Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
The deep-sea gorgonian genus Iridogorgia sp. is characterized by a partially calcareous axis with an open, upright spiral or helix arrangement (Verrill, 1883) used to strain food from the water column. Three new species were described last year (Watling 2007). This photo is from the Gulf of Mexico.
AE Verrill (1883) described the family Chrysogorgidae to which Iridogorgia belongs, calling them "the most beautiful and interesting of all the known gorgonians". He compares the iridescent colors of the axis to burnished gold, mother-of-pearl, and the "most brilliant tropical beetles". Shrimp like them, too. How many do you count living on this colony?
When a sailor misses a chance to go to sea, he tends to wander around his garden, paying special attention to the clouds and the weather, as if he were walking on the ship's deck in fresh sea air. He circles his home like it were a shipyard, looking for repairs. Today I noticed some rotting wood on the gable in a corner of the garden. A bee crawled out.
The adjacent firebush (Fig. 1) buzzes every morning with dozens of bees of a few different species. Two species are bumblebees, big, black, and loud; the other is small, like a honeybee, yellow and black. Hummingbirds also frequent the bush. I like it because it reminds me of a deep-sea coral colony, covered with invertebrates.
I am concerned about the bees because populations are in great decline throughout North America. So I take special care of this firebush, hoping to make a small contribution to their eventual recovery.
Well, we are mostly packed up and the family is ready for our big move to coastal North Carolina to start my new job at the Duke University Marine Lab! And it seems like we might be greeted with southern hospitality by Hannah. My first time living in the south and we are immediately confronted by Storm World. That's just Faaaaaaaaaantastic...
Since I will be temporarily living on one of the barrier islands, I may not even be able to get to our new home to unpack and hunker down. They shut the bridge down if winds exceed 60 mph. I even need to get a "hurricane pass" which allows me onto the island in the event there is a mandatory evacuation. So I guess its apparent to me now I am moving to hurricane country. I know several readers are hurricane survivors. What the heck do I do if it makes landfall when we move there?? Its a bit surreal to me. Although I grew up in Iowa and am very used to tornadoes, hurricanes seem much more frightening to me. We used to BBQ, slam down Icehouse and watch the tornadoes form, move a little and disappear. Touch-downs in suburban/urban areas were much rarer during the time I grew up and area where I lived. Hurricanes seem to just destroy everything in a wide path. Water damage sucks. Seriously it does.
Over at The Saipan Blog. Excellent Collection of ocean-related articles. Learn about the proposed Mariana Trench National Monument and how Bush supports it! Kudos to Angelo for this edition of the Carnival of the Blue and all his hard work promoting the creation of the monument.
Extra: Just read this letter to editor regarding the NY Times article on the new alvin:
" Re "New Sphere in Exploring the Abyss" (Aug. 26): I am heartened by the push to deeper ocean frontiers promised by the development of the new subs. Every such exploration yields unimagined life forms and provides us astronomers a greater hope that life will be found on the bizarre exoplanets we are finding.
At the same time I am saddened by the struggle to find the $25 million to finish the project in a timely manner. We spend that much money in Iraq in less than two hours. One can only dream of what wonderful intellectual and practical returns U.S. science could provide with comparable investment. Daniel B. Caton
Boone, N.C.
The writer is director of observatories at Appalachian State University."
While Deep Sea News is still preparing our new home, spackling the cracks, painting the walls, sanitizing the fridge, throwing out the empties form the last tenant's going away party, unpacking the boxes and otherwise getting settled in, other people are keeping on top of things in our ocean world!
The North and South American continents joined up just three million years ago, but before then there was a chain of deep sea channels from the Pacific through to the Atlantic. Sandwiched between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands is a trench approximately 5000 meters deep (or a little more than three miles,) which has yet to be explored. But that will soon change thanks to the National Oceanographic Centre, Southampton.
"T. costata has "very peculiar characteristics" that set it apart from two other species of giant clam that are also found in the area.
The Latin word costatus means "ribbed" and T. costata has a disitinctive, zig-zag outline to its shell.
"The new species are mid-sized clams - up to 40cm long and a couple of kilograms heavy," explained co-author Dr Claudio Richter, from the Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany.
The new species has a distant relative, T. gigas, which can grow up to 1.4m long.
Live specimens of T. costata appear to be restricted to very shallow waters. Other species were also found in deeper reef zones.
The clam has an earlier and shorter breeding season that coincides with the seasonal plankton bloom. Genetic analysis confirmed the status of the new species."
