Pacific ocean News

Dungeness crabs' shells being eaten away by acidic Pacific Ocean By Karen Graham As the Pacific Ocean becomes more acidic, Dungeness crabs, which live in coastal areas, are seeing their shells eaten away, according to a new study commissioned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Record-breaking heatwave in 2014-2016 killed one million seabirds By Karen Graham Between the summer of 2015 and spring of 2016, tens of thousands of seabirds washed up on Pacific beaches from Alaska all the way down to California in what scientists called an “astonishing” extreme mortality event for the species.

Pacific Ocean's warm waters spawn another big hurricane By Karen Graham La Jolla - Hurricane Lane is barreling west across the Pacific Ocean on a course that will bring it close to Hawaii next week. As of 8:00 p.m. PDT, Hurricane Lane is now a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

Rising sea levels threatens U.S. nuclear waste dump in Pacific By Karen Graham For over a half-century, Enewetak Atoll, a part of the Marshall Islands, has been contaminated by nuclear explosions and waste left over from U.S. nuclear warhead tests. A waste dump on Runit Island is now threatened by rising sea levels.

Deaths of thousands of seabirds pinned to warming Pacific waters By Karen Graham Last year, tens of thousands of common murres, an abundant North Pacific seabird, starved and washed ashore onto beaches from California to Alaska. Researchers have pinned down the culprit — warming ocean temperatures that affect the fish the birds eat.

Google, FB team up to build undersea cable from U.S. to Asia By Lucky Malicay Facebook and Google have teamed up to take part in the construction of a high-capacity internet cable connecting North America and Asia.

Golden Gate Bridge officials commit to buy netting despite cost By Nathan Salant San Francisco - Public officials in charge of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge plan to press ahead with installation of steel netting beneath the roadway to stymie the dozens of people who attempt suicide by jumping from the structure each year.

Chief architect for Fukushima ice wall — It is not water-tight By Karen Graham Tokyo - Japanese officials activated a portion of the mile-long ice wall built around the Fukushima Daiichi power plant several weeks ago in an effort to stop groundwater from reaching the reactors.

Cargo spill at entrance to San Francisco Bay forces ship warnings By Nathan Salant San Francisco - U.S. Coast Guard officials warned ships entering or leaving San Francisco Bay to watch out for pallets and other shipping materials that were washed off a container ship heading from Oakland to Seattle.

Five fascinating facts that you may not know about sea turtles By Megan Hamilton Each year, in its quest for tasty jellyfish, the leatherback sea turtle travels an astounding 10,000 miles crossing the entire Pacific Ocean, in a journey that stretches from Asia to the U.S. West Coast from Washington to California.

Meet the pocket shark: Extremely rare and only seen once before By Megan Hamilton Sharks are handsome creatures, and generally, most of us don't think of them as cute. Chances are, many of us may think of them as stately, graceful, and cunning creatures, but no, not cute. Except for the pocket shark. It is very cute, and very rare.

Op-Ed: Gross incompetence at Fukushima — Is an apology enough? By Karen Graham Fukushima - It was discovered on Tuesday that a drainage ditch moving runoff water from the contaminated roof of Sector 2 at Fukushima was transporting water rich in cesium together with rain into the sea, with radiation levels 20 times higher than at the plant.

Obama protects huge area of Pacific Ocean By Tim Sandle U.S. President Barack Obama has exercised his authority to expand an existing marine reserve in the Pacific Ocean, making it the largest in the world.

Ancient volcano found hiding in Pacific Ocean By Karen Graham Hidden beneath the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean, about 186 miles southeast of Jarvis Island and 3.2 miles beneath the surface, lies a massive mountain. The seamount rises up off the seafloor two-thirds of a mile high.

Op-Ed: What the world does not know about Fukushima could kill us By Karen Graham How big does a cover-up have to get, and how many children have to die before the world wakes up to the truth about the Fukushima Daiichi disaster. Almost from the onset of the earthquake and resulting tsunami, the world has not been told the truth.

