by Robin Yeager on 08/29/2012
in Ocean
Kudos to the LA Times for this animated graphic on how a storm surge forms.
Gulf Coast residents are hunkering down and hoping Hurricane Isaac will move on sooner rather than later. Post-Hurricane Katrina, lots of folks fought with their insurance companies as to whether their damages were caused by flooding caused by storm surge (not covered from the insurer’s point of view) or wind from the hurricane (covered). See NPR’s report of unhappy policyholders here. As you can imagine, homeowners didn’t see the distinction.
Tagged as:
hurricane,
storm surge
The ocean realm is abuzz with an innovative Ocean Health Index (OHI) created by “… more than 65 scientists/ocean experts and partnerships between organizations including the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Sea Around Us, Conservation International, National Geographic, and the New England Aquarium“. The OHI covers the world’s exclusive economic zones (EEZ), which extend 200 nautical miles from shore.
© 2011
With an OHI of 63, the USA ties with eight others for a global rank of 26, providing a baseline from which we can identify targets for improvement and hopefully implement practices that result in healthier seas. The highest ranking location is uninhabited Jarvis Island (86) with the USA’s Pacific uninhabited territories coming in 2nd (80), highlighting the far-reaching effects of human impacts elsewhere. War-ravaged Sierra Leone’s EEZ is in the worst shape on the planet (36).
The OHI quantifies and averages 10 “human goals” to derive a number between 1 and 100 representing the state of a given country’s coast and the ocean overall. The categories are:
- Artisanal Fishering Opportunities
- Biodiversity
- Carbon Storage
- Clean Waters
- Coastal Livelihoods and Economies
- Coastal Protection
- Food Provision
- Natural Products
- Sense of Place
- Tourism & Recreation.
Among the benefits of this approach is the developers’ recognition that the marine environment is inextricably entertwined with human use of our oceans.
To see a report about the study, check out this free article in Nature. The abstract for the scientific paper, by Benjamin Halpern et al, also was published in Nature. Credit is also due to the folks and entities who fund this project. You can find them here.
Tagged as:
ocean health
It’s been six years since Ocean Power Technologies applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a preliminary permit to study the feasibility of a renewable energy project off the Oregon Coast. To its credit, 
OPT embarked upon a lengthy collaboration with federal and state regulators and coastal stakeholders to establish conditions for its permanent license. The process was not always smooth and it took sustained effort and commitment by all participants as documented in a previous post.
The good news is that all that hard work paid off. The license permits OPT to deploy wave energy converters for a 1.5 megawatt (MW) ocean energy project. The wave-activated PowerBuoys will be located in Oregon State territorial waters, about 2.5 nautical miles off the beautiful coast of Reedsport in Douglas County, Oregon. Onshore, the project will utilize ~5 acres of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area in the Siuslaw National Forest.
Now, if they can just get a buoy in the water.
Tagged as:
FERC,
oregon,
reedsport,
wave energy
