1. No category

Spring 2015
www.ma-marine-ed.org
Vol. 43, No. 4
Saving The World's Most Endangered Sea Turtles
Don Lewis (The Turtle Guy)
(Transforming tragedy into triumph in Cape Cod Bay)
The hook of Cape Cod, an accident of geology and the receding Laurentide glacier
15,000 to 20,000 years ago, has become a lethal trap for marine megafauna: whales,
dolphins, porpoises and especially critically endangered sea turtles. Juvenile tropical
and semi-tropical sea turtles sow their wild oats by surfing the great ocean currents
during their early years, a one-time rite of passage before settling down into a more
stable, safer and predictable maturity. These youthful adventures lead many a young
turtle astray, as they summer in seductive Cape Cod Bay.
For the most endangered of the sea turtles, the Kemp’s ridleys, many begin life as
hatchlings in Rancho Nuevo, Mexico and some in nearby Texas beaches. They slip into the sea and catch
an adventurous ride on the Gulf gyre, living in camouflaged safety among sargassum mats within a
community of other tiny critters that offer plentiful food for little sea turtle hatchlings. Currents carry the mats
and hatchling riders into the Gulf Stream moving them slowly up the Atlantic coastline. Around two-to-three
years old, turtles get a bit too large to flourish in this floating habitat and begin to transition to a benthic
environment. Following the immortal words of Horace Greeley, they head west from the Gulf Stream and hit
the Atlantic Coast of the Eastern seaboard.
Depending on many complex factors, but
most especially water temperature, varying
Inside This Issue
percentages of these youthful adventurers hit the
Atlantic coastline north of Cape Cod Bay. As water
Saving Endangered Turtles
Page 1
temperature cues turtles to head south, they swim
MME Officers
Page 2
along the coastline toward their semi-tropical home.
MME
Calendar
Page 2
At Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod, a fateful
GW – OS – SS
Page 3
decision is made: whether to turn left and continue
Page 4
the journey southward along the coast, or whether to President's Message
turn right into the warmer, shallower, richer waters of NMEA Conference
Page 5
Cape Cod Bay. Those who choose the bay are now From the Editor’s Desk
Page 6
in a race for survival against an impending winter
WHOI conference
Page 10
that they cannot possibly win without massive
Classroom Activity
Page 15
human intervention.
Marine Science in the News
In the Great White North of Cape Cod, sea
Ocean Blog
Page 17
turtle stranding season arrives each year as frost
Old Arctic Ice Vanishing
Page 19
begins to form on pumpkins. Juvenile tropical and
semi-tropical sea turtles linger in Cape Cod Bay as HSMSS - North
Page 20
summer turns to fall. Water temperatures dip and
they’re cued once again to head south to warmer
(Sea Turtles - cont on page 11)
If you have difficulty in accessing this journal, contact
the editor at dimmick@esteacher.org
Next Issue of F&J will be posted on the
website June 14
Page 1
Massachusetts Marine Educators
c/o Erin Hobbs
Newburyport High School
241 High Street
Newburyport, MA 01950
www.ma-marine-ed.org
Officers:
President
President-Elect
Past-President
Treasurer
Assistant Treasurer
Secretary
Executive Director
Editor
Associate Editor
Erin Hobbs
Sandi Ryack-Bell
William Andrake
Gail Brookings
Linda McIntosh
Mary Kay Taylor
Bob Rocha
Howard Dimmick
dimmick@esteacher.org
Doug Corwine
Newburyport High School
MITS
Swampscott Middle School
Educational Consultant
Dexter-Southfield Schools
Maritime Gloucester
New Bedford Whaling Museum
Science Education Consultants
Technical Consultant
Board of Directors:
Lydia Breen
Elaine Brewer
Margaret Brumsted
Howard Dimmick
Joseph LaPointe
Jesse Mechling
Carole McCauley
Don Pinkerton
Dr. Joel Rubin
Nicole Scola
Carolyn Sheild
Kathryn Shroyer
Dr. Amy Siuda
Anne I. Smrcina
Dr. David Welty
Kathy Zagzebski
Retired
MA Division of Marine Fisheries
Dartmouth High School
Educational Consultant
Retired
Center for Coastal Studies
Northeastern University Marine Science Center
Revere High School
Stoughton Public Schools
MA Department of Education
Clarke Middle School, Lexington
MIT Sea Grant
SEA Education Association
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Fairhaven High School
National Marine Life Center
Directors Emeriti:
Alfred Benbenek
Elizabeth Edwards-Cabana
Katherine Callahan
Peg Collins
Jack Crowley
George Duane
Marge Inness
Frank Taylor
Barbara Waters
Retired
Retired
Educational Consultant
Educational Consultant
Educational Consultant
Educational Consultant
Educational Consultant
Educational Consultant
Retired
Calendar 2015
Wednesday, March 18, 2015 – High School Marine Science Symposium
Salem State University Contact: Carole McCauley, c.mccauley@neu.edu, for more information
Saturday, May 2, 2015 – 39th Annual WHOI Conference and Annual Meeting
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - Contact: Carolyn Sheild, csheild@rcn.com, for more information
Wednesday, May 14, 2015 – MME Board Meeting
MIT Seagrant, Cambridge, MA Contact: Kathryn Shroyer, kshroyer@mit.edu
MME Board Meetings are open to all members – Let the contact know if you will attend
Page 2
GLOBAL WARMING ↔ OCEAN STRANDINGS ↔ SEVERE STORMS
Howard Dimmick
What is the connection between these three terms? Scientific research is beginning to reveal strong
connections between them. The Northeastern United States in a four-week period has endured a series of winter
storms that have broken records, some of which are decades old. We talk about the Blizzard of ’78 and the
record snows of 1995 – 1996. Yet they pale in comparison to 2015.