Pacific nation evacuates to Fiji in response to rising sea levels By Walter McDaniel The land has been bought and preparations are being made. The island nation of Kiribati is slowly being drowned by rising sea levels and they are planning to escape shortly.

Colorado River returns to the sea in 'sacred reunion' of waters By Karen Graham In what is being described as a "sacred reunion," the Colorado River has once again reached the waters of the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California). The meeting of the sea and sediment-laden river is the result of a bi-national agreement years in the making.

Study finds half of Greenland's warming due to natural causes By Karen Graham The rapid warming of Greenland's glaciers has been documented for a number of years, but atmospheric scientists at the University of Washington estimate that up to half of the warming in Greenland and other areas may be from natural causes.

TEPCO plan to build 'ice wall' questioned by nuclear authorities By Karen Graham It has been more than three years since the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster, and the facility is still plagued with massive amounts of contaminated water. Repeated leaks and other mishaps have delayed decommissioning the plant.

California salmon start hitching rides to Pacific Ocean By Nathan Salant Rio Vista - Millions of young Chinook salmon will be catching rides to the Pacific Ocean this year because a severe drought has left Northern California's extensive river system too dry for them to get there on their own.

Canadian warship adrift in Pacific after engine room fire By Karen Graham A fire originating in the engine room on the Canadian warship HMCS Protecteur has left the vessel adrift in the Pacific Ocean in heavy seas. The ship has no propulsion power and is waiting for a tugboat to arrive from Hawaii.

Link between Pacific Ocean temperatures and tornado locations By Robert Myles Columbia - A researcher at the University of Missouri (MU) has found a link between Pacific Ocean temperatures and the locations where tornadoes occur in the United States.

Preview: Chile documentary shows the wildlife of a long country By Igor I. Solar A team of adventurous filmmakers has made a documentary that shows the opportunities to see wildlife along Chile, from the arid regions of the Atacama Desert to the Patagonia and Antarctica, and from the high Andes to the Pacific Ocean.

Japanese racing pigeon flies from Hokkaido, Japan, to BC, Canada By Igor I. Solar Comox - A racing pigeon crossed the Pacific Ocean, flying from Japan to Vancouver Island in British Columbia, a distance of nearly 8,000 kilometers. The pigeon is recovering in Courtenay, BC, and will be assigned to breed long-distance racers.

President Obama continues pivot toward the Pacific By Robert G Cope Brunei's Sultan, Hassanai Bolkiah, is shown on Tuesday meeting with Barack Obama at the White House. The President demonstrates his second-term pivot towards the Pacific is real. In October he will attend the ASEAN conference.

Satellite Aquarius shows images of the world's saltiest seas By Mark Rafferty New research data released by NASA shows a map of ocean salinity changes that are tracked by satellite Aquarius. The project will last three years and this is the first year of data being published.

UPDATE 5:35 a.m.: Tsunami warning issued for South Pacific By Greta McClain A tsunami warning has been issued for areas in the south western portion of the Pacific Ocean after a magnitude 8 earthquake struck near the Solomon Islands.

Fisherman found alive after drifting in Pacific for 106 days By Katerina Nikolas A Kiribati fisherman has been rescued after drifting in the Pacific Ocean for 106 days on a 45-foot wooden boat. The first thing he asked for as he was rescued was a "smoke."

Photo Essay: Summer at Long Beach, Washington Special By Matt Harding Long Beach - While the rest of the United States shows temperatures in the 80s, 90s and 100s, the Pacific Northwest sports temps in the 60s. This, however, does not stop beachgoers at Washington's famed Long Beach.

Video: Great White shark circles fishing boat in Hawaii By Kim I. Hartman Honolulu - A group of fisherman in Hawaii have an amazing story to tell after a day of fishing for marlin five miles off the coast of Yokohama Bay ended with a Great White shark circling their boat for nearly an hour looking for its next meal.

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