Earth News: Unprecedented blooms of ocean plant life

Scientists have made a biological discovery in Arctic Ocean waters as unexpected as finding a rainforest in the middle of a desert.

A NASA-sponsored expedition named ICESCAPE punched through three-feet of sea ice to find waters richer in microscopic marine plants, essential to all sea life, than any other ocean region on Earth.

"If someone had asked me before the expedition whether we would see under-ice blooms, I would have told them it was impossible," said Kevin Arrigo of Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., leader of the ICESCAPE mission and lead author of the new study. "This discovery was a complete surprise."

The microscopic plants, called phytoplankton, are the base of the marine food chain. Phytoplankton were thought to grow in the Arctic Ocean only after sea ice had retreated for the summer.

Scientists now think that the thinning Arctic ice is allowing sunlight to reach the waters under the sea ice, catalyzing the plant blooms where they had never been observed.

The finding reveals a new consequence of the Arctic's warming climate and provides an important clue to understanding the impacts of a changing climate and environment on the Arctic Ocean and its ecology.

The discovery was made during ICESCAPE expeditions in the summers of 2010 and 2011. Scientists onboard a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker explored Arctic waters in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas along Alaska's western and northern coasts.

During the July 2011 Chukchi Sea leg of ICESCAPE, the researchers observed blooms beneath the ice that extended from the sea-ice edge to 72 miles into the ice pack.

Ocean current data revealed that these blooms developed under the ice and had not drifted there from open water, where phytoplankton concentrations can be high.

The phytoplankton were extremely active, doubling in number more than once a day. Blooms in open waters grow at a much slower rate, doubling in two to three days. These growth rates are among the highest ever measured for polar waters.

Researchers estimate that phytoplankton production under the ice in parts of the Arctic could be up to 10 times higher than in the nearby open ocean.

"Part of NASA's mission is pioneering scientific discovery, and this is like finding the Amazon rainforest in the middle of the Mojave Desert," said Paula Bontempi, NASA's ocean biology and biogeochemistry program manager in Washington. "We embarked on ICESCAPE to validate our satellite ocean-observing data in an area of the Earth that is very difficult to get to. We wound up making a discovery that hopefully will help researchers and resource managers better understand the Arctic."

The discovery has implications for the broader Arctic ecosystem, including migratory species such as whales and birds.

Phytoplankton are eaten by small ocean animals, which are eaten by larger fish and ocean animals. A change in the timeline of the blooms can cause disruptions for larger animals that feed either on phytoplankton or on the creatures that eat these microorganisms.

"It could make it harder and harder for migratory species to time their life cycles to be in the Arctic when the bloom is at its peak," Arrigo noted. "If their food supply is coming earlier, they might be missing the boat."

Previously, researchers thought the Arctic Ocean sea ice blocked most sunlight needed for phytoplankton growth.

But in recent decades younger and thinner ice has replaced much of the Arctic's older and thicker ice. This young ice is almost flat and the ponds that form when snow cover melts in the summer spread much wider than those on rugged older ice.

These extensive but shallow melt ponds act as windows to the ocean, letting large amounts of sunlight pass through the ice to reach the water below, said Donald Perovich, a geophysicist with the U.S. Army Cold Regions and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, N.H., who studied the optical properties of the ice during the ICESCAPE expedition.

"When we looked under the ice, it was like a photographic negative. Beneath the bare-ice areas that reflect a lot of sunlight, it was dark. Under the melt ponds, it was very bright," Perovich said. He is currently visiting professor at Dartmouth College's Thayer School of Engineering.

"At this point we don't know whether these rich phytoplankton blooms have been happening in the Arctic for a long time and we just haven't observed them before," added Arrigo. "These blooms could become more widespread in the future, however, if the Arctic sea ice cover continues to thin."

The findings were published in the journal Science.

Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Braden jury hears closing arguments; deliberations to begin next week

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The second defendant charged in a June 2011 shooting in Clearlake that killed a child and wounded five adults was in court on Friday for the closing arguments in his trial.

Paul William Braden, 22, is facing 15 charges including first-degree murder, five counts of attempted murder, two counts of mayhem, six counts of assault with a firearm and discharge of a firearm at an inhabited dwelling, along with dozens of special allegations.

The shooting on June 18, 2011, killed 4-year-old Skyler Rapp, wounded his mother Desiree Kirby, her boyfriend Ross Sparks, his brother Andrew Sparks, Ian Griffith and Joseph Armijo.

Braden’s closing arguments coincided with deliberations by the jury for his codefendant, 24-year-old Orlando Joseph Lopez Jr., facing the same charges. The two men had separate juries.

Lopez’s jury heard closing arguments on Thursday and began deliberations on Friday morning, delivering guilty verdicts on all counts after only four hours of discussion.

