Clipmarks | pokkets's 'ocean' clips

A new option for global citizenship?

Mon, 19 May 2008 09:33:28 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Tired of the United States and the other 190-odd nations on Earth?

If a small team of Silicon Valley millionaires get their way, in a few years, you could have a new option for global citizenship: A permanent, quasi-sovereign nation floating in international waters.

With a $500,000 donation from PayPal founder Peter Thiel, a Google engineer and a former Sun Microsystems programmer have launched The Seasteading Institute, an organization dedicated to creating experimental ocean communities "with diverse social, political, and legal systems."

"Decades from now, those looking back at the start of the century will understand that Seasteading was an obvious step towards encouraging the development of more efficient, practical public-sector models around the world," Thiel said in a statement.

the institute isn't playing around: It plans to splash a prototype into the San Francisco Bay within the next two years,

Tags: future, seastead, ocean

Huge 'Ocean' Discovered Inside Earth

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 17:58:27 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Scientists scanning the deep interior of Earth have found evidence of a vast water reservoir beneath eastern Asia that is at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean.

The discovery marks the first time such a large body of water has found in the planet’s deep mantle.

Looking down deep

The pair analyzed more than 600,000 seismograms—records of waves generated by earthquakes traveling through the Earth—collected from instruments scattered around the planet.

They noticed a region beneath Asia where seismic waves appeared to dampen, or “attenuate,” and also slow down slightly. “Water slows the speed of waves a little,” Wysession explained. “Lots of damping and a little slowing match the predictions for water very well.”

“That’s a real back of the envelope type calculation,” Wysession said. “That’s the best that we can do at this point.”

Tags: science, earth, water, ocean

Quakes Under Pacific Ocean Floor Reveal Unexpected Circulation System

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 01:32:02 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: www.nsf.gov

Zigzagging some 60,000 kilometers across the ocean floor, Earth's system of mid-ocean ridges plays a pivotal role in many workings of the planet: in plate-tectonic movements, heat flow from the interior, and the chemistry of rock, water and air.

The systems pull in cold water, superheat it, then spit it back out from seafloor vents--a process that brings up not only hot water, but dissolved substances from rocks below. Unique life forms feed off the vents' stew, and valuable minerals including gold may pile up.

water moves a lot faster than previously thought--perhaps a billion gallons per year--through these systems. The water appears to descend instead through a buried 200-meter-wide chimney atop the ridge studied on the East Pacific Rise, run below the ridge along its axis through a tunnel just above a magma chamber, then bubble back up through a series of vents further along the ridge.

Tags: geology, ocean

Behold the power of the ocean

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 03:38:04 GMT

clipped by: raven714

Clip Source: www.funlol.com

Tags: power, ocean

Urea 'climate solution' may backfire

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 07:31:18 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Similar to the idea of seeding the ocean with iron, the project is being seen as a way of generating 'carbon credits' Independent scientists have called for further research, however the biggest hurdle seen by the companies seems to be arranging the approval of various national governments. I remember W.C Fields mentioning something about not drinking water because of fish urine. It's a wonder they need more. There is also significant runoff from fertilizer containing nitrates, ending up in the ocean. The company says it is researching but wants to protect 'intellectual property' Natural upswellings of nitrogen have been known to produce toxic blooms, and nitrous oxide, a more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Anna Salleh

Plans by an Australian company to sink hundreds of tonnes of urea into the ocean to combat climate change may backfire and exacerbate global warming, critics say.

Moves to fertilise the ocean with nutrients to boost CO2-consuming phytoplankton and fish stocks has prompted calls for international controls on such experiments

Sydney-based company Ocean Nourishment Corporation (ONC) is looking at using nitrogen-rich urea to boost the growth of CO2-absorbing phytoplankton.

The idea, says the company, is for this form of carbon sequestration to lock up carbon in the oceans for thousands of years.

It says that encouraging the growth of more phytoplankton could also boost fish stocks.

ONC plans to develop this method of carbon sequestration to generate valuable carbon credits.

Phytoplankton blooms, as seen here in green, can occur as a result of natural ocean upwellings

"At the end of the day we're dealing with companies that want to make money out of carbon credits," he says.

Tags: urea, carbon, sequestration, marine, biology, ocean, phytoplankton

Monster waves

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:10:40 GMT

clipped by: kkcapricorn
clipper's remarks: If you go to the site it describes when and where the photos were taken.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Tags: ocean, waves, photography, nature

Wave farm could soon make a splash

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 03:02:03 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Solve two problems at once. Not to mention, the vast amount of dissolved minerals, and metals, present in seawater, which could be refined from the salt.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Anna Salleh

Commercial wave-powered water desalination and electricity generation is one step closer to reality, report Australian developers.

Trials of a technology called CETO have yielded promising results, says Dr Michael Ottaviano of Carnegie Corporation, which is developing the system in the southern hemisphere.

The tests, carried out in Fremantle, Western Australia, verify predictions of how much electricity and water the technology can produce under various wave conditions.

"We've found a perfect correlation between the results our models predicted and what we've actually measured in the ocean, which is a major technical milestone," says Ottaviano.

Click here to enlarge an animation of how the wave farm would work

The CETO technology, first conceived by

Alan Burns in 1975, consists of submerged buoys connected to seawater pumps fixed to the seabed.

As each buoy moves back and forward

it generates energy

to drive a reverse osmosis desalination plant as well as hydroelectricity turbines.

Tags: wave, farm, energy, electricity, osmisis, desalination, sea, water, ocean

Mouse click reveals ancient coastline

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 05:55:41 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: The link 'map' is to the page where the map is displayed. It is still a work in progress, and requires 1024x768 screen resolution, and fast internet connection (500kB download) plus flash player.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Anna Salleh

The changing shape of Australasia can now be seen in a new interactive digital map that mimics the rise and fall of sea levels over the past 100,000 years.

