Water

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“We cannot see our reflection in running water.”

Taoist Proverb

Dear Reader,

Thank you all for viewing, reading, and commenting on this FLOG (FLOATING Blog) We have hit another exciting mark in April. Average readership per day, not counting spam or search engine spiders, is 170. With that I rededicate myself to research and author more articles for you about Earth, Ocean and the human impact. We live on a dynamic planet; there’s lots going on if we take a moment to look beyond our own back yards.  ~ Paul

Our blue planet is dynamic; always changing. We live and depend on the Earth’s crust, formed and reformed by millions of once-active volcanoes and tremendous volumes of magma.The crust is magma that cooled below the surface. Volcanism has resulted in many valuable natural resources throughout our world. For example, volcanic ash from Iceland will blow over thousands of square miles of land resulting in increased soil fertility of forests and agriculture by adding Earth’s natural nutrients and acting as a mulch. Global cooling too! Heating and cooling, and heating again is the cause of fjords. It would be a catastrophe if the planet was stagnant for billions of years, but that’s not an excuse to abuse, waste, or liter. Read about fjords: http://hd2o.tv/flog/2009/polish-academy-of-sciences-challenge-gore-theory/

Mount Pinatubo in 1991:

The June 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo was global. Slightly cooler than usual temperatures recorded worldwide and the brilliant sunsets and sunrises have been attributed to this eruption that sent fine ash and gases high into the stratosphere, forming a large volcanic cloud that drifted around the world. The sulfur dioxide (SO2) in this cloud — about 22 million tons — combined with water to form droplets of sulfuric acid, blocking some of the sunlight from reaching the Earth and thereby cooling temperatures in some regions by as much as 0.5 degrees C. An eruption the size of Mount Pinatubo could affect the weather for a few years.

Tambora in 1815:

A similar phenomenon occurred in April of 1815 with the cataclysmic eruption of Tambora Volcano in Indonesia, the most powerful eruption in recorded history. Tambora’s volcanic cloud lowered global temperatures by as much as 3 degrees C. Even a year after the eruption, most of the northern hemisphere experienced sharply cooler temperatures during the summer months. In parts of Europe and in North America, 1816 was known as “the year without a summer.”

Pompeii in 79 A.D.

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This Roman town near Naples in the Italian region of Campania, was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning just two days. The volcano collapsed roofs and buried Pompeii under 20 m (66 ft) of ash and pumice. It was lost for 1,600 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1592.

So the answer is YES, volcanoes have a very profound affect on weather! Volcanoes cool planet Earth. They also affect Man, and there is nothing we can do about it… or the weather. But we can positively impact our space: recycle.

via CVO Website - Do Volcanoes Affect Weather?

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Did you know… the earliest known sharks date back more than 420 million years ago, before the time of the dinosaurs?

[See the video below]

United Nations wildlife trade body denied three proposals for cross-border commerce of sharks threatened with extinction. Conservationists argued fishing for sharks is unregulated, but Japan led the opposition, arguing management of shark populations should be left to regional fisheries groups, not CITES.

Only one new marine species is protection by the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the Porbeagle, a shark that resembles the Mako and is fished for its meat. Bids to impose a global trade ban on seven species of precious coral also fell short of the required two-thirds majority.

The shark species left unregulated commerce are; Scalloped Hammerhead, Oceanic White Tip, and the Spiny Dogfish. The fish are often tossed back into the water after their precious fins have been sliced away. And we thought Michael Vick was a monster? Yes he is a monster. We cannot justify bad behavior by pointing to other bad behaviors; it’s not a sliding-scale. Millions of Hammerhead and White Tip sharks are taken to satisfy a psychotic appetite for sharkfin soup, a prestige food to the uninformed, selfish, greedy, mostly wealthy, mindless classes of morons. Two decades ago these two shark species were common semi-coastal and open-water sharks, but  demand for fins have slashed populations by 90 per cent in several regions.

In the Gulf of Mexico, the White Tip is 99% depleted.

Gus Sant, a shark expert at wildlife monitoring group TRAFFIC said: “The decision not to list all of these sharks is a conservation catastrophe. The current level of trade in these species is simply not sustainable.”

