Disasters, Natural and Unnatural: Reflections on March 11, 2011, and Its Aftermath

2013 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 763-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore C. Bestor
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
High Anxiety ◽  
Radioactive Materials ◽  
Nuclear Complex ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Northern Japan

On March 11, 2011, at 2:46 p.m. local time, an earthquake with an epicenter 130 kilometers east of Sendai off the Pacific coast of northern Japan shook the Tohoku region more violently than any tremor in a thousand years. The quake was approximately 9.0 in magnitude, and it in turn triggered a set of tsunami hurtling across the Pacific Ocean, striking first the coast of Tohoku with waves of unprecedented height and strength, along a coastline stretching roughly 400 kilometers. In Fukushima, 180 kilometers west-southwest of the epicenter, 15-meter waves roared over seawalls supposedly protecting a nuclear reactor built just a few meters from the ocean's edge, starting a chain of events that resulted in an explosion the following day that began the release of radioactive materials (which continues still), sparking high anxiety if not palpable panic in Tokyo, the center of which is 240 kilometers to the south-southwest of the Fukushima nuclear complex.

Redescription of Mugil setosus Gilbert 1892 with comments on the occurrence of Mugil curema Valenciennes 1836 in the Pacific Ocean (Teleostei: Perciformes: Mugilidae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4671 (3) ◽  
pp. 396-406
Author(s):  
RICARDO BRITZKE ◽  
NAÉRCIO A. MENEZES ◽  
MAURO NIRCHIO
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
The Third ◽  
Dorsal Fin ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Fin Rays ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
The Western Pacific ◽  
Pectoral Fin Rays ◽  
Pelvic Fin

Mugil setosus Gilbert 1892 was originally described by Gilbert based on specimens from Clarion Island, in the western and most remote of the Revillagigedo Islands, about 1,000 km off the western Pacific coast of Mexico. Examination of the type of material and recently collected specimens from Ecuador and Peru, resulted in the redescription provided herein. Diagnostic characters of the species were mainly: tip of the pelvic fin reaching beyond the vertical through the base of the third dorsal-fin spine, the pectoral-fin rays with ii+13–14 rays, the anterodorsal tip of second (soft) dorsal fin uniformly dark, and an external row of larger teeth, and more internally a patch of scattered smaller teeth, visible mainly in adults 150 mm SL. The expansion of geographic distribution of Mugil setosus and occurrence of Mugil curema Valenciennes 1836 in the Pacific Ocean are discussed. 

A new species of Metaruncina (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia: Runcinida) from Vietnam with a discussion on the so-called rudimentary radula in runcinids

Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4974 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-200
Author(s):  
ALEXEI V. CHERNYSHEV
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Coastal Waters ◽  
Marine Biology ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Common Species ◽  
Scientific Center ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
A New Species

Marine heterobranch slugs of the order Runcinida comprise 61 species, most of which inhabit the Atlantic Ocean and are referred to the genus Runcina. The Runcinida of the Pacific Ocean have been much less studied to date: only 12 species, from the genera Metaruncina Baba, 1967, Rfemsia Chernyshev, 1999, Runcinida Burn, 1963, Runcinella Odhner, 1924, Pseudoilbia M. C. Miller & Rudman, 1968, and Runcina Forbes [in Forbes and Hanley], 1851, have been described from the region. Metaruncina, Rfemsia, and Runcinida are found in the Pacific Ocean only (Baba 1954, 1967; Burn 1963; Gosliner 1991; Chernyshev 1998, 1999, 2005, 2006). The genus Metaruncina, endemic from the Pacific coast of Asia, includes two species: M. setoensis (Baba, 1954) and M. nhatrangensis Chernyshev, 2005. The latter is the only runcinid described from the coastal waters of the South China Sea, where it was found in the bays of Nha Trang and Van Phong (Chernyshev 2005). During subsequent expeditions to the coastal waters of Vietnam, this species was also recorded from off Tho Chu Island (09°19’N, 103°30’E) and off Nam Du Island (09°43′ N, 104°23′ E). However, in addition to this common species, an undescribed species of Metaruncina was collected. A description of this new species is provided in the present paper. Type material was deposited at the Museum of the A.V. Zhirmunsky National Scientific Center of Marine Biology FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia (MIMB). 

scholarly journals Heavy Snowfall in Kanto and on the Pacific Ocean Side of Northern Japan Associated with Western Pacific Blocking

SOLA ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (0) ◽  
pp. 59-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akira Yamazaki ◽  
Meiji Honda ◽  
Akira Kuwano-Yoshida
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
Heavy Snowfall ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
Northern Japan

scholarly journals Dynamics of the Saury Population in the Pacific Ocean off Northern Japan-I

1976 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshiharu MATSUMIYA ◽  
Syoiti TANAKA
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
Northern Japan

scholarly journals First record of Stylostomum ellipse (Dalyell, 1853) (Platyhelminthes, Polycladida) from the Pacific Ocean

Check List ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 773-779
Author(s):  
Aoi Tsuyuki ◽  
Yuki Oya ◽  
Hiroshi Kajihara
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
First Record ◽  
Antarctic Region ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
28S Rdna Sequence ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
First Time ◽  
Northern Japan

The polyclad flatworm Stylostomum ellipse (Dalyell, 1853) has hitherto been recorded from the Antarctic region, Mediterranean Sea, Patagonian region, Scandinavia, South Africa, and South Georgia Island. In this study, we report S. ellipse for the first time from the Pacific Ocean based on specimens collected in Hokkaido, northern Japan. Our specimens are morphologically identifiable as S. ellipse, but may represent a biologically different species from a population of the Mediterranean Sea. This is because, based on the previous genetic data of other cotylean species, the observed uncorrected p-distance 0.02160 between the two distinct populations in terms of a partial 972 bp region of the 28S rDNA sequence may be great enough to separate the species biologically.

scholarly journals US Pacific Coastal Droughts are Predominantly Driven by Internal Atmospheric Variability

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Seung H. Baek ◽  
Jason E. Smerdon ◽  
Benjamin I. Cook ◽  
A. Park Williams
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Atmospheric Variability ◽  
Model Framework ◽  
Secondary Role ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Pacific Ocean

Abstract:Droughts that span the states of Washington, Oregon, and California are rare but devastating due to their large spatial coverage and potential loss of redundancies in water, agricultural, and fire-fighting resources. Such pan-coastal droughts (which we define using boreal summer volumetric soil moisture along the US Pacific coast (32 – 50°N; 115 – 127°W)) require a more precise understanding of the roles played by the Pacific Ocean and internal atmospheric variability. We employ 16-member ensembles of the Community Atmosphere Model 5 and Community Climate Model 3 forced with observed sea surface temperatures (SSTs) from 1856 – 2012 to explicitly separate and quantify the influences of the tropical Pacific and internal atmospheric variability on pan-coastal droughts; all other boundary conditions are kept at climatological levels to explicitly isolate for the impacts of SST changes. Internal atmospheric variability is the dominant driver of pan-coastal droughts, accounting for 84% of their severity and can reliably generate pan-coastal droughts even when ocean conditions do not favor drought. Cold phases of the Pacific Ocean play a secondary role and contribute, on average, only 16% to pan-coastal drought severity. Spatiotemporal analyses of precipitation and soil moisture along the US Pacific coast corroborate these findings and identify an anti-phased, wet/dry dipole pattern induced by the Pacific to play a more secondary role. Our model framework expands on previous observational analyses that point to the spatially uniform forcing of internal atmospheric variability as the more dominant mode of hydroclimate variability along the US Pacific coast. The secondary nature of oceanic forcing suggests limited predictability of pan-continental droughts.

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