How exactly humans migrated across oceans is a key question in archaeology. Now a new tool brings theories to life

The map also has pop-up images and text about key archaeological sites and possible routes humans took from Asia to Australia during the last ice age.

"What I've done is take a lot of the paradigms of Google Earth and extend them by the extra dimension of time," says designer

Matthew Coller who presented his map at the recent Australasian Archaeological Conference at the University of Sydney

the effect of sea level changes over time is fundamental to archaeology, says Coller, a Monash University multimedia lecturer with an interest in archaeology

Coller used data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Geoscience Australia of the sea floor and changes in sea level around Australia and Asia.

Tags: archaeology, map, mouse, ancient, coastline, ocean

Blobfish -- deepwater fish rarely seen by humans

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 02:55:51 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: www.diced.jp

The Blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus) Is a deepwater fish rarely seen by humans. It is found along the shores of Australia and Tasmania. Blobfish are made mostly of jelly. This jelly flesh weighs less than water, allowing them to float, and conserving energy otherwise spent in an attempt to stay off the sea floor. It is also an alternative to a gas-filled swim bladder, a feature of many fish in shallower water. At 800 metres deep, the pressure is about 80 times higher than at sea level, so any gas would be too compressed to serve the purpose. Their lack of muscles is no hindrance – they have a feeding strategy that consists of sitting and waiting for something edible to pass.

Clip Source: www.diced.jp

Tags: animals, science, nature, ocean

Plane to help protect Hawaii coral reefs

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:05:36 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.mail.com

A kite-sized, unmanned airplane is joining the effort to protect endangered Hawaiian monk seals and coral reefs in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

Managers of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument plan to use the 10-pound plane as early as October to help them spot nets and other marine debris.

The electric-powered craft will transmit digital video footage back to a research ship crew that will collect the nets that could entangle monk seals, green sea turtles and other wildlife. Officials also aim to prevent the nets from snagging on coral reefs in the monument.

The Malolo

Hawaiian for flying fish

can carry a camera or other equipment on flights from a host ship. The foam core and carbon fiber plane has wings that span 7 feet

The Malolo's camera will send streaming video back to the Oscar E. Sette research ship, pinpointing debris within a one- or two-hour flight range.

The crew of the Sette, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration vessel, then will collect the debris

Tags: plane, coral, reef, hawaii, ocean, net, fishing, monk seal

Swimming pool in the back yard

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:38:13 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.campanatour.cz

Tags: water, tropical, swimming, hut, ocean

Red Tide

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 17:18:15 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

is a common name for a phenomenon known as an algal bloom, an event in which estuarine, marine, or fresh water algae accumulate rapidly in the water column, or "bloom".

The most conspicuous effects of red tides are the associated wildlife mortalities among marine and coastal species of fish, birds, marine mammals and other organisms. In the case of Florida red tides, these mortalities are caused by exposure to a potent neurotoxin produced naturally by Karenia brevis, called brevetoxin.

It is unclear what causes red tides, but the frequency and severity of algal blooms in many parts of the world have been linked to increased nutrient loading from human activities. The growth of marine phytoplankton is generally limited by the availability of nitrates and phosphates, which can be abundant in agricultural run-off.

Coastal water pollution produced by humans and systematic increase in sea water temperature have also been implicated as contributing factors in red tides.

Tags: red tide, neurotoxin, algal bloom, water, ocean

Solar Powered Sea Slugs

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 13:52:57 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

In oceans all over the world, sea slugs are at the cutting edge of harvesting alternative energy. By farming photosynthetic cells stolen from their food and using the nutrients they produce, these spectacularly beautiful creatures have effectively become solar-powered, part-time plants.

Kleptoplasty? Vegetarians Meat-eaters Part-time plants

Sea slugs are some of the most strikingly beautiful - and unattractively named - creatures in the ocean. Image: Tony Karacsonyi

Unlike the unattractive, slimy brown slugs we see in our gardens, sea slugs are among the most spectacular and morphologically diverse animals on earth. From metre long giants to tiny creatures that easily move between grains of sand, sea slugs can be found crawling over rocks, seaweeds, sponges and corals from the polar regions to the tropics. Some 3000 species of sea slugs have already been described worldwide.

Although they lack shells, sea slugs are in fact molluscs – related to clams, oysters, squids and snails.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Tags: slug, sea, solar, power, mollusc, photosynthesis, ocean

Sea level is falling in the Arctic

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:54:07 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Scientists say it is a unique analysis

See Arctic ice

Arctic sea level has been falling by a little over 2mm a year - a movement that sets the region against the global trend of rising waters.

Working through all these sorts of issues, Dr Scharroo and colleagues have now established seasonal and yearly sea-level trends in the Arctic (from 60 to 82 degrees latitude) for the period 1995 to 2003. The analysis reveals an average 2.17mm fall per annum.

Tags: global warming, climate, ocean

Huge 'Ocean' Discovered Inside Earth

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 00:40:24 GMT

clipped by: DMCourt
clipper's remarks: Not a Jules Verne sort of underground ocean like Journey to the Center of the Earth, but still interesting. Now where are the Mole men?

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Scientists scanning the deep interior of Earth have found evidence of a vast water reservoir beneath eastern Asia that is at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean.

The discovery marks the first time such a large body of water has found in the planet’s deep mantle.

The pair analyzed more than 600,000 seismograms—records of waves generated by earthquakes traveling through the Earth—collected from instruments scattered around the planet.

The researchers estimate that up to 0.1 percent of the rock sinking down into the Earth’s mantle in that part of the world is water, which works out to about an Arctic Ocean’s worth of water.

Tags: science, ocean, water