Questionable "Scientific" Papers - 18

Fig. 1 TEOS-10 Compliant Paper

I am happy to post, today, that a scientific paper published in Science Advances is an advance in science (Science Advances glacial melt feedback loop, Science Advances 18 Apr 2018: Vol. 4, no. 4, eaap9467, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aap9467).

I say that because it is the second paper I have found that uses the new scientific standard for thermodynamic properties of sea water (Fig. 1, cf 1st paper).

Those thermodynamic properties are set forth in a well researched and presented standard (Thermodynamic Equation Of Seawater - 2010,  a.k.a. "TEOS-10").

One advantage of using the new thermodynamic standard is that researchers will be on the same page when using the new terms of the standard as that paper does (e.g. "Conservative Temperature" and "Absolute Salinity").

Another advantage is that the new standard is more accurate than the previous standard.

The official site explains it this way:

"TEOS-10 is based on a Gibbs function formulation from which all thermodynamic properties of seawater (density, enthalpy, entropy sound speed, etc.) can be derived in a thermodynamically consistent manner. TEOS-10 was adopted by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission at its 25th Assembly in June 2009 [PDF] to replace EOS-80 as the official description of seawater and ice properties in marine science."

(TEOS-10 Website). Regular readers know that Dredd Blog has been using this standard too.

The way I have used the new standard is to implement the software libraries that are graciously shared with researchers as a public service (TEOS-10 Software Download).

My first subject matter application of TEOS-10 was to use it to begin to further study the hypothesis of thermosteric sea level change (Golden 23 Zones Meet TEOS-10).

I am more adept at its usage now, about a year later, which has led to some interesting applications of WOD, PSMSL, and NSIDC data (e.g. On Thermal Expansion & Thermal Contraction - 29; Antarctica 2.0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & supplements A, B, C, D, E, F).

So, this episode of this series is a congratulation to those whose papers use the new standard.

It is also a criticism of those who write about the thermodynamics of sea water but do not use the new standard.

The previous post in this series is here.

The King of King Tides Approaches - 2

Fig. 1 1.7 feet of sea level rise

Scientists of the world are generally aware of the ongoing rise of sea level on the East Coast of the United States.

It has been a while since I focused on that area of the country, so today I want to revisit the subject.

I updated my PSMSL data set  recently and generated the graph at Fig. 1 with the latest data from WOD Zone 7307, as well as generating the list of PSMSL tide gauge stations in that zone (excluding 4 stations that had less than 10 years of total accumulated data).

That list is sorted according to latitude, with the most northerly station at the top and the most southerly station at the bottom:

PHILADELPHIA (PIER 9N) [stn. #135, yrs of data: 117]
REEDY POINT [stn. #786, yrs of data: 32]
ATLANTIC CITY [stn. #180, yrs of data: 103]
BALTIMORE [stn. #148, yrs of data: 115]
ANNAPOLIS (NAVAL ACADEMY) [stn. #311, yrs of data: 87]
CAPE MAY [stn. #1153, yrs of data: 48]
MATAPEAKE [stn. #1338, yrs of data: 10]
WASHINGTON DC [stn. #360, yrs of data: 86]
LEWES (BREAKWATER HARBOR) [stn. #224, yrs of data: 78]
INDIAN RIVER INLET [stn. #1337, yrs of data: 11]
CAMBRIDGE [stn. #481, yrs of data: 10]
CAMBRIDGE II [stn. #1295, yrs of data: 46]
OCEAN CITY INLET [stn. #2292, yrs of data: 18]
SOLOMON'S ISLAND (BIOL. LAB.) [stn. #412, yrs of data: 80]
PINEY POINT [stn. #971, yrs of data: 13]
RICHMOND [stn. #462, yrs of data: 27]
GLOUCESTER POINT [stn. #597, yrs of data: 53]
KIPTOPEKE BEACH [stn. #636, yrs of data: 66]
CHESAPEAKE BAY BR. TUN. [stn. #1635, yrs of data: 32]
SEWELLS POINT [stn. #299, yrs of data: 90]
VIRGINIA BEACH [stn. #945, yrs of data: 12]
PORTSMOUTH (NORFOLK NAVY YARD) [stn. #399, yrs of data: 53]
DUCK PIER OUTSIDE [stn. #1636, yrs of data: 32]
CAPE HATTERAS [stn. #2294, yrs of data: 26]
MOREHEAD CITY [stn. #719, yrs of data: 10]
WILMINGTON [stn. #396, yrs of data: 82]
SOUTHPORT [stn. #1431, yrs of data: 13]
MYRTLE BEACH [stn. #862, yrs of data: 16]
SPRINGMAID PIER [stn. #1444, yrs of data: 34]
CHARLESTON I [stn. #234, yrs of data: 96]
BEAUFORT [stn. #2295, yrs of data: 44]

(click on the Station Name Link to see more information from the PSMSL website)

Note that WOD Zone (7307) does not include Florida.