Three questions lead to studying the relations of the terms above.
1. Why did we have so many severe storms in only a few weeks?
2. Are these storms related to global warming?
3. What causes the stranding of turtles, manatees and other ocean animals in the cold coastal waters?
Almost daily we hear or read about the pros and cons of global warming. One thought floating around
New England this winter is how can global warming cause the severe cold weather and huge snow storms.
Oceans absorb some of the heat from sunlight reaching the earth’s surface. Heat is initially absorbed at
the surface of the ocean but some eventually spreads to deep water. Ocean currents move the heat around the
world. Water has a greater heat absorbing capacity than air. The result is the oceans absorb larger amounts of
heat energy with only a slight increase in temperature.
“The total amount of heat stored by the oceans is called ‘ocean heat content’, and measurements of
water temperature reflect the amount of heat in the water at a particular time and location. Ocean temperature
plays an important role in the Earth’s climate system—particularly sea surface temperature (see Ocean Heat
Indicator Figure 1) – because heat from ocean surface waters provides energy for storms and thereby influences
weather patterns.
Higher greenhouse gas concentrations such as CO2 are trapping more energy from the sun. Because
changes in ocean systems occur over centuries, the oceans have not yet warmed as much as the atmosphere,
even though they have absorbed more than 90 percent of the Earth’s extra heat since 1955.1,2 If not for the large
heat-storage capacity provided by the oceans, the atmosphere would grow warmer more rapidly.3 Increased heat
absorption also changes ocean currents because many currents are driven by differences in temperature, which
cause differences in density. These currents influence climate patterns and sustain ecosystems that depend on
certain temperature ranges.
Because water expands slightly as it gets warmer, an increase in ocean heat content will also increase
the volume of water in the ocean, which is one cause of the observed increases in sea level.
This indicator shows trends in global ocean heat content from 1955 to 2013. These data are available for
the top 700 meters of the ocean (nearly 2,300 feet), which accounts for just fewer than 20 percent of the total
volume of water in the world’s oceans. The indicator measures ocean heat content in joules, which are units of
energy.
(GW-OS-SS - cont on page 7)
Page 3
President’s Message Spring 2015
This year at the 39th Annual Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Conference
on May 2nd I will be ending my term as president and handing the belaying pin over
to Sandra Ryack-Bell from the Museum Institute for Teaching Science. She is a
passionate educator known for helping teachers from all over Massachusetts and
beyond enrich their curriculum. I have no doubt that Sandra will bring a wealth of
non-profit experience to MME and continue our efforts to maintain a sustainable
future for this organization.
It was four years ago when Bill Andrake envisioned a new path for MME and
initiated a strategic plan. Over the past two years I have been working with Sandra
to continue those efforts by focusing our energy on MME’s financial future as an organization. We have
successfully passed two balanced budgets and established several financial protocols necessary for
financial stability. Although this work was not glamorous, it has provided MME with a stable foundation
necessary for MME to continue our mission.
During my term, the Marketing and Communications committee produced the most exciting work
within MME. They made tremendous progress improving our membership outreach by faithfully updating
Facebook, publishing the quarterly journal, Flotsam and Jetsam, sending out a monthly E-news letter, and
last but not least launching a new website (ma-marine-ed.org). The new website took several committee
members and hundreds of volunteer hours to complete. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge
Kathryn Shroyer for taking on a bulk of this work and thank the committee for their persistence. You never
gave up and your efforts show. MME now has an updated user-friendly website offering our membership
access to educational resources and all that MME has to offer. The website looks great!
I started teaching in 2001 and the members of MME have enriched my career far beyond my
expectations as a new teacher. Now a slightly more seasoned teacher, I am forever grateful for your
support, inspiration, friendships and most importantly your passion for marine science. Thank you for
inspiring me to be the best educator I can be.
Lets continue to inspire each other to do great things.
Erin Hobbs
President, MME
Photo at New England Aquarium Teacher Resource Center
Page 4
The 2015 annual conference of the National Marine Educators Association, the national organization
to which MME and 16 other chapters belong, is scheduled for June 29 – July 2 in Newport, RI, at the
Newport Marriott hotel. The Call for Presenters has closed, but registration will soon open and scholarships
are available for both members and non-members. Of course, we encourage you to become members of
NMEA. Information about the conference can be found via the NMEA website, http://www.marine-ed.org/.
Press on the Events tab and then press the link for the conference. Several members of MME will be in
attendance, including our Executive Director, Bob Rocha, who will take over as President of NMEA at this
conference. The NMEA annual conference always provides an excellent opportunity to expand one’s
network, attend informative workshops and enjoy fun activities at night. Let’s have a strong MME showing
at this summer’s national conference!
