Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Friday, August 1, 2008
It was fairly un-nerving when, a chunk of ice broke loose from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf off the coast of Ellesmere Island recently, but it had to have been somewhat expected.
The Ward Hunt is near the most northerly point in North America. Located in quttinirpaaq National Park it is the largest of five remnants of a much larger ice shelf discovered by Admiral Peary in 1906.
More than 6 years ago Derek Mueller, then at Universite Laval, Quebec, found the biggest ice shelf in the Arctic was indeed breaking apart.
Canadian RADARSAT images acquired in August 2002 showed a huge crack running North-south down the center of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf. Secondary fractures running west had fragmented a large area of the shelf into free-floating ice blocks.
At that time the shelf was home to a fresh water lake. These fresh water lakes are known as ehishelf lakes. That fracturing caused the immediate and catastrophic drainage of an ehishelf lake that had called the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf home. Ehishelf lakes are an important link in the ecology chain. This fresh water ‘floats’ on the more dense ocean water. Located in Disraeli Fjord this was the largest and best-understood epishelf lake in the Northern Hemisphere.
The epishelf lake suddenly spilled more than 3 billion cubic meters of fresh water into the Arctic Ocean.
Ice-dependant ecosystems are made vulnerable by the shifting climate. Microbial communities of algae, micro-invertebrates, and bacteria that could withstand near-freezing water temperatures, freezing and thawing cycles and organisms that used pigment changes to withstand ultraviolet radiation were suddenly and forever lost in that 2000-2002 crack-up and with them much information, and probably many untold secrets.
This most recent chunk of ice to separate from the Ward Hunt is 18 square kilometers across.
The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf is estimated to be around 3,000 years old. Ice core climate data and lake sediments indicate the ‘Little Ice Age’ ended about 150 years ago and the climate has been warming since then. Only about 10% of the original ice shelf may be remaining.
They say the precise triggering mechanism for these fractures isn’t known. Although temperature records from Alert which is 175 km east of the Ward Hunt Ice shelf show a significant increase in the annual mean air temperatures during the last 30 years which parallel the thinning and loss of the epishelf lake.
Derek Mueller, now a Trent University researcher says, “We’re in a different climate now.” “It’s not conducive to regrowing them.” [ice sheets] “It’s a one-way process.
In 2003 Mueller wrote of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, “…one thing seems clear: it and the other Ellesmere ice shelves are sentinels of high Arctic environmental change…”
Photo Thanks #2 NASA
#1 Canadian Space Agency
Labels: Arctic, Arctic Ice, Canada, Climate Change, Global Warming, North Pole, Quttinirpaaq National Park, Sea Ice, Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, ehishelf lakes
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Sentinels of the high Arctic are disappearing from their posts.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Bejing has spent at least $17 Billion dollars to clean up only it’s air
quality for the 08-08-08 Olympics. They’ve closed down, moved or otherwise quashed every factory, plant or other operation that belched pollution into the air.
One of China’s great hopes was to clear their filthy air so that people could actually see the games.
If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing the same way, over and over,but expecting somehow, someway, that the outcome will change; the Chinese are definately sane.
They’re bustin’ moves the likes of which haven’t been seen before.
These are unpresedented actions in the quest to clean-up the air and yet the outcome doesn’t change. Bad air and poor visability; company’s coming and the place is a mess.
Ordering more than 1 Million cars off the streets is a huge committment. Still after all of these measures and tossing $17 Billion at the problem it still hasn’t been fixed. In fact levels of microscopic particulates “suspended in the air remain stubbornly high” although some levels of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide have been reduced.
In some places the sky seems to get a good scouring after a rain leaving the air crisp and clean, but not in Beijing. Guo Hu, director of the Beijing Meteorological
Observatory says the rainy weather has reduced visibility in the city.
Believe none of what you read and half of what you see.
