Operation Crossroads- Baker Event 1946 (atomic bomb test)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XbmXXLwAdI

Underwater Worlds

A Look at : Florida's Dry Tortugas

Florida's Dry Tortugas is one of the five unique ecosystems that is a part of the rich diverse ocean life in U.S. waters. The remote waters of the Dry Tortugas is located seventy miles west of Key West. Fishing and coastal development and other human activities have long threatened marine ecosystems in the Gulf Coast. The Dry Tortugas are relatively pristine, but, overfishing has depleted fish stocks and damaged coral habitat with fishing gear and anchors.

In 2001, Florida and the federal government declared 150 square miles of the Tortugas' blue and lime-green waters to be a no-fishing marine reserve. Drilling, dumping and anchoring are also banned in the Tortugas Ecological Reserve. The protected area extends from shallow waters to depths of 1,800 feet -- much of which scientists are only now beginning to explore.

The Dry Tortugas is home to some 250 species of fish, dazzling displays of mushroom-shaped coral reefs and swaying seagrass beds. The waters serve as a marine nursery for grouper, snapper, shrimp and other species important to both commercial and sport fishing. The powerful Gulf Stream current washes eggs, larvae and juvenile fish from the remote Tortuga nurseries out to populate the waters surrounding the Florida Keys and the state's southern tip.

Since the creation of the reserve, the Dry Tortugas have become a refuge for large pink shrimp, lobster and yellowtail snapper, just a few of the species whose size and number are increasing under the new protections.

Read more: http://www.nrdc.org/water/oceans/worlds/page2.asp

The Sargasso Sea

The Sargasso Sea was briefly mentioned in class the other day, I decided to take a closer look at it.

The Sargasso Sea lies between the West Indies and the Azores and is part of the North Atlantic Ocean. It got its name from the sea weed sargassum that lazily floats on its surface. It is the strangest and most notorious sea on the planet, covering the heart of the Bermuda Triangle.

'The Sargasso Sea occupies that part of the Atlantic between 20o to 35o North Latitude and 30o to 70o (the horse latitudes), West Longitude. It is in complete contrast to the ocean around it. Its currents are largely immobile yet surrounded by some of the strongest currents in the world: The Florida, Gulf Stream, Canary, North Equatorial, Antilles, and Caribbean currents. These interlock to separate this sea from the rest of the tempestuous Atlantic, making its indigenous currents largely entropious. Therefore anything that drifts onto any of its surrounding currents eventually ends up in the Sargasso Sea amidst its expansive weed mats of sargassum. Because of the entropious currents, it is unlikely anything would ever drift out. The Sargasso Sea rotates slightly itself and even changes position as its surrounding currents change with weather and temperature patterns during different seasons'.

'The "Seaweed Sea" has a centuries old rep. for mysterious disappearances.An evaluation of ship and aircraft disappearances draws a striking connection with this ancient sea of mystery and the modern Bermuda Triangle: the northern boundary of the Sargasso Sea more correctly represents the northern limits of the area of disappearances, for many aircraft and ships were in this vicinity when they vanished– i.e. a few hundred miles north of Bermuda but just entering the Sargasso Sea. The s.s Poet, 520-feet, bound for Gibraltar in 1980, a SAC B-52 on maneuvers in 1961, KB-50 ariel tanker in 1962, a Super Connie in 1954, a Navy Martin Marlin amphibian in 1956 are but a few examples'. Read more at: http://shs.westport.k12.ct.us/chia/caribbean/sargasso_sea.htm

The Antarctic Plumbing System

Scientists using NASA satellites have discovered an extensive network of waterways beneath a fast-moving Antarctic ice stream that provide clues as to how "leaks" in the system impact sea level and the world's largest ice sheet. Antarctica holds about 90 percent of the world's ice and 70 percent of the world's reservoir of fresh water.
With data from NASA satellites, a team of scientists led by research geophysicist Helen Fricker of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, Calif., detected for the first time the subtle rise and fall of the surface of fast-moving ice streams as the lakes and channels nearly a half-mile of solid ice below filled and emptied.

The surface of the ice sheet appears stable to the naked eye, but because the base of an ice stream is warmer, water melts from the basal ice to flow, filling the system’s “pipes" and lubricating flow of the overlying ice. This web of waterways acts as a vehicle for water to move and change its influence on the ice movement. Moving back and forth through the system's "pipes" from one lake to another, the water stimulates the speed of the ice stream's flow a few feet per day, contributing to conditions that cause the ice sheet to either grow or decay. Movement in this system can influence sea level and ice melt worldwide.

years, scientists have discovered more than 145 subglacial lakes, a smaller number of which composes this "plumbing system" in the Antarctic. Bindschadler and Fricker; Ted Scambos of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo.; and Laurence Padman of Earth and Space Research in Corvallis, Ore.; observed water discharging from these under-ice lakes into the ocean in coastal areas. Their research has delivered new insight into how much and how frequently these waterways “leak” water and how many connect to the ocean.
Read more at: http://www.ocean.com/article.asp?locationid=1&resourceid=7506&ProdId=&CatId=1&TabID=&SubTabID=

Pictures of some Marine Animals

Jellyfish

Bull Shark

Bottlenose Dolphin

Antarctic Fur Seal

Bearded Fireworm

Emperor Penguin

Christmas Tree Worm

Broadclub Cuttlefish

A look at the Halifax Harbour Solutions Project

What is the Harbour Solutions Project?

Halifax Harbour has been polluted with untreated water for years, with over 181,000,000 litres per day of untreated water, both sanitary and storm wastewater.

The harbour is one of the best deepwater, ice-free ports in the world. The conditions in the habour have continued to worsen as time passed and without action will continue to do so.

Many attempts have been made during the past decades to implement a Halifax Harbour solution, but only now are the citizens of the Halifax Region finally seeing a strategy implemented. Halifax Regional Council is proceeding with the Halifax Harbour Solutions project, designed to eliminate the flow of raw sewage and other contaminants into the world-famous Halifax Harbour.
The current state of Halifax Harbour shows the significant effects of pollutants discharged to the harbour through untreated sanitary, storm and combined sewer outfalls. As a result:
Shellfish harvesting is prohibited in the harbour;
large areas of contaminated sediment exist around some forty separate outfalls;
water quality is poor along the shorelines;
bacterial contamination is widespread;
and aesthetics are poor along the Halifax/Dartmouth waterfronts due to particulates, floatables and odour.
All of these things have a detrimental affect on the reputation of our municipality and our region, and carry both economic as well as environmental impacts. Therefore, a small-scale, affordable solution has been developed, to be phased in over time, providing basic treatment for all untreated sewer discharges.

Read more at:http://www.halifax.ca/harboursol/WhatistheHarbourSolutionsProject.html

Breathless Seas

Taken from: http://www.ocean.com/article.asp?locationid=1&resourceid=6372&ProdId=&CatId=1&TabID=&SubTabID=

The Florida Red tide is an ecological phenomenon that is an annual event in areas along the Gulf of Mexico. It is blooms of the ocean organism, Karenia brevis (K brevis) and can be harmful for people with asthma.

These organisms are concentrated along shorelines and produce highly potent aerosolized toxins. New research reported in the January issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that Florida red tide toxins (known as brevetoxins) can impact respiratory function and increase respiratory symptoms in patients with asthma. Read more at the above site.