Work continues on NMEA’s ambitious and detailed strategic plan. Five Key Focus Areas have been
determined (Advance Ocean Literacy, Purposefully Cultivate International Relationships, Engage Youth
Leaders, Actively Involve Diverse and Underrepresented Communities, Drive Organizational Excellence and
Stability). Leaders (from within NMEA) for each of these KFAs have been engaged and have made their
recommendations and have begun to assemble implementation teams for each KFA.
Updates to the new website continue to be made as familiarity with the YourMembership platform is
improved. A new training session will be held by YM soon.
Adjustments to membership categories, and thus to the by-laws, have been made. MME PastPresident, Bill Andrake, is Vice-Chair of NMEA’s Membership Committee.
NMEA, much like MME, continues to make great use of a variety of social media platforms, most
notably Facebook and Twitter, to keep marine education and science messages visible. Board member,
Elaine Brewer, is Vice-Chair of NMEA’s Social Media committee.
NMEA’s mid-year Board meeting was held in Chicago, on Wednesday, March 11. The next day,
NMEA held its Share-a-thon at the NSTA conference. Any MME members that are in attendance at NSTA
are encouraged to come to the Share-a-thon. Feel free to contact Bob Rocha, executive-director@mamarine-ed.org, if you have any questions about the Share-a-thon.
A conference call for NMEA Chapter Representatives was held on Tuesday, February 10. A full
NMEA Board conference call was held on Thursday, February 19.
Page 5
From the Editors Desk
This issue of Flotsam and Jetsam is a victim of the Massachusetts winter.
With the numerous storms, closed schools and workplaces, and perpetual digging,
materials were late in arriving to the editor. As a result your editor prepared a new
article that was not planned. The article is a compendium of materials from many
sources and begins on page 3. As a result, we did not meet the planned posting
date for the journal.
As we await warmer days, fewer storms, and a SLOW melting cycle, MME still has two events
coming. One is the 3rd High School Marine Science Symposium this year at Salem State University on
March 18, and the other is the 39th Annual Woods Hole Conference on May 2. There will not be High
School Symposium south of Boston this year due to several difficulties which have occurred. Some material
is in this journal on each activity, but again weather has delayed more materials from this journal. Please
check the new website at http://ma-marine-ed.org/ for the latest information.
It is hard to talk about global warming after our February weather and the extreme cold
temperatures. While the east has literally frozen this month, the western half of the country has had early
spring weather. The National Weather Service reports the following tidbits for the United States for the
period of February 1 through February 17:
236
Record Low temperatures were set in the United States
4074 Record High temperatures were set in the United States
This 2-minute video narrated by senior presidential science and technology advisor John Holdren
explains how extreme winter weather relates to climate change.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2014/01/08/polar-vortex-explained-2-minutes
In the January 30 on line blog The Conversation, Kevin Trenberth, distinguished senior Scientist at
The National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Co makes the following points:
“At first glance, asking whether global warming results in more snow may seem like a silly question
because obviously, if it gets warm enough, there is no snow. Consequently, deniers of climate change have
used recent snow dumps to cast doubt on a warming climate from human influences. Yet they could not be
more wrong. The heaviest snowfalls occur when the temperatures are about 28°F to 32°F degrees Fahrenheit.
For most conditions at sea level, there’s a rule of thumb that says the atmosphere can hold 4% more moisture
per one degree Fahrenheit increase in temperature. Some complications come in as the ice phase enters, but
we set those aside for now. That translates into a big difference in moisture across temperature differences: At
50°F (10°C) the water-holding capacity of air is double that at 32°F (0°C) and at 14°F (-10°C) the value is only
24% that at 50°F. Extra-tropical storms in winter form and develop on differences in temperature, which are
greatest between continents and adjacent oceans.
In winter, the cold dry air over North America forms a sharp contrast with the relatively warm moist air
over the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic. A cold front leads the southern outbreak of cold air while a warm
front leads the warm moist air heading northwards as it rises upwards and produces precipitation within the
storm.
The environment in which all storms form is now different than it was just 30 or 40 years ago because
of global warming. Changes in atmospheric composition from human activities have increased carbon dioxide
and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases, with carbon dioxide level increasing by over 40% since about 1900
mainly from burning fossil fuels. The resulting energy imbalance warms our planet. And over 90% of the heat
has gone into the oceans. In addition to higher sea levels - by over 2.5 inches since 1993 - global sea surface
temperatures (SSTs) have risen by 1°F since about 1970. . On average the air above the oceans is warmer by
more than 1°F and moister by 5% since the 1970s from global warming”
Living in MA I am sure everyone asks where these readings occurred. Most highs were in the west
where many cities recorded record temperatures. Denver had 5 days with the high temperature for the day over
70. In the first 17 days of February the front range cities of Denver, and Fort Collins has a snowfall of less that 5
inches, March and April are snow months east of the Rockies.
With all this information about the west which you probably do not care about, let’s move on. Work is in
progress for the Woods Hole conference, and I look forward to seeing all of you there.
