Dangerous Impact on Coral Reefs of Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

Results of a new study shed light on how threats to the worlds endangered coral reef ecosystems can be more effectively managed.
In the current issue of the journal Coral Reefs, authors Kimberly Selkoe and Benjamin Halpern, both of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at the University of California at Santa Barbara, explain how maps of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI)--a vast area stretching across more than 1,200 miles of Pacific Ocean--can be used to make informed decisions about protecting the world's fragile coral reefs.
"Our maps of cumulative human impacts are a powerful tool for synthesizing and visualizing the state of the oceans," said Selkoe, who is also affiliated with Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Hawaii.
"The maps can aid in zoning uses of the oceans in an informed way that maximizes commercial and societal benefits, while minimizing further cumulative impact."
President George W. Bush declared the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a National Monument in 2006, "in part because it is one of the last places in the oceans that have not been heavily altered by human activities," said Halpern.
"Despite the islands' extreme isolation, however, humans are already significantly impacting this area," he said. "Many of the key threats, such as those associated with climate change, are not mitigated with Monument designation."
The study was designed to help natural resource managers make decisions on issues such as surveillance priorities, granting of permits for use, and selection of areas to monitor for climate change effects.
"The Papahânaumokuâkea Marine National Monument is a crown jewel in the national and international array of marine protected areas, designed to preserve the ecosystems of these isolated islands," said Phillip Taylor of the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Ocean Sciences.
"This study is an important effort to assess and predict human effects on the oceans," Taylor said. "It shows how far-reaching human influences are, and will serve as a baseline in efforts to prevent and mitigate future harm."
The authors studied 14 threats specific to NWHI. The threats, all generated by humans, included invasive species, bottom fishing, lobster trap fishing, ship-based pollution, ship strike risks, marine debris, research diving, research equipment installation and wildlife sacrifice for research.
Human-induced climate change threats were also studied, including increased ultraviolet radiation, ocean acidification, ocean temperature anomalies relevant to disease outbreaks and coral bleaching, and sea level rise.
Increased rates of coral disease due to warming ocean temperatures were found to have the highest impact, along with other climate-related threats.
"With the scientific justification provided by our study, the managers of the Monument have an opportunity to make addressing the worst threats a top priority," said Selkoe.
"By updating the map of cumulative impacts through time, success of management plans in reducing impacts can be measured, and permits for new uses can be evaluated in the context of how they add to these impacts."

Coral Reefs are Undersea Treasure, We need to protect them

Healthy coral reefs are beautiful, awe-inspiring ecosystems — owing to the enormously rich biological diversity found within and above them. These sublime environments attract human visitors like bees to honey.

Economic and environmental services: they offer an abundant supply of seafood and protect the shoreline from waves, storms, and floods.

Priceless Resources in Peril
Unfortunately, a brief look at the news explains the grim story about coral reefs. Rapid warming, accelerating pollution, and destructive fishing practices are decimating coral reefs faster than they can adapt to survive.

Just as damaged and degraded coral reefs lose their appeal to divers and snorkelers, they also fail to provide the sustenance and coastal protection on which we depend. It’s clear that successful coral reef conservation efforts benefit us as well as the reefs.

Saving the Reefs Starts with the Shore
Sediment runoff and surges in algal cover caused by nutrient pollution from land are among the main causes of injury to coral reefs. Identifying and controlling pollution on land has direct benefits for coral reefs as well as water users within the region.

Fishing for Tomorrow
Overexploitation of key marine wildlife species, which are essential for balancing the ecosystem, is severely damaging coral reefs. Sharks and lobsters are prime examples. Some industrialized fishing techniques and certain types of gear also are causing major damage to coral structures.
Minimizing the destructive effects of over fishing, and achieving responsible, ecosystem-based stewardship of reef fisheries pays lasting dividends to healthy coral reefs and to those who make a living from the sea.

Building 'Bridges' to Help Corals Survive Climate Change
Corals face a major threat from climate change in the form of warmer and more acidic oceans, which cause mass bleaching and slow the growth of coral skeletons. Reducing greenhouse gases is essential to corals’ long-term survival. In the meantime, boosting the resilience of coral reef ecosystems and reducing local stresses are bridge solutions until the overarching climate threat is reduced.
Think Reef
Whether you live one mile or one thousand miles from a coral reef, your actions affect the reefs’ future — and the reefs’ future affects yours. There are a host of reef-conserving tips we can all make use of in our everyday lives that can also benefit for our own pocketbooks:

• Don’t use chemically enhanced pesticides and fertilizers. These products ultimately end up in the ocean, via a stream, lake, estuary, or a wetland.
• Conserve water. The less you use, the less runoff and wastewater pollute the oceans.
• Use more efficient electrical appliances and lighting, and keep them turned off when not necessary. You’ll reduce waste, save money, and lessen your climate change impact.

Images of space shuttle Atlantis

1. The Way Home
Seen over the Mediterranean Sea, near the Algerian coast, the space shuttle Atlantis is featured in this image photographed by the Expedition 21 crew on the International Space Station soon after the shuttle and station began their post-undocking separation. Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 4:53 a.m. EST on Nov. 25, 2009.









