Deep Sea News

BibliOdyssey has some beautiful plates of echinoderms from manuscripts by Louis Agassiz from the 1840s. Check out their site for more and where to go to see the full works online.

Sand dollar, more or less a flattened sea urchin.

For more echinoderm fun, always check out the ECHINOBLOG!

Sea turtles do it. Ocean liners do it. Charles Lindbergh did it. Even a Zeppelin can do it. Can an autonomous robot do it, across the North Atlantic Ocean… underwater? The journey across the Atlantic has always been an historic one. Now marine scientists are preparing what may be the first autonomous crossing by an underwater vehicle, according to Virgin islands Daily News.

The thermal glider prototype, which can drop to depths of 1,200 meters below the sea surface, likely will set off on a trans-Atlantic voyage from St. Thomas soon.

“If all goes well, we’ll send it to the Canary Islands,”  said Chip Haldeman, a marine technician at Rutgers’ Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences.

Craig McClain calls the Slocum autonomous underwater vehicle “an oceanographer’s best friend“.

The robotic glider being prepared in the Virgin Islands is operated by researchers at Rutgers University and Teledyne Webb research.  The gliders collect information on conductivity, temperature and depth for oceanographic research, but they can be programmed to collect other data. Rutgers has a fleet of 20 thermal gliders. The robots can descend up to 2000 m depth, then periodically resurface to “phone home,” download data, and get a fix on their positions.

Hat tip to CK for the link.

One more TGIF for the heck of it. More photos at Toxel.

Aquarium telephone booth in France

Wicked cool. Hat tip to the Crust-L.

One the great things about being a father at Christmas is that you get to mingle with your friends kids, and pick up on cool trends, like the online games they like to play. Lego’s Treasure Trench was one of my favorites for submersible shoot ‘em up action this holiday season.

The game features the Aqua Raiders doing battle against electric snakes, angler fish, and giant black crabs. I love it for the sonar and the gorgonian backdrop. It’s easy to play and lots of fun. Good for hours and hours of online distraction.

Reuters reports that a veritable “Noah’s Ark” of endangered species with $650 thousand dollars was seized by the Chilean Navy two weeks ago. The boat was sailing from Peru with a cargo hold containing nearly 400 animals form the Amazon region, including including toucans, parrots, baby alligators, and 200 marine turtles.

It’s a big win for CITES. But it makes you wonder, for every one of the ships, how many get through? And what to do with all those critters once you save ‘em? Good luck, Chile, and good work!

The Supreme Court rebuffed attempts by a California judge to impose limits on the US Navy last November by suspending the use of mid frequency sonar during training exercises offshore. But that’s not to say the US Navy has given up on whales.

NOAA recently announced they will be working with the Navy to protect marine mammals and assess mitigation measures during sonar training in the Gulf of Mexico and on the Atlantic Coast.

January 23, 2009

NOAA’s Fisheries Service has issued regulations and a letter of authorization to the U.S. Navy that includes measures to protect marine mammals while conducting Atlantic fleet active sonar training off the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. The regulations require the Navy to implement measures designed to protect and minimize effects to marine mammals.

Along with issuing these regulations, NOAA will undertake a comprehensive review of all mitigation measures applicable to the use of sonar and will report to the Council on Environmental Quality regarding the results of this review within 120 days.

Palm, meet face. The associated press reports:

Blowfish, while extremely poisonous if not prepared properly, is considered a delicacy in Japan and is consumed by thrill-seeking gourmets.

Iwase said the seven men ordered sashimi and grilled blowfish testicles at the restaurant Monday night.

Shortly after, they developed limb paralysis and breathing trouble and started to lose consciousness – typical signs of blowfish poisoning – and were rushed to a hospital for treatment, Iwase said.

A 68-year-old diner remained hospitalized in critical condition with respiratory failure and two others, aged 55 and 69, were in serious condition, he said.

“It’s scary. If you go to a decent-looking restaurant that serves fugu, you would assume a cook has a proper fugu license,” Iwase said, using the Japanese term for blowfish.

Really? Come one people that isn’t thrill seeking. Thrill seeking involves doing something that you know you will survive but gives you the illusion of facing death. Eating poison kills you. That is gambling with your life. And we are the smart species….

For all our hip metro readers that will be in New York City on Saturday Feb. 7th, you will not want to miss this event. Unfortunately, none of the Deep Sea News team lives above the Mason-Dixon Line.

New York Times Live Presents

Stories from a Changing Planet

A TimesTalk Event

WHAT:

Watch a dynamic multimedia presentation of Polar-Palooza, which brings to life the latest research on Earth’s past and future climate from scientists just back from the Poles and hear from climate change and environmental experts.

WHO:
Andrew Revkin, New York Times environmental reporter and blogger for NYTimes.com’s Dot Earth, will moderate this discussion with

Richard Alley, Penn State glaciologist and co-author of “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” (the IPCC was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore)

Mary C. Albert, U.S. lead scientist on the 2008 traverse of East Antarctica

Michael Castellini, seal and penguin expert

Orville Huntington, an Athabascan Indian from interior Alaska, who sees climate change every day as he hunts and fishes.

WHEN:
Saturday, Feb. 7 | 4:00 – 6:00 PM

WHERE:
The Times Center, 242 West 41st Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues, New York City

TICKETS:
Tickets are $30 plus handling fee. Seating is first come, first served. Tickets are mailed approximately two weeks before the event; there are no refunds. TimesTalks programs are subject to change.

Order tickets online at www.TimesTalks.com or call (888) NYT-1870 to order tickets by phone.