cmcclain | October 24, 2007Beth Terry over at Fake Plastic Fish caught an error in this post about Evert Fresh Produce Bags.
I was reading the list of plastic alternatives in your post on Deep Sea News, and I noticed you recommended Evert Fresh produce bags as being non-petroleum based. I believe that they are in fact petroleum-based. The rep at the company told me that they are polyethylene mixed with clay....I am still waiting for the owner to get back to me to confirm what the rep said and get more details. But even Reusablebags.com confirmed for me that they are plastic, even though they don't mention that fact…
cmcclain | October 24, 2007The deep ocean (deeper than 1km) is a CO2 sink. Deep water masses are cold and dense which minimizes vertical mixing with overlying ocean layers. This means what carbon travels to the deep is sequestered away from the atmosphere. Eric Galbraith, author of recent study in Nature, notes
"It's like a bottle of Italian salad dressing that hasn't been shaken," he said. "You can leave it there forever and it just doesn't mix."
So how much CO2 can the deep ocean store?
Looking at the last ice age, 20,000 years ago, Galbraith et al. examined how the deep ocean stored CO2 when atmospheric levels…
cmcclain | October 19, 2007Abel Pharmboy over at Terra Sigillata has a nice write up about Therapeutic Natural Products from the Sea. The ocean fauna is the potential host to several "sources of compounds that can be used as therapeutic agents." These include drugs to treat some cancers and leukemias. The better news is that most of these drugs, after originally being isolated from marine animals, are now derived synthetically removing the need to further harvest. It is really a win-win...win situation. Low impact to marine systems, cures for diseases, and one hell of reason to conserve ocean environments.
petnoyer | October 19, 2007
Industrial fishing operations take most of the blame for collateral impacts to sea-turtle populations, but new research shows that small-scale fisheries--operated by hand from little open boats --can kill as many critically endangered loggerhead sea turtles as industrial scale fisheries. A pioneering case study conducted on small-scale fisheries at Baja California Sur, Mexico found that small scale artisinal fisheries in Baja California Sur can kill 1000 sea turtles per year, and possibly many more.
Local fishermen ply these waters for halibut and other bottom fish using gillnets and strings…
cmcclain | October 18, 2007I am relaxing the 200m rule for DSN, to bring you some photographs from one of my favorites, Kawika Chetron. To say that Kawika's photos of the kelp forest are stunning would be a gross understatement. Luckily, you can view most of his portfolio online.
"Deep Shale", Monterey Bay, California February 17, 2007:
Often, when I show a picture to a non-diving friend, the first question they ask is "How deep were you when you took that?". The implication, of course, being that the deeper the depth, the better the photograph must be. This, then, is the very best photograph on the site. This…
cmcclain | October 18, 2007A bill in the senate has passed that will focus research on ocean acidification. The Lutenberg Measure, crafted by Senator Frank R. Lutenberg (D-NJ) and cosponsored by Barbara Boxer (D-CA), directs funds to the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study of the acidification of oceans and how this process affects the United States.
"Ocean acidification is a threat to our marine ecosystem and our economy," said Sen. Lautenberg. "The change in ocean chemistry caused by greenhouse gases is corrosive and affects our marine life, food supply and overall ocean health. But research on ocean…
cmcclain | October 18, 2007
How much would you pay to save a lobster? $160 is the amount Chris Crowell and his wife Jyll Prole paid to purchase a lobster from a Halifax grocery store. Why so much? The lobster, now named Rex, weighed in at 7kg (15.4 lbs). The couple donated Rex to the Bedford Institute of Oceanography where Jim Frost, laboratory manager, estimates Rex is 60 years old based on his size. Although large, Rex will not be the largest on record. The top 3 largest lobsters, Homarus americanus, by weight on record are.
'Mike' caught in 1934 19.25kg (42.44 lbs)
an unconfirmed, unnamed female at 11.34kg (…
cmcclain | October 17, 2007I am concerned about comments on a few websites and in the press over the last year. Most disheartening is a EU memo entitled "Questions and Answers on Destructive Fishing Practices"
When scientists talk about vulnerable marine habitats in the context of the deep sea, they are referring to structures such as cold-water corals, hydrothermal vents, sea mounts or deep sea sponge beds. Not a great deal is known about such structures, but two things are already clear from the research that has been conducted to date: 1. that they function as concentrators of biodiversity in what are otherwise…
cmcclain | October 16, 2007Two major expeditions took place in the last few months. The first explored Celebes Sea south of the Philippines from the surface to a depth 2700m.
