It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, August 28, 2021
CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Tanker Captain Faces Criminal Charges Over Cambodian Cargo Dispute
Indonesian Navy personnel aboard the Strovolos (TNI-AL)
The Indonesian Navy has detained the crew of a tanker that was allegedly involved in the theft of hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude from a Cambodian energy project - a charge which her operator vehemently denies.
According to Indonesian authorities, the Singaporean-owned and -managed tanker Strovolos was detained on July 27 at a position off Sumatra. She had anchored without prior authorization (a potentially illegal act in Indonesian waters) and she had turned off her AIS system, the Indonesian Navy alleged.
The vessel's 19 crewmembers were detained and brought to an Indonesian Navy base in Batam for questioning. The commander of the Indonesian Navy's First Fleet, Adm. Arsyad Abdullah, said in a statement that the legal process for the tanker's case has been handed over to prosecutors in Batam.
"The Indonesian Navy will not hesitate to take action against any type of crimes committed within Indonesia's jurisdictional territory," said Adm. Abdullah.
The master of the Strovolos, a Bangladeshi national, is suspected of anchoring without prior permission in violation of Indonesian law. If convicted, he could face up to a year in prison or a fine of up to $14,000.
According to officials in Cambodia, the tanker had been chartered as part of an abortive attempt to produce oil from a field in the Gulf of Thailand. The private E&P partner for the JV project, Singaporean firm KrisEnergy, began production at the new field in December 2020 with a "phase 1A" small-scale pilot, hoping to achieve 7,500 barrels per day. The actual output fell far short of that mark, and in June, just six months after starting up, KrisEnergy folded and filed for liquidation.
With the tanker's charterer in bankruptcy, a Cambodian government official told AFP, the vessel's day rate went unpaid. The official accused Strovolos and her operator ofdeparting Cambodian waters with the project's oil on board, allegedly for purposes of theft. Indonesian authorities reported that Strovolos was in laden condition when arrested in late July, and was carrying 298,000 barrels of crude.
The Cambodian government had an equity stake in KrisEnergy's project, as well as a deep political commitment to Cambodia's first-ever domestic oil output, and it filed a Red Notice with Interpol calling for the tanker's arrest. On July 24, Cambodian officials sent a diplomatic note to the Indonesian government, asking for its help in arresting the tanker; an Indonesian patrol vessel carried out the intercept and arrest shortly after.
In a statement Wednesday, vessel operator World Tankers Management insisted that Strovolos had transited to Indonesia purely for the purpose of conducting a crew change. The firm said the tanker had loaded the cargo in good faith, but when the charterer failed to pay and allowed the charter to lapse, the tanker departed to refuel and headed to Thailand. As crew change is not allowed in Thailand, the Strovolos then headed for Indonesia instead. The firm protested "wrongful allegations made by the Cambodian government that the vessel and its crew had committed criminal offenses in relation to the vessel’s departure from the Apsara field to refuel."
World Tankers Management added that the crew should not be held criminally responsible for political and commercial circumstances outside of their control.
Strovolos' itinerary could not be independently confirmed due a lack of AIS transmission data. No AIS signals for Strovolos were received by a commercial satellite tracking service over the eight-month period between November 2020 and the time of her detention in late July, according to data provided by Pole Star.
Talos Secures Lease for Carbon Storage Site in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico
Offshore oil and gas operator Talos Energy announced Wednesday that it has secured a lease off the coast of Texas for a carbon storage site.
In partnership with carbon capture and storage firm Carbonvert, Talos applied for a Texas General Land Office lease solicitation for a site off Jefferson County, in state waters. After review, the Texas School Land Board determined that Talos and Carbonvert had the only viable bid out of a field of a dozen submissions, and the board voted unanimously to assign them the lease.
Together, Talos and Carbonvert will negotiate the final terms of a lease agreement with the Texas General Land Office, subject to approval from the board. Talos will be the operator of this project.
The site covers about 40,000 acres, and Talos already owns seismic data for all of it. The location is near to a large cluster of carbon emitters (like refineries and petchem plants) along the Texas and Louisiana coastlines. Based on Talos's initial study of the geology of the site, the firm expects it can store about 225-275 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from industrial sources in the area.
