as aerospace engineering, the strength-to-weight ratio of a structure is critically important,” said James Weaver, a co-author of the study and an engineer at Harvard, in a recent statement about the research. “This biologically-inspired geometry could provide a roadmap for designing lighter, stronger structures for a wide range of applications.”
Searching out resilient sponges and other natural architects could bridge the gap to making ever more impressive structures.
Science in Images is a new category of articles featuring photographs and videos from all the disciplines of science. Click on the button below to see the full collection.
Joe Oliver will not be returning as manager of the Portland Sea Dogs.
Oliver, 55, managed the Sea Dogs for one season (2019) after managing lower-level Red Sox teams since 2014. Oliver mentored prospects such as Andrew Benintendi, Rafael Devers, Bobby Dalbec and C.J. Chatham.
“I’m going to miss Portland,” said Oliver, who added he hopes to manage or coach again. “I will miss the people, and the front office there. Ownership is top notch. Classy people.”
Oliver confirmed Thursday that he was part of a mass layoff by the Boston Red Sox, the Sea Dogs’ parent club, in September. The Red Sox let go of nine employees in scouting and player development – part of a 10 percent overall reduction (40 employees total) by the Red Sox in their baseball and business offices. The layoff was blamed on the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
But there is also uncertainty in the minor leagues, caused by Major League Baseball’s push to eliminate minor league teams. MLB reportedly wants to cut short-season leagues, which includes 40 teams. Boston’s short-season affiliate is in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Oliver said he was given “no real reason (for the layoff), other than affiliate contractions.”
If that is the case, the Red Sox will be expected to replace Oliver with someone from within the organization. Among the candidates would be Red Sox minor league managers Corey Wimberly, (advanced Class A Salem, Virginia) and Iggy Suarez (low Class A Greenville). Suarez is a former Sea Dogs player.
An announcement on the new manager could be months away. In recent years, the Red Sox have announced coaching staffs for all of the minor league teams in January.
Oliver was a major league catcher for 13 years, making his debut with the Reds in 1989, and winning a World Series with Cincinnati in 1990. He played for five other teams, including five games with the Red Sox in 2001, his last season.
When he retired, Oliver left baseball to spend time with his family. When the Red Sox called about managing the Lowell Spinners in 2014, Oliver got back into the game. He managed Lowell for two seasons, and then Salem for three. His 2019 Sea Dogs team went 62-77, featuring prospects like Dalbec, Chatham and pitcher Darwinzon Hernandez.
Oliver was in Portland in January, as a guest at the annual Sea Dogs Hot Stove Dinner. He was to return in April, but the pandemic shut down spring training on March 12. While the major leagues eventually resumed in July, the minor league season was canceled.
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“It’s an important part of the fabric of the history of Charleston, but also to protect against Charleston’s future to say we need to account for sea level rise, we need to account for these intensifying storms and climate change, by building this in a way that protects the city moving forward," Fountain said.
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. – Isaiah 40:31 NIV
Isn’t it wonderful to wake up to the sun streaming in through the windows? There is nothing like a sunny morning to get the day started off right. Even when the weather seems too cold to venture out or the winds too brisk, if there is morning sunshine available, I try to enjoy it. This past week I headed out to the beach to watch the waves and see the seagulls up close. The seagulls basked in the morning sun, the wind rippling their feathers. When a cool breeze would come, they would burrow their heads in their chest or huddle together for warmth. The gulls depend on the heat from the sun to keep them warm and I realize that we do too. The cheery brightness of day often seems to add hope and encouragement to an ordinary day.
I came across a little poem this week when I was going through my Dad’s desk. It was in his handwriting. Since my Dad was not a poet that I know of, he perhaps got this poem from a greeting card or an inspirational calendar. It left an impression on him, though. He liked it well enough to write it down on paper to save for perhaps someone like me to find. When I first read it, I thought that was a great way to greet each day. Maybe you will agree. It reads:
Come, O Lord, like morning sunshine
Making all life new and fresh
For the daily tasks and challenges
May we rise renewed in Thee
Each day is a new beginning. Like morning sunshine that turns darkness into light, God can pour out his blessings, refreshment and strength over us in a daily renewal of our mind, body and spirit. And we can renew our relationship with Him by inviting Him to be a part of each new day He blesses us with.
Betsy Ore Glass has long-standing ties to the Outer Banks. From Virginia Beach, her family bought a vacation cottage in the 60s and her love of the area began. Later in the 90s, Betsy and her husband bought a weekend cottage and introduced the area to their children. Then Betsy’s parents retired to KDH where the family gathered often. Reach her at betsyglass1@gmail.com or read additional Reflections atwww.betsyoreglass.com.