"This is probably the center where many of the species evolved and spread to other parts of the ocean, so it's going back to the source in many ways," Madin [the expedition leader] stated.
The project involved the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and National Geographic Magazine in cooperation with the Philippine government, which also provided the exploration ship.
The most striking creature found was a spiny orange-colored worm that had…
cmcclain | October 16, 2007For much of Cindy Lee Van Dover's professional life, she has been a pioneer...In 1990, she became the first woman with a license to pilot an Alvin...She was named the first woman to direct the Duke University Marine Laboratory here.
You can read the rest of the interview over at The New York Times.
petnoyer | October 14, 2007We don't mention it often, but Craig and I publish regularly outside Deep Sea News, in the public arena of peer-reviewed scientific literature. Craig authors ~3 scientific journal articles per year since 2004. I author ~2/yr. The last two years were above average for both of us. This is amazing to me, because we spend so much time writing for DSN. Either our cups runneth over, or the glacial pace of scientific publishing obscures the impact of our extra-curricular reporting activities here at DSN. I tell you this so you know we are contributors to the field, not only journalists. We make the…
cmcclain | October 12, 2007If you haven't heard our Seed overlords are offering $15,000 in matching funds. Seed is also offering some sweet prizes to donors which you can enter to win:
1 fresh, new iPod nano
21 "Seed Hearts Threadless" tee shirts (design here )
21 ScienceBlogs mugs
21 subscriptions to Seed magazine
9 copies of "The Best American Science Writing 2007"
Sweet indeed! Interested? Just forward your email reciept from DonorsChoose to scienceblogs@gmail.com.
There well be three prize drawings, each on a Tuesday: Tuesday the 15th, Tuesday the 22nd, and Tuesday the 29th (3 Tees, 7 mug, 7 subscriptions,…
cmcclain | October 11, 2007
Image credit: © 2003 MBARI. Stellamedusa ventana is a recently described species of jelly, the size of softball, from the deep sea. The bumps on the bell and arms are loaded with stinging cells (pneumatacysts) that can capture and hold on to prey up to 5 cm (2 inches) across.
cmcclain | October 11, 2007
What else can you say? More famous people here. More on Captain James Cook here!
cmcclain | October 11, 2007When I am diving, I have the tendency to get a little bored. Coral reefs...yeah,yeah...brightly-colored fish...yawn...charismatic invertebrates...ho-hum...sharks, octopods, communing with nature, etc. My dives are always missing something. Maybe they would be better with a soundtrack. Songs with crescendos to liven up the rather boring scene. But how do I get the music down there. Luckily, there is the aqua radio! Obviously, I am going to need this as well.
cmcclain | October 10, 2007
Whale-fall communities are one of the most unique habitats in the deep oceans. When a whale dies and sinks to the ocean floor, it represents a carbon-rich parcel that contrasts sharply to the food-poor desert around. Whale carcasses attract both opportunistic, and typically scavenging, species who feed on anything. In addition, there are a suite of species that are specially adapted to whale carcasses like the bone-eating worms. Whale falls were first discovered in 1989 by Craig Smith and team and just two short years after a fossil whale fall was found. These fossil whale-fall…
cmcclain | October 10, 2007...that is if you forget that they are gas-guzzling uber machines spewing carbon dioxide.
Aerosols produced by the exhaust from large oceanic vessels often produce a thin line of clouds trailing miles behind a ship, an aerosol indirect effect (above). This effect is usually split into two processes:
the first indirect effect, whereby an increase in aerosols causes an increase in droplet concentration and a decrease in droplet size for fixed liquid water content (Twomey, 1974), and the second indirect effect, whereby the reduction in cloud droplet size affects the precipitation efficiency…
cmcclain | October 10, 2007I was very excited today to see that during my absence we reached the 2007 DSN Education Fundapalooza goal of $1100. We funded 3 classroom projects and made a dent in the fourth. I cannot begin to express the importance of this to me and how grateful I am for all your donations. Those of you who donated forward along your email receipt for Donor's Choose and I will randomly select three of you for our give aways.