"This is the first of several steps in our strategy to build multiple carbon capture and storage sites along the United States Gulf Coast where we can use Talos's core competencies to operate these important projects," said Talos CEO Tim Duncan in a statement. "We want to redefine the role of traditional oil and gas companies, as we recognize the need to responsibly develop and produce hydrocarbons as well as lowering overall emissions in the communities where we work and live."
Talos, formed in 2012 with backing from two private equity firms, has historically specialized in acquiring and expanding on the production assets of larger oil companies. In recent years it has branched out into its own independent E&P operations, including a hotly-disputed find in Mexican waters of the Gulf.
Earlier this month, Talos announced a new exclusive JV partnership with a different CCS firm - Storegga Geotechnologies - to focus on U.S. carbon capture opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico, including state and federal waters off Texas. Storegga is the lead developer of the Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage and Acorn Hydrogen Projects in the United Kingdom. According to Talos, the bid it submitted with Carbonvert predates its agreement with Storrega.
Crown Estate Launches Study of Wind Farms' Impact on Marine Ecosystems
Dogger Bank Wind Farm off Yorkshire, above, will be the largest facility of its kind in the world (Equinor)
The UK royal family's property management firm, the Crown Estate, is set to carry out a research study on how massive offshore wind investments could impact marine ecosystems. The decision responds to concerns that wind farms could have adverse impacts on marine life.
The firm, which manages the U.K. sovereign’s public lands and the seabeds of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, has launched a program that is designed to address the critical gap in understanding how marine ecosystems will respond to the continued growth of offshore wind. The UK's thriving offshore wind sector is ramping up to deliver 40 GW of capacity by 2030.
The Crown Estate's new $9.5 million "ECOWind" program is a joint initiative led by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Defra.
“The U.K. has set a legal requirement to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which will reduce our contribution to climate change. Expanding sustainable energy generation is at the heart of the government’s strategy but it’s important we understand the response from wildlife and marine ecosystems to help manage this sustainably,” said Susan Waldron, NERC’s Director of Research and Skills.
She added that the program will analyze the ecological consequence of large-scale expansion of offshore wind farms to inform future policy decisions throughout U.K. waters.
The four-year program will fund research into how offshore wind farms affect the marine environment alongside other growing pressures on U.K. ecosystems, including climate change and human activities like fishing. In particular, it will focus on how populations and inter-species interactions are responding to offshore wind deployment and how marine observations can be enhanced through innovative technologies.
The planned research comes as the U.K. is pumping massive investments in offshore wind projects, with a world-leading 11 GW of installed capacity and intentions to expand to 40 GW by 2030.
Globally, offshore wind installed capacity is projected to exceed 250 GW by 2030, up from 33 GW in 2002. The combined capital and operational expenditure for 2020-2030 stands at $810 billion, according to a Rystad Energy report.
Denmark to Commission Scandinavia's Largest Offshore Wind Farm
Next month, Danish households will start receiving electricity from Scandinavia's largest offshore wind farm, a development that marks another milestone in the country’s clean energy ambitions.
This follows the announcement by Swedish utility company Vattenfall AB that the inauguration of the 604 MW Kriegers Flak wind farm is set for September 6. The project, which is Scandinavia’s and Denmark’s largest offshore wind project so far, was constructed in the Baltic Sea at a cost of $1.4 billion.
It forms part of the country’s ambitious commitment to invest in clean energy: Denmark as a target of achieving a 70 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and aims to become a CO2-neutral nation by 2050.
The inauguration of the park follows the installation of the last turbine in June and finalization of testing and certification processes.
“We are very proud of the contribution that Kriegers Flak brings to the wind energy production in Denmark and to the green transition. After a successful construction process, Kriegers Flak is now ready to provide green power to Danish homes and industry,” said Anna Borg, Vattenfall CEO.
In June, Vattenfall completed the installation of the last of a total 72 offshore wind turbines in the wind farm located some 8-20 nautical miles off the east coast of Denmark. With an annual production capacity of 604 MW, the park will provide annual electricity consumption for approximately 600,000 Danish households, effectively increasing the Danish wind production by approximately 16 percent.
