petnoyer
Posts by this author
April 20, 2008
Leighton Rolley, a systems technician on the "world's most advanced research ship" the RRS James Cook, used a remotely operated vehicle capable to 5000 m depth to plant the Welsh dragon flag in the waters of the Galapagos, in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, according to BBC News. The shipboard team…
April 18, 2008
Lophelia pertusa is a framework building scleractinian coral found between 200 - 1000m in the Gulf of Mexico and around the world. Suspension feeding galatheoid crabs are typically associated with Lophelia thickets and bioherms. Their chelipeds are outstretched to capture particulate organic…
April 16, 2008
Did you know that Evel Kneivel was an "Ecodaredevil" before he started jumping cars and canyons? He hitch hiked from Butte, Montana to Washington, D.C. in the cold of winter to help save elk from slaughter in Yellowstone Park.
That's one reason J Nichols dreamed up the Ecodaredevil award for his…
April 15, 2008
Mark your calendars for the last few days of April because the tentacles are gonna hit the fan here and across the blogosphere from April 27 to May 2 when Deep Sea News asks readers "how deep is your love" for corals. This is 2008, the International Year of the Reef! But we're gonna try to squeeze…
April 14, 2008
As Kevin Zelnio mentions below, its National Poetry Month, but little did the man know its Copycat Day in Corpus Christi, too. Isn't it great when the stars align? Kevin and I must have been riding the same bow wave because cephalopods and great poets were on our mind. I heard this yesterday from…
April 13, 2008
So, if the poles are slowly melting away, will icy habitats actually increase their extent as icebergs disperse to low latitudes and pack ice fractures? If you're a glacial squid (pictured above) you might see your habitat opening-up a little bit, unlucky for you because you're 'an abundant mid-…
April 8, 2008
A special guest post by Bryan Wallace of Conservation International, featuring original research
In April of last year, I posted a story about how leatherback turtles are deep-sea explorers due to their incredible abilities to cope with the challenging conditions of the deep. The story was…
April 4, 2008
For many years, the Japanese were accused of exploiting the 'scientific whaling' loophole at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) for the purposes of commercial harvest to satisfy a seemingly insatiable appetite for seafood. But, until now, there was little evidence to support the claim.
Dr…
April 4, 2008
Surfrider Foundation says.... you have the power to help preserve and protect our oceans, waves and beaches by asking your Congressional Representative to support the Oceans Conservation, Education and National Strategy for the 21st Century Act ("Oceans-21"). Oceans-21 provides common sense…
March 27, 2008
Spring is in the air. Spring Break is upon us, and the mind begins to wander... to the poles? Well, yes, because the Antarctic is calving enormous glaciers and researchers are predicting a seasonally ice-free Arctic by the year 2030. Break out the kayaks and suncreen. It's "Wild on, Nuuk."
The news…
March 27, 2008
New Zealanders impress me at nearly every turn. I mean, when was the last time your local news station sent out a reporter by helicopter to land on an Antarctic iceberg floating by offshore? The guys in this video are from the Otago Daily Times. One of the intrepid chaps sums it up nicely,... "all…
March 27, 2008
Isn't it ironic that the International Polar Year falls on the year with the least Arctic ice cover? The North Pole is now literally on thin ice. Scientists are predicting a seasonally ice free Arctic by 2030. The image above illustrates the changing extent of Arctic sea ice over the last fifty…
March 24, 2008
American space and satellite technologies provide valuable services to our global society and important contributions to global environmental monitoring. In a way, the whole world depends upon the United States global observing system of geopositional and environmental satellites to monitor…
March 23, 2008
J Nichols of the Ocean Conservancy and Ocean Revolution is a hero for the environment. He works with fishermen off Baja California to spread the word about sea turtle conservation. One of the problems he faces is the Mexican tradition of consuming sea turtles and their eggs during Lent. We…
March 19, 2008
Ongoing discussion about the potential effects of ocean acidification on deep-sea corals has me wondering about the case of acid rain in North American lakes. This is something we understand much better. Environment Canada has a great looking and informative Freshwater Website that includes this…
March 18, 2008
The global ocean has already taken up half of the atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by humans over the last 200 years, so the ongoing effects of climate change are dampened. That's right, you can thank the ocean for saving the planet so far. Without the ocean, what we would have? A place that…
March 18, 2008
Are deep-sea and pelagic habitats adequately represented in the new US plan for a national system of marine protected areas? I dunno, it just came out! We have 30 days to comment....