American scientists are not the only Americans who know the import of sea level change:

"Sea level rise is threatening coastal cities around the world.

If you live in a city like Miami, New York City, or Charleston, the evidence is apparent if you head to the right neighborhood during high tides — especially those known as king tides. These are the highest tides of the year, and they coincide with full moons during spring and fall.

King tides themselves aren't caused by sea level rise, but as the highest tides of the year, they show how sea level has already risen over the past century — the neighborhoods they flood on sunny days now didn't flood like this decades ago, even during high tides.

More importantly, high and king tides are a preview of what's to come as seas continue to rise. What happens during particularly high tides now will happen on a regular basis in the future.

As sea level rises, waters come back up through storm drains and wash over barricades. They flood houses and roads. And in many cases, they may be full of bacteria and potential pathogens.

Most cities recognize the situation at this point and are doing everything they can to try to beat back the rising tides. But seas will continue to rise as warmer oceans expand and glaciers melt. It's likely that neighborhoods and even some cities will be uninhabitable far sooner than many think."

(Cities around the US are flooding on sunny days, Business Insider, emphasis added). It is here now folks.

That being said, the full impact of the increasing sea level rise is less understood (The Extinction of Robust Sea Ports, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9).

We all need to "get woke and stay woke."

The previous post in this series is here.

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When sea level knowledge is outlawed, only outlaws will be woke.

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Ents & The Entities Become Nomadic - 3

Future "farming" vehicles?

This post extends some of the concepts illustrated in prior posts in a Ecocosmology Blog series (Ents & The Entities Become Nomadic, 2).

People have noticed that the weather in their area now has some strange characteristics when compared to the past weather conditions.

Once-abundant Cod fish in once-flourishing fishing grounds in the Atlantic off the northeast coast of the United States have evidently migrated somewhere.

Those Cod are being replaced (by jelly fish and other jelly-fish-resembling sea creatures) in the waters that were once filled with Cod:

The waters of Maine have been warming for decades, warming out a warning, that no-one in fishy officialdom heeded, except to acknowledge that losing the once-vast cod fishery was a 'nuisance':

"The Atlantic cod, a fish that came to symbolize bounty to America’s colonial settlers, is on the brink of disappearing, despite years of fishing limits aimed at rebuilding stocks. A new study reveals why: Cod spawning and survival has been hampered by rapid, extraordinary ocean warming in the Gulf of Maine, where sea surface temperatures rose faster than anywhere else on the planet between 2003 and 2014.

“Over this same 10-year period, fishery managers set quotas that they felt were informed by high-quality science, and the stock just kept going down, down, down,” says study leader Andrew Pershing, the chief scientist for the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, Maine. When his team looked closely at factors behind the trends, he says, “We found the fingerprints of temperature throughout the data.”

The scientists used satellite data to track the daily sea surface temperature trend in the Gulf of Maine. From 1982 until 2004, they found, temperatures rose by 0.03°C per year, or three times the global mean rate. That warming accelerated sevenfold beginning in 2004, peaking in 2012 with a large “ocean heat wave” that persisted for 18 months, according to the study."

(Science, emphasis added). "Gosh, you expect us managers to know that heated water causes species migration or extinction?"

(A Paper From Hansen et al. Is Now Open For Discussion - 3). Flora and fauna of all types are migrating because the climate is changing.

In today's post the entity that is becoming nomadic is "the 100th meridian boundary of dry conditions" in the USA:

• The '100th meridian west' is an invisible line of longitude that roughly bisects the United States' in half, separating the humid eastern states from the arid western states.
• Since the 1980s, this climate boundary has been shifting further from the geographical line of longitude, as dry conditions creep into states that have historically been on the more fertile eastern side.
• While the shift hasn't significantly impacted farming in central US yet, scientists believe it will only be a matter of time before flourishing plains become deserts.

(An invisible boundary has started to shift, Business Insider, emphasis added). The invasion of the land, air, and sea by a rogue climate change dynamic is invisible only to those who are blind because they refuse to see (Greenland & Antarctica Invade The United States, 2, 3, 4; Why Sea Level Rise May Be The Greatest Threat To Civilization, 2, 3, 4, 5; The 1% May Face The Wrath of Sea Level Rise First; Why The Military Can't Defend Against The Invasion).

The previous post in this series is here.

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