Why You Should Care About the Pacific Ocean
Posted: March 16, 2010 Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, Environment, NZPacific, Politics, South Pacific Region, Tourism, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: agriopos phyraena, animals, background, barracuda, beach, blue, calm, color, concepts, conceptual, copy space, coral island, danger, day, fish, horizon, island, isolation, kcd-00286, kcd-00288, ks112185, ks112680, marine life, nature, negative space, nobody, north pacific ocean, ocean, outdoor, pacific, Pacific islands, pacific ocean, peaceful, private, scenic, school, school of fish, secluded, serenity, side view, solomon islands, South Pacific, South Pacific Ocean, tranquility, tropical, tropics, underwater, why you should care about the Pacific ocean, wildlife Leave a comment »
The Pacific Ocean is the largest single geographic feature on our planet. It represents half the world’s ocean area, occupies one-third of the earth’s surface, and helps support complex ecosystems, ocean-based economies, and hundreds of millions of people.
That is directly quoted from the Center for Ocean Solutions which is affiliated to Stanford University:
The Pacific is also the engine room of Earth’s climate and the storeroom of its ocean biodiversity.
However, the people from around the Pacific Ocean, from the Arctic to Antarctic, from countries populous and sparse, are witnessing a decline of the Pacific Ocean’s vast resources and in the ability to use those resources. Pollution, habitat destruction, overfishing, climate change, and invasive species emerge repeatedly as the major causes. These threats interact with each other to damage natural ecosystems, reduce biological and human economic diversity, destroy productivity, and encumber human use of the sea.
(Center for Ocean Solutions, USA)
It identifies the following threats to the Pacific Ocean:
We hope others, in and outside of the South Pacific region, will take up the challenge and write about these threats to our environment and survival, particularly for small island nations. Due to scarce resources and available time, we aren’t able to do justice in covering these stories . Wish we could. For example, do people, other than governments and environmental groups, in the Pacific region realise the impact of overfishing for the region? I think not. What role have island governments played in protecting those assets? Can they? This is a big business story, not just a marine story. Who are the biggest contributors to the depletion of these natural marine resources? And what role is international legislation doing, or not doing, to protect the vast resources of the Pacific Ocean.
To give us a perspective of sizes, look at a map of the oceans of the world. The smallest is the Arctic Ocean, followed by the Indian Ocean, then the North and South Atlantic Ocean. Then there’s the North and South Pacific Ocean. Yes, it is the largest biggest ocean out there. It covers a wider geographical area bigger than all the other oceans combined.
Photos: America’s TV Bachelor Couple Wed Near Pacific Ocean Despite Warnings
Posted: February 28, 2010 Filed under: Breaking News, Community, Current, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: -, 2010, 25, 27, 300, 33, 38103, 8.8, bachelor, california, ceremony, chile, coast, couple, despite, earthquake, evening, exchanged, february, guests, hit, Jason, Jason Mesnick, magnitude, Malaney, married, Mesnick, Molly, Molly Malaney, morning, ocean, outdoor, overlooking, pacific, PacificCoastNews.com, Palos, Photograph:, rain, Rancho, resort, result, saturday, Terranea, tsunami, tv, Verdes, vows, warning, wedding, wedding day, wedding dress Leave a comment »Earlier today, despite tsunami warnings to stay away from the Pacific ocean, one of America’s reality TV couples tied the knot.
PALOS VERDES, CALIFORNIA. Bachelor TV couple Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney are married in front of 300 guests. Mesnick, 33, and Malaney, 25, exchanged vows in an outdoor ceremony at the Terranea Resort overlooking the Pacific Ocean on the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes, despite evening rain and a morning tsunami warning – a result of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Chile on Saturday. Photograph: PacificCoastNews.com. Read the rest of this entry »
Eyewitness: Beach South of Christchurch NZ
Posted: February 28, 2010 Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, Environment, NZPacific, South Pacific Region | Tags: emergency, ocean, pacific, signs of tsunami, tsunami warning sign Leave a comment »This is being reported by a Christchurch Press reporter. No other information provided so we are not able to verify this independently. What we do know about the ocean is this: when the ocean/sea/beach recedes, and fish are stranded and left behind in the sand, that is the warning sign of a pending tsunami wave. Stay away from the beaches and the land areas surrounding when this happens.
LATEST: The ocean at a beach south of Christchurch has receded dramatically, leaving fish stranded on the sand.
11:42am: The ocean at a beach south of Christchurch has receded dramatically, leaving fish stranded on the sand.
Press reporter Martin van Beynen said the water at Purau Bay in Banks Peninsula withdrew over about five minutes. On some parts of the deserted beach the water was 100 metres from where it should have been.
“You could see the odd fish flapping about on the sand,” he told Stuff.
