Reuters: Eastern Atlantic depression could head for Caribbean

Reuters: Eastern Atlantic depression could head for Caribbean

1 September 2010

The National Hurricane Center said newly formed Tropical Depression Nine in the eastern Atlantic Ocean would likely strengthen into Tropical Storm Gaston during the next 48 hours as it moved west on a path that could take it into the Caribbean Sea.

It was still too early to tell if the system would make its way into the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico.

Meanwhile, powerful Hurricane Earl and Tropical Storm Fiona were both mainly expected to march northerly in the Atlantic, off the U.S. East Coast, according to computer models.

Earl, currently a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale packing winds of 125 miles per hour, was about 170 miles east-northeast of San Salvador in the Bahamas and 725 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

It was churning northwest at 17 mph on an expected track off the Eastern Seaboard.

Earl was expected to remain a Category 3 storm at its peak intensity, according to the NHC. Private forecaster Weather 2000 said Earl may have already logged its peak intensity, with pending wind shear making it "quite challenging to surpass 140 mph in the western Atlantic this week."

Tropical Storm Fiona, about 105 miles east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands, had winds of up to 60 mph and was moving northwest at 17 mph, the NHC said.

Fiona was mostly expected to trek north in the Atlantic, further east from the U.S. East Coast than Earl, but a couple of computer models showed the system heading into the Caribbean and one showed it entering the southern Gulf of Mexico.

Fiona, however, was expected to remain a tropical storm at its peak.

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BBC: Ancient coral reef uncovered in South Pacific

1 September 2010

An ancient reef found in the Pacific may provide clues to what will happen to coral when sea temperatures rise.

A team of researchers from Australia and New Zealand have discovered a huge 9,000-year-old reef surprisingly far south.

Lord Howe Island is 600km east of the Australian mainland and has a small modern coral reef - the furthest south in the world.

The ancient reef however is nearly 30 times as large as the modern reef.

The scientists, headed by Colin Woodroffe from the University of Wollongong in Australia and researchers from Geoscience Australia, discovered a large ridge about 30m under water in the Tasman Sea.

They have published their work in Geophysical Research Letters.

The team suspected it might be an ancient reef. The size and shape of the ridge can be mapped using a type of sonar called multi-beam echo sounding. The researchers could not be sure it was coral until they had taken samples.

Drilling for samples in the Tasman Sea is very dependent on weather and the seas can be rough - it involves lowering a submersible drill from a boat.

The samples confirmed that it was indeed coral and radiocarbon dating confirmed its age.

Other similar ancient reefs - called relict reefs - have been discovered before, but none as far south as this.

The team think that this reef died when it was flooded as a result of sea levels rising about 7,000 years ago, but the modern temperature at these latitudes also limits coral growth, which is why the relict reef is so much bigger than the modern reef.

Now that sea temperatures are rising, however, reefs may start to grow bigger at higher latitudes.

The relict reef doesn't have an extensive modern reef attached to it but it does have some individual corals which are newer - from the last 2,000 years.

This suggests that there is a suitable habitat for corals which might grow into a larger reef when temperatures rise further.

In the Northern Hemisphere both Florida and Bermuda have small reefs, though they are at the northern limits for coral life.

It is possible that large relict reefs might also be found in those northern waters. Like the Tasman Sea relict reef, these might be able to support new growth.

Rising sea temperatures are dangerous for coral reefs at hotter tropical latitudes but they may mean we see new reef growth at the far southern, and northern, limits of current reefs.

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AP: Tar balls coat Indian beaches after ship dumps oil

1 September 2010

Wave after wave of tar balls floated ashore Wednesday on the renowned Goa beaches after a ship dumped tons of waste oil off India's western coast, officials said.

Semisolid lumps of oil formed layers up to six inches deep (15 centimeters deep) on beaches in the popular tourist destination. Scores of civic workers used brooms to collect and clear the oily debris, but still more tar balls were washing ashore about three days after officials believe a ship dumped burnt oil at sea.

Indian navy and coast guard vessels were trying to trace the ship, said Aleixo Sequeira, the state's environment minister. He declined to say what action would be taken when the vessel is found.

Ships regularly clean their fuel tanks and discharge the waste oil at sea, but this case involved careless dumping that exceeded all proportions, say scientists at India's National Institute of Oceanography, located in Goa.

"Crude oil mixes with water to form an emulsion that looks like chocolate pudding. Winds and waves continue to stretch and tear the oil patches into smaller pieces, or tar balls," said S. R. Shetye, who heads the institute.

Popular beaches such as Colva, Candolim and Calangute were badly hit. The beaches are not closed, but few visitors are there since tourism season begins in October.

Goa's tourism industry is worried that news of the pollution could put off visitors to one of the most sought after and cheap beach destinations in India. Nearly 2.5 million tourists visit annually, including half a million foreigners, mostly from the U.K., Israel and Russia.

"This should not have happened. It will not be good for tourism in Goa," said Gaurish Dhond, president of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa.

The tourist season in Goa lasts until March.

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