Marine & Freshwater Environmental Education
Knot is a measure of nautical speed. More specifically one knot equals one nautical mile per hour. One nautical mile equals 6,080 feet.
The term knot came from how sailors calculated speed. They threw a log with a rope attached to it overboard. The rope had knots evenly spaced (every 47 feet and 3 inches). Therefore, by calculating the knots let out in a specific time frame (every 28 seconds) the speed was calculated.
JOIDES stands for the Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Sea Sampling. This project began in the 1970’s as a collaboration between many prominent universities and oceanographic institutes (including Woods Hole and Scripps) to take core samples and study the bottom of the ocean. The vessel used for the project was known as the Glomar Challenge. Since the initial project a JOIDES resolution unfolded in 1985 maintaining the mission of the project. Currently, Mission 330 is underway where they are studying the Louisville Seamount Trail. Learn more here. To date the deepest hole drilled into the earth has been approximately 1.3 miles deep.
Image via Wikipedia
Epipelagic is the area of the water column extending from the surface of the water down to 700 feet. Since is the only zone that the sunlight can penetrate this is the only zone where plants reside. Consequently, this is where 90% of ocean life hangs out.
The epipelagic zone is also known as the sunlight or euphotic zone.
Bartholomeu Diaz was a Portuguese navigator who was the first person to sail around the Cape of Good Hope. His flotilla of three ships are thought to have rounded the tip of Africa the first week of February in 1488. He was sent by Prince John (eventually King) to explore the west coast of Africa south of fifteen degrees latitude in an effort to understand how Africa and India are linked.
Image via Wikipedia
I love the game Scattegories so I am going to be drawn to learning new words that will help me gain more points.
The Baffin Bay separates Greenland from Canada and is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Davis Strait. You won’t be finding any vacation homes along the shores of the Baffin Bay as the surrounding islands are cold and mountainous and the Bay is covered in ice for most of the year.
The Baffin Bay is approximately 700 miles long, varies from 70 to 400 miles in width and ranges from 1,200 to 9,000 feet deep.
I just think this review of what children from New York City have to say about beach pollution aka marine debris is too “right on” not to share. These quotes come directly from an article on the Ocean Conservancy’s website. Check out the entire article for some wonderful crayola images the kids did too!
Fourth-graders in New York City conducted cleanups at a local beach and tallied every item they found on Ocean Conservancy’s data card, an experience shared by hundreds of thousands of people around the world every year during Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup.
The young citizen scientists learned about the myriad ways marine debris threatens ocean health, and created graphs to show the sources of these man-made items.
They shared their findings with us, and we’d like to share them with you. Here are just a few of their observations, presented just as they’ve written them:
Here it is January and we’ve all sang our last rendition of ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Conversely, what this Beach Chair Scientist has to say is that these marine science bloggers should not be forgotten!
As the host for the Carnival of the Blue No. 44, I proudly bring to you these powerful, poetic, funny, insightful and delightful posts from the last month of 2010. Enjoy!
On December 15, the Wanderin’ Weeta of British Columbia took the time to put together a post about how plastic bags are often a deadly enemy of seabirds. She states that, “Researchers estimate that around 95% of all seabirds have eaten plastic litter.” Please see her post to watch a very eye opening video from YouTube.
The always humorous Mad Kane of New York wrote a light and lovely haiku septet on December 21 about the rare total eclipse during the winter solstice. Enjoy this post and be reminded of the rhythm of the verse!
Also, on December 21 Ben Goldfarb of FishiLeaks shared a post of how Moray eels do the darnedest things! Read his post to learn about the unusual behaviors of these fish.
Next, the NeuroDojo of Texas introduced us to the Dinochelus on December 28. Check out this post for a look at this lobster-like crustacean with an extraordinary claw which we just aren’t sure what it is used for yet.
Last but not least, Miriam of the Deep Sea News rounded out the year on December 29 with a wonderful post on the trials and tribulations of being a compassionate and responsible seafood eater. Read this post if eating sustainable seafood is a part of your New Year’s resolution.
Enjoy and have a wonderful 2011!
Now that we have posted 200 entertaining posts of random beach trivia we thought it would be fun to review the most visited posts to see what our audience enjoys reading from us. So during this holiday season let’s make a toast to the top ten most read entries.
Thanks for reading all the posts from BCS and let us know if you have a questions while digging your toes in the sand!
The First Beach Chair Scientist post is about my favorite animal – The Atlantic Horseshoe Crab
Break it down. It’s hammertime … (doooo doo doo dut .. doo dut ..doo dut.)
Hey there! We have some very exciting updates for you today.
First of all, I want to say that November was a slow month for posts since I was busy taking care of a little newborn. The next generation of Beach Chair Scientist was born November 3. All are happy and healthy.
Secondly, can you believe this is our 200th post? Since we began July 13, 2008 there have been quite a slew of interesting posts. I will post the top posts later this week.
Lastly, I am collecting entries for a Carnival of the Blue post for January. Send me your best December posts by December 30th.
Have a great holiday season!
From the summer to the winter the amount of ice in the Arctic Ocean doubles from 3 million square miles to 6 million square miles. The smallest of all the oceans was explored by those looking for trade routes between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. But, the first to reach the North Pole was American Robert Peary in 1909 on dog sleds.
Nowadays travelers searching the Arctic Ocean need ships with powerful bows and engines needed to penetrate the sea ice.
What people are saying …