Search results

The Blob Blog - Warm Northeast Pacific Ocean Conditions Continue (2016)

Overview

Dr. Richard Dewey, Associate Director, Science
**Updated: February 3, 2016** The warm anomalous surface water conditions of the Northeast Pacific that became apparent in 2013 and continued through 2015, may seem to be dissipating as surface temperatures return to normal. But a significant amount of heat remains at depth, so there is likely more life left in the Blob for 2016. A series of cold winter storms sweeping across the Gulf of Alaska this (2015-16) past November through January have effectively washed out the surface signature of the "Blob". These are the same storms that have been absent for nearly three years and allowed the Blob to develop in late 2013. Typically, a deep Aleutian Low and winter storms in the Gulf of Alaska mix up cold nutrient-rich waters from below, cooling the surface waters and supplying essential nutrients to the phytoplankton and the rest of the food chain. But in 2013 and 2014 the Aleutian Low was weak and there was a near-complete absence of major winter storms in the Gulf, resulting in one of the most significant Northeast Pacific oceanographic events on record. A number of ongoing [scientific workshops](http://www.nanoos.org/resources/anomalies_workshop/workshop2.php) have been held to assess and discuss these extraordinary conditions.

The Northeast Pacific Blob: fading or not?

Overview

The warm surface water anomaly dubbed the “Blob” that has fascinated scientists and many Canadians for two years has all but disappeared from surface satellite maps. But is it gone for good? > “It’s not dead yet. There may still be a lot of heat down there—deep down—below the view from the satellites,” says Richard Dewey, Ocean Networks Canada’s Associate Director, Science Services.

Cambridge Bay at the crossroads of history and climate science (2016)

Overview

In late summer 2016, Cambridge Bay, Nunavut found itself at the centre of an arctic crossroads of sorts: a pivotal meeting place where ice-bound history is melting into climate science. A week after the first luxury cruise ship sailed through a virtually ice-free Northwest Passage and anchored in Cambridge Bay, the wreck of Franklin’s ship The Terror—abandoned in 1845 due to impenetrable sea-ice—was finally discovered in Terror Bay, just 200 km east. The coincidence in time and place of these two iconic voyages poignantly highlights how quickly the arctic climate is changing, the need to monitor these changes, and the growing importance of Cambridge Bay as an emerging arctic hub.

Arctic sea ice: slow growth in 2016

Overview

While global temperature tracking is suggesting 2016 will follow 2014 and 2015 as the warmest year on record, the effects are acute and immediate in the Canadian Arctic where [climate change has already warmed more than twice the global average](http://www.climatecentral.org/news/arctic-sea-ice-record-low-20903). This warming is having a dramatic effect on Arctic sea ice, with reports of both low geographic coverage and low total thickness.

The Great Thaw: our melting Arctic must be monitored and Canada should lead the way

Overview

The following OpEd written by Ocean Networks Canada President Kate Moran was published in [The Hill Times](http://www.hilltimes.com/2017/05/08/great-thaw-melting-arctic-must-monitored-canada-lead-way/105923) on Monday, 8 May 2017. Imagine autumn in the Gatineau’s without trees, or the Rideau River without water. Now imagine the Arctic without ice. All unimaginable images, yet despite our proud “Great White North” designation, the problem in grasping the magnitude of this meltdown is that it seems so far away. In fact, the vast majority of Canada’s 35 million citizens know only of the Arctic through the pages of school textbooks, and it’s easy to see why. According to the 2016 census, 66% of Canadians live within 100 kilometres of the U.S. border, as far from the Arctic as possible, representing just 4% of Canada’s total territory. The dramatic melting of sea ice impacts nearly everyone on the planet. In 2016/17, Canada saw the Rideau Canal open for just 25 skating days, Vancouver blanketed with more snow in one week than in two years, the Prairies endure their most intense storm season on record, and Fort McMurray weather their driest spring in over 70 years before “The Beast” wildfire became the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history. The scientific community has long warned about the irreversible effects of a steady rise in global temperatures on our Arctic, even influencing some Hollywood blockbusters. And although the slow burn has materialized into tangible results over the years, too many have grown accustomed to thinking of climate change in Day After Tomorrow-like scenarios. Think of it not as a sprint, but a marathon.

Ocean Networks Canada in the Arctic: Local problems, global connections

Overview

Only 0.5 percent of the world’s population lives in the Arctic, a remote region where extreme conditions prevail and daily life revolves around ice, both glacial ice and sea-ice. And as global warming continues to cause rising atmospheric and ocean temperatures, that all-important sea ice is increasingly melting away.