Howard Dimmick
Editor F&J
Page 6
(GW-OS-SS - cont from page 3)
The figure at the bottom of page 3 shows changes in ocean heat content between 1955 and 2013. Ocean heat content is measured
in joules, a unit of energy, and compared against the 1971–2000 average, which is set at zero for reference. Choosing a different
baseline period would not change the shape of the data over time. The lines were independently calculated using different methods
by three agencies: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), and Japan Meteorological Agency’s Meteorological Research Institute (MRI/JMA). For
reference, an increase of 5 units on this graph (5 x 1022 joules) is equal to approximately 100 times the total amount of energy used
by all the people on Earth in a year.5 Data sources: CSIRO, 2014;6 MRI/JMA, 2014;7 NOAA, 20148
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has calculated changes in ocean heat content
based on measurements of ocean temperatures around the world at different depths. These measurements
come from a variety of instruments deployed from ships and airplanes and, more recently, underwater robots.
Thus the data must be carefully adjusted to account for differences among measurement techniques and data
collection programs. Figure 1 shows three independent interpretations of essentially the same underlying data.”4
“Ocean water temperature, 3 to 5 degrees higher than normal is a player. Warm water means you can
add more fuel to the storm. It’s a small player, but it is a part of the extraordinary run of snowstorms. When Arctic
Air is over the Gulf Stream it helps add more inches of snowfall. Near shore water temperatures are averaging
40-42 degrees F°. The National Weather Service recorded the water temperature at Boston buoy at 37 degrees.
But the energy being fed into the storms is coming from the Gulf Stream. It’s just higher than it would normally be.
This is not the reason we have seen so many storms, but it’s a factor. Instead of 15 inches of snow, maybe it
means 17 inches of snow. The key is the jet stream has lined up and it’s giving us an extraordinary run as it is
locked in place. These storms are coming over the ridge from California and then there’s been a cross-polar flow
– even from as far away as Siberia – dumping over the East. There’s been no variation of the pattern. Cold –
Snowy – Repeat."9
Figure 2
The image above from The NOAA office of Satellite and Product Operations
http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/sst/contour/contour.small.gif shows the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Contour
Chart for Sunday February 15, 2015. Careful examination of the chart shows the cold temperatures in
Massachusetts Bay and Boston Harbor in dark blue while just to the south and east of New England, the Gulf
Stream is visible in green with a yellow streak.
"Over the past 30 to 50 years, the oceans have warmed up about 0.1 degrees Fahrenheit. Although this
seems like a very small temperature change, it is significant. A small pot heating on the stove will heat quickly
while a larger pot will heat more slowly because of the difference in heat capacity. The oceans have a
(GW-OS-SS - cont on page 8)
Page 7
(GW-OS-SS - cont from page 7)
tremendous heat capacity because of their size and are therefore like the larger pot. It takes a great amount of
heat to warm the ocean. Even the 0.1 degree in 30 to 50 years is truly significant. This change causes a
remarkable change in the strength of coastal storms in winter. As a very cold storm moves off the coast and over
the ocean the “warmer” ocean causes more water vapor to evaporate into the air mass thus increasing the
quantity of water in the air mass. This air mass with added water vapor in it then moves back over cold land and
excess water vapor condenses and falls out in the form of snow or rain."10
A Comparison of North Atlantic Temperatures the Same Day, 15 Years Apart
Look at the difference in water temperature Southeast of New England on February 15, 2000, (above) and
on February 15, 2015 (below). These represent Sea surface Temperatures for the date.
(GW-OS-SS - cont on page 9)
Page 8
(GW-OS-SS - cont from page 8)
The warmer Gulf Stream off the East Coast of the United States has become a highway north as marine
organisms such as manatees, fish, dolphins, and turtles move northward in the warm Gulf stream water in spring
and summer as they follow the supply of food in the warmer water. In the fall as seasons change we see many
organisms like birds migrate as it cools. However, the migrating organisms in the ocean are slow to move south
because the water retains its summer heat into the late fall and winter. How many people have gone out on a
crisp fall day when the temperature has dropped over night, to see huge banks of fog along the coast because of
the heat stored in the ocean?
Autumn temperature changes cause these organisms to begin the trip southward along the coast. If they
are north of Cape Cod Bay, as they return south, some of them may end up in the bay rather than on the outer
side of the Cape. They are then in danger of being trapped in the bay as winter bears down on the region. Now
they are in real danger, and need help from humans along the coast to prevent their being trapped and dying in
the colder North Atlantic waters.
Footnotes
1
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). 2013. Climate change 2013: The physical
science basis. Working Group I contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. Cambridge, United
Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1.
2
Levitus, S., J.I. Antonov, T.P. Boyer, O.K. Baranova, H.E. Garcia, R.A. Locarnini, A.V. Mishonov, J.R.
Reagan, D. Seidov, E.S. Yarosh, and M.M. Zweng. 2012. World ocean heat content and thermosteric
sea level change (0– 2000 m), 1955–2010. Geophys. Res. Lett. 39:L10603.
3
Levitus, S., J.I. Antonov, T.P. Boyer, O.K. Baranova, H.E. Garcia, R.A. Locarnini, A.V. Mishonov, J.R.
Reagan, D. Seidov, E.S. Yarosh, and M.M. Zweng. 2012. World ocean heat content and thermosteric
sea level change (0– 2000 m), 1955–2010. Geophys. Res. Lett. 39:L10603.
