Exploring our Oceans

Human footprint along marine ecosystems

Evidences accumulated over the last few decades reveal a growing human impact on marine ecosystems, but effects on biological communities are still largely unknown. Human activities such as fisheries, urban development, tourism, and maritime traffic, greatly influence distribution and quantity of marine litter from shores to deeper regions of continental margins, where may enter directly through a wide variety of maritime activities including disposal (e.g. Continue reading →

Wearable Wildlife Tech

In this weeks MOOC module; “How do we explore the oceans?”, we have covered some of the technological advances that have enabled us to map the ocean and the life in it. These devices are getting smaller and more advanced, allowing us to uncover aspects of the natural world that we never thought possible. Continue reading →

Mixing in the oceans. Some extraordinary phenomena.

We often tend to think of the ocean as a big homogeneous soup, but it is nevertheless a complex stratified system. The ocean is structured in layers of different density with a very dynamic nature, allowing for mixing in all sorts of spatial and temporal scales. From the tiniest slow molecular diffusion to the large turbulent mixing in storms. Double diffusion generating salt fingers. Continue reading →

Ocean fertilization – A viable geoengineering option or a pipe dream?

As most people know atmospheric CO2 levels are increasing, whether this is cause for concern depends upon your opinions on climate change. For the purpose of this article (and because I’m an environmental scientist) we will push forward with the knowledge that the increase of CO2 is caused by humans. It is suggested that it might already be too late to reverse the changes high CO2 levels will have on our environment but also that there just might be some time. Continue reading →

MOOC hangout 2: starting now!

Good afternoon MOOCers, join us online for a live chat with Dr Jon Copley, Professor Rachel Mills and two of our facilitators Emma and Rui for discussion about weeks three and four of the MOOC: https://plus.google.com/events/cbje16kot14kjah0uti92nc9quc?hl=en https://www.youtube. Continue reading →

Ocean acidification: An experiment to try at home

Ocean acidification: An experiment to try at home You are probably already aware of the concerns surrounding global warming, caused by the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) from burning fossil fuels. Rising temperatures threaten to cause changes in sea level, ocean circulation and even dissolved oxygen levels. But how do CO2 emissions affect the chemistry of our oceans? It is thought that the oceans have absorbed up to half of the CO2 emitted by burning fossil fuels. Continue reading →

Fish diversity in the one of earth’s least explored environments: the mesopelagic zone

The mesopelagic zone comprises the entire water column intermediate from the epipelagic zone (up to 200 m depth) to the deep pelagic layers (bathypelagic zone), located ca. 1000 m depth extending down to 4000 m. Also defined as twilight zone, the mesopelagic zone is the transition from the upwards-epipelagic photic zone to the deep aphotic zone, where the sunlight is completely absent. Continue reading →

Plastic and ocean life– Micro to Mega

Plastic is a serious issue in our oceans. We produce so much of it across the globe and unfortunately a lot ends up in the sea. It becomes wrapped around mammals for years deforming their bodies, eaten by turtles that mistake plastic bags for jellyfish or ingested as microplastics, which can release toxins. Plastic takes 500-1000 years to degrade, so it isn’t going anywhere fast. Continue reading →

Introducing: The Megamouth Shark

When most people think of sharks they think of white sharks breaching and tiger sharks in crystal clear Bahamian waters. So when a rare deep-sea megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) washed up in the Philippines early this year, I had a lot of people contacting me asking if it was even real. You bet your bottom dollar it was real and here are some facts and photo's to stimulate your inquisitive brains. 1. Continue reading →

Amphidromic Points: tidal spiders in a real World

During the past week we have seen how tides are formed, and we have been discussing many details about them. We have seen how the gravity pull from the Moon and the Sun elongate the water, which bulges on one side, but we have described how an opposite bulge is also formed as Earth is also being pulled. Continue reading →

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