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When Was the First Earth Day?

Cuyahoga River Fire Nov. 3, 1952. Courtesy of Cleveland Press Collection at Cleveland State University Library — Firefighters battle a hearth on Ohio’s Cuyahoga River in 1952. The polluted river caught fireplace on a number of events between 1936 and 1969, when particles and oil had focused on the water’s floor and ignited. A blaze in 1969 got here at a time of accelerating environmental consciousness and symbolized years of environmental neglect. Picture courtesy of Cleveland Press Assortment at Cleveland State College Library.

On June 22, 1969, the Cuyahoga River on the southern shores of Lake Erie caught on fireplace as chemical compounds, oil, and different industrial supplies that had oozed into the river one way or the other ignited. Just some months earlier than, on January 28, 1969, an oil rig leaked thousands and thousands of gallons of oil off the coast of Santa Barbara. That very same 12 months, stories surfaced that our nationwide image, the bald eagle, was quickly declining as a species as a result of chemical DDT, whereas around the globe, whales have been being hunted practically to extinction. These and different incidents caught the eye of the nationwide media and galvanized public consciousness of the various environmental insults being hurled on the nation and the planet.

In response to the general public outcry, Earth Day Founder Gaylord Nelson, who served because the Governor of Wisconsin (1958-1962) and within the U.S. Senate (1963-1981), organized a nationwide “teach-in” about environmental points to happen on April 22, 1970. Greater than 2,000 faculties and universities, 10,000 public faculties, and 20 million residents participated—practically 10 p.c of the U.S. inhabitants at the moment.

This outpouring of grassroots environmental activism marked the primary Earth Day—a recognition of the significance of caring for the atmosphere and accepting stewardship duty for the nation’s sources. It additionally helped set up a political local weather conducive to forming each the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Environmental Safety Company (EPA) on October 3, 1970.

We wish to say that “Day by day is Earth Day at NOAA.” However ever since April 22, 1970, folks the world over take time to acknowledge the significance of defending the Earth’s pure sources—be they oceanic, atmospheric, terrestrial, or organic—for future generations.

What’s an ocean glider?

VIDEO: What’s an ocean glider? This is an outline in below two minutes. Transcript

Scientists at the moment are experimenting with utilizing gliders to find populations of spawning fish. The glider illustrated right here is outfitted with an acoustic receiver to “pay attention” for vocalizations—grunting sounds—made by some fish as they mass collectively to spawn within the U.S. Caribbean. The car information the geolocation of the sounds that it “hears” onto an onboard reminiscence card. Study extra.

Do you know?

In 2009, a glider named the “Scarlet Knight” made historical past by crossing the Atlantic Ocean from New Jersey to Spain. Study extra.

An ocean glider is an autonomous, unmanned underwater car used for ocean science. Since gliders require little or no human help whereas touring, these little robots are uniquely suited to gathering information in distant areas, safely and at comparatively low price.

Gliders could also be geared up with all kinds of sensors to observe temperature, salinity, currents, and different ocean situations. This data creates a extra full image of what’s occurring within the ocean, in addition to tendencies scientists won’t in any other case be capable to detect from satellites or giant analysis ships.

Whereas there are various glider designs that use completely different strategies to maneuver via the water, all gliders share the power to journey far distances over lengthy intervals, with out servicing. Unmanned gliders pattern the ocean in locations the place it’s impractical to ship individuals, and at a fraction of the price, permitting us to gather information even in the course of a hurricane. It’s these traits together with developments in sensor applied sciences that make gliders more and more essential as instruments for gathering ocean information.

The glider illustrated on this animation is the Slocum glider. It could seem like a torpedo, however it doesn’t have propellors or an inner engine. As an alternative, it makes use of a pump to softly change its buoyancy over time. This permits the glider to slowly transfer up and down via the water. And because it does so, the massive fins protruding of the edges of the craft create carry to propel it ahead. It’s just like how a glider within the air works, besides the ocean glider can glide up as simply because it glides down.

Video Transcript

An ocean glider is autonomous: it travels via the ocean with out human assist. It’s pre-programmed with journey waypoints after which let out to gather ocean information for days, weeks, or months. Totally different sensors mounted on the glider accumulate completely different sorts of knowledge. This glider is fitted with an acoustic sensor to pay attention for and report noises made by fish throughout spawning season. After gathering information for a set time period, the glider completes its journey. The glider then surfaces and transmits its place so individuals can come choose it up. Mission full!