“We see clearly now the Japanese motivation for opposing all these marine species proposals,” said Anne Schroeer, a Madrid-based economist with Oceana. “For the whales, they say they are catching them traditionally. For the bluefin tuna, they say they are eating it. But for the sharks, there is nothing but pure economic self-interest.”

More in this FLOG on human cruelty toward sharks, read hawaii-shark-feeding-business see the video clip and hear what Stephen Frink has to say about his favorite animal and how important animals in the Ocean.

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NEW DELHI – For nearly 30 years, India and Bangladesh have argued over control of a tiny rock island in the Bay of Bengal.

New Moore Island in the Sunderbans has been completely submerged, said oceanographer Sugata Hazra, a professor at Jadavpur University in Calcutta. Its disappearance has been confirmed by satellite imagery and sea patrols, he said.

“What these two countries could not achieve from years of talking, has been resolved by global warming,” said Hazra. (I respectfully disagree.) Here are the details that were ‘creatively’ NOT published by the emotional media, but was published by the smh.com.au

Professor Hazra said sea-level rise, changes in monsoonal rain patterns which altered river flows and land subsidence were all contributing to the inundation of land in the northern Bay of Bengal. How could the media overlook this important detail from Prof. Hazra?

Proof of Global Warming??? Really?? Proof?

If so, why isn’t the Ocean rising at the same rate around the globe? Click the map and take a closer look; you will see this wasn’t an island at all, rather a rock in the mouth of a river delta. Take a closer look at image two. Throughout Earth-history rivers have changed course as sediment build up forced the flow to adjust. That’s not global warming, that’s called gravity. Stick a buoy on it!

Ocean rising or Land sinking? The real question.

Tectonic plates shift all the time. The tsunami and the Chilean earthquake are good examples. We live on a dynamic organic planet. It is not benign; it is always moving. Could it be that the sea level in the Bay of Bengal may not be rising, rather the land may be sinking?

“Question with boldness or risk loosing yourself to the popular thought, which is often flawed by human emotions!”

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Ocean ambiance, relaxed presentation,
our 2009 DVD get HD2O online.

U.S. Coast Guard|by PO3 Walter Shinn

November 18, 2009 - JUNEAU, Alaska – The Coast Guard Cutter Polar Sea, the world’s most powerful non-nuclear icebreaker, will moor at the South Franklin Pier in Juneau and is scheduled to open for public tours.

The Polar Sea is returning to its homeport in Seattle after completing a 101 day deployment, 60 which were above the Arctic Circle. Although the crew of the Polar Sea has conducted multiple patrols in the Arctic, this would mark the cutter’s first science deployment in more than a decade concluding the cutter’s Arctic West Fall 2009 deployments.

The first phase took place over the course of two weeks in mid-September and involved 34 scientists from the Naval Research Laboratory led by Dr. Richard Coffin. The scientists met the cutter off Barrow, Alaska and conducted coring operations to study sediment composition. They were also involved in taking water samples to study temperature, salinity and levels of oxygen at varying

Help protect deep water coral, from North Carolina to Florida, from destructive fishing methods including trawls, bottom long-lines and dredges.  This collection of deepwater coral is one of the largest deep reef ecosystems in the world!

[caption id="attachment_617" align="alignright" width="281" caption="Corals are in danger. You can help."][/caption]

But it can’t survive without NOAA’s effort to regulate the fishing industry through cooperation, and that can’t happen without help from caring residents of planet Earth. This isn’t a crazy scheme to stop all fishing, that would be ridiculous.  Click the image for a closer look.

It’s easy; click this link and send the formatted note to our leaders.

http://takeaction.oceana.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25222

Want to see more coral? Get our DVD at hd2o.tv

Kind regards,

Paul

Thank you for visiting HD2O. We recently hit a milestone worthy of mention. This blog we call a FLOG (floating log) has more than 100 visits per day averaged over the month of July. Better yet most visits are long, meaning folks like you are not just looking at the pictures. LOL The videos are not bad either, maybe that’s it?

We established the goal of 100 anticipating our audience would enjoy the quality over quantity. From our small but mighty team here is a big red wet kiss to say thank you. Bookmark us!

