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| Nojima Island seen from Yokohama Marine Park |
Typhoon Hynnamnor took very strange route. The tropical disturbance became a typhoon on August 28 near Iwo Jima, proceeded to the west until very near to Taiwan. It then turned right almost 90° degree to the north. Many communities in Okinawa, Kyushu, and South Korea experienced disaster … What I must tell you this week about this typhoon is, it also affected Yokohama. We did not have storm rain nor wind. But Hynnamnor disturbed the growth of common eelgrass (Zostera marina, or Amamo in Japanese) in Hirakata Bay 平潟湾.
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| Could you see strange sea water here? |
The storm took time to move to the west from its inception. Strong and warm typhoon waves pounded Tokyo Bay for days. Unusual tropical water washed the beaches of Hirakata Bay for about a week. Eeelgrass does not like hot water. Relatively cold water rapidly coming down from Miura Alps is what eelgrass needs. Instead this time, tons of warm sea water could have helped another seaweeds, Ulva, to override the seabed of eelgrass. The incident may have happened at the bottom of Hirakata Bay. Moreover, strong typhoon wave uprooted and washed up a huge amount of Ulva to the beaches of Hirakata Bay. The artificially “white” sandy beach of Yokohama Marine Park 横浜海の公園 became green covered with Ulva. Worse. Under strong summer sunshine, the microbes quickly decomposed the seaweed on the beach. The green beach emitted rotten smell of hydrogen sulfide reaching to nearby residential area. It became Nation-wide news.
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| Yuk |
The City Office somehow raked the seaweeds. When I’ve been there on 4th of September, the piles of ulva were dotted the beach where lots of people enjoyed late summer. It still smells weird although not so strongly … From the beach I could not know what was happening eelgrass at the bottom of the sea. For water purification Ulva is also effective, but for maintaining biodiversity of the bay …? In any case, the beginning of such strange ulva-hullaballoo was unusual movement of tropical low pressure/typhoon. People said it was due to strange high-pressure system around Japan this summer due to meandering jet stream. It would be due to global warming … Volunteers are planting eelgrass at the bottom of the sea to deal with such climate issues, but … *sigh*
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| Piles of ulva |
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| A hill of ulva and a windsurfer … |
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| Never mind for beach volleyballers |
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| Yokohama Marine Park |
If you find a problem in the Yokohama Marine Park, please make a contact with
Office for the Park Greeneries in the South 南部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-831-8484
FAX: 045-831-9389
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