2. Touch Down!
Streams of smoke trail from the main landing gear tires as space shuttle Atlantis touches down on Runway 33 at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida after 11 days in space, completing the 4.5-million-mile STS-129 mission on orbit 171. On STS-129, the crew delivered 14 tons of cargo to the International Space Station, including two ExPRESS Logistics Carriers containing spare parts to sustain station operations after the shuttles are retired next year.







3.Thin Blue Line
The thin line of Earth's atmosphere and the setting sun are featured in this image photographed by the crew of the International Space Station while space shuttle Atlantis on the STS-129 mission was docked with the station.

Air shed near a highway target either the lungs or heart

Particle pollutants collected from the same air shed (the air within a particular geographic area) near a highway target either the lungs or heart depending on their size and associated chemical components. The research improves understanding of the health impacts of air particles near roads.

More than 50 percent of the total emissions of PM in urban areas are related to road traffic. Near roadway studies have reported associations between traffic density or proximity to roads and respiratory symptoms in children.

Researchers will apply the results to further investigate particulate matter’s (PM) health impact on the heart and lungs.

To learn more about the toxic effects of PM, EPA researchers took samples of three different sizes of the particles – coarse, fine, and ultrafine – near a highway in Raleigh, N.C. Coarse particles (PM2.5-10) are produced by abrasion of automobile brakes and tires and dispersion of road dust, while fine particles (PM0.1-2.5) and ultrafine particles (PM0.1) are emitted from the tail pipe, or form as a result of atmospheric reactions. Researchers then conducted toxicity studies in mice using samples of each particle.

Researchers found the coarse PM produced significant lung effects while ultrafine PM (and to a lesser extent fine PM) induced heart effects. While samples were taken from two locations near the road (22 yards and 301 yards), for the health effects studied, there were no substantial differences in health effects between the two samples although the near road coarse material was enriched for several metal species.

The Ozone hole over Antarctica - 2009

The size of the annual ozone hole over Antarctica peaked in late September at 23.8 million square miles, slightly smaller than the North American continent, according to a news release from the NOAA in November.

That ranks as the 10th largest since satellite measurements began in 1979. Ozone over South Pole Station also reached its thinnest vertical point of the year on Sept. 26, NOAA reported.The ozone layer in the Earth’s stratosphere, between 10 and 30 kilometers above the ground, helps shield the planet from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Human-produced compounds known as chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs, release ozone-destroying chemicals into the atmosphere responsible for the depletion.

Extreme cold, ice cloud formation in the stratosphere, and a pattern of rapidly circulating air, called the polar vortex, make the ozone layer over Antarctica much more vulnerable to CFC-destruction than anywhere else on the planet.

International agreements have strictly limited the use of CFCs since the early 1990s. Scientists predict the ozone hole will recover by the end of the century.

Scientists in Antarctica, including teams from NOAA and the University of Wyoming, have been measuring atmospheric ozone since 1986.

Final Spacewalk preparations by the Crew

The combined 12-member crew of Atlantis and the International Space Station will move the last of this mission’s spare hardware during the third and final spacewalk today.

Mission Specialists Randy Bresnik and Robert Satcher Jr. are scheduled to begin their six-hour spacewalk an hour late at about 8:18 a.m. EST. They will transfer an oxygen filled High Pressure Gas Tank (HPGT) from the EXPRESS Logistics Carrier 2, or ELC2, located on the starboard truss, to a spot on the outside of the Quest Airlock. The tank will be used to replenish atmosphere lost when spacewalkers enter and exit the station.
While Satcher is relocating the HPGT, Bresnik will install the seventh Materials International Space Station Experiment, or MISSE 7. This is the most advanced of the MISSE payloads to date and will be the first to receive power directly from the station and use the station’s communication system to send commands and downlink real-time data.

On Sunday, Bresnik told the flight controllers his new daughter, Abigail Mae Bresnik, had been born in Houston at 11:04 p.m. CST Saturday. He said his wife Rebecca and new daughter, 6 pounds, 13 ounces and 20 inches long, were doing well. Bresnik got the news by private phone patch through mission control shortly after the crew was awakened.

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer or Wise is getting ready to roll

Wise is scheduled to launch no earlier than 6:09 a.m. PST (9:09 a.m. EST) on Dec. 9 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It will circle Earth over the poles, scanning the entire sky one-and-a-half times in nine months. The mission will uncover hidden cosmic objects, including the coolest stars, dark asteroids and the most luminous galaxies.

The mission will map the entire sky at four infrared wavelengths with sensitivity hundreds to hundreds of thousands of times greater than its predecessors, cataloging hundreds of millions of objects. The data will serve as navigation charts for other missions, pointing them to the most interesting targets. NASA's Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes, the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, and NASA's upcoming Sofia and James Webb Space Telescope will follow up on Wise finds.

Wise also will find the coolest of the "failed" stars, or brown dwarfs. Scientists speculate it is possible that a cool star lurks right under our noses, closer to us than our nearest known star, Proxima Centauri, which is four light-years away. If so, Wise will easily pick up its glow. The mission also will spot dusty nests of stars and swirling planet-forming disks, and may find the most luminous galaxy in the universe.

To sense the infrared glow of stars and galaxies, the Wise spacecraft cannot give off any detectable infrared light of its own. This is accomplished by chilling the telescope and detectors to ultra-cold temperatures. The coldest of Wise's detectors will operate at below 8 Kelvin, or minus 445 degrees Fahrenheit.