Washington Letter of Oceanography
For those interested in ocean research and engineering, marine resources development and undersea defense.Volume 44, No. 2— January 25, 2010
Jessica Creighton
Assistant Editor
U.S. Federal Agencies Respond to Disaster in Haiti
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano recently released a statement extending sympathy to Haiti and pledging support to the worldwide relief effort currently under way.
Four U.S. Coast Guard cutters have arrived in Haiti—in addition to a variety of Coast Guard assets that were already in the area—to support military air traffic control, conduct damage assessments and rescue people, according to the statement.
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to work closely with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. State Department while coordinating the deployment of state and local urban search-and-rescue teams (US&R) from across the country to Haiti and providing food, water and other resources as requested, the statement said. Currently, four US&R teams are on the ground, and five additional US&R teams have been activated and await deployment, Napolitano continued.
Napolitano said that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has provided aircraft to support response efforts. Five Coast Guard C-130 airplanes have been flying the coast of western Haiti doing damage assessments and searching for people in need of assistance. The planes have removed roughly 250 U.S. personnel from Haiti to the Dominican Republic and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, at the direction of the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, according to the statement.
On January 15, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement halted all removals to Haiti for the time being in response to the devastation caused by the earthquake, Napolitano said. The department is prepared to receive evacuees safely and securely in the United States, she continued.
Navy Takes Delivery of PCU New Mexico
The U.S. Navy announced that it took delivery of its newest attack submarine, PCU New Mexico (SSN 779), from Newport News, Virginia-based Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding (NGSB) on December 29, four months earlier than its contract delivery date. New Mexico is the sixth Virginia-class submarine and the third delivered by NGSB.
“New Mexico performed superbly on sea trials,” said RAdm. William Hilarides, program executive officer for submarines. “Her early delivery keeps us firmly on pace for a 60-month construction span by the end of the Block II contract.”
“With the delivery of the sixth submarine, the Virginia Program continues to provide needed capability to the fleet,” said Capt. Michael Jabaley, Virginia-class program manager.
USS North Carolina (SSN 777) and USS New Hampshire (SSN 778), the two submarines delivered prior to New Mexico, were completed after 82 and 71 months, respectively, the Navy said. New Mexico completed construction in 70 months, the service continued.
“Raising the bar yet again, the Virginia shipbuilding team has completed the fastest delivery to date, with further improvement soon to follow,” Jabaley said. “This improvement in performance positions the team to double the production rate to two submarines per year in 2011. Keeping the production rate at two per year is critical to maintaining the Navy’s attack submarine inventory.”
New Mexico’s delivery in 2009 wraps up a successful year for the Virginia-class program, the Navy said. According to the service, earlier accomplishments include beginning the construction of PCU North Dakota (SSN 784) on March 2; the keel-laying ceremony of PCU California (SSN 781) on May 1; USS Texas’ (SSN 775) completion of the Virginia-class submarines’ first Arctic Ocean testing in November; transfers of USS Hawaii (SSN 776) and Texas to their new homeport of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in July and November, respectively; and the christening ceremony of PCU Missouri (SSN 780) on December 5.
Maryland Senators Announce Grant for Green Industry Job Training
U.S. Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) recently announced an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant to fund green industry job training in Maryland.
The Department of Labor has awarded a $5.8 million ARRA grant to a consortium of organizations and businesses for the “Smart, Green and Growing” project, which will provide training and job placement assistance in solar technology, energy-efficient building, construction and retrofit, and environmental technology, according to a statement from the two senators. They said the move will improve manufacturing sustainability practices and waste stream management, lead to green practices in the manufacturing sector, develop and expand green construction training options, and assist workers as they pursue environmental technology careers.
“This funding is exactly what the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is all about—creating and sustaining jobs today and preparing for the jobs of tomorrow,” Mikulski said. “This grant will give Marylanders the opportunity to get the training they need to find and keep a job, while also helping to make sure that manufacturing and construction in Maryland is environmentally friendly.”
“This partnership is funded with recovery dollars, and it is an investment in our future—a future in which our state and nation will become more energy efficient and independent and one that will create new, green jobs that will help grow our economy,” Cardin said.
Corps of Engineers Team Recognized for Oyster Project Work
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Lynnhaven Oyster Restoration Project Team received the 2009 Coastal American Partnership Award on January 14 for their efforts to restore a 60-acre network of oyster reefs in the Lynnhaven River.