Or, believe none of what you see either…Du Shaozhong, Beijing’s Environmental Protection Bureau says observers should not rely on the visual appearance of the sky.
Du still says, “We can guarantee good air quality during the Games.”
Crazy Eights.
Maybe that guarantee has more to do with astrology and numerology than science. The chinese gave much thought and planning into opening the Games on 08-08-08 at 8:08:08 p.m. China Standard Time in Beijing.
There is a point to all of this…
The monumental actions China has taken to clean-up the air illustrate that, laying on the breaks can’t stop a downward racing locamotive. We should all be sobered by the fact that once we’ve hit the tipping point, no amount of money, time or lucky eights can fix what is broken.
Photo July 27, 2008 James Fallows, link to his amazing smog chronicle as it unfolds in Beijing.
Labels: Air Pollution, China, Climate Change, Olympics, Smog
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Tossing money at it won’t fix the planet’s problems.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
It’s all voodoo science until somebody gets an eye put out.
California’s Republican Governor Schwarzenegger says the Bush administration failed to counter global warming emissions. As if that were some sort of new revelation. What is new is the rift opening up in the tight knit collars of the Republican party.
Schwarzenegger makes the nefarious actions of the Bush administrations stance on climate change sound like a play ground ‘nah ney nah ney’.
I’m not going to do it if Mikey isn’t gong to do it too.
Schwarzenegger said the Bush administration didn’t believe they should do anything about it (global warming emissions) since China is not doing anything about it and since India is not willing to do anything why should we?
Way to lead the free world!
Schwarzenegger also said “We don’t wait for other countries to do the same thing. That’s what makes America number one…”
Here’s a little news; most people on the planet noticed a long time ago The U.S. stopped leading and for the past several decades took up the tedious job of mostly pillaging the free world.
Since the EPA decided not to take further actions to stave-off global warming while the lame-duck finishes his term in office, Schwarzenegger said in an interview with George Stephanopoulos that will be aired July 13th, “Well, to be honest with you, if they would have done something this year, I would have thought it was bogus anyway,” (have to love a Republican governor that can use the word ‘bogus’ correctly in a sentence)
California has been on the front lines of the envirmental issues for decades because if it’s unique problems. These problems forced California to take aggressive and costly actions to clean-up the air, water, and agriculture among other problems. For decades the rest of the nation categorized California as tree hugging fruits and nuts, and on the lighter side generally alarmists.
Another one’s collar has begun warming…
Answering a question about climate change asked by one reporter on a flight to Australia, Pope Benedict said, “We have to give impulse to rediscovering our responsibility and to finding an ethical way to change our way of life.” He wants to “wake up consciences”.
The Pope said politicians and experts must be “capable of responding to the great ecological challenge and to be up to the task of this challenge.” “We have our responsibilities toward Creation”.
I am loathed to see politicians and experts used in the same sentence and frankly find ‘give impulse to rediscovering our responsibility and to finding an ethical way to change our way of life’ a statement that is filled with more than a little irony in light of the past behaviour
of the so many authorities in the Pope’s flock, but I digress. If the head of an organization, 1 billion strong, can come up with ‘one quotable’ that fits all questions…he’s worth his weight in gold.
Meanwhile…
California is burning like a wicker cabinet. Raging fires are one of those recurring challenges they’ve had to deal with for decades.
The lame-duck President plans a visit to survey the damage. The last thing California needs right now is more hot air blowing in, but in light of Schwarzenegger’s comments about the Bush administration, the visit might be an icy one which could chill the atmosphere. Fire and ice might too contribute some much needed moisture in the air there.
The White House did not say where Bush would go to get his briefing on Thursday, but it’s always nice to kill two birds with one stone…Bush is scheduled to attend a private Republican fundraising event in the Wine Barrel of the state, Napa.
Multitasking, one quote fits all…we should all be able to rest well knowing there are so many wise captains at the helms.
Photo: NASA’s Terra Satellite…only a small portion of the California fires are shown.