The offshore wind farm, which covers an area of 38 square nautical miles, features 72 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines, each with a capacity of 8.4MW. Each turbine has a total height of 615 feet and weighs up to 800 tons. About 90 nm of underwater cables have been laid to connect the project to the grid.
Denmark had 1.7 GW installed offshore wind capacity by the end of 2019. It has recently approved a plan to build an artificial island in the North Sea that will be a hub to hundreds of offshore turbines with a capacity to generate 10 GW, enough energy for 10 million households. The first stage will support up to 3 GW, and it is expected to cost $34 billion. Its operations should begin by 2033.
Crowley Launches Offshore Wind Training Program With Mass Maritime
Crowley Maritime and Massachusetts Maritime Academy have announced a training partnership to help create the offshore wind workforce that the U.S. will need for its growing renewable energy industry.
The first-of-its-kind training and workforce development program will be dedicated to the needs of the New England region's offshore wind energy industry. Though offshore wind is just getting started on the U.S. East Coast, it is expected to expand rapidly over the course of the next decade, boosted by support from federal policymakers, state governments, oil majors and investors.
The program will include sea safety and survival instruction and will be certified by the Global Wind Organisation (GWO), a non-profit that sets international standards for safety training. The academy will coordinate with Relyon Nutec, the world's largest provider of specialized instruction for energy and industrial sectors, to deliver the courses.
"Crowley and MMA are leaders in the maritime industry, and the joint program will help us build the next generation employee serving in the offshore wind industry," said Jeff Andreini, vice president, Crowley New Energy. "This partnership will provide workers the skills and knowledge they need, and together we help create cleaner energy sources in the U.S."
Crowley – a longtime supporter of the nation's maritime academies – will continue to provide scholarships, internships and hands-on learning for MMA cadets, including opportunities at sea and at the recently created Maritime Center for Responsible Energy (MCRE) on the MMA campus.
"Partnering with industry leaders is critical to our program at MMA. We're especially proud to team up with Crowley to help prepare the workforce for opportunities in the offshore wind industry," said Rear Admiral Francis X. McDonald, USMS, president of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. "Training and internships will help our cadets gain expertise and experience, which will be critical as they pursue careers in this growing field."
Going beyond training, the Crowley/MMA offshore wind industry partnership will also create outreach programs and workforce development for underrepresented population groups, specifically in Massachusetts' Gateway Cities - the former manufacturing centers outside of Greater Boston that are in need of economic revival.
Milestone for Offshore Wind with Order for First US-Built Substation
In another milestone for the development of large-scale offshore wind farms in the United States, the first contract has been placed for an American-built offshore wind substation. The contract for the building of the critical component went to the largest offshore fabricator in the U.S. as part of an effort to leverage experience in the oil and gas sector to support the creation of the new offshore wind industry.
Orsted and Eversource, which are jointly developing the South Fork Wind project to be located off New York’s Long Island selected Kiewit Offshore Services to design and build the substation. The 1,500- ton, 60-foot-tall substation will be built at Kiewit’s facility in Ingleside, Texas, near Corpus Christi, creating more than 350 jobs.
“We’re helping to build a new U.S. manufacturing industry that will create thousands of good-paying jobs not just in the Northeast but in communities across the United States,” said David Hardy, Chief Executive Officer of Orsted Offshore North America. This initiative is part of our commitment to deliver for our long-term partners, combining international experience with local expertise in communities across the country.”
Offshore wind substations are critical components of utility-scale offshore wind farms. Substations collect the power produced by wind turbines and connect the energy to the grid. The offshore substation will consist of a topside resting on a monopile foundation.
Kiewit expects to begin construction on the substation in November and complete the work by spring 2023. The completed structure will transit the Gulf of Mexico and sail along the East Coast for installation at the South Fork Wind site in the summer of 2023.
"Achieving our nation's clean energy goals will be largely dependent on U.S.-based companies like Kiewit, and we are excited to partner with them to deliver the first U.S.-made offshore wind substation," Joe Nolan, Chief Executive Officer and President of Eversource Energy. "Our partnership with Kiewit marks another significant milestone for the U.S. offshore wind industry and signals the growth of the next great maritime industry throughout the country."
South Fork Wind continues to advance through the federal permitting process, with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issuing the project’s final Environmental Impact Statement on August 16. The partners expect South Fork Wind to be fully permitted in early 2022, with construction activities ramping up soon after the final permits are issued. They expect the project to begin producing energy by the end of 2023.
Rob Phayre, a former ransom delivery specialist who helped shipowners retrieve vessels and crews from pirates, has written a new novel based on his experiences off Somalia. He recently corresponded with The Maritime Executive about the nature of the work and the root causes of Somali piracy.
TME: To start, can you tell us about yourself and your career in resolving hostage situations?
I started my career with seven years as a British military helicopter pilot, and I commanded a flight of helicopters in the Second Gulf War. I had the privilege to fly the first British Army helicopter across the border into Iraq on the first day of the war. I also flew in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. Perhaps one of my best experiences was in supporting British special forces when doing their jungle training in West Africa.
After leaving the British Army, I lived in Africa for nearly 17 years, but I was only involved in resolving Somali pirate attacks for about three of those years. During that time, I worked on more than 30 projects delivering ransoms to Somali pirates. I have also supported a number of organizations resolving other onshore kidnapping incidents. If I had to put a figure on the total amount delivered in ransom, it’s just under $100 million.
TME: Can you tell us about how you would arrange for ransom deliveries?
We developed a special mechanism that allowed us to drop the ransom out of an aircraft by parachute. The pirates would collect the money after it fell into the water, take it to the ship, count it and then leave. At that point another team that we had already pre-positioned would board the ship, cross load supplies, help the crew get it underway again and escort it to the nearest safe port.
There were a number of risks during those projects. Delays could mean the pirates would lose patience and we would have to go back to the negotiating table. The money delivery could fail. We never lost a load to a bad drop, but it was close occasionally. The pirates might not have left the ship after we paid the ransom, or the rescue team could get attacked on the way to collect the ship. We managed all of those risks to the best of our ability.
During the peak of piracy, my team and I delivered a ransom that was worth just under $15 million. To give you an idea of scale, that’s about 160 kilos of hundred-dollar bills - about seven large Samsonite suitcases' worth. It remains to this day one of the largest ransoms paid for hostage taking at sea.
TME: Did the pirates always leave the ship once they were paid, or did they ever try to hold out for more money?
For the projects I worked on, yes. Simply put, they were businesspeople - granted, businesspeople with no moral values, but still businesspeople. If they hadn’t surrendered the ship after a delivery, then they wouldn’t have been paid again. They would accrue all the costs of running their projects and not get any more financial rewards. I am aware of several projects where hostages didn’t get released after a payment, but in many cases, they were not negotiated professionally.
TME: Do governments get involved in negotiating with pirates and paying ransoms?
It’s a very grey area. It depends on the government and the part of the world where the hostage taking has happened. The French government, for example, has passed laws that state that they will pay ransoms to get their citizens back. In fact, there have been a number of protests when they haven’t. Most Western governments will publicly say that they don’t make substantive concessions to pirates. That is the right approach in my opinion.
Nation-states making payments with unlimited funds just raises the cost of ransoms for everyone else. However, it is also right that individuals, if they choose to, should be able to pay ransom to release their loved ones. That all works fine and is generally ignored by governments as long as payments are not made to terrorist organisations.
If terrorists are involved, that’s much trickier. You can’t pay them legally, even through third parties. On the plus side, governmental support may be more likely to happen - but that usually results in a security service response. The risk to the hostage goes up considerably.
This became a concern several years into the antipiracy response off Somalia. As soon as there was a lull in the number of vessels being held by pirates, Western governments determined that the risk of inadvertently paying money to terrorist organizations in Somalia was too high, and they made it a very serious offence to pay ransom. I am not aware of any proof that any ransom was ever directly paid to a terrorist group for maritime piracy in Somalia, but there was always the potential for side payments or protection money being paid by the piracy groups. It was certainly a factor in the decision process for many risk management companies.
A final word on maritime terrorism: this is different from piracy or criminality. The objective is completely different. With terrorism, an actor will target either a specific vessel or a specific flag state to enhance their political aims. Money has nothing to do with it.
TME: What were the root causes of Somali piracy?