Joe Oliver will not be returning as manager of the Portland Sea Dogs.
Oliver, 55, managed the Sea Dogs for one season (2019) after managing lower-level Red Sox teams since 2014. Oliver mentored prospects such as Andrew Benintendi, Rafael Devers, Bobby Dalbec and C.J. Chatham.
“I’m going to miss Portland,” said Oliver, who added he hopes to manage or coach again. “I will miss the people, and the front office there. Ownership is top notch. Classy people.”
Oliver confirmed Thursday that he was part of a mass layoff by the Boston Red Sox, the Sea Dogs’ parent club, in September. The Red Sox let go of nine employees in scouting and player development – part of a 10 percent overall reduction (40 employees total) by the Red Sox in their baseball and business offices. The layoff was blamed on the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
But there is also uncertainty in the minor leagues, caused by Major League Baseball’s push to eliminate minor league teams. MLB reportedly wants to cut short-season leagues, which includes 40 teams. Boston’s short-season affiliate is in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Oliver said he was given “no real reason (for the layoff), other than affiliate contractions.”
If that is the case, the Red Sox will be expected to replace Oliver with someone from within the organization. Among the candidates would be Red Sox minor league managers Corey Wimberly, (advanced Class A Salem, Virginia) and Iggy Suarez (low Class A Greenville). Suarez is a former Sea Dogs player.
An announcement on the new manager could be months away. In recent years, the Red Sox have announced coaching staffs for all of the minor league teams in January.
Oliver was a major league catcher for 13 years, making his debut with the Reds in 1989, and winning a World Series with Cincinnati in 1990. He played for five other teams, including five games with the Red Sox in 2001, his last season.
When he retired, Oliver left baseball to spend time with his family. When the Red Sox called about managing the Lowell Spinners in 2014, Oliver got back into the game. He managed Lowell for two seasons, and then Salem for three. His 2019 Sea Dogs team went 62-77, featuring prospects like Dalbec, Chatham and pitcher Darwinzon Hernandez.
Oliver was in Portland in January, as a guest at the annual Sea Dogs Hot Stove Dinner. He was to return in April, but the pandemic shut down spring training on March 12. While the major leagues eventually resumed in July, the minor league season was canceled.
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Arctic sea ice has been in decline for a while now, but 2020 is turning out to be — by far — one of the worst years ever.
Every year, like clockwork, the northern ice cap, or sea ice, shrinks in the spring and summer — reaching its minimum extent in September — and then it grows in the fall and winter to reach its maximum extent in March. But as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions have warmed the planet, the area covered by this summer sea ice has gotten smaller and smaller. And the ice has failed to reach its usual maximum extent in the winter. This is a change that's come on fast, with recent years producing much worse sea ice even than the period from 1981 to 2010. But even compared with the worst years of the last decade, this summer has been devastating.
"A historic event is ongoing in the #Arctic," tweeted Zack Labe, an atmospheric scientist at Colorado State University who tracks events in the Arctic. "We have to pay attention to these climate change indicators."
Labe shared a chart of how the sea ice has grown and shrunk in the Laptev Sea — a region of the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia — between 1979 and the present.
A historic event is ongoing in the #Arctic. We have to pay attention to these climate change indicators. pic.twitter.com/MH30qBau6sOctober 23, 2020
Laptev sea ice shrank much earlier in 2020 than in any previous year, and bottomed out in late August, with sea-ice coverage not even beginning to return until mid-October.
According to NASA's estimate, the likely 2020 minimum was 1.44 million square miles (3.74 million square kilometers). That's 958,000 square miles (2.48 million sq km) below the 1981-2010 average — a loss of sea ice equivalent to the areas of Texas, Alaska and South Carolina combined.
"A Siberian heat wave in spring 2020 began this year's Arctic sea-ice melt season early, and with Arctic temperatures being 14 to 18 degrees Fahrenheit (8 to 10 degrees Celsius) warmer than average, the ice extent kept declining," NASA said in a statement.
Melting sea ice doesn't directly raise sea level, because the ice already sits on top of the sea surface. But researchers believe that it does accelerate the overall rate of warming in a vicious cycle. When the northern polar ice cap is thick and vast, it acts as a huge white mirror,reflecting energy back into space, reducing warming. But when the ice melts, it exposes more water — a darker surface that absorbs more sunlight and leads to faster warming.