Labels: Bush, Climate Change, EPA, Global Warming, Pope, Schwarzenegger
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Global warming is making some Republican’s hot under the collar.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Perverting Common Wisdom, nephew, is the mark of all great conspiracies!
He who controls the Spice, controls the universe!
The Spice must flow.
The people of the United States woke up one day to find themselves living in the Scifi classic Dune and Dick Cheney is looking a lot like Baron Harkonnen. Is Dick Cheney the real floating fat man?
Perverting Common Wisdom.
Cheney ordered, among other things, deletions from congressional testimony given by Julie Gerberding,M.D.,Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Gerberding is also Administrator, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Gerberding’s original testimony, presented to the Committee on Environment and Public Works, was cut by half. Here is a link to the original draft with censored testimony in highlight.
Pacific Spirit Marine Institute posted an article on 10/24/07. CDC officials were calling Julie Gerberding’s report to the committee “Eviscerated”.
9 months ago,Senator and Chairwoman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works,Barbara Boxer (D-Calif), questioned why the administration would edit testimony by one of the country’s leading voices on public health?
The Chairwoman’s question of why wasn’t answered, but in a 3-page letter from Jason Burnett the who was answered.
“Cheney’s office was deeply involved in getting nearly half of the CDC’s original draft testimony removed.”
Why indeed.
Boxer contends,”This cover-up is being directed from the White House and the office of the vice president.”
Burnett resigned from the EPA last month and told Boxer’s committee the White House pressured him to retract an email detailing his finding. Burnett refused. Boxer will subpoena the material unless EPA documents are released to her committee.
Oh. Really?
Word from Sen. James Inhofe’s (R-Oklahoma) is the eviscerated report given by Gerberding is a non issue. “All administrations edit testimony before it is submitted to Congress.”
If that is the case why bother keeping the EPA, or the CDC for that matter? Why not just send down some lackey to report any so-called findings the administration wants?
The Spice must flow.
Boxer said, “History will judge this Bush administration harshly for recklessly covering up a real threat to the people they’re supposed to protect.”
Oath of Office.
In fact, history judging harshly is a non issue. For those that place their hand on a bible and swear to “protect and defend”, are held to a ‘higher’ standard. Intentionally leading the nation down a path of destruction that not only impacts the U.S., but the world, falls under the heading of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’.
Perhaps one day, when the world is fighting the war on climate change, people of the planet will judge this administration guilty of war crimes. But, by then it will be a post obitum judgement.
_______________________________________________________
This may not be the correct forum to present a history lesson, but I hold the pen; for today anyway.
As Jon Roland, Constitution Society explains: “high” does not mean “more serious” crimes. “It refers to those punishable offenses that only apply to high persons, that is, to public officials, those who,because of their official status, are under special obligations that ordinary persons are not under, and which could not be meaningfully applied or justly punished if committed by ordinary persons.”
An example is the Uniform Code of Military Justice. An ordinary person cannot be punished for moral turpitude, or conduct unbecoming. There would never be enough prisons to hold all those whose conduct is unbecoming!
As in the case of the President who swears an oath, ‘Any public statement is perjury if it is a lie, and not necessary to deceive an enemy.” Art. II Sec. 1 Cl. 8.
The President is legally responsible for everything that everyone in the executive branch is doing. The Presidents subordinates include everyone in the executive branch, their agents and contractors. He is not protected by “plausible deniablility”.
Holding a particular office of trust is not a right, but a privilege,and removal from such office is not a punishment.
____________________________________________
I’m sure a subpoena will work as well on those who occupy the Vice President’s ‘office’ as it has worked on Carl Rove. Rove failed to appear after being served with a subpoena to testify at the House Judiciary subcommittee hearing this morning. Rove did have a proxy; it was an empty chair with his name on the table.
Thumbing his nose, like the rest of the useless rapscallions in Washington, Rove would have like to informally ‘chew the fat’ with the subcommittee as if an informal chat would not bind him to telling the truth. Informal, just like the tests that the Gulf Stream Travel Trailer company did on their formaldehyde ridden toxic trailers sold to FEMA.
Unlike Rove, Gulf Stream Coach Chairman Kim Shea at least showed up to face the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Gulf Stream hit the jackpot with a windfall contract to provide $50 million worth of ‘death chambers’ to FEMA to house Katrina survivors. FEMA hadn’t done enough to try and shed themselves of survivors. Of course it isn’t the trailer manufacturer’s fault. After all there are no federal guidelines for formaldehyde exposure limits in ‘travel trailers’. Never mind that in some of the trailers tested the levels of formaldehyde exceeded the levels at which OSHA requires mandatory medical monitoring of workers who have been exposed to formaldehyde.
To say we have awakened to “A world where the mighty, the mad, and the magical will have their final battle.” is a gross understatement.
As the movie trailer for Dune tells us; this has become “A world beyond your experience, beyond your imagination.”
Photo: IMDb
Labels: Boxer, CDC report, Censored, Censorship US Government, Climate Change, EPA, FEMA, Formaldehyde, Speak no Evil
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
"They’ve Taken Your Mind"
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Russian pilots accidentally dropped an un-pulverized chunk of cement into a house while trying to assure a dry holiday. Yet another attempt to ‘fool mother nature’.
Let’s have a look at what is commonly found in cement shall we? Calcium oxide which is corrosive to human tissue. Crystaline silica which can cause damage to lungs, and is abrasive to the skin. Toss in a trace amount of chromium and voila! allergic reactions.
Silver oxide, another cloud seeding favorite, is said to be non-toxic to humans yet it is known to have severe detrimental affects on fish. Salt, popular also, is being widely used to change the weather too. Salt lessens the ability of soil to transfer nutrients to plants…there are few enough nutrients left in the food we eat as it is.
Pony up Paul McCartney! In 2004 Mc Cartney’s team reportedly spent 55,000.00 to have 3 jets spray clouds over the Palace Square in St. Petersburg, Russia to stave off rain.The former Beatle needed to spread his former corrupting influence in a rain free environment, so he influenced the weather by spreading, not corruption but, dry ice so that his 50,000 fans there could stay dry. (The former Soviet regime had banned Beatle music as a ‘corrupting influence.)
China has guaranteed rainless medal ceremonies for the Olympics. A quick google search brings up more countries in the world and more state agencies ‘practicing weather modification’ than any sane person would hope to find. It’s absolutely daunting and the reasons, in some cases, are beyond belief.
The United States, Canada, South Africa, Mexico, Australia,China, Russia…You name it. It seems if a nation or a state has two nickles to rub together they are going to get into the weather modification game. Beyond a playful picnic, or drought busting, I think it would be a mistake not to at least consider many nations are eyeballing weaponization of the weather…Operation Popeye is just one, now public, example.
No wonder our weather is so screwed up!
The world would do well to remember “The slightest change in the initial conditions of a chaotic system can accumulate in the long run into an enormous effect.” Edward
Lorenz.
I personally think the world has gone ‘fractal’.
Photo Cloud seeding 1957 near Sydney naa.gov.au
Labels: China, Climate Change, Cloud seeding, Credence Clearwater Revival, Russia, weather modification
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Credence Clearwater Revival Finally Get’s An Answer! Who’ll Stop the Rain? Anyone that can afford to; that’s who.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Merriam Webster’s definition of a flash point is 1: the lowest temperature at which vapors above a volatile combustible substance ignite in air when exposed to flame. 2: a point at which someone or something bursts suddenly into action or being.
If there is a second tinderbox on the planet outside of the Middle East that place has to be the Arctic. Never before has the Arctic held such a high potential for becoming potentially explosive.
A report from Javier Solana and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, two of the EU’s top foreign policy officials warns the Arctic is ripe for “significant potential conflicts’.
In their 7 page report, the two warn, the rapid melting of the polar ice caps is changing the geostrategic dynamics of the region.
In what is being called the ‘Solana Report’ the authors call on the EU to draw up an Arctic Policy “based on the evolving geostrategy of the region, taking into account access to resources and the opening of new trade routes.”
The call for EU policy action isn’t a new one. Nearly 4 years ago to the date, the United Nations Environment Programme stated, the “Arctic’s unique environment and indigenous peoples are under increasing threat from industrial activities and the region is likely to change drastically unless decision-makers in the European Union and ‘elsewhere’ address the challenges seriously.”
Prof. Jacqueline McGlade, EEA,European Environment Agency, Executive Director, pointed out in 2004 that, “Indigenous peoples have managed the Arctic’s resources in a sustainable manner for thousands of years…” “Industrialised countries, including the EU nations are both the main users and the main sources of pollution affecting the region.” Indigenous peoples suffer most of the adverse effects of this exploitation while receiving a relatively small share of the benefits.”
“With the high levels of toxic chemicals in local Inuit peoples, the melting of permafrost and the retreat of glaciers across the region, the Arctic is like an environmental early warning system for the world,” UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said in 2004.
Nestled in the heart of this tinderbox are the Inuit. While nestled in the warm halls of the U.N. and in the ‘meet and greets’, officials gather in places like Brussels to discuss the topics of volatility, energy and pollutants. But, no one on earth is touched by the cold, harsh facts of what the future holds for the icy, northern most part of the planet like the Inuit.
Labels: Arctic, Climate Change, EEA, EU, Inuit, Solana Report, U.N.
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Flash Point; Arctic
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Biofuels are becoming the next Bogeyman. Is an explosion of fear over food shortages creating a new enemy or is it the Oil Industry?
The best quote I’ve seen in defense of biofuels comes from Brazil’s President Lula. “Don’t tell me, for the love of God, that food is expensive because of biodiesel. Food is expensive because the world wasn’t prepared to see millions of Chinese, Indians, Africans, Brazilians and Latin Americans eat,” say Lula.
Biofuels are being billed as the diversion of food resources. Jean Ziegler at the U.N. calls biofuels a “crime against humanity,” Oil-rich Venezuela warns that biofuels could increase malnutrition in Latin America.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says, the rise in food prices is due to “inadequate agricultural policies in developing countries”. Merkel says “insufficient forecasts of changes in nutritional habits” in emerging markets are also part of the problem.
Imagine having debate over the ’second meal’. I guess that’s what Merkel feels is a change in nutritional habits. It must be shocking to think people might consider two meals a day. Merkel says of India, “People are eating twice a day, and if a third of one billion people in India do that, it adds up to 300 million people.” Indeed.
Imagine 100 million Chinese suddenly start drinking milk. I would imagine if the world starts eating like the Americans they will start dropping from heart disease and obesity like the Americans too. Perhaps those figures should be added into the mix of long range food forecasts.
Germany is the largest biofuels producer in Europe. Second is France whose biofuels program is said to use up only 7% of French fields.
The World Bank reports, increased bio-fuel production has contributed to the rise in food prices. World Bank President Bob Zoelick called biofuels a “significant contributor” to soaring food prices around the world.
On Tuesday a law went into affect in Britain that requires 2.5 % of all gasoline and diesel sold be derived from biofuels.
What’s the upshot? For now it seems we can’t move to cleaner forms of energy and feed the planet.
How is it possible this global food crisis has seemingly blind-sided the globe?
Labels: Bio Fuels, Climate Change, Food Shortage, Global Warming, Merkel, Survivalist, World Bank
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Will Biofuels Die of Starvation?
Thursday, February 14, 2008
New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg takes Global Warming seriously. He sees Global Warming as the same kind of threat as terrorism, only on a slower scale.
Bloomberg has a plan to create “the first environmentally sustainable 21st-century city” with 127 ways to attain that goal in 25 years.
Last year Mayor Bloomberg outlined his plaNYC which is far- reaching and visionary to say the least. There is no doubt this man is serious about what he sees as a real threat to not just NYC but the entire planet. Some would say Bloomberg has gone beyond serious and planted himself firmly on the loony toon side of the ledger sheets.
Cultivating mussels to suck pollution out of the rivers, platforms over rail yards and highways to create land for housing seem futurama like, yet somehow they make sense. NYC’s population is expected to grow by 1 million more residents by 2030. Creating room for more housing is definitely going to be a challenge. But an even larger challenge will be keeping future leaders of the city and the state on board with his plan. As Bloomberg says, “If we don’t act now, when?”
On the more conservative side of the ledger plaNYC proposals include ‘congestion pricing” which would charge people who drive cars below 86th street a fee which he believes would not only reduce congestion, but raise funds to complete more public transportation projects.
Earlier this week Mayor Bloomberg addressed the United Nations and announced his long term plan to reduce the city’s use of tropical hardwoods. The city purchases more than $1 million each year of tropical hardwoods. These types of woods are resistant to rot and are very durable. Bloomberg explained tropical deforestation, “accounts for some 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas emission.”
Last fall Bloomberg, along with New York Restoration Project Founder Bette Midler, planted the first of what will be 1 Million new trees that will be planted in New York. The two planted a Carolina Silverbell tree in the Bronx.
The tree project is part of PlaNYC effort to increase the city’s urban forest by 20% in the next 10 years.
Mayor Bloomberg pointed out that local officials in every large city on the earth are the closest to the people and the problems they face. “And it’s why the mayors of many of the world’s largest cities have joined forces to fight climate change in the ‘C-40′ organization, whose conference it was New York’s privilege to host last May.”
The Mayor reminded those in attendance at the UN that even though the government, at a national level, has yet to approve the Kyoto Protocol, “more than 700 cities in the United States, representing more than 80 million Americans, have pledged to meet its goals.”
Read the entire text of the Mayor’s speech to the UN as delivered.
Opening Photo Thanks: Spencer T Tucker
Mayor Bloomberg delivers remarks at the “Addressing Climate Change: The United Nations at Work” Conference. February 11, 2008.
Second Photo Thanks: Edward Reed
Mayor Bloomberg and New York Restoration Project (NYRP) Founder Bette Midler today launched the Million Trees NYC initiative to plant and care for one million trees throughout the five boroughs in the next decade. October 09, 2007
Labels: Bette Midler, Climate Change, Global Warming, Michael Bloomberg, New York City, United Nations
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Welcome to the Capitol of the World! Mayor Bloomberg’s New York City.
Monday, November 26, 2007
All is lost.
After swooping in and killing the entire stock of 120,000 mature salmon at the Glenarm Bay organic aqua farm belonging to Northern Salmon Company. Although this was a devasting blow, the company still had young salmon at Red Bay which would have reached maturity in autumn 2008. The company thought they may be able to hang on until then, but that is no longer the case. All is now lost.
The jellyfish took their plundering directly to the juvenile salmon aqua farm at Red Bay days later and wiped them out as well.
According to Mark McCaughan, the Chief Fisheries Officer, Department of Agriculture Northern Ireland “It’s an unusual natural phenomenon which is unprecedented in Northern Ireland.”
Nothing could have prevented the attack.
The jellyfish surrounded the salmon cages by the billions, blocking tide movement, the salmon were stung and asphyxiated. Dead dead dead. Now the 120,000 200 tonnes of mature salmon will be sent to Co. Meath to be incinerated presumably the same fate will meet the juvenile salmon from Red Bay as well.
The Queen’s 80th birthday party guests were served Glenarm salmon. It was said to be one of the highlights of her birthday banquet. The Glenarm salmon had been gaining world wide fans of the product said to be simply the best. The product was making great inroads toward placing Northern Ireland on the map with delectable food stuffs for export.
The density of the jellyfish was such that 3 boats sent by Northern Salmon Co. to attempt a rescue were unable to move through the billions of jellyfish. The attack lasted nearly 7 hours with the jellyfish covering an area in the sea of 10 square miles and they were 35 feet deep.
These jellyfish which are Mauve Stingers can grow to be 10cm in diameter.
Jellyfish have been creating more and more problems in the past few years. Scientists say millions of Juvenile jellyfish have been swept into unfamiliar neighborhoods by unusually strong Atlantic Currents maybe caused by the changing climate.
In 2005 a swarm of jellyfish collected in a Swedish nuclear reactor’s cooling system prompting the Oskarshamn plant to shut down one of its 3 reactors. The plant cools its reactors with water from the Baltic Sea.
In Orange County California Millions of jellyfish appeared as if by magic or as fire Capt. Jim Turner in Newport Beach put it “like Mary Poppins” in 2005 also. California jellyfish seam to be more laid back than their marauding cousins in the Atlantic.
The species that hit the California coast were ‘giant black jellyfish. Giant compared to what? They had a canopy about 3 feet wide, and their tentacles were reaching up to 12 feet in length.
At the time scientists had only even known of this species for about 10 years, so they took the opportunity to catch and study these guys. Dennis Kelly, head of the Marine Science Department at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, speaking in Californese said “This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime-like-thing.”
Japanese fishermen have been dealing with the Jumbo Jellyfish problem which started in 2002. Oddly there isn’t a culinary market for these Jumbo Jellyfish and one wonders why Japan hasn’t made an effort to turn peoples buns toward jellyfish on a kaiser roll instead of whale meat.
China has had its own problems with jellyfish invasions too.
Photo thanks and notes. Belfast Telegraph
Labels: Climate Change, aquaculture, jellyfish, nuclear, open water aquaculture
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Marauding Band of Jellyfish Wipes Out Entire Stock of Salmon in Northern Ireland.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
The MS Explorer is sunk. It didn’t take very long for her to go down either; less than 24 hours after she hit some ice and began taking on the frigid waters of Antarctica, she had disappeared from sight.
According to the Associated Press Chilean navy vessels lost sight of the Canadian owned MS Explorer. “Our units in the area aren’t seeing anything” “The Explorer is not visible any longer.”
This isn’t the first time this year that a ship has been in distress in Antarctica. Last February the Nisshin Maru, the Japanese whaling factory ship caught fire, and was dead in the water for 10 days. The Norwegian cruise ship MS Nordkapp ran aground off a a small island in Antartica.
The Nisshin Maru lost one crew. Fire on the whale meat canning ship was steeped in controversy and accusations of terrorism and sabotage. Luckily there was only the loss of one human soul in 3 potentially horrific incidents. All these incidents took place in 9 months leads me to question the sanity of ‘tourism’ in one of the most ecologically precarious places on the planet. 9 months is really a misrepresentation when November to April are the accessible months in the Antarctic.
The fact that ship emissions represent a major portion of global nitrogen and sulfur, both known to contribute to global climate changes, it’s makes no sense to beef up the emissions in Antarctica buy hauling in ship load after ship load of tourists compounding emissions in this vulnerable area.
Emissions aside, accidents just such as the one that befell the Explorer today are environmental disasters waiting to happen. This ship was rated 1A1 ice A with a double hull. What good did that do her?
PSMI at this time doesn’t know how much fuel and what type of fuel the MS Explorer was burning. We’ll try to find more information as the night progresses.
In the mean time…Things aren’t adding up for me.
Labels: Antarctic, Climate Change, Cruise Ships, Global Warming, MS Explorer, Nisshin Maru, Sinking
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Antarctica Takes An Environmental Bullet, the 3rd fired in 9 months. MS Explorer Sinks!