I believe that the commonly used explanation of foreign offshore fishing vessels plundering the Somali coast is used too often as an argument. Sure, it’s a potential catalyst, but money and power were the key drivers once they were available. Warlords and clan chiefs could raise huge sums of money, equip their personal forces and expand their fiefdoms. Individuals could earn a living that just wasn’t available to them before. Most of the political leadership didn’t have the power or reach to be able to police the whole of the coastline, and those who did have the ability were most likely corrupt. The existence of a failed state provided safe harbor for pirates to bring home their catch and negotiate their release.
TME: How can piracy be defeated?
In the longer term, only sustainable development, other employment opportunities, the removal of available targets, rule of law and effective military response are the way to continue bringing down the maritime piracy risk.
Rob Phayre is the author of The Ransom Drop, a newly-released novel about maritime kidnapping and ransom delivery. It may be found on Amazon here.
Offshore Floating Solar Technology Receives World’s First Class AiP
For the first time, a floating offshore solar technology has received an Approval in Principle (AiP) from one of the leading classification societies. According to Bureau Veritas which issued the approval to Dutch renewable energy company SolarDuck, this marks the beginning of a new era for this form of renewable energy.
Launched in April, SolarDuck’s first pilot known as King Eider consists of four triangular-shaped units, which are mounted by 156 solar panels and deliver a combined electrical output of 64 kWp to the grid. The structure holds the solar panels approximately 10 feet above water level. The platform is designed to handle coastal sea conditions and hurricane-force winds. It is also optimized for offshore sites in estuaries, natural harbors, as well as near-shore sites.
Bureau Veritas was involved in the project from the design stage. The AiP covers the design methodology of the unit’s structure and validates the relevant parts using standards for marine renewable energy technologies and offshore wind turbines.
“Building on our experience in the marine and offshore market, we supported SolarDuck throughout this innovative journey by assessing risk, analyzing regulations, and improving the overall structure performance and mooring safety,” said Paul Shrieve, Vice President Offshore & Services at Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore. “We are proud to be part of the venture and to contribute to make this cutting-edge solution reliable.”
Each unit measures nearly 53 feet on each side of the triangle. The pilot units were built by Damen and deployed this spring.
The project, which was deployed in IJzendoorn, in the Netherlands, was born from the ambitions of a group of maritime and energy engineers, who founded SolarDuck to play an active role in getting the world to net zero. Upon realizing that solar energy is an inexpensive and efficient form of renewable energy for many cities, islands, and regions around the globe, but inaccessible to many of these regions due to land scarcity constraints, the team initiated the project to make solar panels float offshore.
According to the team at SolarDuck, water-based solar applications will yield higher energy outputs with lower costs and efforts required for installation. They expect to combine the broad availability of the coastline versus onshore locations with benefits ranging from shorter transmission lines and fewer maintenance requirements which results in less space required per MW installed.
Protecting the Ozone Layer Also
Protects Earth’s Ability to Sequester
Carbon
Previous “world-avoided” experiments have shown that, without the Montreal Protocol, ozone levels would be depleted globally by the mid-twentieth century.
Credits: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
Protecting the ozone layer also protects Earth’s vegetation and has prevented the planet from an additional 0.85 degrees Celsius of warming, according to new research from Lancaster University, NASA, and others. This new study in Nature demonstrates that by protecting the ozone layer, which blocks harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the Montreal Protocol regulating ozone-depleting substances also protects plants – and their ability to pull carbon from the atmosphere. The impact from plants has not been accounted for in previous climate change research.
“We know the ozone layer is connected to climate. We know greenhouse gases affect the ozone layer. But what we’ve never done before this is connect the ozone layer to the terrestrial carbon cycle,” said lead author Paul Young, an atmospheric and climate scientist at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom.
The ozone layer in the upper atmosphere, or stratosphere, blocks UV radiation that can damage living tissue, including plants. The ozone “hole,” discovered in 1985, is the result of humans emitting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are ozone-depleting chemicals and greenhouse gases that were once commonly used as coolants in refrigerators and in aerosols like hairspray. They were then phased out of use by the Montreal Protocol signed in 1987 and its subsequent amendments.
Scientists have previously simulated the world that we avoided by banning CFCs. Now, the new study returns to the same question – what would happen if CFCs continued to be emitted? – and looked at the effect on plants.
“Past world-avoided experiments have never considered the impacts of increased UV radiation on plants, and what that would mean for the plants’ ability to sequester carbon,” said Young.
Nearly 200 countries came together to sign the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which limited CFC emissions. The production of CFCs was eventually phased out, and the ozone layer is recovering as a result.
Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Katy Mersmann
The team used a series of models to gain a more complete picture and simulate two hypothetical scenarios: the world projected and the world avoided. “The world projected is similar to the path we’re currently on,” said Luke Oman, a research physical scientist focusing on atmospheric chemistry and dynamics at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The world avoided represents a path not taken.”
For the world-avoided scenario, the researchers assumed that CFC emissions would increase at the same rate, 3% every year, from the 1970s onward. The models show that there would be a huge thinning of the ozone layer across the globe by 2050. By 2100, ozone holes forming in the tropics would be worse than what has been observed in the Antarctic ozone hole.
In their models of the world-avoided, a depleted ozone layer would let more harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation reach the surface, inhibiting plants from storing carbon in their tissue and in the soil. As a result, atmospheric CO2 levels are estimated to be 30% higher than they would likely be under Earth’s current trajectory. Consequently, Earth would likely be an additional 0.85°C hotter in that “world-avoided” scenario solely because of the impact on plants.
This global thinning of the ozone layer would allow significantly more harmful UV radiation from the sun to reach the surface, which would effectively sunburn the plants on Earth, said Young. Earth’s trees and vegetation would be much less efficient at photosynthesis, hindering their ability to absorb carbon out of the atmosphere and sequester it, storing carbon in plant tissue and the soil for many years. Overall, the damage to plants would result in 580 billion metric tons less carbon stored in forests, soil and vegetation. It would instead be released into the atmosphere, increasing atmospheric CO2 levels by 30% on average compared to the world projected scenario.
That huge increase in atmospheric CO2 alone would cause global temperatures to rise 0.85°C by 2100, according to the models. That’s on top of the warming Earth may experience due to prior and expected emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, as well as the 1.7°C of direct warming due to increased CFC emissions in this scenario.
But how do we know this “world-avoided” scenario is anything like the world that would come to be without the Montreal Protocol? The team checked their models against historical data collected by NASA satellites and other available data from NASA’s partners. For example, they looked at ozone levels recorded by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) aboard NASA’s Aura satellite and compared them to what the models ‘predicted’ would have happened. What happened in the model was very close to what actually happened in the past, giving the scientists confidence that their model could accurately project what may happen in the future.
“The whole appearance of the ocean was like a plain covered with snow. There was scarce a cloud in the heavens, yet the sky . . . appeared as black as if a storm was raging. The scene was one of awful grandeur, the sea having turned to phosphorus, and the heavens being hung in blackness, and the stars going out, seemed to indicate that all nature was preparing for that last grand conflagration which we are taught to believe is to annihilate this material world.” – Capt. Kingman of the American clipper ship Shooting Star off Java, Indonesia, 1854
For centuries, sailors have been reporting strange encounters like the one above. These events are called milky seas. They are a rare nocturnal phenomenon in which the ocean’s surface emits a steady bright glow. They can cover thousands of square miles and, thanks to the colorful accounts of 19th-century mariners like Capt. Kingman, milky seas are a well-known part of maritime folklore. But because of their remote and elusive nature, they are extremely difficult to study and so remain more a part of that folklore than of science.
I’m a professor of atmospheric science specializing in satellites used to study Earth. Via a stat-of-the-art generation of satellites, my colleagues and I have developed a new way to detect milky seas. Using this technique, we aim to learn about these luminous waters remotely and guide research vessels to them so that we can begin to reconcile the surreal tales with scientific understanding.
The bioluminescence in milky seas is caused by a type of bacteria. Steve. H. D. Haddock/MBARI, CC BY-ND
Sailors’ tales
To date, only one research vessel has ever encountered a milky sea. That crew collected samples and found a strain of luminous bacteria called Vibrio harveyi colonizing algae at the water’s surface.
