Evolving the narrative for protecting a rapidly changing ocean, post‐COVID‐19

The ocean is the linchpin supporting life on Earth, but it is in declining health due to an increasing footprint of human use and climate change. Despite notable successes in helping to protect the ocean, the scale of actions is simply not now meeting the overriding scale and nature of the ocean's problems that confront us. Moving into a post-COVID-19 world, new policy decisions will need to be made. Some, especially those developed prior to the pandemic, will require changes to their trajectories; others will emerge as a response to this global event. Reconnecting with nature, and specifically with the ocean, will take more than good intent and wishful thinking. Words, and how we express our connection to the ocean, clearly matter now more than ever before. The evolution of the ocean narrative, aimed at preserving and expanding options and opportunities for future generations and a healthier planet, is articulated around six themes: (1) all life is dependent on the ocean; (2) by harming the ocean, we harm ourselves; (3) by protecting the ocean, we protect ourselves; (4) humans, the ocean, biodiversity, and climate are inextricably linked; (5) ocean and climate action must be undertaken together; and (6) reversing ocean change needs action now. This narrative adopts a ‘One Health’ approach to protecting the ocean, addressing the whole Earth ocean system for better and more equitable social, cultural, economic, and environmental outcomes at its core. Speaking with one voice through a narrative that captures the latest science, concerns, and linkages to humanity is a precondition to action, by elevating humankind's understanding of our relationship with ‘planet Ocean’ and why it needs to become a central theme to everyone's lives. We have only one ocean, we must protect it, now. There is no ‘Ocean B’

Atmospheric forcing in the Arabian Sea during 1994–1995: observations and comparisons with climatology and models

Accurate, year-long time series of winds, incoming shortwave and longwave radiation, air and sea temperatures, relative humidity, barometric pressure, and precipitation were collected from a surface mooring deployed off the coast of Oman along the climatological axis of the Findlater Jet from October 1994 to October 1995. Wind stress, heat flux, and freshwater flux were computed using bulk formulae. The Northeast Monsoon was characterized by steady but moderate winds, clear skies, relatively dry air, and two months, December and January, in which the ocean, on average, lost 45 W m-2 to the atmosphere. The Southwest Monsoon had strong winds, cloudy skies, and moist air. Because of reduced latent and longwave heat loss, it was accompanied by sustained oceanic heat gain, with the strongest monthly mean warming, 147 W m-2, in August.Large differences are found between the observations and older climatologies. Recent climatologies agree better with the observations. The means of the Southampton Oceanography Center climatology for 1980–1995 are close to the buoy monthly means. Monthly means from that climatology show that 1994–1995 was in general a typical year, with surface meteorology and air–sea fluxes within one standard deviation of the long term means. Concurrent data from the NCEP, ECMWF, and FNMOC show that the models provide realistic surface winds. FNMOC winds show that the timing and character of the onset of the Southwest Monsoon in 1995 differed from 1994 and 1996 when variability within one month is resolved. The models fail to replicate other observed surface meteorology and to produce realistic heat fluxes. Annual and monsoonal mean net heat fluxes from the models differed from those of the buoy by 50 to 80 W m-2. Because of these differences, some care is warranted in selecting and using air-sea flux fields in studies of the Arabian Sea

Anaemia, iron and vitamin A status among South African school-aged children living with and without HIV

Background. Data on iron and vitamin A deficiency are scarce in school-aged children living with HIV (HIV+) compared with children without HIV (HIV-). Both deficiencies can contribute to anaemia.Objective. To assess anaemia, iron and vitamin A status in a sample of HIV+ and HIV- school-aged children in South Africa.Methods. In this comparative cross-sectional study, biomarkers for anaemia (haemoglobin), iron (plasma ferritin (PF), soluble transferrin receptor), vitamin A (retinol-binding protein (RBP)) and inflammatory status (C-reactive protein, alpha-1-acid glycoprotein) were measured in 8 - 13-year-old children from Cape Town living with (n=143) and without HIV (n=148). Measurements of PF and RBP were adjusted for inflammation using a regression-correction approach.Results. HIV+ children had higher prevalences of anaemia (29% v. 14%; odds ratio (OR) = 2.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4 - 4.9; p=0.002), iron-deficient erythropoiesis (20% v. 9%; OR=2.5; 95% CI 1.2 - 5.0; p=0.013) and iron deficiency anaemia (11% v. 4%; OR=2.9; 95% CI 1.1 - 7.7; p=0.035) than HIV- children. Marginal vitamin A deficiency was noted in 52% of HIV+ and 57% of HIV- children (p=0.711). Subclinical inflammation was more prevalent in HIV+ than HIV- children (p=0.012).Conclusion. Anaemia, iron-deficient erythropoiesis and iron deficiency anaemia were more prevalent in HIV+ than HIV- children. Prevalence of marginal vitamin A deficiency was high in both groups. Efforts to improve micronutrient status and mitigate nutritional determinants of anaemia in HIV+ children from resource-limited settings should be prioritised

Summer and fall habitat of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) inferred from satellite telemetry

Author Posting. © National Research Council Canada, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of National Research Council Canada for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 62 (2005): 527-543, doi:10.1139/F04-238.Satellite-monitored radio tags were attached to North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in Grand Manan Basin of the lower Bay of Fundy during the summer and early fall seasons of 1989–1991 and 2000. Monte Carlo tests were used to examine the distribution of the tagged whales in space and time and with respect to a variety of environmental variables to characterize right whale habitat on their northern feeding grounds. These environmental variables included depth, depth gradient, climatological surface and bottom hydrographic properties, and remotely sensed surface temperature, chlorophyll concentration, and their respective horizontal gradients. Site fidelity in the Bay of Fundy was very low during 1989–1991 and high during 2000. When the tagged animals left the Bay, they did not frequently visit the deep basins of the Gulf of Maine and Scotian Shelf, where abundances of their primary copepod prey, Calanus finmarchicus, are thought to be high. Instead, right whales visited areas characterized by low bottom water temperatures, high surface salinity, and high surface stratification. No evidence was found that the tagged right whales associated with oceanic fronts or regions with high standing stocks of phytoplankton.This study was supported by the Office of Naval Research, National Marine Fisheries Service, Oregon State University Marine Mammal Endowment, and the Space Grant and Earth System Science fellowship programs of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration