Is this Polar Pod genius or just plain insanity?
Is this Polar Pod genius or just plain insanity? avatar

People come up with all sorts of wacky ideas to explore the oceans. And here is another one of those ideas. Meet the Polar Pod, a manned research platform dreamed up by French Explorer/Physician Jean-Louis Etienne to drift around Antarctica in the Southern Ocean. My first thought when I saw this concept was WTF. . . . → Read More: Is this Polar Pod genius or just plain insanity?

Is this Polar Pod genius or just plain insanity? avatar

Break through 2 months of Antarctic sea ice in 5 minutes
Break through 2 months of Antarctic sea ice in 5 minutes avatar

Love, love, love, love this video. Marine scientist Cassandra Brooks strapped a camera to the front of NSF’s icebreaker the Nathaniel B. Palmer as it sailed for two months through the ice-choked Ross Sea off Antartica. But unlike her, you don’t have to sit through two-months of ice smashing while fighting your shipmates for the . . . → Read More: Break through 2 months of Antarctic sea ice in 5 minutes

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The only lady of the academic seas
The only lady of the academic seas avatar

Mariners have a long-standing tradition of naming their vessels after the ladies. However, when it comes to research vessels this has not been the case…until now. For the first time, a research ship will be named after a woman. The Navy’s next ocean-class auxiliary general oceanographic research (AGOR) will be named after Sally Ride, the . . . → Read More: The only lady of the academic seas

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Who do I pick to ride in my sub? Ice-Cube or T-Pain
Who do I pick to ride in my sub? Ice-Cube or T-Pain avatar

When I’m chillin’ in my underwater low low, I want to attract attention. I can’t be doing that in some rusted out old tin can. Sequester and budget cuts be damned! Nope I going for the cheery red C-Explorer 5. Me and 4 of my posse (Alex, Holly, Kim and of course T-Pain, sorry Al . . . → Read More: Who do I pick to ride in my sub? Ice-Cube or T-Pain

Who do I pick to ride in my sub? Ice-Cube or T-Pain avatar

Underfunded academic, seeking tenure, attempts to steal research ship
Underfunded academic, seeking tenure, attempts to steal research ship avatar

David Aldridge is a phytoplankton-loving marine biology PhD student at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK. Also the founder and editor of Words in mOcean, a website dedicated to publishing blog posts and features on marine science. We’ve asked David to guest post for us here at DSN. Enjoy! Disclaimer: not everything in the . . . → Read More: Underfunded academic, seeking tenure, attempts to steal research ship

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Flip Ship Photoshop Battle
Flip Ship Photoshop Battle avatar

FLIP is towed to its operating area in the horizontal position and through ballast changes is “flipped” to the vertical position to become a stable spar buoy with a draft of 300 feet. Photo from MPL. FLIP, the Floating Instrument Platform, is towed to an area in a horizontal position and through changing the ballast . . . → Read More: Flip Ship Photoshop Battle

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Observing the Cryosphere from the Troposphere: NASA’s P-3B Airborne Laboratory
Observing the Cryosphere from the Troposphere: NASA’s P-3B Airborne Laboratory avatar

NASA P-3B before dawn.

Some people might think I am crazy for waking up at 4:45 AM on a Sunday morning to tour a plane, but you would too if you got a chance to tour NASA’s supercool P-3B’s Airborne Laboratory. And I mean that literally with the bad pun intended. As part of Operation IceBridge, this plane is . . . → Read More: Observing the Cryosphere from the Troposphere: NASA’s P-3B Airborne Laboratory

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Is Marianas Trench A Lifeless Void?
Is Marianas Trench A Lifeless Void? avatar

When he made his historic solo dive into the Mariana Trench last month, James Cameron brought back images and descriptions of a “lunar like” marine landscape nearly devoid of life.-via National Geographic Returning from humankind’s first solo dive to the deepest spot in the ocean, filmmaker James Cameron said he saw no obvious signs of . . . → Read More: Is Marianas Trench A Lifeless Void?

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The Ocean Cleanup. The newest of the new plans to remove marine plastic.
The Ocean Cleanup. The newest of the new plans to remove marine plastic. avatar

I’m just going to come out and say it, any project that touts itself as the “World’s first realistic Ocean Clean-up Concept” is just asking to be torn apart. “The Ocean Cleanup” is the brainchild of a 19-year old Boyan Slat. He proposes using the oceans themselves to clean up plastic. By setting up a . . . → Read More: The Ocean Cleanup. The newest of the new plans to remove marine plastic.

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FIU to take over Aquarius ReefBase
FIU to take over Aquarius ReefBase avatar

News today that apparently Florida International University in Miami has received a grant to operate the NOAA undersea research laboratory known as Aquarius ReefBase, which was operated by UNC Wilmington until government funding for undersea research was largely zeroed out in 2012 (more about that from Craig and I here). More details about the FIU . . . → Read More: FIU to take over Aquarius ReefBase

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