LATEST TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY: All Affected Pacific Islands Issued Tsunami Warning
Posted: February 28, 2010 Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, Environment, NZPacific, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: 11:03, 2010, 27th, 38100, 6am, a, Affected, alerting, beach, beaches, Binns, boats, bottom, Breaking News, Chilean, clearing, coast, county, earthquake, evacuate, evacuation, february, ground., hawaii, higher, hit, homes, hours, hundreds, islands, latest updates, lifeguards, maui, meassures, ocean, pacific, PacificCoastNews.com, People, Photograph:, planet, police, PST., raced, residents, saturday, seen, serious, Sirens, sounding, state, the, threatening, top.Maui, triggered, tsunami, tsunami wave activity, U.S, warning, waves, West, will Leave a comment »Issued to governments and registered news media outlets at 11.42am, Sunday, NZ Time.
TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 017
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 2241Z 27 FEB 2010
CODE:
- LAT - LATITUDE (N-NORTH, S-SOUTH)
- LON – LONGITUDE (E-EAST, W-WEST)
- TIME - TIME OF THE MEASUREMENT (Z IS UTC IS GREENWICH TIME)
- AMPL – TSUNAMI AMPLITUDE MEASURED RELATIVE TO NORMAL SEA LEVEL.IT IS …NOT… CREST-TO-TROUGH WAVE HEIGHT. VALUES ARE GIVEN IN BOTH METERS(M) AND FEET(FT).
- PER – PERIOD OF TIME IN MINUTES(MIN) FROM ONE WAVE TO THE NEXT.
MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY
GAUGE LOCATION LAT LON TIME AMPL PER
——————- —– —— —– ————— —–
NUKUALOFA TO 21.1S 175.2W 2024Z 0.10M / 0.3FT 62MIN
KAWAIHAE HAWAII 20.0N 155.8W 2211Z 0.52M / 1.7FT 24MIN
BARBERS PT HI 21.3N 158.1W 2140Z 0.19M / 0.6FT 76MIN
KAUMALAPAU HAWAII 20.8N 156.9W 2136Z 0.18M / 0.6FT 56MIN
KAHULUI MAUI 20.9N 156.5W 2147Z 0.98M / 3.2FT 22MIN
NAWILIWILI KAUAI 22.0N 159.4W 2151Z 0.28M / 0.9FT 44MIN
PAGO PAGO AS 14.3S 170.7W 2132Z 0.66M / 2.2FT 12MIN
MONTEREY HARBOR CA 36.6N 121.9W 2031Z 0.32M / 1.1FT 56MIN
SANTA MONICA CA 34.0N 118.5W 2035Z 0.41M / 1.4FT 32MIN
SANTA BARBARA CA 34.4N 119.7W 2029Z 0.22M / 0.7FT 48MIN
SAN DIEGO CA 32.7N 117.2W 2036Z 0.13M / 0.4FT 20MIN
APIA UPOLU WS 13.8S 171.8W 2018Z 0.16M / 0.5FT 16MIN
RAROTONGA CK 21.2S 159.8W 1907Z 0.15M / 0.5FT 24MIN
ACAPULCO MX 16.8N 99.9W 1931Z 0.62M / 2.0FT 26MIN
DART SAN DIEGO 4641 32.2N 120.7W 1931Z 0.06M / 0.2FT 24MIN
LOTTIN PT NZ 37.6S 178.2E 1934Z 0.15M / 0.5FT 10MIN
RAROTONGA CK 21.2S 159.8W 1918Z 0.32M / 1.0FT 06MIN
CABO SAN LUCAS MX 22.9N 109.9W 1833Z 0.36M / 1.2FT 12MIN
DART TONGA 51426 23.0S 168.1W 1844Z 0.04M / 0.1FT 30MIN
HIVA OA MARQUESAS 9.8S 139.0W 1741Z 1.79M / 5.9FT 12MIN
PAPEETE TAHITI 17.5S 149.6W 1810Z 0.16M / 0.5FT 10MIN
NUKU HIVA MARQUESAS 8.9S 140.1W 1745Z 0.95M / 3.1FT 04MIN
MANZANILLO MX 19.1N 104.3W 1705Z 0.32M / 1.0FT 24MIN
DART MANZANILLO 434 16.0N 107.0W 1611Z 0.07M / 0.2FT 24MIN
RIKITEA PF 23.1S 134.9W 1559Z 0.15M / 0.5FT 22MIN
DART MARQUESAS 5140 8.5S 125.0W 1531Z 0.18M / 0.6FT 18MIN
QUEPOS CR 9.4E 81.2W 1416Z 0.24M / 0.8FT 52MIN
BALTRA GALAPAGS EC 0.4S 90.3W 1452Z 0.35M / 1.2FT 14MIN
EASTER CL 27.2S 109.5W 1205Z 0.35M / 1.1FT 52MIN
ANCUD CL 41.9S 73.8W 0838Z 0.62M / 2.0FT 84MIN
CALLAO LA-PUNTA PE 12.1S 77.2W 1029Z 0.36M / 1.2FT 30MIN
ARICA CL 18.5S 70.3W 1008Z 0.94M / 3.1FT 42MIN
IQUIQUE CL 20.2S 70.1W 0907Z 0.28M / 0.9FT 68MIN
ANTOFAGASTA CL 23.2S 70.4W 0941Z 0.49M / 1.6FT 52MIN
DART LIMA 32412 18.0S 86.4W 0941Z 0.24M / 0.8FT 36MIN
CALDERA CL 27.1S 70.8W 0843Z 0.45M / 1.5FT 20MIN
TALCAHUANO CL 36.7S 73.4W 0653Z 2.34M / 7.7FT 88MIN
COQUIMBO CL 30.0S 71.3W 0852Z 1.32M / 4.3FT 30MIN
CORRAL CL 39.9S 73.4W 0739Z 0.90M / 2.9FT 16MIN
SAN FELIX CL 26.3S 80.1W 0815Z 0.53M / 1.7FT 08MIN
VALPARAISO CL 33.0S 71.6W 0708Z 1.29M / 4.2FT 20MIN
EVALUATION
SEA LEVEL READINGS CONFIRM THAT A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN GENERATED WHICH COULD CAUSE WIDESPREAD DAMAGE. AUTHORITIES SHOULD TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS THREAT. THIS CENTER WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR SEA LEVEL DATA TO DETERMINE THE EXTENT AND SEVERITY OF THE THREAT.
