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National Committee on Marine Sciences (NCMS)

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    Utility of low-cost recreational-grade echosounders in imaging and characterizing bubbly coastal submarine groundwater discharge
    Gabuyo, Mary Rose P.; Siringan, Fernando P. (Elsevier, 2022-01)
    Despite the growing knowledge on the significance of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD), mapping its occurrence is a continuing challenge. This study explores the capability and applicability of low-cost, off-the-shelf, recreational-grade echosounders (RGESs) to image different types and locate point sources of bubbly coastal SGD. Standard and systematic methodologies for efficient imaging and processing were established. The use of RGES was validated using a research-grade side scan sonar (RGSSS), continuous resistivity profiling, conductivity-temperature-depth casting, and MantaCam and SCUBA diving surveys. Lower frequencies (77/83 kHz) of RGESs showed more distinct acoustic signatures of bubbly SGD, as these were nearly the same as the effective resonance frequency of the bubbles. The clusters of bubbly discharges have higher backscatter strength than the water column noise, resulting in the definitive and convenient manual detection of SGD features. Hence, showing more accurate point sources of SGD. Three types of known SGD occurrence were identified and characterized based on acoustic behavior and spatial distribution: 1) sparse, discrete and sporadic discharge over wide area, 2) curtain, high and continuous bubble concentrations from widespread discharge, and 3) spring, direct bubble discharge from intense seafloor degassing at a single point source. These results showed that RGES provides a good alternative for more efficient and cost-effective preliminary coastal SGD works. Additional research on areas with water-dominated discharge but no bubbling is recommended.
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    Local tourists welcome as Coron reopens
    Miranda, Romar (Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc., 2020-06-10)
    Coron has reopened its tourism industry, allowing local travelers on regulated tours as Palawan province eased further into a relaxed community quarantine amid the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis. Kim Ablana, municipal tourism officer, said island hopping, scuba diving, and other land-based tours were started anew on June 6 to reboot the local economy, which highly depends on tourism. But only residents of the Calamian Group of Islands — composed of the towns of Coron, Culion, Busuanga and Calauit — can benefit from such tours.
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    Tubbataha marks 30 by celebrating its Big Five—both species and supporters
    Honasan, Alya (Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc., 2018-08-11)
    Today, Aug. 11, it will be 30 years since President Corazon Aquino signed Proclamation No. 306, creating the Philippines’ first national marine protected area (MPA), the Tubbataha Reefs National Marine Park—now the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (TRNP)—in 1988. The proclamation turned this jewel among Philippine reefs—all 97,000-plus hectares of it in the middle of the Sulu Sea in Palawan—into a “no-take zone,” legally protecting this important center of marine biodiversity of the country as well as the world. In 1993, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) reaffirmed this by declaring Tubbataha the only purely marine World Heritage Site in Southeast Asia.
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    What lies beneath: exploring Benham Rise's unknown treasures
    Cinco, Maricar (Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc., 2017-03-18)
    Benham Rise, the underwater landmass northeast of Luzon that the United Nations declared part of the Philippines’ continental shelf, has been grabbing headlines because of the presence of Chinese ships that may or may not have been given permission to do research in the area, according to conflicting claims by President Duterte, Defense chief Delfin Lorenzana, as well as Foreign Affairs officials. What remains undisputed, however, are the possible trove of mineral and gas deposits about 3,000 meters below the water’s surface that have yet to be discovered. Sometimes referred to as the Benham Plateau, the landmass, described to have a craggy or rough surface, is bigger than Luzon or almost half the size of the Philippine’s total land area. It extends eastward off the provinces of Aurora and Isabel, and the Bicol region, but has always been connected to Luzon’s landmass through the Bicol and Palanan saddles.