In addition, NASA said, each year with abnormally high sea-ice melt makes future "bad" ice years more likely. A huge central chunk of the Arctic ice cap has stayed frozen for many winters and grown thick and seemingly resistant to melt. But years like 2020 thin and weaken the ice. When patches of sea ice that once remained frozen year-round melt and then freeze again the next winter, the new young ice is much thinner and much less likely to survive warming temperatures. With each summer now, the extent of old ice shrinks, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, creeping closer to the center of the ice cap.
Florida's sea turtle nesting surveying comes to a close on Halloween and like everything else in 2020, the season was a bit weird.
The number of green sea turtle nests on central and southern Brevard County, Florida beaches monitored by University of Central biologists were way up during a year they should have been down based on nearly 40 years of historical data.
"Usually, green turtles alternate between high years and low years, but this year they defied expectations," says Chris Long, a doctoral candidate and research assistant with UCF's Marine Turtle Research Group. "Green turtles had the fifth highest year on the Archie Carr Refuge that we've recorded since 1982. There is no evidence pointing to high nesting as a result of fewer people on the beaches or anything pandemic-related like that. It's difficult to know why nesting differed from expectation."
East-Central Florida's coastline (from Brevard to Indian River County) is among the most important nesting areas in the world for loggerhead sea turtles, and it also hosts about one-third of all green turtle nests in the state. The region is at the northern end of a "hotspot" for leatherbacks, which nest on the local beaches at a smaller scale as well. All sea turtles in the U.S. are protected under the Endangered Species Act.
UCF has run a sea turtle monitoring and research program on the beaches of the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge (ACNWR) in southern Brevard County for more than 35 years. UCF findings about sea turtle abundance and behavior are among the reasons the refuge was created in 1991. The UCF Marine Turtle Research Group focuses on long-term nesting beach and coastal juvenile sea turtle research in Brevard and Indian River counties locally. The group also studies the oceanic "lost years" tracking turtles in the Gulf of Mexico, North and South Atlantic, and Indian Oceans.
All sea turtles saw an increase in nests along the coastline this year compared to recent years. Here's a look at the numbers recorded by the UCF Marine Turtle Research Group's covering the 13 northernmost miles of the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. Final counts won't be tallied until Oct. 31:
Green turtle nests:
2020: 8,110 (unexpectedly high for a "low year")
2019: 15,784 (record, "high year")
2018: 1,230 (typical "low year")
Loggerhead nests:
2020: 12,968
2019: 10,813
2018: 11,901
Leatherback nests:
2020: 40
2019: 36
2018: 17
Note: there are no clear trends in local leatherback counts; the highest recorded total nests was 55 in 2016.
October 28, 2020 at 08:41PM
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Sea turtle nesting season winding down in Florida, some numbers are up and it's unexpected: Green turtle nest counts are the fifth highest recorded since 1982, in a year when their numbers were supposed to be down - Science Daily
Along the Atlantic coast, ghost forests provide haunting signs of sea-level rise. These stands of bleached and broken tree trunks are all that remain after salty water inundates a forest.
Matt Kirwan is with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. He says ghost forests are not a new phenomenon, but they’re moving inland faster as seas rise.
“Eventually they’ll fall apart and become stumps surrounded by marshland,” he says. “And so when you see a ghost forest now, you’re seeing where the marsh will be in the future.”
Marshes are valuable ecosystems, so in some ways, that’s positive.
“Ghost forests are a surprising indicator of ecological resilience in coastal systems,” Kirwan says. “They mark how marshes naturally migrate in response to sea-level rise.”
But that migration comes at a cost.
“Places that people have lived for hundreds of years are becoming too wet and too salty to grow crops on, in some cases,” Kirwan says. “And of course, the forest resources are being lost. And in some cases, people are forced to move from their homes as the land becomes too flooded.”
So ghost forests have become eerie symbols of rapid change.
Survivors by the Sea, founded in 2006, is still going strong, even in times of uncertainty and economic strife. Recently the organization broadened their mission, adding community-based giving to reciprocate the Town of Winthrop’s generosity over the years.
While many fundraisers have been interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Survivors by the Sea volunteers are doing what they can to continue making a difference in the lives of cancer patients and their families and community members as a whole.
Recently, the non-profit organization has been very active with the survivor bag program which was designed with the cancer patient in mind.
“The survivor bag was created when we all sat around a table and made a list of essential items needed when going back and forth to treatment,” said Survivors by the Sea member, Linda Calla.
The bags, which are given to new patients just starting to undergo treatment, contain the following items: a blanket, a water bottle, Chapstick, lemon drops and ginger, cream for radiation, a small cuddle pillow, a neck warmer, a sleep cap, and a personalized “Dammit Doll” that was made and sealed with good survivor energy.
