cmcclain | September 9, 2007 A lot of planning goes into our theme weeks at DSN. It usually starts several months prior with a simple idea born out of discussion that start with "Wouldn't it be cool". I love theme weeks! As I ready the posts for the week, I am giddy with anticipation. Behind the scenes, things are frantic as we assemble posts, plan the event, set our strategery, and initiate a blitzkriegs of emails. Theme weeks allow us to focus on interesting topics and potentially 'school' the public on new or overlooked research while potentially generating some excitement. We hope these events also generate…
cmcclain | September 9, 2007Greek mythology portrays Atlas supporting the world, but the time has come to break it to you, Atlas is a metaphor for the vast unseen majority - the microbes. The few microbes that cause blood to spew from every human orifice get all the press. Most microbes are quietly minding their business and keeping life on this planet functioning. Beer, wine, cheese, bread, Penicillin--these are not just the components of a hot date, but everyday examples of microbiology in action.
Any biogeochemical cycle out there has a microbial component. Aerosol bacteria seed clouds and alter weather. The…
cmcclain | September 8, 2007Last year DSN, although not a Sb'ling, participated in the Donor's Choose Campaign. Various bloggers here at Sb, with the help of our readers, raised money for classrooms across the US. DonorsChoose is an organization that helps teachers fund classroom projects and other student learning experiences. DSN raised over $500 dollars last year to send children from a southern California school on a field trip to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. Stay tuned for more details on this. So to follow Janet's lead...
If you're a school teacher trying to spin straw into gold -- or you know a school…
petnoyer | September 7, 2007
Clips from the BBC series Planet Earth Ocean Deep episode have found their way to YouTube. The clip embedded above starts in a deep (guessing 750m) gorgonian field on a Northeast Pacific seamount, and moves to follow a foraging nautilus that migrated into a shallow water reef by night, from ~400m depth.
cmcclain | September 6, 2007Clione, a shell-less snail know as the Sea Butterfly swims in the shallow waters beneath Arctic ice. Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Explorer and Elisabeth Calvert, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
petnoyer | September 5, 2007Part one of four in a series about Greenpeace recent manned submersible expedition to two of the largest submarine canyons in the world, the Pribilof and Zhemchug Canyons in the Bering Sea off the west coast of Alaska.
One of the core principles taught to me and other students at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment is that the environmental movement at the turn of the century will be marked, or perhaps best remembered, by "the rise of non-governmental organizations (NGO's)" in the public policy arena. We learned that NGO activity expanded to fill a gap in civil society left open by a…
petnoyer | September 5, 2007Part two of four in a series about Greenpeace recent manned submersible expedition to two of the largest submarine canyons in the world, the Pribilof and Zhemchug Canyons in the Bering Sea off the west coast of Alaska.
So, why would an environmental organization like Greenpeace go to the trouble of training staff to pilot a pair of manned submersibles through 2000 feet of water in the two largest submarine canyons in the world, the Pribilof and Zhemchug Canyons, in the heart of the Bering Sea?
Because it's going to be a long, long time before federal agencies are willing to surrender the…
petnoyer | September 5, 2007Part three of four in a series about Greenpeace recent manned submersible expedition to two of the largest submarine canyons in the world, the Pribilof and Zhemchug Canyons in the Bering Sea off the west coast of Alaska.
The following exclusive interview was conducted by Deep Sea News over email with John Hocevar, ocean specialist for the Greenpeace organization, and a sub-pilot for the 2007 Bering Witness Expedition.
1. What is Greenpeace hoping to accomplish on this Bering Sea Expedition?
This expedition was about increasing our collective understanding of Bering Sea canyons. Policy makers…
petnoyer | September 5, 2007Part four of four in a series about Greenpeace recent manned submersible expedition to two of the largest submarine canyons in the world, the Pribilof and Zhemchug Canyons in the Bering Sea off the west coast of Alaska.
The following exclusive interview was conducted by Deep Sea news over email with Dr. David Guggenheim, submarine pilot and scientific advisor for the Bering Witness expedition. He is the founder of 1planet1ocean; and the OceanDoctor blog. In this interview, he answers 11 questions detailing his recent experiences as sub-pilot, scientist, and communicator.