A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE FIRST WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST. TSUNAMI WAVE HEIGHTS CANNOT BE PREDICTED AND CAN VARY SIGNIFICANTLY ALONG A COAST DUE TO LOCAL EFFECTS. THE TIME FROM ONE TSUNAMI WAVE TO THE NEXT CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO AN HOUR, AND THE THREAT CAN CONTINUE FOR MANY HOURS AS MULTIPLE WAVES ARRIVE.
FOR ALL AREAS – WHEN NO MAJOR WAVES ARE OBSERVED FOR TWO HOURS AFTER THE ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL OR DAMAGING WAVES HAVE NOT OCCURRED FOR AT LEAST TWO HOURS THEN LOCAL AUTHORITIES CAN ASSUME THE THREAT IS PASSED. DANGER TO BOATS AND COASTAL STRUCTURES CAN CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL HOURS DUE TO RAPID CURRENTS. AS LOCAL CONDITIONS CAN CAUSE A WIDE VARIATION IN TSUNAMI WAVE ACTION THE ALL CLEAR DETERMINATION MUST BE MADE BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.
BULLETINS WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER IF CONDITIONS WARRANT.
THE TSUNAMI WARNING WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
Tsunami Warning Includes All Islands In Pacific Ocean
Posted: February 28, 2010 Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, Environment, South Pacific Region, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: 11:03, 2010, 27th, 38100, 6am, a, Affected, alerting, all pacific islands affected by tsunami warning, beach, beaches, Bestof, Binns, boats, bottom, Breaking News, charity and relief work, Chilean, clearing, coast, county, earthquake, Emergencies And Disasters, Emergency Planning, evacuate, evacuation, february, ground., hawaii, Hawaii Islands, higher, hit, homes, Honolulu, horizontal, hours, hundreds, islands, lifeguards, maui, meassures, natural disaster, ocean, pacific, Pacific islands, PacificCoastNews.com, People, Photograph:, planet, police, PST., raced, rear, residents, Sandbag, saturday, seen, serious, Sirens, sounding, state, supplies, the, threatening, tidal wave, tools, top.Maui, topics, Topix, triggered, tsunami, TSUNAMI WARNING, U.S, usa, Waikiki Beach, warning, waves, West, will Leave a comment »Pacific Island nations are included in the 53 tsunami warning issued. Please check below:
FR. POLYNESIA / MEXICO / COOK ISLANDS / KIRIBATI / KERMADEC IS / NIUE / NEW ZEALAND / TONGA / AMERICAN SAMOA / SAMOA / JARVIS IS. / WALLIS-FUTUNA / TOKELAU / FIJI / AUSTRALIA / HAWAII / PALMYRA IS. / TUVALU / VANUATU / HOWLAND-BAKER / NEW CALEDONIA / JOHNSTON IS. / SOLOMON IS. / NAURU / MARSHALL IS. / MIDWAY IS. / KOSRAE / PAPUA NEW GUINEA / POHNPEI / WAKE IS. / CHUUK / RUSSIA / MARCUS IS. / INDONESIA / N. MARIANAS / GUAM / YAP / BELAU / JAPAN / PHILIPPINES / CHINESE TAIPEI.
HONOLULU, HAWAII: Eli Cantu and Scott Liang make sandbags along Waikiki Beach in back of the Westin Moana Surfrider February 27, 2010 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Residents are stocking up on food and emergency supplies in preparation for a potentially damaging tsunami, after a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit central Chile which sent waves across the Pacific Ocean. Warning sirens have been reported to be going off near the coast and the state is under a tsunami warning but there is no evacuation planned at this time. So far over 100 deaths in Chile have been reported and that number is expected to rise. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images).
Shoppers line up in front of a grocery store as they wait for it to open February 27, 2010 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
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