Unlike bioluminescence that happens close to shore, where small organisms called dinoflagellates flash brilliantly when disturbed, luminous bacteria work in an entirely different way. Once their population gets large enough – about 100 million individual cells per milliliter of water – a sort of internal biological switch is flipped and they all start glowing steadily.
Luminous bacteria cause the particles they colonize to glow. Researchers think the purpose of this glow could be to attract fish that eat them. These bacteria thrive in the guts of fishes, so when their populations get too big for their main food supply, a fish’s stomach makes a great second option. In fact, if you go into a refrigerated fish locker and turn off the light, you may notice that some fish emit a greenish-blue glow – this is bacterial light.
Now imagine if a gargantuan number of bacteria, spread across a huge area of open ocean, all started glowing simultaneously. That makes a milky sea.
While biologists know a lot about these bacteria, what causes these massive displays remains a mystery. If bacteria growing on algae were the main cause of milky seas, they’d be happening all over the place, all the time. Yet, per surface reports, only about two or three milky seas occur per year worldwide, mostly in the waters of the northwest Indian Ocean and off the coast of Indonesia.
Researchers found a milky sea event off the coast of Somalia, seen here as a pale swoosh in the top left image. The other panels show sea surface temperature, ocean currents and chlorophyll. Steven D. Miller/NOAA
Satellite solutions
If scientists want to learn more about milky seas, they need to get to one while it’s happening. Trouble is, milky seas are so elusive that it has been almost impossible to sample them. This is where my research comes into play.
Satellites offer a practical way to monitor the vast oceans, but it takes a special instrument able to detect light around 100 million times fainter than daylight. My colleagues and I first explored the potential of satellites in 2004 when we used U.S. defense satellite imagery to confirm a milky sea that a British merchant vessel, the SS Lima, reported in 1995. But the images from these satellites were very noisy, and there was no way we could use them as a search tool.
We had to wait for a better instrument – the Day/Night Band – planned for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new constellation of satellites. The new sensor went live in late 2011, but our hopes were initially dashed when we realized the Day/Night Band’s high sensitivity also detected light emitted by air molecules. It took years of studying Day/Night Band imagery to be able to interpret what we were seeing.
Finally, on a clear moonless night in early 2018, an odd swoosh-shaped feature appeared in the Day/Night Band imagery offshore Somalia (above). We compared it with images from the nights before and after. While the clouds and airglow features changed, the swoosh remained. We had found a milky sea! And now we knew how to look for them.
This milky sea off the coast of Java was the size of Kentucky and lasted for more than a month. Steven D. Miller/NOAA
The “aha!” moment that unveiled the full potential of the Day/Night Band came in 2019. I was browsing the imagery looking for clouds masquerading as milky seas when I stumbled upon an astounding event south of the island of Java. I was looking at an enormous swirl of glowing ocean that spanned over 40,000 square miles (100,000 square km) – roughly the size of Kentucky. The imagery from the new sensors provided a level of detail and clarity that I hadn’t imagined possible. I watched in amazement as the glow slowly drifted and morphed with the ocean currents.
We learned a lot from this watershed case: how milky seas are related to sea surface temperature, biomass and the currents – important clues to understanding their formation. As for the estimated number of bacteria involved? Approximately 100 billion trillion cells – nearly the total estimated number of stars in the observable universe!
The two images on the left were taken with older satellite technology while the images on the right show the high-definition imagery produced by the Day/Night Band sensor. Steven D. Miller/NOAA
The future is bright
Compared with the old technology, viewing Day/Night Band imagery is like putting on glasses for the first time. My colleagues and I have analyzed thousands of images taken since 2013, and we’ve uncovered 12 milky seas so far. Most happened in the very same waters where mariners have been reporting them for centuries.
Perhaps the most practical revelation is how long a milky sea can last. While some last only a few days, the one near Java carried on for over a month. That means that there is a chance to deploy research craft to these remote events while they are happening. That would allow scientists to measure them in ways that reveal their full composition, how they form, why they’re so rare and what their ecological significance is in nature.
If, like Capt. Kingman, I ever do find myself standing on a ship’s deck, casting a shadow toward the heavens, I’m diving in!
Steven D. Miller is a Professor of Atmospheric Science and the Director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University.
This article appears courtesy of The Conversation and may be found in its original form here.