1. What kind of subs…
cmcclain | September 5, 2007"Welcome to the ugly underbelly of marine science...The author does not condone the behaviors depicted on this website. Marine invertebrates should not use drugs or consume alcohol"
petnoyer | September 5, 2007The Corpus Christi Caller Times reported Monday that a record number of Kemp's ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) nests were found this year on South Texas beaches, making the Padre Island National Seashore the hottest nesting spot for sea turtles in the United States.
To give you an idea of the effort that went into the search, a total of 135 sea turtle nests were located in 8,895 hours of surveys over 73,632 miles of daily patrols. Of these, 128 nests were Kemp's ridleys, six nests were loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta), and one nest was from a green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas…
petnoyer | September 4, 2007
Seafloor mining continues to gain popularity in response to discoveries of diamond beds off Namibia and mineral deposits off Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. Today the Cape Business News announced another player bidding for these deep riches, the Cape Town based Marine and Mineral Projects. The company was responsible for the construction of the remote crawler used on the Peace in Africa, a De Beers Consolidated Mines owned ship that was converted into a floating diamond mine in a mammoth two year project. An example of a deep-sea crawler is shown above from Seascape Company. The full…
petnoyer | August 31, 2007Let's make Friday a special occaision here at Deep Sea News. Last Friday we posted a geeky fish video and an online video game, along with the usual photo. Folks were so thankful for the entertainment that our gross national product probably dropped by one millionth of one percent. We should make it a tradition, out of respect for our European friends, if not ourselves.
Whatever happened to Fridays back in the American 70's, you know, with wall posters of kitty cats hanging from a limb saying "Hang On, Baby Friday's Coming" rather than foggy mountain vista's saying "Inspire. Achieve"?…
petnoyer | August 30, 2007
A microscopic baby octopus was collected in plankton samples from a 2005 expedition to the Sargasso Sea.
National Geographic posts more photos at their website here.
cmcclain | August 30, 2007Stumbled upon the site Catalogue of Organisms for those with an inordinate fondness for systematics. It's high on the geek-o-meter which is probably why I love it so much. You got to love a site that dedicates a whole post to Gastrotrichs. Christopher as done a couple posts on deep-sea fish, the personal favorite Gonostomatidae* and the Saccopharyngiformes.
*Scroll down and see if the names in references look familiar
cmcclain | August 30, 2007...of ten strangers, picked to be on the same expedition, 5 scientists and 5 evangicals working together to find out what happens, when people stop being polite, and start getting real...
A group of five scientists and five evangelical leaders began traveling together on August 25th to observe first- hand the dramatic effects of climate change on local people and on the land, ocean, plants, and wildlife of the nation's northernmost state.
"The goal of our trip is to witness together what human-caused climate change is doing to our world," said co-leader of the trip Eric Chivian, who shared…
petnoyer | August 30, 2007Think of the changing seasons around you, and the way plants and animals respond to these changes. Trees change color in response to decreasing light levels. Birds migrate, and bears go into hibernation as winter approaches. So, we wonder, what are the seasonal cues in the abyss? Are summer days longer than winter days in the deep-sea? What's the ocean equivalent of rainfall, anyhow?
If you've read Craig McClain's "25 Things You Should Know About the Deep-Sea" you know that a) the deep sea-floor is not a stable environment and b) processes and patterns are linked to surface production.…
cmcclain | August 29, 2007A great website called howtoons produces cartoon how-to guides to build a variety of thing to teach children, and adults, basics of engineering and science. My favorite is the Soda Bottle Submarine. When I am back ashore I plan on building a whole fleet and taking over the world.
cmcclain | August 29, 2007
Bornrich.org, which is not a site I visit often, as a list of the most popular luxury submarines. Most of these we have covered before. There is just something about the name and design of the Proteus that draws me in.
The 65-feet Proteus is exceptional and is capable of offering the ultimate in underwater luxury. It can accommodate up to fourteen divers on the fore and aft deck who can submerge with the vessel while eight people can sit inside the dry cabin for magnificent viewing.