What’s a Excessive Seas Forecast?

map of high seas forecast areas — *NOAA’s Excessive Seas Forecasts are marine climate forecasts ready for mariners and transmitted world wide in real- and near-real-time. Word: the above map i*

Seafaring could be very harmful for ships at sea. For hundreds of years, little may very well be executed to make transport safer, as a result of unpredictability of the climate, the huge measurement of the ocean, and an absence of worldwide cooperation within the open ocean. Nevertheless, the 1912 sinking of the “unsinkable” Titanic, with greater than 1,500 casualties, sparked world concern about security and requirements for ships at sea. This tragedy would result in new worldwide conventions that established security necessities and offered extra correct and standardized climate forecasts.

As we speak, Nationwide Meteorological and Hydrological Companies world wide present real- or near-real-time climate forecasts and information which can be transmitted globally. The World Meteorological Group’s (WMO) International Observing System depends on member international locations, which use their services on land, at sea, and in area through satellites to forecast climate situations. Collectively, these assets enable meteorological and different environmental observations on a world scale.

As a member of WMO, NOAA’s Nationwide Climate Service (NWS) gives Excessive Seas Forecasts for giant areas of the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The NWS additionally gives marine forecasts for U.S. coastal areas and the Nice Lakes, offshore waters, and a part of the Arctic Ocean. The NWS’s Unified Floor Evaluation of world climate additionally gives information on a posh set of floor observations. These forecasts from NOAA, in addition to predictions from different Nationwide Meteorological and Hydrological Companies world wide, can be found to anybody, and, most significantly, to all ships at sea.

Can we clear up, cease, or finish dangerous algal blooms?

A harmful algal bloom outbreak on Lake Erie viewed from space — Imagery of the Western Lake Erie dangerous algal bloom from September 26, 2017. The scum proven right here close to downtown Toledo stretched all the best way to Lake Ontario. This picture is from Landsat-8 (a NASA/USGS satellite tv for pc).

Dangerous algal blooms — also known as HABs for brief — happen when algae produce poisonous or dangerous results on individuals, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, birds, or different aquatic organisms. Blooms happen in marine and freshwater environments all through the world, with damaging ecological, social, and financial results.
So why can’t we clear up the algae and maintain this downside? Sadly, the reply just isn’t so easy. Dangerous algal blooms are a pure course of. There are data of HABs from early European colonists arriving to Florida within the 1500s. Nonetheless, analysis factors to a rise within the frequency and depth of algal blooms in fashionable instances as a consequence of environmental modifications brought on by people.

There are lots of examples of human actions that contribute to HABs: runoff from agriculture, dissolved chemical compounds launched into water provides through rainfall or irrigation, and effluent from sewage therapy vegetation all contribute to extra quantities of vitamins in our waterways. These vitamins are meals for algae. In housing developments, for instance, retention ponds are a typical place to see freshwater HABs. All this runoff results in the water system, ultimately making its solution to the ocean.

Certainly one of main missions of NOAA’s Nationwide Facilities for Coastal Ocean Science is to empower communities to take motion on HAB points by creating detection instruments and forecasts. NCCOS is concerned in mitigating dangerous algal blooms in quite a few alternative ways and thru a number of legislative measures. For instance, the Dangerous Algal Bloom Hypoxia Analysis and Management Act offers NOAA with a authorized mandate to check HABS, to mitigate their results, and to supply early warning for when and the place blooms will happen. NOAA companions with different organizations all through the nation, as nicely, to assist analysis by way of three funding alternatives:

The Ecology and Oceanography of Dangerous Algal Blooms program offers funding for universities and different teams to take a look at the ecology and oceanography of HABS.
The Monitoring of and Occasion Response to Dangerous Algal Blooms program focuses on a sensible method to strategies for testing applied sciences to detect toxins within the cells of the algae and characterize their abundance.
The Prevention, Management and Mitigation of Dangerous Algal Blooms program focuses on what could be carried out to forestall individuals from coming into contact with HAB impacts, to raised inform the general public and to supply extra directed early warning merchandise for dangerous algal blooms.

Dangerous algal bloom assets, incessantly requested questions, and regional data can be found through the Nationwide Ocean Service HAB portal.