4
EPA Climate Change Indicatorain the United States: Ocean Heat,
www.epa.gov/climatechange.indicators/ Updated May 2014
5
Based on a total global energy supply of 13,113 million tons of oil equivalents in the year 2011, which
equates to 5.5 x 1020 joules. Source: IEA (International Energy Agency). 2013. Key world energy
statistics. http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/KeyWorld2013.pdf.
6
CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation). 2014. Data downloads:
Global mean thermosteric sea level (GThSL) and global ocean heat content (GOHC) timeseries for the
upper 700m. Accessed April 2014.
www.cmar.csiro.au/sealevel/thermal_expansion_ocean_heat_timeseries.html.
7
MRI/JMA (Meteorological Research Institute/Japan Meteorological Agency). 2014 update to data
originally published in: Ishii, M., and M. Kimoto. 2009. Reevaluation of historical ocean heat content
variations with time- varying XBT and MBT depth bias corrections. J. Oceanogr. 65:287–299.
8
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). 2014. Global ocean heat and salt content.
Accessed April 2014. www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/3M_HEAT_CONTENT.
9
Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel, The Boston Herald e-Edition, 15 February 2015
10 Windows to the Universe
Page 9
Page 10
(Sea Turtles - cont from page 1)
climes. Unfortunately, these turtles have waited too
long and have become trapped in the bay as Atlantic
Ocean temperature has dropped more quickly and has
reached levels where turtles cannot function or
survive. They face a wall of cold ocean water that
locks them into Cape Cod Bay with no escape.
Eventually bay water, too, reaches critical
temperatures and these turtles become cold-stunned
and eventually strand on bayside beaches, usually
beginning in early November. The magic temperature
is 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Once that threshold is
breached, sea turtles enter into stupor, gurgle to the
bottom and are tossed around the bay like flotsam and
jetsam by winds and currents. Sustained winds drive
them ashore at high tide on beaches located in the
opposite direction of the wind flow. Because these
cold-stunned turtles are in complete stupor, the rules
Cold Stunned Kemp’s Ridley. <11:16> Picture by Don Lewis
of physics rather than biology guide the progression of
the stranding season. Smaller, less massive turtles are more quickly chilled and are blown ashore earlier
than larger, more massive ones. So, the lightest turtles (Kemp’s ridleys) strand first, proceeding through the
season to heaviest turtles (loggerheads) in December.
Significant strandings normally coincide with the first sustained storm event of late October or early
November, crescendo until mid to late November, and then gradually decrease until the end of December.
Each year brings surprises, but the trend normally resembles a bell shaped curve with the peak rising in the
late November period.
The percentage of survivorship is highest at the beginning of the stranding season and drops
significantly once icy slush forms along the shoreline.
Our most frequently cold-stunned sea turtle also
happens to be the world’s rarest sea turtle, the critically
endangered Kemp’s ridley. We rescue mostly two-tothree year old juveniles that represent more than 90%
of our sea turtle strandings each year. The next most
frequent strander has been the loggerhead, also
juveniles in the two-to-five year old bracket. These
animals are much more massive and tend to come
ashore later in the stranding season. Over the decade
of the 00’s, numbers of cold-stunned loggerheads
dropped precipitously, which concerned us as an
indicator reflecting a drop in the overall population
numbers of this very America sea turtle. Recently, we
have begun to see a rise in loggerhead strandings
once again.
In early years, green sea turtles were rare
stranders. Yet, within the last decade, greens have
rivaled loggerheads for the second most frequent
Don Lewis Rescues Tiny Cold-stunned Kemp’s Ridley. <11:07>
stranded turtle. They are absolutely gorgeous animals.
Picture by Don Lewis
We have seen a few hybrids in the last decade,
mixtures of loggerheads, greens and hawksbills. There were only a couple of isolated hawksbill turtles that
we have seen over the last few decades.
In the early years, 1970s and 1980s, only a few sea turtles each fall would strand with totals in the
single or low double digits. Those totals rose significantly through the 1990s leading to a record stranding
(Sea Turtles - cont on page 12)
Page 11
(Sea Turtles - cont from page 11)
season in 1999 with nearly 300 sea turtles, mostly
Kemp’s ridleys. Plotting the smoothed trend lines
released hatchlings from Rancho Nuevo and ridley
strandings offset by two years demonstrates an
interesting correlation, which suggests that a key
vector in increased strandings is an increased number
of protected nests and hatchlings being released. In
essence, these stranding records portend good news
for the species. Numbers bounce up and down
annually, with the trend pointing ever higher until the
dam broke in 2014 with over 1200 cold-stunned sea
turtles stranding in Cape Cod Bay.
For Cape Cod folks, however, sea turtle
strandings are an important challenge to save as
many of these endangered turtles as possible. After
Pictures by Don Lewis
all, they have avoided the risks and the lethal dangers
of hatchlings and juveniles that claim as many as 999 out of a 1000. If they can survive the cold-stunned
stranding in Cape Cod Bay, their lifetime survival to propagation of the next generation is nearly 100%
assured. Saving these turtles has a most meaningful and enormous impact on the recovery of sea turtle
populations.
The first phase of this process is RESCUE. Turtles with systems shut down and in deep stupor are
pushed ashore by winds and current at each fall and winter high tide. Hundreds of volunteers, dressed for
warmth in layer upon layer, walk mile after mile of storm-tossed beach at every high tide from late October
to late December to rescue sea turtles deposited on the high tide wrack line before they succumb to
hypothermia. This massive and critical effort is organized by Bob Prescott, director of Mass Audubon’s
Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. Bob discovered the phenomenon of cold-stunned sea turtle strandings and
was the first to recognize its significance in the 1970s.
