Ostreopsis cf. ovata (Dinophyta) bloom in an equatorial island of the Atlantic Ocean

The epi-benthic dinoflagellate Ostreopsis cf. ovata Fukuyo has an increasingly global distribution. In Brazil there are reports of O. cf. ovata along the coast from 8°S to 27°S latitude and blooms have been registered on the Rio de Janeiro coastline. In the current study, an O. cf. ovata bloom is reported at Saint Paul's Rocks (0°55'10″N; 29°20'33″W), between the southern and northern hemispheres. The Archipelago is not inhabited and not subjected to eutrophication, due to isolation, and sustains a number of endemic species. Therefore, blooms of O. cf. ovata may potentially cause demise to trophic chains by affecting marine invertebrates and vertebrates.     

Statistical properties of global geomagnetic indexes as a potential forecasting tool for strong perturbations

Here we extend to global level, through the SYM-H index and for the period 1981–2003, a study recently published by our group regarding distributions of local geomagnetic measurements near the South Atlantic anomaly, for the period 1998–2003, advanced as a potential forecasting tool. We have found, once more, a correlation between distributions and the corresponding storm intensities. A step forward was the finding of a correlation between the temporal variation of distributions and the corresponding storm intensities which could also serve as a probabilistic storm forecasting method. The data was obtained at the World Data Centre for Geomagnetism, Kyoto, Japan.