Coral on the Great Barrier Reef is showing early signs of bleaching, which has experts concerned as the Sunshine State is staring down the barrel of a long, hot summer.

A team of research scientists have documented pale and fully-bleached coral — which occurs when symbiotic algae inside hard coral is expelled — off the coast of Magnetic Island in Far North Queensland on Sunday.

They're concerned, as this could be the first signs of a "widespread" die-off at the World Heritage site.

If it proves true it would be the sixth mass bleaching event on the reef since 1998.

More Information

A massive underwater volcano that erupted just before sundown Friday sent waves several feet high smashing into the shores of the island nation of Tonga and thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean from Australia to Canada, including the U.S. West Coast.

Plumes from the explosion reached more than 12 miles above sea level, according to the Tonga Geological Services. At its widest, the cloud caused by the ash and steam reached about 150 miles across, making it easily seen from satellites. The eruption was so massive that its shockwaves were felt as far away as Mount Hood in Oregon.

In Tonga, home to 105,000 people, the extent of the injuries and damage caused were still largely unknown. The eruption, which filled the sky with so much ash that darkness seemed to fall on Tonga two hours before sunset, has knocked out communications, according to The Associated Press.

More Information

HAB science today is founded on studies dealing with a great diversity of topics and harmful organisms, using a variety of continuously evolving experimental methods and approaches.

The major aim of these GlobalHAB guidelines cosponsored by SCOR, IOC UNESCO, PICES and ICES,  is to communicate standardized strategies, tools, and protocols to assist researchers studying how climate change drivers may increase or decrease future HAB prevalence in aquatic ecosystems.

These guidelines represent a first step that will help inform HAB scientists, students, and researchers entering the field, as well as scientists seeking to incorporate HAB studies into existing and developing ocean and freshwater observing systems.

http://dx.doi.org/10.25607/OBP-1692 and https://oceanexpert.org/document/29762

A new species of coral has been discovered in waters off the coast of Scotland, with scientists predicting it could be a gamechanger for deep-sea biodiversity.

Scientists from the Scottish Government teamed up with researchers from the University of Seville, Spain, for an almost decade-long assignment to learn more about the murky, rarely-traversed deeper depths of the ocean off the Scottish coast.

The team collected multiple specimens from the continental slopes and plains of the Rockall Trough, off the west coast, travelling to depths of 2000 metres.

More Information

The inclusion of the Comoros Islands on the itinerary of Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s latest Africa visit highlights the heightened importance that Beijing places on the Indian Ocean states of the continent, which have often sought India’s assistance as the net security provider in the region.

Last year, Wang went to the Seychelles and after Comoros, he will head to the Maldives and Sri Lanka — in India’s neighbourhood in the Southern Indian Ocean Region.

China increasing ..

Read more at:https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Throughout Fall 2021, as part of the NOAA Science Seminar Series, the NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute  (OECI) presented a six-part series of virtual public seminars to introduce the OECI. Recordings of each seminar are available for viewing. From presentations on how exploration of shipwrecks from the past can inspire explorers of the future to the development and use of innovative technologies to explore the deep ocean, these seminars provide an introduction to the OECI partners, their achievements, and their plans to push forward to the next stage of ocean exploration.

A complete list of the seminar topics, speakers, and links for viewing is available on the OECI Webinar Series web page .

The OECI is a NOAA-funded institute aimed at accelerating the pace of ocean exploration through the development of novel technology, training the next generation of ocean explorers, and conducting ambitious sea-going expeditions to expand our knowledge of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. Selected through a competitive process by NOAA in 2019, the OECI brings together the University of Rhode Island, the University of New Hampshire, the University of Southern Mississippi, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the not-for-profit Ocean Exploration Trust to complement and amplify the capabilities of NOAA Ocean Exploration.