Richard Branson plans "underwater plane"
Jan/100
As if kickstarting mainstream space tourism wasn’t enough Sir Richard Branson is now looking to conquer the ocean’s depths. The plan is to offer a ser…
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Richard Branson plans "underwater plane"
Newly Discovered Crab Resembles Strawberries
Jan/100
Marine biologist Ho Ping-ho spotted two colorful crabs off the coast of Taiwan last June. Along with a team of researchers, Ho, Assistant Professor at National Taiwan Ocean University, found the female crabs off the coast near Kenting National Park. The team, invited by Kenting National Park, was researching the environmental impact of an oil leak from a ship that ran aground when the made the discovery.
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Newly Discovered Crab Resembles Strawberries
Oceans’ Ability to Absorb Carbon & Protect Against Climate Change Weakening
Nov/090
Oceans regulate our climate. They play a key role in keeping the world’s “homeostasis” in tact. However, their ability to absorb carbon & keep the climate in balance is dwindling, a new report shows.
In a year-by-year study from 1765 to 2008, researchers found that the oceans are struggling to meet increasing emissions demands. They cannot take in as much carbon as they used to.
The study, published in the November 19 issue of the journal Nature, found that the percentage of fossil fuel emissions the ocean has been taking in since 2000 has decreased by as much as 10%.
This is the first study of its kind or breadth. One previous study had attempted to measure the oceans’ industrial carbon absorption for one year — 1994. This does so for a period of 200+ years.
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Oceans’ Ability to Absorb Carbon & Protect Against Climate Change Weakening
Warmer Seas Blocking Nature’s Carbon Pump
Oct/090
Diatoms are one of the most common types of phytoplankton.
Climate change isn’t just warming the atmosphere, it’s also warming the ocean’s surface and deeper levels of the water column. This is known as the pelagic ocean (the “pelagic zone” is any part of the water column other than that at the sea floor) and it just so happens to harbor the most productive ecosystem on planet Earth. The pelagic ocean is responsible for an estimated half of the world’s primary production (i.e., the basic food or nutrient making needed to sustain other life), and sustains most of the world’s natural fisheries.
The pelagic zone also plays a very complex but important role in the global carbon cycle. Inorganic carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) can be “drawn down” from the atmosphere by two main processes: the respiration of photo-synthetic algae and plankton (which produce oxygen and serve as a food source as well), and, secondly, the sedimentation of carbon (in the form of sinking, dead marine matter) onto the sea floor. Most algae and phytoplankton have chlorophyll and live in the upper most layer of the water column where there is sufficient sunlight penetration (this is called the euphotic zone; from the surface down to 200 meters is the epipelagic zone). Although carbon is also removed via “outgassing” (the exporting of carbon and carbon-based molecules into the atmosphere via ocean-air circulation), these two processes keep carbon out of the atmosphere. And of the two, bottom accumulation (via sinking) is the predominant means by which carbon is removed from the water column.
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Warmer Seas Blocking Nature’s Carbon Pump
Scientist Claims Sperm Whales in Southern Ocean are Carbon Neutral
Oct/090
Because of their enormous body size, whales have been thought to contribute a considerable amount of carbon dioxide to the total greenhouse gas build-up whenever they exhale. However, Trish J. Lavery of Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia claims they – the sperms whales of Southern Ocean, at least – are falsely-accused and that they live quite a carbon-neutral life.
During the October 13 Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in Quebec City, Canada, Lavery talked about earlier calculations overlooking the whales’ capacity to offset their carbon dioxide emissions. The 210,000 sperm whales in Southern Ocean should be declared carbon neutral, according to Lavery. The carbon neutral status is achieved by bringing iron from the depths of the ocean to the surface whenever they feed. This extra iron in the water induces plankton growth which in turn traps carbon and prevents it from being released into the atmosphere.
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Scientist Claims Sperm Whales in Southern Ocean are Carbon Neutral
Two Endangered Blue Whales Struck by Ships
Oct/090
Earlier this week, an ocean survey vessel reported feeling a “shudder underneath the ship” in the waters of northern California. Soon after, a whale was spotted “bleeding profusely.” A few hours later, an endangered blue whale whale washed ashore in a rocky cove in California. According to reports, the apparent strike probably occurred about 7 miles from shore.
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Two Endangered Blue Whales Struck by Ships
Underwater Cave in Canary Islands includes Several New Species
Aug/090
Texas A&M professor and world-leading cave researcher, Tom Iliffe, and others discovered numerous new species in an underwater cave a mile long in the Canary Islands recently. The cave was in Lanzarote off the coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean. One of the species might be one of the oldest crustaceans in the world. It might be about 200 millions years old, from the time of dinosaurs.
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Underwater Cave in Canary Islands includes Several New Species
3 New Species Found in Underwater Cave in Canary Islands
Aug/090
Texas A&M professor and world-leading cave researcher, Tom Iliffe, and others discovered numerous new species in an underwater cave a mile long in the Canary Islands recently. The cave was in Lanzarote off the coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean. One of the species might be one of the oldest crustaceans in the world. It might be about 200 millions years old, from the time of dinosaurs.
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3 New Species Found in Underwater Cave in Canary Islands
Journey into the “Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch” — Scientific Findings
Aug/090
The “Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch” lies about 1,000 miles from the coast of California. It is in the North Pacific Ocean Gyre, which is one of the oldest and most diverse ecosystems in the world. The garbage patch has gotten a lot of media attention in the last year. However, due to the fact that one must get on a boat and go all the way out to the patch to study it, there hadn’t been any in-depth scientific analysis of the patch,… until now.
The Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (SEAPLEX) went on an in-depth search of the “Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch” this month. Their findings were varied.
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Journey into the “Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch” — Scientific Findings
Friday Fun: Bricks Breaking & Cube Crash
Aug/090
For today’s Friday Fun we take a look at a couple of simple but addicting flash games based on collapsing colored bricks.? It has been a tough week and you have given enough of your time to the company, so relax and have fun with these games.?
Bricks Breaking
With this one you need to select 2 or more bricks of like color that are connected to start collapsing them. If you want to remove a single brick you will need to use one of the magic wands but will want to use them sparingly.
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Cube Crash
This one is similar to Breaking Bricks however you don’t get any magic wands.? To clear a set of bricks there must be three of the same color.? On the left hand side it shows you the number of bricks that need to be crashed before moving to the next level.
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Awesome.? Who knew clicking on colored bricks could be so addicting and fun!?
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Friday Fun: Bricks Breaking & Cube Crash
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