Latest Coastal geography Stories
NOVATO, Calif., Aug. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, as the California Senate considers major new recommendations to increase freshwater flows to the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary, the Bay Institute released Gone with the Flow, a primer on how flows support a healthy ecosystem, and how the lack of flow is degrading that ecosystem to the point of collapse. The primer is available for free at http://www.bay.org/assets/Gone%20with%20the%20Flow%20WEB%20FINAL.pdf. "Flow is the most important driver...
Scientists from the United States and Canada have announced plans to embark on a joint expedition to map the Arctic seafloor this summer.The expedition, which was announced via a July 26 press release, is set to begin today (August 2) and will run through September 6. The five-week mission marks the third straight year that the two North American nations have collaborated to study the Arctic seafloor and the continental shelf.According to the press release, one main focus of the expedition is...
SANTA ANA, Calif., Aug. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CoreLogic, a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, reported today that the impact of the BP DeepWater Horizon oil spill on home values in the coastal counties along the Gulf coast communities is expected to range from $648 million over one year and to as much as $3 billion over five years for the communities already being impacted by the spill. If the unlikely worst-case scenario occurs and the spill reaches...
NOVATO, Calif., July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the State Water Resources Control Board released its long awaited draft report, identifying new flow criteria for the endangered Delta ecosystem. The report recognizes that the Delta ecosystem is getting far less water than is needed to protect public trust resources, and recommends new flow criteria that would significantly improve conditions in the estuary, based in large part on analyses and recommendations developed by The Bay Institute....
The method predicted 2008 dust storm at New Mexico's White Sands Dune Field using temperature images from NASA's Earth-orbiting ASTER instrument, team reports in the Journal of Geophysical Research Earth SurfaceResearchers based at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a method for predicting dust and sandstorms that uses infrared satellite images to determine when conditions are ripe for the destructive phenomena, a technique that could be implemented globally and that the research...
Scientists track "beach-fall" of tar balls along more than 99 miles of beach on the northern Gulf coastThe first determination of "beach-fall" of oil along the Alabama and northwest Florida beaches has been made, say National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded geologists at the University of South Florida (USF).Ping Wang and USF graduate students Mark Horwitz, Tiffany Roberts, Katherine Brustche and Jun Cheng report that tar balls have been found along 160 kilometers (more...
CAMPBELL, Calif., June 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In celebration of Father's Day, a recent national review of homes for sale featuring "man-tastic" man caves revealed video game consoles, pool and poker tables, home theaters, bar stools, mugs and recliners are popular features in today's typical "bro-zone." The review, conducted this month by Move, Inc., (Nasdaq: MOVE) the leader in online real estate, also shows that while man caves can be sophisticated or throw backs to primal times,...
HOUSTON, April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sale of South Florence Field, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana Dune Energy (NYSE Amex: DNE) announced it has reached an agreement in principle to sell its interests in the South Florence field for $30 million to a private party. As of December 31, 2009, Dune's interest in this field corresponded to 11.9 Bcfe of proved reserves based on an independent reserve report. Production from the field has averaged approximately 3.8 Mmcfe/day during the first...
An interdisciplinary team of physicists and geologists led by the University of Pennsylvania has made a major step toward predicting where and how large floods occur on river deltas and alluvial fans.In a laboratory, researchers created a miniature river delta that replicates flooding patterns seen in natural rivers, resulting in a mathematical model capable of aiding in the prediction of the next catastrophic flood.The results appear in the current issue of Geophysical Research Letters.Slow...
A major increase in maximum ocean wave heights off the Pacific Northwest in recent decades has forced scientists to re-evaluate how high a "100-year event" might be, and the new findings raise special concerns for flooding, coastal erosion and structural damage.The new assessment concludes that the highest waves may be as much as 46 feet, up from estimates of only 33 feet that were made as recently as 1996, and a 40 percent increase. December and January are the months such waves are most...
Latest Coastal geography Reference Libraries
Coral reefs are submerged structures consisting of calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of small animals found in marine waters that enclose few nutrients. The majority of coral reefs are constructed from stony corals, which then consist of polyps that come together in groups. The polyps are like small sea anemones, to which they are very closely related. Unlike the sea anemones, coral polyps secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons which provide support and protections...
Mudflats, or otherwise known as tidal flats, are coastal wetlands that form when mud is left behind by tides or rivers. They’re found in sheltered regions such as bayous, lagoons, estuaries, and bays. Mudflats might be seen geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, a result from the deposition of estuarine silts, marine animal detritus, and clays. The majority of the sediment in a mudflat is within the intertidal zone, therefore the flat is submerged and exposed about twice per day. In...
A salt marsh, also otherwise known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone that lies between the land and the open salt water or brackish water that is routinely flooded by the tides. It’s dominated by dense stands of salt-tolerant plants, for example, herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants originate from all around the globe and are important to the stability of the salt marsh in trapping and binding sediments. Salt marshes...
Image Credit: Meteorologist Joshua Kelly When meteorologists are forecasting for ocean-going vessels, there are a few terms that we need to understand. The first term is wavelength. Wavelength is defined as the distance between two crests or between two troughs as seen in the image above. The example above highlights the crest to crest concept of wavelength. The next term that we use is wave height, and to determine this, we first must look at the wave when it passes our station. When...
