The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a trade and logistics passage jointly built by western Chinese provincial regions and Singapore, recently launched a new transport route, creating the first direct link to the Indian Ocean. The route's first outbound rail-sea transport freight train left southwest China's Chongqing municipality on April 2.

It will first reach the Laotian capital Vientiane by railway and pass through Thailand via highways before arriving at Myanmar's Yangon, its final destination, a news agency reported.

The new freight service is estimated to take about 10 to 14 days to reach Yangon, cutting the logistics time by more than 20 days compared to the traditional route that goes to eastern coastal cities via the Yangtze river, and then out to sea, according to the corridor's operator.

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A new analysis finds extreme warming events in the ocean have increased relative to the very far past, with nearly 60% of the ocean experiencing extreme heat in 2019.

Extreme marine temperatures that were once considered rare have officially become the norm for the majority of the world’s ocean. According to a new study, more than half the marine surface is now regularly subjected to extreme heat. These abnormally high temperatures can have far-reaching negative effects on marine animals as well as the local economies that depend on them.

“We need to realize that climate change is happening as we speak.…It has also been happening for quite some time,” said study coauthor Kisei Tanaka, a marine ecologist at NOAA.

Prior to his position at NOAA, Tanaka was a research data scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. While he was there, he and Kyle Van Houtan, chief scientist at the aquarium at the time, noticed some unusual changes happening in the bay. Kelp forests were disappearing, and marine species whose normal habitat was the warmer waters of Southern California were starting to appear farther north.

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Over four years ago, on November 28, when meteorologists detected a low-pressure system forming over the southwest Bay of Bengal, they initiated their four-stage action plan and released an advisory. But even before the weather department could issue a cyclone watch warning, the system quickly intensified from a ‘deep depression’ into a cyclonic storm and unleashed its fury on the coastal districts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and the Lakshadweep Islands.

Clearly, Cyclone Ockhi was an unusual phenomenon. Unlike any other cyclone before, it did not just rapidly intensify but also left the scientists bewildered with its long gestation period. It developed in the sea for 6.7 days, much longer than the average life of 4.7 days observed for ‘very severe cyclonic storms’ that had occurred over the north Indian Ocean (the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea) until 2017. And, both these peculiarities put the scientists on alert of what was likely in the near future.

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Reference about the Marine Environment of the Moroccan Atlantic Coast focused on upwelling activities and other topics (physical and biological aspects, marine circulation, marine pollution and impact of plastic pollution, fisheries,...) published in Volume 11, Number 1, Dec 2021 in Frontiers in Science and Engineering - International Journal edited by The Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology in Morocco

There are six articles inside this volume available at this following link:

1. Article 1: HILMI, K., BESSA, I., MAKAOUI, A., HOUSSA, R., IDRISSI, M., ETTAHIRI, O., & EL AOUNI, A. (2021). Long Term Upwelling Activity along the Moroccan Atlantic Coast. Frontiers in Science and Engineering, 11(1).
   DOI: https://doi.org/10.34874/IMIST.PRSM/fsejournal-v11i1.29233
   
   
2. Article 2: MAKAOUI, A., BESSA, I., AGOUZOUK, A., IDRISSI, M., BELABCHIR, Y., HILMI, K., & ETTAHIRI, O. (2021). The variability of the Cape Boujdor upwelling and its relationship with the Cape Blanc frontal zone (Morocco). Frontiers in Science and Engineering, 11(1).
   DOI: https://doi.org/10.34874/IMIST.PRSM/fsejournal-v11i1.28809
   
   
3. Article 3: BESSA, I., MAKAOUI, A., HILMI, K., IDRISSI, M., AGOUZOUK, A., ETTAHIRI, O., & AFIFI, M. (2021). Marine Circulation along the Moroccan Atlantic Coast. Frontiers in Science and Engineering, 11(1).
   DOI: https://doi.org/10.34874/IMIST.PRSM/fsejournal-v11i1.28864
   
   
4. Article 4: HOUSSA, R., BESSA, I., HILMI, K., LOULAD, S., BOUMAAZ, A., & DRIDI, A. (2021). Marine circulation impact on the solid waste spatial distribution in the Moroccan Atlantic seafloor. Frontiers in Science and Engineering, 11(1).
   DOI: https://doi.org/10.34874/IMIST.PRSM/fsejournal-v11i1.28803
   
   
5. Article 5: ETTAHIRI, O., GOLIAT, Y., BAIBAI, T., SALAH, S., HILMI, K., AGOUZOUK, A., MAKAOUI, A., ERRHIF, A., SOMOUE, L., CHARIB, S., & IDRISSI, M. (2021). Structure, diversity and habitat characterization of Copepods from the Cape Ghir upwelling, Morocco. Frontiers in Science and Engineering, 11(1).
   DOI: https://doi.org/10.34874/IMIST.PRSM/fsejournal-v11i1.28806
   
   
6. Article 6: CHLAIDA, M., FAUVELOT, C., ETTAHIRI, O., CHAROUKI, N., ELAYOUBI, S., & PLANES, S. (2021). Relationship between migratory behavior and environmental features revealed by genetic structure of Sardina pilchardus populations along the moroccan Atlantic coast. Frontiers in Science and Engineering, 11(1).
   DOI: https://doi.org/10.34874/IMIST.PRSM/fsejournal-v11i1.28802