On the coastline of Cape Cod Bay, two high tides a day must be covered, come rain, snow, sleet or
nor’easter. And at this latitude, at least one and often both high tides occur in the dark of night.
A storm-tossed beach can be a dangerous place for rescuers in the pitch black darkness. Flood tides
accompanied by on-shore winds drive mountainous breakers onto the remaining sliver of beach. Sea walls
and slippery rock jetties obstruct passage. The glare of flashlight on seaweed strewn wrack plays mind
games, morphing piles of sea grass into patterns that may or may not represent a stranded animal. Gusts of
wind breathe life into debris that rises like a distressed seal, and then deflates to become an abandoned
buoy once again. It’s a mind trick your brain plays to keep adrenaline levels high to ensure peak attention
and focus. Otherwise your thoughts would drift and your senses would be overwhelmed by pounding surf,
howling winds, and miles and miles and miles of mind-numbing darkness. These mental gymnastics keep
senses sharp and ready for immediate action when that clump of seaweed, shaped like a turtle, really is a
stranded sea turtle in desperate need of rescue.
“A night not fit for man nor beast,” as W.C. Fields might say, with winds howling from the westnorthwest at a steady 25-to-30 knots, punctuated by an occasional 50 mph gust. Unfortunately, these are
the very conditions in which tropical sea turtles strand each fall on bayside beaches. So, on this November
night not fit for human or reptile, turtles would be tossed ashore like flotsam and jetsam, condemned to
certain hypothermic death unless rescued from the beach by a dedicated team of staff and volunteers. What
during daylight seems a ”walk on the beach” transforms at night into a dangerous obstacle course
exacerbated by blinding darkness, pounding surf, scouring sandblasts and deafening winds.
On this night, because of a west-northwest wind, we patrolled bayside beaches from Eastham
through Orleans and Brewster to Dennis; that is, beaches in the reciprocal direction of the prevailing wind.
Our team, consisting of past MME president Sue Wieber Nourse, myself and our son, Jared Nourse, drew
the westernmost stretch from Chapin Beach to Sea Street in Dennis. As rescue nights go, this one rated a
10 with a waxing gibbous moon on high and the Constellation Orion rising in the eastern sky. Heck, it wasn’t
snowing; not even raining!
(Sea Turtles - cont on page 13)
Page 12
(Sea Turtles - cont from page 12)
About a quarter mile east of the Chapin Beach ramp, Sue
Wieber Nourse found a juvenile Kemp’s ridley sea turtle rolling in
the waves. She charged into the freezing water to recover the
animal. Measuring a mere 10-inch carapace (top shell) length, the
turtle was tossed upside down. “It looked just like salty brine foam
in the moonlight,” observed Ms. Nourse. She plucked the turtle
from receding waves before it could be pulled back out to sea and
examined it carefully. She pronounced it “quite lively” – a perfect
candidate for rehabilitation and release back into the wild. Since
Sue had to walk the animal back into the teeth of the blow, she
placed the little turtle under her top coat to protect it from the
blasting wind. Back at the rescue vehicle, the protected ridley was
doing just fine (thank you) while Sue’s exposed eyes were tearing
in relentless wind punctuated by sand pellets.
This year’s record smashing 2014 season proved like no other.
Sue Wieber Nourse & Jared Nourse Rescue
While normally volunteer beach patrollers might walk miles of
Juvenile Kemp’s Ridley. <11:14>
beach year after year, and rarely find a sea turtle, this year
Pictures by Don Lewis
stranded turtles became more frequent than Cape Cod clam shells.
On the morning of November 21st, Sue Wieber Nourse and I patrolled three miles of Cape Cod
Beach from Fisher Landing in Truro to Duck Harbor in Wellfleet. We know this section of beach very well,
have patrolled it for 15 years and generally expect to find one or perhaps two cold-stunned turtles during the
most intense stranding period.
A ferocious west-northwest wind churned powerful breakers and tossed cold-stunned Kemp’s ridley
and green sea turtles onto the wrack line. Sue rescued nine Kemp’s ridley sea turtles on the southern
stretch of this patrol; at one time, recovering five lively Kemp’s within a short stretch of beach near Bound
Brook Island. From the north section of the patrol, I recovered seven
Kemp’s ridley sea turtles and two greens. We had never rescued 18 coldstunned sea turtles in such a short stretch of beach on a single tide …
ever.
Other teams all along the Cape Cod Bay coastline had similar
results. When all turtles had been returned to Wellfleet Bay Wildlife
Sanctuary for triage, the 500th cold-stunned sea turtle of the season had
been rescued from a windy, freezing Cape Cod Bay. Yet, the intensity of
this unusual season did not relent, and more than 1200 sea turtles were
recovered from bayside beaches in November and December, more than
four times greater than the previous record season.
Although absolutely essential, beach rescue is only the first phase
of the recovery process. Once taken from the beach, each turtle is
examined, measured and weighed for scientific purposes at Wellfleet Bay.
