Hurricanes Help The Ants

Here is an interesting article that talks about how ants, and other certain insects and animals, crave salt and, since most of them live inland, they live in "salt stressed environments." Hurricanes bring the salt from the sea with them as they move inland, therefore, satisfying the craving of the ants. It also mentions that " if you increase the salt content, that could change competitive interactions among species."

Take a look at the article.

Tsunami Facts

Here are some facts about Tsunamis:

• Tsunami waves can be very long (as much as 60 miles, or 100 kilometers) and be as far as one hour apart. They are able to cross entire oceans without great loss of energy. The Indian Ocean tsunami traveled as much as 3,000 miles (nearly 5,000 kilometers) to Africa, arriving with sufficient force to kill people and destroy property.


• When the ocean is deep tsunamis can travel unnoticed on the surface at speeds up to 500 miles per hour (800 kilometers per hour), crossing the entire ocean in a day or less.


• The most damaging tsunami on record before 2004 was the one that killed an estimated 40,000 people in 1782 following an earthquake in the South China Sea.


• A tsunami may be less than a foot (30 centimeters) in height on the surface of the open ocean, which is why they are not noticed by sailors. But the powerful shock wave of energy travels rapidly through the ocean as fast as a commercial jet. Once a tsunami reaches shallow water near the coast it is slowed down. The top of the wave moves faster than the bottom, causing the sea to rise dramatically.

These, plus other tsunami facts can be found here.

The picture is of "Churning waters retreat from the battered coast of Kalutara, Sri Lanka, after the December 2004 tsunami drove the ocean more than half a mile (1 kilometer) inland."

"Loving Our Coasts To Death."

Here is an article from a July 2006 issue of National Geographic. It goes along with the post entitled "Do We Love The Coast Too Much?" It is a really good article! The picture is of the Huntington Beach oil spill.

Do We Love The Coast Too Much?

More than half of all the residents of U.S. currently live in coastal counties. It doesn't sound that bad except for the fact that coastal counties only account for 17 % of the country's land area. The number of people living in U.S. coastal counties is also supposed to go up over the next 15 years. Think about how many people and buildings are being crammed into that small amount of land and what is happening to the oceans because of that. Here's a view of South Beach, Florida to give you an idea of what is going on.

A Fact For The Day

We all know that the ocean is deep but here are some numbers to put it into perspective. If Mount Everest were placed in the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the summit would be under nearly 7,000 feet (2,100 meters) of water. These numbers can be found here. The accompanying picture is of a Sherpa village that rests at the base of Mt Everest.

Where to Start?

This link takes you to a list of the sections of the Sant Ocean Hall that we will be visiting in November. Take and look and decide where you're going to visit first.

Ocean "Dead Zones" Are Taking Over

On the map shown above, the black dots represent "dead zones." These are places in the ocean where there isn't enough oxygen in the coastal waters to sustain life. As of August 2008, there were 400 dead zones. In the 1990's there were just over 300. To read more about dead zones, click here.

Interesting Ocean Facts

Here are some facts about the ocean that you might not have heard before:

• An estimated 80 percent of all life on Earth is found under the oceans’ surface, and the oceans contain 99 percent of the living space on the planet. Less than 10 percent of that space has been explored by humans.
• At the deepest point in the ocean, the pressure is more than 8 tons per square inch, or the equivalent of one person trying to support 50 jumbo jets.
• El Niño, a periodic shift of warm waters from the western to the eastern Pacific Ocean, has dramatic effects on climate worldwide. In 1982-83, the most severe El Niño of the century created droughts, crop failures, fires, torrential rains, floods and landslides.

More facts, along with those previously mentioned, can be found here.

Using Coral To Treat Cancer?

Coral reefs are becoming more and more important, and not just because they look pretty or are home to hundreds of different species. Coral reef plants and animals are now considered to be important sources for new medicines that are being used to treat things like cancer, arthritis, human bacterial infections, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, and viruses, along with a variety of other dieseases. In fact, coral reefs are now sometimes referred to as the medicine cabinets of the 21st century. Research is being conducted to understand the chemical defences that the stationary animals and plants of coral reefs developed to protect themselves from predators, and how we can use them for multiple purposes, like treating cancer.

Ocean Quiz From National Geographic: See How Much You Know

Here is the quiz.

First Underwater Colour Photograph

Thought that this was an interesting fact in the history of understanding the oceans.This photograph of a hog fish was taken in 1926 off the Florida Keys in the Gulf of Mexico by Dr. William Longley and National Geographic staff photographer Charles Martin. It was the first underwater coloured photograph. These two pioneered underwater photography.

Random Piece of Information for the Day

Observations since 1961 show that the ocean has been absorbing more than 80% of the heat added to the climate system. Such warming causes seawater to expand, contributing to sea level rise.
From http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/ocean-profile.html

Boulder-Moving Tsunami

We all know that a tsunami is a powerful thing, but did you know that there are boulders in Tonga that could have been thrown inland by an "ancient wave"?

The accompanying photo is the largest of the group of 7 huge coral boulders that were moved uphill by a volcano-triggered tsunami within the last 7,000 years.

"The largest of the seven boulders is 50 feet (15 meters) wide and estimated to weigh 1,600 tons. It currently sits more than 300 feet (100 meters) from the sea and 30 feet (10 meters) above sea level, an anomaly on the South Pacific island's flat landscape. "

The whole article can be found at:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/09/080930-tsunami-boulder.html?source=rss

Fish Consumptioin

Although this table has more to do with my other oceans class, I thought that it was interesting to note the amount of fish that people consume. It is just one way that we depend on the oceans. You can get all the info relating to this table at the following website :http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/37/683/11762_Seafood%20Choices%20Report%20Brief.pdf

How Much Do You Know Part 2

Here is the second quiz related to the "oceans, envrionment and you." They say that you learn one new thing everyday, see if you can learn more!
http://www.thegreenguide.com/quizzes/oceans_the_environment_and_you_part_2

How Much Do You Know?

Test yourself by following this link (http://www.thegreenguide.com/quizzes/oceans_the_environment_and_you) to a four question quiz. See if you learn something new!

President Bush Talks About The New Ocean Hall At The Smithsonian

So here is what President Bush had to say abou the exhibit that we are going to see in November. He spoke there on September 26, 2008, the day before it opened to the public.

"These exhibits in this hall will remind people that our oceans are vital for our planet -- this is
going to heighten awareness of how important our oceans are and that we have a
solemn duty to protect them."
-President Bush
To read the rest of what he had to say, click on the link:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/images/president_oceanhallspeech.pdf

Noisy Oceans

Found this article from the national geographic. It about how ocean acidification could not only physically harm the animals who live in our oceans but, also disrupt their communications.

"As the world's oceans become more acidic, the underwater sounds that whales and other marine mammals depend on for survival may turn into a confusing racket, a new study says."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081002-noisy-oceans.html

Useful Site

I found this site (ocean-sci.net)really useful. It gives you access to journal articles from the European Geosciences Union. Thought that it might be a good resource for research projects. You will be able to find it in my links.