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In rarity, 2 warships visit Seal Beach at once

Gary Robbins, science writer-editor — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:09:07 +0000

The bow of the USS Curts (38) is visible just ahead of the stern of the USS Gary (51). Image by Gary Robbins, The Register

The Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station has such a small, shallow bay, it rarely hosts more than one warship at a time. But the California base is on double duty at the moment, serving two Perry-class frigates, the USS Curts (38) and the USS Gary (51), which are docked stern-to-stern in Anaheim Bay. It’s an unusual sight for motorists passing nearby on Pacific Coast Highway. Frigates are the smallest surface ships serviced at Seal Beach, so the base can handle two at once. The Navy sometimes have schedule overlaps and needs to handle two vessels at once. It’s not a regularly thing. These ships, which were built by Todd Shipyards in San Pedro during the height of the Cold War, are each 453 feet long. And while they have very sophisticated equipment, especially for tracking submarines, searching for mines and knocking down short-range missiles, they represent the past instead of the future. The Navy has been building dozens of Arleigh Burke-class guided missiles destroyers, ships that stock up to 96 Tomahawk cruise missiles. Frigates of this kind are slowly being decommissioned to make room for more technologically robust ships.

The frigates are not open to the public, and boaters are prohibited from approaching the vessels.

Quiz corner: In the movie, “The Hunt for Red October,” an American frigate fires on the submarine. What was factually wrong with the scene? Email answers to grobbins@ocregister.com. I’ll give a book to the reader with the best answer.

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Meteor shower to peak overnight

Gary Robbins, science writer-editor — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:43:42 +0000

Look toward Constellation Leo between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. Tuesday. Graphic courtesy of Astronomy.com

The annual Leonid meteor shower will peak overnight, and astronomers say that people who are ideally located (the desert) should be able to see 20-30 meteors per hour between 1:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. Tuesday. But even amateur skygazers in urban/surburban areas like Orange County should be able to see several meteors per hour as Earth passes through debris shed by Comet Swift-Tuttle. Stay away from street lights and other sources of light pollution, and give your eyes time to adjust to the dark.

Richard Talcott, an Astronomy.com editor we often consult, said in a news advisory, “If the weather cooperates, viewing conditions should be nearly ideal. Observers normally can see 20 to 30 meteors per hour at the peak, but rates could spike considerably this year. These meteors started out as tiny specks of dust and debris ejected by Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle during its countless trips around the Sun. Over time, these particles spread out along the comet’s orbit. Every November, Earth passes through this stream of dust.

“The particles hit our atmosphere at 147,000 mph and vaporize because of friction with the air. This produces the streaks of light in the sky we call meteors. If you trace all the shower’s meteor paths backward, they appear to emanate from the constellation Leo the Lion (hence the name Leonid).”

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The identify of the photo that stumped readers

Gary Robbins, science writer-editor — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:43:34 +0000

I vowed that this week’s contest would be harder than last week’s. And it was. After scores of entries, we finally got the right answer from Kyle Martin of Yorba Linda, who goes by the screen name of Aceofspades. He knew that the photo shows human mitochondria, the so-called “power plants” of cells. The photo was supplied by UCI geneticist Doug Wallace, one of the world’s foremost experts on mitochondria.

Martin wins a free copy of “Jacques Cousteau: The Sea King,” a new biography by Brad Matsen.

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Tiny earthquake near Westminster Mall

Gary Robbins, science writer-editor — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:10:35 +0000

A magnitude 1.8 microquake occurred at 1:29 a.m. near the intersection of Hazard Avenue and Beach Boulevard, not far from the Westminster Mall and Westminster Memorial Park, says the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake began a bit southeast of a branch of the Newport-Inglewood fault, at a depth of 3.7 miles. The shaker was not widely felt, and is mentioned here because the public is interested in the small, isolated microquakes that regularly happen in or near Orange County. The little tremor is unlikely to lead to something larger, and likely represents normal shifting in the Newport-Inglewood fault zone. In an unrelated event, a 1.5 microquake occurred beneath the seafloor at 8:44 a.m. today, off the Palos Verdes Peninsula, a region where there are sizable sub-sea faults.

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Fire weather warning for north O.C.

Gary Robbins, science writer-editor — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:39:29 +0000

Updated Saturday,

4:15

The National Weather Service has upped the potential threat of wildfire, issuing a red flag fire warning for northeastern Orange County. (Check description above.) Earlier, forecasters had a lesser, fire weather watch in place for the whole county.

The red flag fire weather warning will be in effect from 9 a.m. Sunday to 6 p.m. on Monday. The weather service says in an advisory, “Northeast winds of 15-25 mph with gusts in excess of mph will develop below the Cajon Pass and in the Santa Ana Mountains and foothills Sunday morning. The winds should spread south and east into portions of inland Riverside and San Diego counties during the day and continue into Monday. Local gusts in excess of 45 mph are possible at times in the windiest locations. Relative humidities will drop to 15 percent or less for several hours on Monday, mainly in the valleys and on the lower coastal mountain slopes, and below 10 percent for 10 hours or more on Monday, especially at the lower elevations. ”

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Small craft warning for O.C. boaters

Gary Robbins, science writer-editor — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:44:53 +0000

The National Weather Service is reminding local boaters who plan to travel west of Santa Catalina Island that there’s a small craft advisory in effect, with winds in the outer waters gusting to 25 knots. The winds will last well into this evening, and pose a threat to people who want to go sportfishing in the outer waters. The winds will ease some on Saturday but will still gust to 20 knots at times, forecasters say. Conditions are comparatively mild on the seas between Orange County and Catalina. A low pressure system passed through overnight, dropping trace amounts of rain on parts of the county. Temperatures will rise to seasonal levels Saturday and Sunday (and maybe just above in some areas.) And the latest computer models contain a hint of potentially bad news. The weather service says, “A moderate to strong offshore flow (Santa Ana winds) is expected late Saturday night through Sunday with gusty northeast winds over the mountains, inland valleys and into Orange County.” Forecasters say the winds will gust to 30 mph inland and 15-20 at the county’s coast. The weather service is debating whether to issue a fire weather watch. (Santa Ana winds explained.)