These permanent sanctuaries create the second-largest such network in the world. The network is a Marine Protected Area that benefits the ecosystem by increasing oyster larval production throughout the river and improving juvenile fish habitat and water quality, according to a statement from the team. The team said it will continue to collaborate with federal, state and local governments, academia, and local nonprofit organizations to expand the sanctuary by an additional 40 acres.
The ceremony took place at Steinhilber’s in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Col. Andy Backus, commander of the Norfolk, Virginia, district, accepted the plaque. Individual plaques were also presented by Doug Lamont, assistant secretary of the Army (project planning and review) to David Schulte of the Norfolk district; Clay Bernick of the City of Virginia Beach; Jack Travelstead from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission; Karen Forget, executive director of Lynnhaven River Now; and Rom Lipcius, a professor at the College of William and Mary, Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
“This award will help shed light and bring awareness to the water quality of the Lynnhaven River and potentially other tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay,” Forget said.
The Norfolk District has been involved with native oyster restoration in the Chesapeake Bay since 1999, according to the team. The first two projects were completed in the lower Rappahannock River and in the Tangier Sound, it continued, and although the projects were designed to primarily augment the commercial oyster fishery, they had limited success.
The team said they changed their strategy and geared their work toward ecological restoration, hoping to develop self-sustaining oyster populations on restored reefs. Reefs were built at higher relief from the bottom to mimic historical oyster reef structure, they said. Prior approaches had been to scatter a thin shell layer a few inches thick over the bottom or to build a series of six-foot-tall mounds.
The team explained that they worked in a tributary-by-tributary fashion, starting with small, tidally retentive systems most likely to provide oyster recruits for restored reef habitat. The new strategy was implemented in the Great Wicomico River in 2004.
“The restored reefs are now performing better than we could have hoped,” Schulte said. “Lynnhaven reefs are following on track and we expect similar projects to be as successful in several years.”
MARAD Sends Five Ships to Assist in Haiti
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood recently announced that the department’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) is sending five ships to assist with relief efforts in Haiti. Gopher State, Petersburg, Huakai, Cornhusker State and Cape May are being prepared to sail to the Caribbean Ocean from different parts of the United States, according to a MARAD statement. All are owned or controlled by MARAD and will be crewed by civilian U.S. merchant mariners, the statement continued.
“Sending these ships will help those on the front line of this effort save as many lives in Haiti as possible,” LaHood said. “These ships will add crucial capabilities by supporting operations to move large volumes of people and cargo.”
“Once again the U.S. Merchant Marine is answering the call for assistance, as it has done since our nation began,” said acting maritime administrator David T. Matsuda. “These ships and skilled crews are ideally suited to assist in Haiti by providing unique capabilities. One cargo ship can carry as much as 400 fully loaded cargo planes.”
The Huakai is a new high-speed ferry capable of nearly 40 knots in the open ocean. Petersburg, Cornhusker State, Cape May and Gopher State are part of MARAD’s Ready Reserve Force, which includes a total of 49 ships at ports across the country.
MMS Studies Loop Current in Gulf of Mexico
A study recently released by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) examines circulation in the eastern Gulf of Mexico (GOM), including the behavior of the Loop Current (LC) and Loop Current eddies (LCEs), the relation between upper and lower-layer currents, and the variability of water mass characteristics in deep water.
When the LC and the LCE are present in the gulf near oil and gas activities, operators may have to curtail or amend their operations due to the strength of the current or eddy, the MMS said.
“The observations from this study will help MMS and other scientists better understand the Loop Current and improve our forecasting of its behavior in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Dr. Alexis Lugo-Fernandez, the MMS physical oceanographer responsible for the study. “This is important because oil and gas activities in the deepwater gulf are affected by the presence of the Loop Current and the Loop Current eddies.”
Prepared under a cooperative agreement by Louisiana State University’s Coastal Marine Institute, “Observation of the Deepwater Manifestation of the Loop Current and Loop Current Rings in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico” chronicles the deployment of a deepwater mooring cable measuring more than 11,800 feet for two years in the eastern gulf. The study supplements information gathered from a previous three-year deployment.
The mooring data suggest that the LC and LCEs that dominate upper-layer circulation in the eastern GOM also influence the deeper currents in the eastern GOM, according to the MMS.
Lugo-Fernandez noted that a method to transmit significant energy in the form of heat to deep water in the GOM during the 2005 hurricane season was observed during this study. As sea levels rise near the center of tropical storms, the resulting higher pressure causes a small but measurable increase in temperature at all water depths, Lugo-Fernandez continued. n
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