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of the Interior (DOI) is pleased to…
March 11, 2008
The March 2008 copy of Marine Technology magazine features the "ROV-AUV-UUV" annual report. You can read it online or sign up at Seadiscovery.com for a free subscription. It's probably the best deal in marine science next to student membership in the American Geophysical Union.
Beside the ROV…
March 11, 2008
Guest post by Dr. Christina Kellogg, USGS
Corals don't usually know what country they are living in, and those that do assure me that it does not affect their biology, just their politics. So, imagine the enthusiasm greeting the announcement of an Atlantic Ocean-wide research program to study…
March 4, 2008
Plastic bags from the stomach of a dead minke whale are making the news in the UK. British newspaper Daily Mail has a story on a whale found dead in the English Channel back in 2002. The animal was initially thought to die from natural causes but an autopsy revealed 2 lbs of plastic bags clogging…
March 3, 2008
Perhaps you thought houseboats were going out of style? Au contraire, sea levels are rising and coastal populations are increasing, so the land is disappearing while the density of residents grows. Life on the water seems like the perfect solution for some people, especially in Europe, where…
February 29, 2008
Do you ever get bored when you're scuba diving on a Caribbean shipwreck, and wish you had a Mermaid guide to show you around? Thanks to the fabulous new mer-suit technology from Otter Bay your wish may come true. Seashells not included. The video is one of a series from UWvideographer at YouTube…
February 28, 2008
China has a knack for naming their exploration vehicles. They gave the world the Shenzhou (or "divine vessels") to reach outer space and the Taikonauts to fly them. Now China is planning an ocean exploration program 'equally important' to their space endeavours, including plans to build a sub-sea…
February 26, 2008
You are a giant swarm of Antarctic krill migrating daily from sunlit surface waters down to the 4500m in the abyss. Some portion of your population is bound to get hungry by the time you reach the bottom. Whattya gonna do? Wait for food to rain down from above?
Not according to a new article in…
February 21, 2008
Leonardo Solaas is an artist from Buenos Aires, Argentina who invented a way for you to generate your own original digital art pieces based upon your input of a few keywords. Kevin generated the image above using the words "giant squid". It's one of a kind. Check it out, the software description…
February 21, 2008
Congratulations to the US Navy for skeet shooting a satellite from ships at sea. You have to admit, its an impressive feat. But will it become a trend? One candidate isn't even off the ground yet.
Satellites used to fly instruments designed to do one thing, like measure ocean color for instance,…
February 18, 2008
Texas A&M University researcher Brendan Roark announced last week at American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) that age and growth studies of deep-sea gold corals (Geradia sp.) and black corals (Leiopathes glaberrima, pictured left) indicate these animals live between two and…
February 15, 2008
Yesterday, February 14, the House passed HR 1834, the National Ocean Exploration Program Act (amended), by a vote of 352-49. The bill would authorize the National Ocean Exploration Program and the National Undersea Research Program, two extramural research programs within the National Oceanic and…
January 31, 2008
The fourth season of LOST finally begins tonight on ABC. Hoo-rah!
Deep-sea fans weathered all sorts of abuses last season after John Locke blew up the Others' submarine "Galaga", and Mikhail used a hand grenade to flood the Looking Glass. The Looking Glass is an underwater jamming station equipped…
January 30, 2008
Aaaarh. The bottom fell out of my Scienceblogs coffee mug today! Don't fear, ya' scurvies. No one was hurt. For those so inclined, I provide a photo of the fracture and a brief analysis of the structural failure. You know, just for kicks. The details will of course be accompanied by fond…