Going with the Flow: Measuring Ocean Currents
Given the importance of ocean currents in the marine environment, oceanographers have tried for years to accurately measure them. Advances in current meters and acoustic technology have made the process easier, but the task of measuring currents rem...
Going with the Flow: Forecasting El Nino Events
Once an El Nino event is underway, scientists have a good idea of how it's likely to behave over the subsequent six to nine months. But predicting the onset of such events in advance has proven to be very difficult.
Going with the Flow: Ocean Circulation Patterns
Among the largest structural features in the open ocean are the subtropical gyres that occur in the major ocean basins. But while gyres loom large in the overall scheme of ocean circulation, patterns of surface current motion can often be quite vari...
Its in the Water: Measuring Salinity
Efforts to measure salinity have long been a fundamental part of chemical oceanography. At one time, this was done by simply weighing the salt. Then, for years, salinity was determined based on the concentration of chloride. Today, salinity is measu...
Going with the Flow: Ocean Currents: Cause and Effect
In addition to their role in El Nino and other weather events, ocean currents are also important for delivering nutrients, especially along coastlines, and for facilitating the movement of planktonic organisms. Surface currents are influenced by sev...
Food for Thought: Transfer of Energy, The
While the term "food chain" is still used by some to describe the transfer of energy between organisms, others contend that the complex nature of this process is better described by the word "web," rather than "chain."
Due West: Point Mugu Naval Air Station
Restoration and protection of the Point Mugu, California wetlands has been a great success story, despite the challenges associated with agricultural runoff and other by-products of urbanization.
Due West: Malibu Coast, The
The Malibu coast is plagued by serious erosion problems-especially landslides. Given that coastal erosion is an unavoidable fact of life, the focus in this fabled community is not so much on stopping it, but finding ways to live with it. These inclu...
Due West: Aliso Creek
Aliso Creek, located in Orange County, California, has a consistent beach pollution problem due to rapid development of the upstream environment. As the watershed has been largely paved over, the water is prevented from soaking in and filtering natu...
Food for Thought: Primary Producers and Photosynthesis
Primary producers are marine organisms so small that most of them can't be seen individually without magnification. But despite their small size, primary producers are extremely important. They take energy from other sources-primarily the sun-and us...