In addition, the dedicated group has been actively helping with cleaning and laundry services, assisting with personal needs such as meals, transportation, and providing furniture.
Every year the group hosts two celebrations to honor those they’ve lost and to take care of the patients who are currently undergoing treatments. A bench ceremony is hosted every September at Deer Island, where families and Survivors by the Sea volunteers gather to remember those who’ve passed.
During the holiday season the organization hosts a “Taking Care of Us” evening, where Mai Nuyen closes Star Nails Salon donating the space so cancer patients can enjoy a night of pampering.
Going beyond cancer support, Survivors by the Sea has expanded into community support, giving back to the community that has supported them over the past 14 years.
The group has proved that their mission outweighs the limited options they have to help in today’s COVID world, and they have coordinated two rounds of senior wellness calls for residents who are over 80-years old. Partnering with Matt Rodes from the Council on Aging, the Medical Reserve Corps and volunteers from Natalie Bayersdorfer’s Cal-zone crew, the group reached almost 1000 seniors and made some new friends along the way. In addition, they worked at Town Hall stuffing mail-in ballots for the election season.
During last holiday season, the group ran Cookies for Comfort, donating hundreds of cookies to shut ins, elder homes, patients, shelters and the fire and police dept.
“We couldn’t have done it without volunteers from Amy Gallagher’s WMS Student Council, and volunteers from the Cal-zone and MRC,” said Calla. “The Student Council Volunteers and WPD were also on delivery duty. It will be added to our annual events once it is safe again.”
An international team of scientists has found leaving more big fish in the sea reduces the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) released into the Earth's atmosphere.
When a fish dies in the ocean it sinks to the depths, sequestrating all the carbon it contains with it. This is a form of 'blue carbon' -- carbon captured and stored by the world's ocean and coastal ecosystems.
"But when a fish is caught, the carbon it contains is partly emitted into the atmosphere as CO2 a few days or weeks after," said Gaël Mariani, a PhD student at the University of Montpellier in France.
Mr Mariani led a world-first study showing how ocean fisheries have released at least 730 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere since 1950. An estimated 20.4 million metric tons of CO2 was emitted in 2014 -- equivalent to the annual emissions of 4.5 million cars.
Co-author Professor David Mouillot from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University (CoralCoE at JCU) and the University of Montpellier said the carbon footprint of fisheries is 25 percent higher than previous industry estimates.
"Fishing boats produce greenhouse gases by consuming fuel," Prof Mouillot said. "And now we know that extracting fish releases additional CO2 that would otherwise remain captive in the ocean."
Large fish such as tuna, sharks, mackerel and swordfish are about 10 to 15 percent carbon.
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"When these fish die, they sink rapidly," Prof Mouillot said. "As a result, most of the carbon they contain is sequestered at the bottom of the sea for thousands or even millions of years. They are therefore carbon sinks -- the size of which has never been estimated before."
He says this natural phenomenon -- a blue carbon pump -- has been increasingly and greatly disrupted by industrial fishing.
The authors also say the phenomenon has not only been overlooked until now, but it happens in areas where fishing is not economically profitable: in the Central Pacific, South Atlantic, and North Indian Oceans.
"Fishing boats sometimes go to very remote areas -- with enormous fuel consumption -- even though the fish caught in these areas are not profitable and fishing is only viable thanks to subsidies," Mr Mariani said.
For the authors of the study, the new data strongly supports more reasoned fishing.
"The annihilation of the blue carbon pump represented by large fish suggests new protection and management measures must be put in place, so that more large fish can remain a carbon sink and no longer become an additional CO2 source," Mr Mariani said. "And in doing so we further reduce CO2 emissions by burning less fuel."
It’s a problem all earthly life forms must solve: where to get nitrogen? From plants to people, the element is a crucial building block of DNA, proteins, and other biomolecules. “Carbon, nitrogen, [and] phosphorus are the big three things that you totally need to put biomass together,” says Connie Lovejoy, a microbial ecologist at Laval University in Quebec.
But only a select group of microbes, known as diazotrophs, can pluck N2 gas from the air or dissolved N2 in water and convert it into ammonium, a process called nitrogen fixation, so that it can then be used to build other biomolecules. Most of the rest of us piggyback on their labor in some way, and, to a smaller extent, on nitrogen-fixing chemical reactions catalyzed by lightning and volcanoes. Nitrogen fixation “is really energy-expensive,” because it necessitates breaking the triple bond between two nitrogen atoms, explains Deborah Bronk, a chemical oceanographer who leads the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine.
