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Manufacturing Scheduling
this is the word used to describe the way that products are made in the world outside school. It usually implies making in quantity. For example confectionery such as Kitkats are manufactured at a rate of many thousands per hour.
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Decreasing Asian Snow Cover Causing Large Plant Blooms In The Arabian Sea by
An abrupt decline in winter-time snow over the Himalayan mountain range and Southwest Asia is creating conditions for more widespread blooms of phytoplankton in the Arabian Sea according to a recent study led by Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences scientists' appearing in the forthcoming issue of the journal Science. Science is published by the AAAS, the science society, the world's largest general scientific organization. See http://www.sciencemag.org, and also http://www.aaas.org."According to Joaquim Goes, the lead author of the article entitled "Warming of the Eurasian Landmass is making the Arabian Sea more productive", some of these changes that we are witnessing are rapid and profound and could have far reaching consequences not only for the ecosystem of the Arabian Sea but for the general health of our planet as well.Phytoplankton are tiny ocean plants that form the base of the ocean food chain. Over the past 7 years, the western half of the Arabian Sea has witnessed record increases in phytoplankton resulting from a year-by-year intensification of monsoon winds. Using data from several of NASA's satellites, Goes and his colleagues have been able to show that these changes are being triggering by the rapid decline and meltdown of winter-time snow over southwest Asia and the Himalayas. When winter snow cover is low, the amount of solar energy reflected back into the atmosphere is less. A decline in the amount of snow cover means that less of the sun's energy goes towards melting of snow and the evaporation of wet soil. As a result the land mass heats up more in summer creating a larger temperature and pressure difference between the land and the sea that is especially favorable to stronger southwest monsoon winds. While the southwest monsoon winds blowing over the Arabian Sea bring much needed rainfall to a large part of the Asian continent, they also cause upwelling of cooler nutrient-rich water off the coasts of Somalia, Oman and Yemen and hence ideal conditions for phytoplankton to bloom during summer.While large blooms of phytoplankton can enhance fisheries, unusually high ocean plant increases could be detrimental to the ecosystem as they can cause oxygen depletion at depth. If the present warming trend continues, the Arabian Sea could slowly become devoid of oxygen according to Goes. In recent years, fishermen off the coast of Oman have encountered several instances of massive fish mortality in this region, according to scientists at the Dept. of Marine Sciences and Fisheries at the Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. These incidences of fish kills are generally preceded by unusually high fish landings associated with phytoplankton blooms. Oxygen depleted waters provide the perfect environment for the growth of a specialized group of bacteria called the denitrifying bacteria, which convert nitrate present in seawater into less oxidized forms of nitrogen. One such form is nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas whose global warming potential is over 300 times that of carbon dioxide. Increased phytoplankton in the oxygen limited deeper waters of the Arabian Sea could therefore exacerbate the greenhouse problem.The events Goes has studied have global implications. Monsoon seasons affect over one-third of the world's population living in Africa and Asia. As more land is being cleared for agriculture, and more artificial nutrients are finding their way to the oceans, plankton blooms are increasing along the coasts. "The events are like dominoes....each triggering a change that has a significant impact on the lives and livelihood of people in the coastal regions," said Dr. Sandy Sage, Executive Director of Bigelow Laboratory.Dr. Goes and his colleagues at Bigelow are continuing interpretations of satellite observations to understand the relationships between the atmosphere and the biological resources of the Arabian Sea as they relate to climate change. This research, sponsored by NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, suggests that space-based measurements provide an attractive and economical alternative for learning about and predicting the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems that are inaccessible or poorly sampled by traditional means using research ships.For more information on this research, see online resources at Bigelow's website: www.bigelow.org/climatechange and at NASA's website: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/eurasian_melt.htmlBased in West Boothbay Harbor, Maine, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences is a world-renowned not-for-profit organization dedicated to marine research and education. The Laboratory's principal focus is the biological productivity of the world's oceans. Bigelow is supported by federal research grants and private funds, with the National Science Foundation as the key agency. Online information and educational activities are at www.bigelow.org.Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean SciencesContact: Joaquim Goes (207) 633-9628e-mail protected from spam bots.
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