It is assessed and triaged. The next phase starts with a long volunteer
“ambulance” drive to the New England Aquarium facility in Quincy for
intensive medical care by veterinary experts. After the animal is medically
stabilized the long recovery process called rehabilitation begins. Facilities
and aquaria throughout the United States volunteer tank space and care
specialists to handle hundreds of turtles during this phase which can last Sue Wieber Nourse Rescues Five Coldmany months to a year before they’re release back into the wild. In the
Stunned Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles.
<11:15>
end, the goal is to release all stranded turtles back into the wild to restore
Pictures by Don Lewis
these endangered populations. In the last 35 years, several thousand
critically endangered sea turtles, who would have succumbed to hypothermia in Cape Cod Bay, have
returned to the wild thanks to this enormous, almost exclusively volunteer effort.
(Sea Turtles - cont on page 14)
Page 13
(Sea Turtles - cont from page 13)
“How Can I Help Save Stranded Sea Turtles?”
If you encounter a sea turtle on the beach, first DO NOT put it back into the water. Doing so will condemn
the animal to almost certain death. DO NOT remove the animal from the beach. A special license is required
to transport federally protected species. Instead, DO move the turtle above the high water line. DO cover the
animal with dry seaweed to prevent the wind from causing additional hypothermia. DO mark the covered
turtle with a gaudy piece of flotsam or jetsam, perhaps a buoy or anything unusual … so that rescuers can
easily find the critter hidden under a pile of seaweed. DO call Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife
Sanctuary at (508) 349-2615 to report the turtle. If there is difficulty getting through to this number, you can
always reach our turtle rescue hotline (508-274-5108). When giving directions from the landing or beach to
the turtle, DO use left and right (when facing the water) rather than cardinal directions. DO give the walking
time it takes to reach the turtle from the landing (“Turn right and walk five minutes”) rather than describing
distance in feet, yards or fractions of miles.
About the Author
For many years, Don Lewis has spent
countless hours on the beaches of Cape Cod
“saving turtles one at a time”. He is a co-founder of
the Turtle Journal and a member of the MA Marine
Educators Association. Working with Sue Wieber
Nourse and their fearless partner Rufus their golden
retriever they prowl the beaches of Cape Cod
rescuing stranded turtles. Sue Wieber Nourse is a
past president of the MA Marine Educators
Association
Rufus checks up on a turtle. Picture by Don Lewis
Page 14
Classroom Activity
(Activity - cont on page 18)
Page 15
(Activity - cont from page 17)
Page 16
Marine Science in the News
Worth the Investment: Ocean Real Estate Reveals Hidden Diversity
by Emily Frost
Emily Frost is an Ocean Portal editor, writer and producer. One of her favorite diving experiences ever was seeing green sea turtles
munching away on sea grass in the water off of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Nancy Knowlton, Smithsonian's Sant Chair for Marine Science, puts out an Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structure (ARMS) during a
dive in the Red Sea. CREDIT: Michael Berumen
Good real estate is hard to find. This is as true underwater as it is on land. So when Smithsonian
scientist Dr. Matthieu Leray built 18 potential homes for undersea creatures living on oyster reefs, they
moved in fast. After just six months in the water, Dr. Leray counted more than 2,000 different types of
organisms—most of them very small—living in his small underwater “condos,” which were placed in a
variety of locations including the Chesapeake Bay and the Indian River Lagoon in southeast Florida.
CREDIT: Matthieu Leray
These condos were designed with tiny critters in mind. Each underwater dwelling consists of a stack
of ten square plastic plates, spaced a half-inch apart, allowing marine organisms to attach to the plates and
nestle between them. This roughly mimics the nooks and crannies of oyster reefs, without the sharp edges
and irregular shapes that make actual oysters hard to study. Scientists call the condos ARMS, which stands
for Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures.
(Ocean Blog - cont on page 18)
Page 17
(Ocean Blog - cont from page 17)
Once the creatures move in, the task of identifying thousands of species can be a daunting one. Dr.
Leray got around this problem by using “DNA barcoding,” which allows scientists to identify species from
their DNA. He used powerful new DNA sequencing techniques that allow scientists to get many thousands
of sequences from a single sample. He was able to analyze nearly a million DNA sequences for the study by
taking the organisms and turning them into a “genetic smoothie” of sorts. (Find out more about a similar
project on the island of Moorea)
CREDIT: Matthieu Leray
The most common kinds of organisms found were crustaceans—shrimps, crabs, and their relatives.
There were also lots of worms, sponges, and a host of other kinds of ocean creatures. The vast majority of
these organisms were smaller than 2 mm (about 1/16th of an inch) in size, and barely visible to the naked
eye. Less than 15 percent of the sequences could be matched to any named organism in the world’s large
genetic databases, despite the fact that they came from well-studied parts of the coastal ocean. This shows
that a lot of work remains to be done growing these databases so that the results of large DNA sequencing
studies can be connected to the biology of known organisms Link
This begs the question—just how much more diversity can be documented using these condos? It is
hard to predict how the numbers will increase with future surveys, but ten years from now it seems safe to
assume that two thousand species will be a drop in the bucket. Hundreds of ARMS have been deployed
across the world’s oceans—from shallow water to 700 feet on the deep reefs of Curaçao, and from Brazil to
the Indian Ocean. They are a key component of Smithsonian’s recently established Tennenbaum Marine
Observatory Network, and complement the Smithsonian’s commitment to barcoding and the growing field of
biogenomics.