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Clouds flow in ahead of offshore winds

Gary Robbins, science writer-editor — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:58:08 +0000

There's moisture south of Orange County, but little of it will move into this region.

A thick marine layer is developing over Orange County and will reach 5,500 feet deep in many areas by early Friday, possibly generating drizzle over a wide area and keeping temperatures in the 60s again tomorrow. But the National Weather Service says “high pressure aloft slowly shifts over the state on Saturday through Sunday. An offshore flow develops late Saturday night through Sunday morning with gusty northeast (Santa Ana) winds over the mountains, inland valleys and into Orange County. Offshore flow weakens Monday through Tuesday.”

The strength of the offshores has yet to be determined, but this is not considered to be a major Santa Ana event.

The forecast means a couple of things: The weather service was right when it said a week ago that Orange County would not receive significant rain through Nov. 15. And the region is temporarily locked in a pattern where it’s cool for a couple of days, then warm, followed by another round of seasonal, or below seasonal temperatures. It also means that, for the moment, the county won’t get the rain it badly needs. But the pattern can change quickly. It’s just that there’s no sign, at the moment, that it’s going to happen right away.

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White House to honor UCI physicist

Gary Robbins, science writer-editor — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:56:23 +0000

UCI biophysicist Zunanna Siwy. Image courtesy of UCI.

A UC Irvine biophysicist who explores the minute pores that allow nutrients to flow through the walls of such things as human cells will be honored by the White House in January for being one of the most promising young scholars in the country.

Zuzanna Siwy is one of roughly 100 scientists and engineers nationwide who are receiving a Presidential Early Career Award, an honor that comes with funding to support the person’s work. Siwy is scheduled to visit the White House in mid-January, and the administration has tentative plans for the scholars to meet President Obama.

The work of the recipients also is highlight by John Holdren, the president’s science advisor.

Siwy, 37, said by email, ” It is such a great honor to be a recipient of the Presidential Early
Career Award, and I look forward to meeting the President at the White House. This distinction is an enormous inspiration for me to provide community service with my continued research.”

Siwy conducts basic research, working in an area that will help explain how the body functions. Other scientists might find practical applications for her work on pores, especially as it applies to medicine, nutrition and aging “as well as technological processes such as desalination, thus obtaining drinking water out of sea water,” Siwy said.

Siwy’s selection “confirms that we make good choices in hiring young scientists. They are the cream of the crop,” said Bill Parker, chair of UCI’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.

New: Elephant seals might sleep while diving deep off O.C.

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Elephant seals may sleep while diving off O.C.

Gary Robbins, science writer-editor — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:14:38 +0000

FORTY WINKS: Northern elephant seals at rest. Image courtesy of Wikipedia's Creative Commons

Big, blubbery Northern elephant seals sometimes flop on to the rocks in the more isolated coves of Laguna Beach and sleep, which apparently is only part of the way they refresh themselves. New research led by Japan’s Hokkaido University says its possible that the animals also may sleep while they do “drift diving” while migrating between California and Alaska. The behavior seems to occur where the ocean is comparatively deep, which would include the waters between Santa Catalina Island and the mainland. There are areas where the channel is at least 2,000 feet deep.

The summary portion of the new study says: “During their long migrations through the Pacific, northern elephant seals,Mirounga angustirostris, never haul out on land and they rarely spend more than a few minutes at a time at the surface. They are almost constantly making repetitive, deep dives, raising the question of when do they rest?

“One type of dive, the drift dive, characterized by a time-depth profile with a phase of lower than average descent speed is believed to be a resting dive. To examine the behaviour of seals during drift dives, we measured body position and three-dimensional diving paths of six juvenile seals. We found that seals rolled over and sank on their backs during the drift phase, wobbling periodically so that they resembled a falling leaf. This enabled seals to drastically slow their descent rate, possibly so that negatively buoyant seals can rest without ending up in the abyss. This reduces the work required to return to the surface to breath, and allows them time to rest, process food or possibly sleep during the descent phase of these dives where they are probably less susceptible to predation.”

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Cool weather coming to O.C.

Gary Robbins, science writer-editor — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:46:46 +0000

SAFE HARBOR: Cory Neumiller captures the moodiness of changing weather in Dana Point Harbor.

Say so long to temperatures in the upper 70s and low 80s. At least for a day or two. A low pressure from the Gulf of Alaska is dropping south and will bring lots of clouds to Orange County on Thursday, making daytime high temperatures 5-10 degrees below normal, says the National Weather Service. Inland highs are only expected to reach the upper 60s. Forecasters say there’s a 20 percent chance that the fast moving system will produce intermittent showers. But the region, which is still in severe drought, won’t get much more than trace amounts of rain, if any. The system primarily poses a problem for boaters. The weather service has issued a small craft advisory for Southern California waters. Winds out of the west will track southeast, whipping up20-25 knot winds during the day with gusts to 35 mph. Mariners heading to or from Santa Catalina Island should exercise caution.

A warming trend will begin on Saturday and light offshore winds are expected Sunday.

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