P.S.> Try the search and tag cloud to dig through our history and archives. There are 119 posts in 9 categories focused on Ocean, Earth, Ecology, and some of the technology we use to bring these awesome video in HD.

Get our video! (for cryin’ out loud) Click ? HD2O ? and get 67 minutes of unbelievable Ocean-scapes and many animals who call the coral reef home. The music is a spectacular original soundtrack, scored to the motion of the ocean AND IT LOOPS! Plus we added a five minute bonus track featuring the therapy dolphins from Island Dolphin Care that you have to see to believe.

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I am a huge fan of reduced consumption, pollution, and localizing commerce in an effort to reduce human impact on the planet. When Al Gore took an interest in Ecology it was time for the rest of us to worry.  Politicians make promises that are impossible, make snap decisions without all the facts, and spend money they don’t have. Imagine for a moment the Post Office and Dept of Motor Vehicle merging. That the future of socialized medical when the federal government gets hold of it.  Wait until we see the new Government Motors line of autos; don’t be surprised if there is a horse involved, most likely pushing.

[caption id="attachment_540" align="alignleft" width="360" caption="Fjords of Western Iceland click to view several more"][/caption]

Attention Mr. Gore, the Academy (not of science; of moviegoers), and the brain-a-holics at Nobel (again not of science; of peace): Ice is supposed to fall off a glacier. That’s how the system works. Can you say FJORD? Some are hundreds of meters deep. Please tell me, how did that happen?

Al Gore doesn’t know if the glaciers are broken, or if they need fixing. If ice didn’t fall off the glaciers we would be back into an ICE AGE. What Gore did was insight fear and panic into the public opinion for personal gain and glory. Instead he is reward him with an Oscar and Nobel?

Here’s the good

I found a very interesting government study based on research from 25 nations took park in the International Polar Year, 2007 – 2008. Follow both links.  Over 500 researchers [collectively and cooperatively] discovered dozens of new species in the polar seas.  That’s right seas with an s, plural.  Both polar seas have species in common that are just now discovered.

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We have seen out into space to the beginning of time; the big bang. We can detect what a star is burning for fuel thousands of light years away, and yet the earth beneath us holds so many unsolved mysteries.

The newly discovered species are mostly invertebrates; simple life-forms without backbones, but all total as many as 235 species were found in both polar seas, including five whale species, six sea birds, and nearly 100 crustaceans.

The question is; With the same species at both poles separated by nearly 7,000 miles, where the pole regions connected in the evolutionary process? During the last ice age, or maybe the ice age before that?

The Earth is a dynamic planet meaning it is always changing, evolving in random cycles and that includes temperature. We just happen to live during a very nice period, so enjoy it.  But also take care of it as best you can.

NEWS FLASH: buried on PAGE 14 - Arctic ice sheet discovered

Earlier this week it was reported the global ice sheet was underestimated.  In their defense, there is a tremendous amount of ice on the Arctic Circle.  How much ice was found amounts to the size of California.

On the other hand: How the heck do you miss something the size of California?  The good news is we have more ice.

Ask a Scientist: How sharks breathe varies by species :: Saving the Sharks :: Care2 Groups.

[caption id="attachment_416" align="alignleft" width="212" caption="Click image for video of this shark at rest"][/caption]

This is an excellent explanation of how fish and some sharks draw water with muscles to breathe.

Answer-link :   (by Dale Madison, professor of biology at Binghamton University):

Let’s start 2009 with a wonderful video featuring the therapy dolphin residents atisland Dolphin Care, one of the non-profit groups we promote through education and information.  Once you see the power of children interacting with these special mammals I hope you will consider adding I.D.C. to your list of special causes once you see how powerful the experience is for children from all over the world and their families. Visit their site for more information.

The people behind I.D.C. are heroes. There is no shortage of love for child or animal pouring from and back to this facility in Key Largo. Remember: this is just a sample! The full track is only on our DVD.

If you enjoy this clip you will love the 5-minute track featured on our 2009 DVD. Get it today fromour storeand you can feel extra good knowing a portion of revenue from sales is committed to our heroes at Island Dolphin Care.

View this HD PodCast on iTunes!

ENJOY!