These new methods provide a way to quickly and efficiently take a snapshot of biodiversity in any
marine habitat, allowing scientists to gain a better understanding of a variety of communities and the
animals who call them home. This approach can also play a critical role in conservation, helping us to keep
track of how ocean organisms are responding to the ocean as it changes at an ever more rapid rate and
letting us know when our efforts to improve ocean health are working.
Used with permission from The Ocean Portal of the Smithsonian Institute
The Ocean Blog
Page 18
Marine Science in the News
Old Ice in Arctic Vanishingly Rare
Since the 1980s, the amount of perennial ice in the Arctic has declined. This animation tracks the
relative amount of ice of different ages from 1987 through early November 2014. The oldest ice is white; the
youngest (seasonal) ice is dark blue. Key patterns are the export of ice from the Arctic through Fram Strait
and the melting of old ice as it passes through the warm waters of the Beaufort Sea.
Video of Ice age, 1987-2014
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=776985419062832&fref=nf
720p mp4 (42 MB) | 1080p mp4 (67 MB)
Each winter, sea ice expands to fill nearly the entire Arctic Ocean basin, reaching its maximum extent
in March. Each summer, the ice pack shrinks, reaching its smallest extent in September. The ice that
survives at least one summer melt season tends to be thicker and more likely to survive future summers.
Since the 1980s, the amount of this perennial ice (sometimes called multiyear) has declined.
This animation tracks the relative amount of ice of different ages from 1987 through early November
2014. The first age class on the scale (1, darkest blue) means "first-year ice,” which formed in the most
recent winter. (In other words, it’s in its first year of growth.) The oldest ice (>9, white) is ice that is more than
nine years old. Dark gray areas indicate open water or coastal regions where the spatial resolution of the
data is coarser than the land map.
As the animation shows, Arctic sea ice doesn't hold still; it moves continually. East of Greenland, the
Fram Strait is an exit ramp for ice out of the Arctic Ocean. Ice loss through the Fram Strait used to be offset
by ice growth in the Beaufort Gyre, northeast of Alaska. There, perennial ice could persist for years, drifting
around and around the basin’s large, looping current.
Around the start of the 21st century, however, the Beaufort Gyre became less friendly to perennial
ice. Warmer waters made it less likely that ice would survive its passage through the southernmost part of
the gyre. Starting around 2008, the very oldest ice shrank to a narrow band along the Canadian Arctic
Archipelago.
Recent Conditions
In September 2012, Arctic sea ice melt broke all previous records. Melt was less severe in 2013 and
2014. According to the 2014 Arctic Report Card, the less extreme melting provided an opportunity for a bit
more first-year ice to become perennial ice. Between March 2013 and March 2014…
• first-year ice decreased from 78 percent to 69 percent, suggesting that a substantial portion of Arctic sea
ice survived the 2013 summer melt;
• second-year ice increased from 8 to 14 percent;
• fourth-year and older ice rose from 7.2 to 10.1 percent.
(Old Ice - cont on page 20)
Page 19
(Old Ice - cont from page 19)
Overall, the amount of perennial sea ice in March 2014 rose enough to approximate the 1981-2010
median. (Median means “middle,” as in half of the years in the record had a larger extent of perennial ice,
and half had a smaller extent.)
While perennial ice increased between 2013 and 2014, the long-term trend continues to be
downward, the Report Card authors stated. In 1980s, the oldest ice (fourth-year ice and older) comprised 26
percent of the ice pack; as of March 2014, it was 10%. And as the animation above shows, very old ice (say,
7-8 years or older) has become even more rare.
Animation by NOAA Climate.gov team, based on research data provided by Mark Tschudi, CCAR,
University of Colorado. Sea ice age is estimated by tracking of ice parcels using satellite imagery and
drifting ocean buoys.
References
Charctic Interactive Sea Ice Graph. National Snow and Ice Data Center. Accessed November 25, 2014.
Perovich, D., Gerland, S., Hendricks, S., Meier, W., Nicolaus, M., Tschudi, M. (2014) Sea Ice. In Jeffries,
M.O., Richter-Menge, J., Overland, J.E. (Eds.), Arctic Report Card: Update for 2014.
SAVE THE DATE
CALLING ALL MME MEMBERS – it’s not too early to plan for
the North Shore HSMSS programs
The 3rd Annual
High School Marine Science Symposium
NEW LOCATION
Wednesday March 18, 2015
8:00 am – 1:00 pm
Salem State University
Complete details on MME Website, ma-marine-ed.org
Cost: $10 per student includes registration materials, morning refreshments and a boxed lunch.
Space is limited, and registration will take place on a first-come, first-served basis. Payment can be
made by check or credit card, however if paying by check, a purchase order number must be
provided at the time of registration. Please register here:
https://massmarineeducators.wufoo.com/forms/z109i54c1docp1z/
Massachusetts Marine Educators
K-12 Marine Art Contest
Deadline May 1, 2015
To get complete information go to
http://stellwagen.noaa.gov/news/pdfs/mme_artcontest_rules_2015.pdf
To get an MME membership application, please go to
http://ma-marine-ed.org/about/membership/
Page 20