District Attorney Don Anderson told Braden’s jury Friday that the evidence showed that Braden shot into the crowd at the home of Kirby and Ross Sparks.

In statements that mirrored those he gave Thursday, Anderson went over what the jury needed to consider in settling on the charges.

He also raised issues of testimony and evidence that he felt were key to connecting Braden to the shooting, including the testimony of jailhouse informant Daniel Loyd, who is himself in jail and awaiting prosecution for a 2011 homicide.

Loyd and Braden were housed together at one point, and Loyd testified that Braden spoke to him about the shooting, telling him that no one could identify him at the scene because he wore gloves and a mask.

Braden also allegedly told Loyd he drove the vehicle to the scene, that he furnished the shotguns that he and Lopez carried and that he was the gunman.

Anderson said Braden and Lopez went to the scene “for one reason – to kill.”

In his closing statements, which ran just under 45 minutes, Braden’s attorney, Doug Rhoades, told the jury, “This is the only opportunity I have to address you.”

He went over the jury instructions on reasonable doubt, which covers what jurors can and can’t consider in making a decision. Being arrested, charged or brought to trial are not evidence of guilt, he emphasized.

To convict Braden jurors must have an abiding conviction that he’s guilty. “When you’re convinced of it, you’re convinced of it next week, next month, and years to come,” Rhoades said.

While Rhoades said there were many contradicting statements among the witnesses, he wanted to focus on Kevin Stone, a former codefendant in the case who reached a plea agreement to lesser charges last fall.

“Who puts Paul at the scene of the shooting? There are only two people that do that,” said Rhoades.

One of those two is Loyd, who said he had an interest in the case because he was a friend to Jeremiah Rapp, Skyler’s father, according to Rhoades.

Rhoades said that the first thing that must happen is the acknowledgment that a tragedy took place and a child died. “I will never, ever minimize that.”

However, Rhoades continued, “We are not here to make right that particular thing.”

Raising issues with witness statements

During Loyd’s testimony at trial, a jury member sent up a note that Rhoades said insightfully asked why Braden would speak to no one but Loyd, who Rhoades said had given information in another homicide case to which he had a connection.

Rhoades put up a picture on a projector of Stone. The picture, which Stone took of himself by pointing his cell phone at a mirror, showed him wearing a ball cap with the brim pushed back, a handgun in one hand. The picture stayed up through most of Rhoades’ closing arguments.

Stone was the second person to put Braden at the scene with a gun, Rhoades said.

Braden had no reason to be mad at Ross Sparks and no motive for the shooting, according to Rhoades.

Rhoades faulted Stone’s testimony, which included statements that Braden was the only shooter – which conflicted victim accounts that they saw muzzle blasts coming from two different areas of the fence – and that he was standing and shooting left-handed. Witnesses saw fire coming from over the 6-foot fence, and Braden is left-handed, said Rhoades.

Rhoades said it wasn’t up to him or Anderson to ultimately decide who was responsible for the crimes. “It's your decision, and it's one of the greatest burdens we put on you,” he explained to jurors.

He told the jury a story, recounting a father watching each of his three sons going off to war, and not speaking out to stop each of them, who ultimately died.

“Do not hold your tongue,” he said. “You have an obligation, that is to participate and speak.”

Anderson said he’s also questioned the motive in the crime. “To this day, I have not figured out the motive and that's mainly because there is none.”

While there wasn’t a motive, there was a reason, said Anderson. “You have an extremely angry person. Not justifiably angry, but he was angry.”

Braden couldn’t control his anger and took the situation to the extreme, Anderson said.

Judge Doris Shockley read most of the jury instructions on Friday afternoon, but ordered the jury to return at 10 a.m. Tuesday, June 19, at which time she’ll complete instructions and their deliberations can begin.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

National Weather Service issues red flag warning for portions of Lake County

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The National Weather Service has issued an urgent fire weather message due to hot temperatures expected on Saturday.

The red flag warning, issued in response to conditions that could lead to explosive fire growth, is in effect through 9 p.m. Saturday for the southern portion of Lake County as well as all all or parts of several Sacramento Valley counties such as Glenn, Colusa, Yuba and Butte.

The National Weather Service said high pressure over the region will bring hot temperatures with humidity levels as low as 8 percent.

Winds over the northern Sacramento Valley and the eastern coastal mountains will be between 10 and 20 miles per hour, with gusts up to 30 miles per hour through midday Saturday.

Forecasters predict winds will begin to decrease Saturday afternoon and evening.

Temperatures in Lake County on Saturday are expected to hit near 100 degrees and 96 degrees on Sunday, with temperatures dropping into the high 80s on Monday and Tuesday, according to the forecast.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .