Clipmarks | pokkets's 'ocean' clips

Seals help measure Southern Ocean

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:48:31 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: It's not easy to measure for us to measure the currents,and temperatures under the ice, but the seals have no trouble. A simple solution to what may otherwise have been a difficult problem to solve. The ice caps and polar oceans can provide critical information concerning the temperature regulation of the planet so details of changes are necessary to contribute to any picture we might pretend to have. I wonder if they've tried penguins?

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Tuesday, 12 August 2008 Darren Osborne

Elephant seals armed with ocean sensors are helping scientists fill a critical blind spot in understanding the oceans surrounding the southern continent.

findings appear in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science

Between 2004 and 2005, researchers attached sensors to the fur on the head of a number of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonine).

During the two-year trial, 58 seals acquired a total of 16,5000 sea profiles, including 4520 from within the sea ice

30 times more than previously collected

the seal's ability to dive below the sea ice gives them an advantage over other measuring methods such as floats, ships and satellites.

Conventional oceanographic platforms cannot provide observations under the sea ice, particularly on the Antarctic continental shelf where the most important water mass transformations take place

oceans surrounding the earth's poles play an important role in the earth's climate system.

Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:08:51 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: If a man has the faith the size of a mustard seed, he can say to a mountain 'move', and it will move.
Started in 1949, the scheme provided employment for returned soldiers, 'New Australians', who came to Australia after WW2 to start a new life, to provide electricity for the states of N.S.W. and Victoria, and to turn the 'Snowy' River from it's flow into the ocean, back inland to the irrigation area in central N.S.W.
The Government tried to sell the scheme in 2005, but widespread protests, arguing it was not theirs to sell, from people including 100 Mayors from N.S.W., prominent politicians, and conservationists, prevented the sale.
As a result of the drought-in Australia, droughts go hand in with bush fires, Lake Jindabyne reached an all time low of around 10%.in 2005. Today the level is around 60%. 'Old' Jindabyne is beneath Lake Jindabyne. They decided to move the town. when the dam was built. Parts of it can be seen when the dam is low or when fishing. Particularly the steeple.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

The Snowy Mountains Scheme is a hydroelectricity and irrigation complex in south-east Australia. The waters of the Snowy River and its tributary, the Eucumbene, are captured at high elevations and diverted inland to the Murray River and the Murrumbidgee River, through two tunnel systems driven through the Snowy Mountains. The water falls 800 metres and travels through large hydro-electric power stations which generate peak-load power for the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Victoria.^[1]^[2]

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Lake Jindabyne

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Talbingo Dam

Tumut 3 generating station.

Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme,

listed as a "world-class civil engineering project" by the American Society of Civil Engineers.^[5] The scheme interlocks seven power stations and 16 major dams through 145 kilometres of trans-mountain tunnels and 80 kilometres of aqueducts. The scheme virtually reverses the flow of the Snowy River from its natural course toward the ocean and directs it inland

Viruses can catch colds, says study that redefines life itself

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:06:46 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Prof La Scola and his colleagues were surprised to spot a smaller type of virus attached to the virus-making factory inside infected cells. The new virus - Sputnik - was unable to infect cells by itself but seemed to hijack the larger to achieve its infectious aims.

By regulating the growth and death of plankton, giant viruses - and satellite viruses such as Sputnik - could be a major influence on ocean nutrient cycles and climate.

"These viruses could be major players in global systems," Nature is told by Prof Curtis Suttle, an expert in marine viruses at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

viruses can apparently get sick.

Even better, they're made sick by another virus.

Viruses are the ultimate example of KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. Nothing but a core of genetic material in a protein shell, they may not be able to do anything but replicate (and even then only with a host cell), but they also outnumber us umpty-billion to one.

Their simplicity also makes them hard to kill

Researchers at the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) have now discovered a virus, named "Sputnik" for its extreme simplicity, which can hijack the viral factory of another pathogen and insert its own code into the program.

The double-victimised cell now manufactures Sputniks, and copies of the original virus which do manage to be made suffer from damage and imperfections because of this second-super-sub-cellular-sabotage.