The SHIRASE research vessel used for the study
TAKUHEI SHIOZAKI
It was long assumed that in the ocean, only warmer realms could harbor diazotrophs, and that microbes in colder regions would need to scavenge previously-fixed nitrogen from molecules in the water. It’s not clear why scientists thought this, says Bronk, who a few years ago searched the literature for the origins of the idea. “I couldn’t find the basis of why it was so entrenched,” she says.
In 2012, however, Lovejoy and her colleagues reported that Arctic seas are in fact home to diazotrophs, and since then, Bronk’s group and others have reached the same conclusion. In a study published October 26 in Nature Geoscience, a Japan-based research team finds diazotrophs at work in the Antarctic, too, specifically, in waters near sea ice.
The study came about when senior author Naomi Harada, a geochemist at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, was put in charge of an Antarctic research expedition, coauthor Takuhei Shiozaki writes in an email to The Scientist. Shiozaki, a marine microbiologist who worked with Harada at the time and is now at the University of Tokyo, went along on the voyage, and collected ocean water samples at 21 spots in the open ocean and closer to the coast. The study team extracted DNA and RNA from microbes in the samples and looked for the gene for the nitrogen-fixing enzyme, nitrogenase. They identified some of the microbial species present and tested directly whether the cells in each of the samples were fixing nitrogen, and at what rates.
“We found substantial nitrogen fixation near [the] Antarctic coast, especially around ice-covered region,” he says. “Sea ice contains high levels of iron, which may be involved [in] the Antarctic nitrogen fixation.”
Nitrogenase needs iron to fix nitrogen, and unlike in the Arctic, there’s little iron available in the sea around Antarctica. In addition, concentrations of compounds containing fixed nitrogen are high in those waters, which would seem to mean that being able to fix their own nitrogen wouldn’t give diazotrophs much of a competitive advantage over non-diazotrophs.
Bronk, who was not involved in the study, says it’s surprising that nitrogen fixation occurs in the Antarctic seas, given the conditions of low iron and high availability of already-fixed nitrogen in the form of nitrate, and she agrees that the iron locked in sea ice is a likely part of the explanation. There’s little iron present in Antarctic winds, she notes, but over long periods of time, “it’s going to accumulate a fair bit of dust in that ice. And if you melt that ice, then, over the course of a decade, it’s releasing iron in [to the ocean] much quicker than it would come in from the air.” But that still doesn’t explain why microbes would fix nitrogen when there’s plenty of nitrate around, she adds.
Water sampling from the SHIRASE
RYO KIMURA
Lovejoy, who also was not involved in the study, says it’s not unexpected that there is some diazotroph presence in Antarctic waters. “I think it’s just a matter of maintaining some sort of diversity in the ocean, that you’ll always have a residual number of organisms that still have that gene and are able to fix nitrogen,” she tells The Scientist. But as to whether they use that ability under a given set of conditions, “it’s always been a little bit of a debate as to what drives nitrogen fixation in general,” she notes. “And that’s true in both freshwater and marine systems.”
For Shiozaki, the finding that nitrogen fixation occurs at the bottom of the globe is notable, but he is more struck by who’s doing the fixing. “The most surprising thing is that the cyanobacterium UCYN-A was the major diazotroph,” he says, as that microbe has previously been found in tropical and subtropical waters, as well as the Arctic Ocean. “This means that UCYN-A [is distributed] all over the world, from tropics to polar regions.” Lovejoy likewise finds this to be the study’s most surprising finding. Microbes that are able to live in both temperate oceans and in polar regions “are very, very rare,” she says.
In future studies, “we need to investigate why UCYN-A is able to thrive in such a wide range of temperature and what limits their nitrogen fixation,” Shiozaki writes. “This will allow us to predict how ocean nitrogen fixation will change with climate changes.”
T. Shiozaki et al., “Biological nitrogen fixation detected under Antarctic sea ice,” Nat Geosci, https://ift.tt/2HAiuHr, 2020.
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On October 30, when a powerful magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck under the Aegean Sea, dozens of buildings collapsed and water rushed into the streets of the coastal city of Izmir, Turkey, and on the island of Samos, Greece. At least 14 people have died and more than 400 were injured.This region is no stranger to earthquakes, with a written record of tectonic destruction stretching back centuries. But while many earthquake-prone places around the world can trace their seismic activity to the meeting of just two main tectonic plates, the situation is far messier around the Aegean. The source of all the shaking is instead a complicated geologic jigsaw that makes up the area, cut through with a web of faults."This is definitely one of the most complex regions in the world," says Joao Duarte, a marine geologist from the Instituto Dom Luiz at the University of Lisbon.Red circles show earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater in the past year. The Link Lonk
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USGS/Screenshot by NPR
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