Rock solid climate solutions: Negative emissions technology

Overview

NEWS RELEASE

Oceans link to climate change

Overview

*December 23, 2020 - Jody Paterson* Deep in the ocean off Vancouver Island’s west coast, a gas associated with climate warming is making its way to the surface. Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a product of plankton decomposition, pulled to the surface in areas where deep-sea waters migrate upwards in what’s known as coastal upwelling. Where is it coming from? That’s a question that University of Victoria PhD student Brett Jameson is exploring, in collaboration with Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), a UVic initiative, and the Canadian Healthy Oceans Network (CHONe). The world’s oceans both consume and produce gases that affect climate warming, says Jameson of the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences. A quarter of the N₂O released into the atmosphere comes from the ocean. By pulling up water rich in N₂O from the deep, upwelling can transfer deep ocean N₂O to the atmosphere. Jameson’s research, supervised by ONC’s chief scientist Kim Juniper, looks at the production of N₂O by microbes in marine sediments, and at the factors that determine whether the gas ends up released to the atmosphere or consumed along the way. The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development begins next year, with a goal of bringing together stakeholders around the world to find ways to reverse the cycle of decline in ocean health. ONC and its researchers will be key in that work. ONC continuously delivers and manages real-time data for researchers from its network of cabled observatories, remote control systems and interactive sensors installed along Canada’s three coasts. > ONC has been monitoring low-oxygen waters off Vancouver Island for the past 10 years, and there’s convincing evidence that the oxygen-minimum zone (OMZ) is expanding along with other global OMZs.— Brett Jameson, UVic PhD student He is referring to the distinct bands of deep water he is studying, known to act as hotspots of N₂O production. Jameson has studied nitrous oxide production in marine sediments in Bermuda and off Vancouver Island’s west coast, where a mid-water OMZ extends from the island to Oregon. He sampled sediments in pristine coastal mangrove forests in Bermuda to compare with results from his deep-sea research. The two oceans manage nitrous oxide differently. The Atlantic mangrove sediments seem to act as a “sink,” absorbing N₂O from the atmosphere. Pacific deep-sea sediments off Vancouver Island release nitrous oxide to the water, and then to the atmosphere. “These systems are acting very differently— what might be driving this?” asks Jameson. “Are there important differences in the microbes that produce N₂O? Or is this variability due solely to environmental factors, such as oxygen concentrations and nutrient levels?” The notion that pristine mangrove ecosystems may draw in N₂O from the atmosphere and consume it will have important implications for conservation and restoration initiatives, he adds. Most of the growth in N₂O concentrations in the atmosphere is a result of human activity. It’s a by-product of agricultural practices, fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes. But as climate change accelerates the expansion of OMZs, the oceans may account for more of this growth in the future. His research adds to a growing understanding of that vital connection. # EdgeWise Nitrous oxide isn’t as prominent as carbon dioxide in the public discussion around climate warming, but it has more than 300 times the potency of CO₂ as a greenhouse gas. Oceans are “big and hard to study,” notes Jameson, and his research in the waters off Bermuda and Vancouver Island will need to be followed up in other parts of the world to learn how other ocean environments are managing N₂O. “What I hope our research does is stimulate interest in looking at these environments,” he says. Not one to let a pandemic get in his way, Jameson travelled to Bermuda this past summer as planned to finish his field studies. He co-mentored a UVic student while there, pleased to be “in the cool spot of straddling the line of learning and teaching.” His research is funded by the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, ONC, CHONe and UVic. Jameson’s research was recently published in *Limnology and Oceanography Letters*. Building on this research, the team is developing new methods to investigate processes in marine sediment. [Read the article on UVic News here](https://www.uvic.ca/news/topics/2020+knowledge-oceans-link+news) [Read the research paper here](https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/lol2.10174)

ONC’s Carbon Neutral Operations

Overview

In celebration of Earth Day, Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) is thrilled to announce a significant step toward fully carbon neutral operations. Working in collaboration with Carbonzero.ca, ONC has purchased [certified carbon offsets](https://www.carbonzero.ca/registry/?s=CZC-1688-2004-2021) for all workplace, business travel and ship-related emissions for 2020.

Canada’s national ocean observatory critical for ocean, planet

Overview

UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA NEWS RELEASE
August 19, 2022 Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), an initiative of the University of Victoria, today welcomes a new federal investment in its world-leading ocean observatories located on the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic coasts of Canada. The support will help drive climate change solutions, safer coastal communities, Indigenous ocean data stewardship, a healthier ocean and a sustainable blue economy. The [funding announced](https://www.uvic.ca/news/topics/2022+onc-funding+media-release) today is awarded to UVic through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) [Major Science Initiatives Fund](https://www.innovation.ca/news/msi-august-2022), which supports a portion of the operating and maintenance costs of selected national science facilities across Canada. ONC will receive an investment of almost $115 million over six years to continue advancing ocean observing, extending the reach and application of its open access big data to benefit science, society and industry. In the past 16 years ONC has expanded beyond its early work observing the Salish Sea to becoming a true national ocean observing facility, with installations and local and Indigenous partnerships on all three coasts of Canada, attracting more than 23,000 users of its scientific data around the world. The real-time and long-time series ocean data that ONC collects from its cabled, mobile and community-based observing networks make possible a wide range of services that support scientific discovery, climate impact monitoring, maritime safety, tsunami and earthquake early warning, innovation in climate change mitigation, and a sustainable ocean economy, says Kate Moran, president and chief executive officer of ONC. “Canadians can be proud of their national observatory that not only yields valuable insights into this undersea world that covers two thirds of our planet, but also contributes to Canada’s climate leadership through innovation in ocean nature-based and technological climate mitigation solutions and coastal resilience. This investment also means that ONC, through its work with the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, can continue working with partners In Canada and internationally to advance projects in pursuit of healthier oceans, science that promotes ocean resilience, and a citizenry engaged with the oceans’ role in supporting life on this planet,” says Moran.