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

the discovery of a giant virus that itself falls ill through infection by another virus seems to suggest they too are alive

Tags: virology, biology, molecular biology

Tropical downpours 'becoming more intense'

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 06:46:08 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Alister Doyle

Tropical downpours are becoming more frequent and the trend seems worse than expected, bringing greater risks of flash floods, say scientists.

Writing in the journal Science, a team of scientists from England and the US, say the trend towards extreme soakings was stronger than predicted by computer models "implying that projections of future changes in rainfall extremes ... may be underestimated".

findings were based on a study of the tropical ocean rainstorms since the 1980s

"As the tropics warm we are seeing an increased frequency in the heaviest rainfall," says Dr Richard Allan of the University of Reading, who co-authored a study of tropical rains with Professor Brian Soden of the University of Miami.

The study provides the first observational evidence to confirm computer models that predict more intense cloudbursts because of global warming stoked by human activities

The satellite data showed two to three times more intense downpours than predicted by the climate models

The hottest water on Earth

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:42:03 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: "Black smokers deep in the Atlantic are spouting 'supercritical' water at over 407 °C – something never before been seen in nature."

Clip Source: environment.newscientist.com

Even Jules Verne did not foresee this one. Deep down at the very bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, geochemist Andrea Koschinsky has found something truly extraordinary: "It's water," she says, "but not as we know it."

At over 3 kilometres beneath the surface, sitting atop what could be a huge bubble of magma, it's the hottest water ever found on Earth. The fluid is in a "supercritical" state that has never before been seen in nature.

Tags: science, geology, water, black smokers

Ocean Power Catches a Wave

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:36:55 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: spectrum.ieee.org

Europe and New Zealand to install commercial generators; U.S. lags

Sea Monster: A Portuguese utility plans to install wave-power generators like these.

The first commercial ocean energy project is scheduled to launch this summer off the coast of Portugal. Three snakelike wave-power generators built by Edinburgh's Pelamis Wave Power will deliver 2.25 megawatts through an undersea cable to the Portuguese coastal town of Aguçadoura. Within a year, another 28 generators should come online there, boosting the capacity to 22.5 MW. That may be a trickle of power, but the project represents a new push into wave and tidal power as governments eye the oceans as a way to meet their renewable energy targets.

Engineers have come up with a variety of schemes to harness the power of waves, the flow of currents, and the motion of the tides. The Pelamis generators, part of a class of wave-energy converters called linear absorbers, each comprise three long canisters that look like giant oxygen tanks

Tags: ocean power, wave

Volcanoes trigger for mass extinction

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:54:11 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: There's more than one way to become extinct.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Ninety-three million years ago a series of volcanoes erupted on the ocean floor starving the oceans of oxygen and wiping out swathes of marine life, according to a new report.

Black shale rocks off the coast of South America and in central Italy provide clues to what occurred

The answer to the catastrophe, contend scientists from the University of Alberta, Canada, lies in fire fountains that erupted on the ocean floor, altering the chemistry of the sea and possibly of the atmosphere too.

The report appears in the latest edition of Nature.

in a geological instant, a mass extinction, helped by a suddenly sluggish shift in ocean circulation, occurred. The remains of dead sea organisms

became transformed into oil

One possibility is that the volcanoes

seeded the upper level of the ocean with micronutrients, he says

Tiny plantlife on the sea surface, called phytoplankton, gorged on the food, storing up carbon as they grew. They then sank to the sea floor and decayed, stripping the ocean of oxygen.

Yellow Submarine:Unmanned sub studies ocean

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:13:08 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: It can be steered by a rudder or by shifting it's batteries.

Clip Source: www.mail.com

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID

Far out in the Atlantic, a little yellow submarine is trying to slip from current to current, gliding across the ocean beneath the waves.

The unmanned sub is nearing the halfway mark in its effort to travel from New Jersey to Spain, collecting scientific data along the way.

It isn't a first trip for the device, but it will be the longest, a proving effort to show that an undersea glider can take its place in a global ocean observing system

and can be controlled remotely

Like a glider airplane, the sub doesn't have a motor to drive it

the sub uses wings to fly through the water as it dives and rises, seeking currents that will carry it where the researchers want it to go, explained Scott Glenn, a marine sciences professor at

Rutgers University.