Oops, its also almost gone (at least we found it first, think of how many species are gone before they can be discovered by biologists).
"Fossils suggest that, about 125,000 years ago, the species Tridacna costata accounted for more than 80% of the area's giant clams.
The species may now be critically endangered, researchers report in Current Biology journal.
The scientists believe their findings may represent one of the earliest examples of the over-exploitation of marine organisms by humans."
The New Scientist warns that sea levels could rise past the IPCC estimates. Doesn't Earth know better to heed an international governing body? How dare it act unilaterally and rise more than we've calculated!
Sheril reports that Barack Obama has taken up the challenge and answered the 14 questions posed by the ScienceDebate08 coalition. These 14 issues run the gamut from space to health to security and education. In particular to myself and you the reader, there was one very important question about the ocean's health:
9. Ocean Health. Scientists estimate that some 75 percent of the world's fisheries are in serious decline and habitats around the world like coral reefs are seriously threatened. What steps, if any, should the United States take during your presidency to protect ocean health?
"Oceans are crucial to the earth's ecosystem and to all Americans because they drive global weather patterns, feed our people and are a major source of employment for fisheries and recreation. As president, I will commit my administration to develop the kind of strong, integrated, well-managed program of ocean stewardship that is essential to sustain a healthy marine environment.
Global climate change could have catastrophic effects on ocean ecologies. Protection of the oceans is one of the many reasons I have developed an ambitious plan to reduce U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases 80 percent below 1990 by 2050. We need to enhance our understanding of the effect of climate change on oceans and the effect of acidification on marine life through expanded research programs at NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). I will propel the U.S. into a leadership position in marine stewardship and climate change research. Stronger collaboration across U.S. scientific agencies and internationally is needed in basic research and for designing mitigation strategies to reverse or offset the damage being done to oceans and coastal areas.
The oceans are a global resource and a global responsibility for which the U.S. can and should take a more active role. I will work actively to ensure that the U.S. ratifies the Law of the Sea Convention - an agreement supported by more than 150 countries that will protect our economic and security interests while providing an important international collaboration to protect the oceans and its resources. My administration will also strengthen regional and bilateral research and oceans preservation efforts with other Gulf Coast nations.
Our coastal areas and beaches are American treasures and are among our favorite places to live and visit. I will work to reauthorize the Coastal Zone Management Act in ways that strengthen the collaboration between federal agencies and state and local organizations. The National Marine Sanctuaries and the Oceans and Human Health Acts provide essential protection for ocean resources and support the research needed to implement a comprehensive ocean policy. These programs will be strengthened and reauthorized."
There are several things I would have loved to hear more about. He was stuck on the global warming mantra, which is undoubtedly important, and brought up acidification. I would have liked to hear him say he supports the creation of a Oceans Agency of some sort that unifies the disparate federal arms of USGS, NOAA, NASA, USFWS and provides them with a budget and clear set of objectives. I also want to know how he intends on increasing funding. I've his tax structure next to McCain's. But with all the other things to pay for, where do you think the compromise will be? How important does an Obama government view the oceans, relative to social issues? From this answer, it is hard to judge because he seems to have a generally positive view about science (see all his answers to the 14 questions), which certainly gladdens my heart. But when the ocean research funding line has to be drawn, where is the line going to be in the sand? I am anxious to hear how John McCain answers this question.
I couldn't resist. FAILBlog has the original entry, a screenshot from a forum by someone who has a plan to stop sea level rise, an outcome of global warming. Here is what the text says:
"I was watching inconvenient truth the other day and theres the bit where it shows the sea level rising really high and flooding most of the world. Well i live near the sea, and don't want to drown, so i got to thinking. Maybe if we lower the sea level a bit, when the water level rises then it won't rise high enough to flood.
Anyway, heres the plan. Everyone who can should take a bucket of sea water and pour it down the sink. If lots of people put the effort in, we could lower the sea level substantially and create a better world for our children to live"
ROTFLMAO, but seriously this is a scientist, education and media fail. If this person is to represent an average person who gets his information from TV and the internet with no scientific background, then we may as well be doomed.
Just another lazy friday afternoon. I don't know about you, but i felt more relaxed after listening to that, almost sleepy. Maybe you need a little sting to wake you up after that? (below the fold)
If I like what I see, I'll receive 5 more issues (6 in all) for just $14.95. That's 50% off the cover price! If I'm not completely satisfied, I'll simply write "cancel" on the invoice and owe nothing. The free issue is mine to keep.
Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
