SeaMonster blog
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Aranburu lights up some Basque Country barrels
Check out this video Aritz Aranburu surfing Mandaka in the dark… by the glow of his LED-covered board! MUNDAKA 24H from aritzaranburu.com on Vimeo.
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Earthquake destroys Belizean reefs
A new paper in Ecology (Aronson et al 2011) describes the effects of an earthquake on the already beleagured reefs of Belize. I edited the paper and coincidentally my lab was in Belize doing reef surveys when the earthquake hit (I flew home that day). Some of the students were a bit rattled, others slept…
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What causes short term changes in ocean heat?
From Skeptical Science by John Cook. Read it all here. Over the past 40 years, global ocean heat content has shown a long term warming trend. However, the warming hasn’t been monotonic. There are periods where ocean heat drops for several years before the warming trend resumes. On several occasions, this is due to large volcanic…
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Obama presses Iceland over fin whale hunt
From Andrew Revkin at the NYT: On Thursday, President Obama ordered government agencies to ramp up pressure on Iceland to end its slaughter of endangered fin whales, the second largest whale species. But the president stopped short of imposing trade sanctions. He issued a Message to Congress with the details, including this passage: Of particular concern to…
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Indo mornings
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/27708915[/vimeo] From Ben Wilson Surf
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The blob, deconstructed
I tell ya. You spend your days toiling away doing clever experiments, discovering new species, burning the midnight oil to prepare inspiring lectures for skeptical college students, crafting compelling grant proposals, solving the world’s environmental problems, pushing back the frontiers generally. Typical professor stuff. But what do people want to hear about? Blobs. No, not…
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Three ocean scientists receive Heinz awards
Shout-out to three of our colleagues who’ve received the prestigious Heinz award for work that benefits the environment. The Pittsburgh-based Heinz Family Foundation has presented the awards since 1994 in memory of Sen. John Heinz III. From the WaPO: “Teresa Heinz told The Associated Press that the awards recognized innovative approaches to serious topics for…
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Happy Friday… here’s a submarine sonnet!
Bathyscaphe One thousand fathoms down, our halogens strike tube worms blooming in the methane seeps and spiral plumes of sulfides. We descend into the fizz escaping from the deep so vast and vacant that our sonar pings unanswered, and sinking still, the only light is ghostly cobalt, specks phosphorescing past the bathyscaphe’s thick glass. Sealed…
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The coolest animal in the world
As a marine biologist it’s my job to understand the complex workings of our mysterious ocean planet, and to wrestle with the great questions of our time. One that has been exercising me lately is this: What is the coolest animal on earth? After considerable deliberation, I’ve made my decision. And I don’t say this…
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How much is the ocean worth? In Australia at least $25B a year
A new report from an Australian think tank has made an attempt to estimate the value of services that the ocean surrounding the continent of Australia provides free of charge to human society, such as fishing, clean water, nursery habitats, carbon sequestration, and so on. The conclusion: Australia’s marine ecosystems are worth $25 billion a…
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