Instead of looking for thermals of rising air, however, the undersea glider sucks water in to dive and then pushes it out again to rise

It's crammed with batteries

Glenn hopes to learn is just how long they will last.

'Cut not sink' emissions says expert

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:34:53 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Many things as our history has shown can't be, and should not be tested while being put into practice. A quick study of our history of DIY efforts shows us that. We still have trouble learning the hard way. I have trouble imagining many of our solutions doing more than taking a system that is unbalanced and making it more unbalanced.
Many a persons famous last words have been 'this time it will be different.- and better'. Which can be clearly stupid, and the reason they are last words. We certainly need to give nature more credit and respect t that we are. It has its own means of self correction. We can work out how to work according to the principles of nature, rather than our own vanity, or we'll be corrected out of existence. Still, a new thread could start 'Homo Novalis' but it doesn't take very many individuals to establish the start of a new line. the rest of us may soon be obsolete. (soon in evolutionary time) and a subject in achaeology classes. Existential aversion therapy

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Anna Salleh

We would be better off reducing our greenhouse emissions rather than trying to sink them into the sea using ocean fertilisation, suggests an Australian expert.

The comments come as the Australian Government considers its position on ocean fertilisation.

"If you asked me would I do this for CO2 mitigation [I'd say] not now," says Associate Professor Thomas Trull of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre in Hobart.

he does not think the benefits outweigh the risks of the technology at this point, and it should only be carefully researched as an option of last resort

Ocean fertilisation involves adding nutrients such as iron or nitrogen to the sea to stimulate phytoplankton in the hope of sequestering carbon dioxide or fish stocks.

According to Trull no studies have been specifically designed to look at the risks of ocean fertilisation but evidence suggests possible risks include upsetting the food web and creating dead zones in the ocean.

Huge impact caused Mar's split personality

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:23:12 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

After more than 30 years, space scientists may have resolved one of the greatest enigmas in the solar system: why does Mars have two faces?

A paper appearing in the latest edition of Nature suggests the planet's Janus-like nature was caused by an impact with a Pluto-sized rock.

The topography of the southern hemisphere is more 'chaotic' compared to the smoother north

Pictures sent back by the US Viking spacecraft in the late 1970s unveiled Mars's northern hemisphere as an enormous lowland basin, where - or so it was suspected - a mighty ocean may have raged

But Mars's southern hemisphere is abruptly, bizarrely different

One explanation was that

volcanic forces within the planet's bowels caused a massive upwelling on the Martian surface

The contrasting theory

that the northern basin was the result of a

giant space rock which whacked into the infant Mars

Researchers at NASA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) believe they have convincing evidence that the impact theory is solid.

Rising seas threaten west Antarctica.

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:42:11 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: the ice shelves have prevented the land locked ice from flowing into the ocean. Now with the shelves melting and liquid water beneath the ice, it can have the same effect in geological terms as popping a cork. Wet ice is slippery

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Cat O'Donovan

There's a 'big gorilla hiding the closet' whose collapse could have a dramatic effect on sea levels, according to Australian researchers.

A sea level rise of 50 to 100 centimetres above the 1920 level may be enough to 'unpin' the west Antarctic ice sheets

Dr Bradley Opdyke, a paleoceanographer from the Australia National University (ANU) believes the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) could partially collapse within 20 years, resulting in a dramatic jump in sea levels.

His talk on glacial cycles and the WAIS was presented earlier this month at the Imagining the real: life on a greenhouse earth conference held in Canberra.

"The 900-pound gorilla hiding in the closet is Antarctica. We have evidence that it is not a stable beast," Opdyke says.

He says the WAIS is inherently unstable, and the current rate of sea level rise is placing it at risk.

"It is pinned on the spines of a few mountains, with ice sheets draped off them

"When ice melts, it tends to melt in a hurry,

Deep Sea Angler Fish

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:21:45 GMT

clipped by: gozino
clipper's remarks: The ugliest animal on the planet.

Clip Source: peoplecorporation.org

Deep Sea Angler Fish

Tags: weird, fish, ugly, bizarre, ocean

Ocean review finds warming on the rise.

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 09:49:11 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: It isn't just that ice is melting that is making the sea level rise, it is also the fact that water expands as it heats. With the volume of water in the ocean - 2/3 of the Earth's surface is covered with water, even a small temperature increase can have a dramatic effect. The way the expansion, and melting are factored into the research reports can make them a lot clearer, and more accurate.
While there are the best of intentions, regarding some kind of remedy, I don't remember anyone being able to literally turn back the tide, which seems like the bottom line.
King Canute had a go, but he was trying to prove that point to some knucklehead courtiers, who'd flattered him. He knew they were full of hot air, but figured it was worth getting wet to see the look on their faces.
Don't you hate it when a King calls your bluff.
Still you can look at the bright side. The world is getting more like Venice every day.
All you have to do is buy shares in a Gondola Company.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Thursday, 19 June 2008 Darren Osborne
ABC

A long-standing difference between climate models and observations has been resolved with researchers finding that the world's oceans have been warming faster than previously thought.

The paper, published today in Nature, shows ocean warming and thermal expansion trends for the past five decades are 50% larger than earlier previously estimated.

"For the first time, we can provide a reasonable account of the processes causing the rate of global sea-level rise over the past four decades - a puzzle that has led to a lot of scientific discussion since the 2001 IPCC report but with no significant advances until now," says CSIRO scientist, Dr Catia Domingues, from the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research.

Understanding how ocean warming and the resulting thermal expansion contributes to rising sea levels is critically important to understanding climate change, and forecasting future temperature rises, scientists say.

Creating insignificant events -Futuristic art

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:17:35 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: Vincent Callebaut 'work was lately exhibited in Paris ; ;" To believe in the world means to create events, even insignificant ones, that gets out of control, or create new space-times, even in reduced surfaces or volumes"

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

LILYPAD, A FLOATING ECOPOLIS FOR CLIMATE REFUGEES

Oceans 2008
World

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

THE PERFUMED JUNGLE

Hong Kong 2007
China

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

ECOMIC

Mexico City 2007
Mexico

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

MASTER PLAN FOR VATNSMYRI AIRFIELD SITE

Reykjavik, 2007
Iceland

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

THE RED BAOBAB

Prague 2006
Czech Republic

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

THE BASALT PRECIPICE

Gyeonggi-do Jeongok 2006
Republic of Korea

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

FIELDS IN FIELDS

Tartu 2005
Estonia

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

LANDSCRIPT, GENEVA 2020

Geneva 2005
Switzerland

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

THE EYE OF THE STORM

Seoul 2005
South Korea

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

SENSUAL ATTRACTION, AN INTERACTIVE DEMOCRACY

Brussels 2002
Belgium

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

SAHAT EL SHOHADA, THE UNDERWATER VENICE OF BEIRUT

Beirut 2004
Lebanon

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

THE FRACTURED MONOLITH

Brussels 2004
Belgium

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

THE FLOATING ISLANDS

Hammerfest 2004
Norway

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

THE URBAN CORSET, A HYBRID INTERMEDIARY

Brussels 2004
Belgium

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

ATOLL BELOW THE OCEAN'S LEVEL, A VISUAL SILENCE

Busan 2003
South Korea

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

THE NOMADIC GARDENS OF MANHATTAN

New York 2003
United States of America

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

THE LINK

Tubize 2003
Belgium

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

ECOCOON FOR RECYCLING

Brussels 2003
Belgium

Clip Source: vincent.callebaut.org

Extraterrestrial Life Confirmed

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:32:57 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: I always knew I was different.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

If you want to see the offspring of extraterrestrial interference in Earth evolution, you don't have to break into the X-files or start watching late night crazy-person public access. You could be looking at one in the mirror.

Early in Earth's history the surface suffered a heavy hail of meteorites. This is usually bad news for any lifeforms in the vicinity (if you don't believe me, just ask a velociraptor), but since even DNA was only a gleam in the ocean's eye at the time the space-rocks weren't a setback - in fact, they may have delivered vital ingredients to the rich pre-life soup on the surface.

A collaboration between various US and European institutes has proven the presence of vital nucleobases in the Murchison meteorite, an extraterrestrial rock fragment which impacted Earth in 1969.

These bases are unquestionably alien - for one, the rock-chemicals are equally left and right "handed"

the odds of life off-planet seem better than ever.