Her name is (Sylvia) Earle

Sylvia_EarleI was watching the October 13, 2009 episode of the Colbert Report on Comedy Central and was pleasantly surprised to when Stephen interviewed Sylvia Earle. Ms. Earle is a very accomplished ocean explorer.

She just put out (yet another – yeah!) book, The World Is Blue: How Our Fate And The Oceans Are One.

So, who is Sylvia Earle? She is just a girl, originally born in New Jersey, and when she was still young moved with her parents  to the Gulf of Mexico. There she gravitated to the mystical, open ocean and never looked back. She has more than 125 publication about her ocean explorations, including: Exploring the Deep Frontier, Sea Change (1995), Wild Ocean: America’s Parks Under the Sea (1999) and The Atlas of the Ocean (2001).

Here are some other mighty impressive accomplishments for this 74 year old woman:

  • She has been a National Geographic Explorer in Residence since 1998.
  • She founded Deep Ocean Exploration and Research (DOER), now DOER Marine Operations, to design, operate, support and consult on manned and robotic sub sea systems.
  • She has led more than 50 expeditions worldwide involving in excess of 6,000 hours underwater in connection with her research.
  • She led the first team of women aquanauts during the Tektite Project in 1970 and holds a depth record for solo diving.

And, I think this is a very appropriate mantra for the Beach Chair Scientists out there:

I can still feel that leap of enthusiasm, and real joy, at the prospect of finally getting out to the beach, and running around. But probably the most important thing, to me, aside from just the freedom of it and the power of it, was the kind of creatures that you could see along the beach, that you can’t find anywhere else. —Sylvia Earle

If you have any questions please e-mail beachchairscientist@gmail.com or let us know at http://www.beachchairscientist.com.

photo (c) Library of Congress.

6 ocean related blogs you should know about.

Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice, and Sunset “Doing my small part to preserve ocean biodiversity while advancing the vast left wing conspiracy and queer, godless agenda.”

http://coralnotesfromthefield.blogspot.com/2008/08/great-ocean-blogs.html

Sustainable Ocean Project “Changing the way we think about our oceans.”

http://sustainableoceanproject.com/

Blue Planet Divers “A Place for Researchers Divers of All Levels to Connect and Learn.”

http://blueplanetdivers.org

CephalopodCast “Science info + Ocean info.”

http://cephalopodcast.com

The Beacon from Oceana

http://na.oceana.org/en/blog

The Ship’s Blog from the National Geographic Society

http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/blog/

If you have any questions please e-mail beachchairscientist@gmail.com or let us know at http://www.beachchairscientist.com.

Who … What … Me?

Can you guess the common name designated to the animal pictured to the right?ugly-fish

Here are some facts about the critter:

  • Found in Antarctica
  • Has watery-jelly like flesh
  • Lives in the deep part of the ocean

Image (c) of newscience.com

6 reasons why Jacques is cooler than punk rock

It may not come as a surprise, but a lot of my friends and family consider George Costanza as the most famous marine biologist they know. Long before Seinfeld, Jacques  Cousteau, the world’s most well known deep sea explorer, made studying marine science seem fun JacquesCousteauand not as intimidating as people once thought.

So here are some reasons why Jacques  Cousteau continues to be an inspiration and a legend in the field:

Cousteau co-developed the aqua lung in 1943.

Cousteau co-created the Cousteau Society, dedicated to protecting ocean life, in 1973.

Cousteau’s television show, “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau,” was narrated by Cousteau himself and Rod  Sterling.

Cousteau received the Presidential Medal of Honor from Ronald Regan in 1985.

Cousteau received the United  Nations International Environmental Prize, with Peter Scott, in 1975.

Cousteau was honored by John Denver in the 1975 song titled, Calypso. Calypso was his boat’s name.

image (c) yarnela.com

The story of the hurricane …

Bob Dylan explained it once, but I’ll explain the natural phenomenon from another angled. A hurricane develops due to the hot, hot air temperatures of summer moving along the hot, hot ocean. This collision of heat joins forces to form a mass of air and water that starts swirling, blowing, sinking, and rising in a path that you see on the weatherman tracking device.

You probably begin paying attention to the tracking system when a hurricane begins to move close to the shore. A hurricane close to shore will undoubtedly cause massive storm surges. A storm surge is when the ocean may increase its high tides above what it normally may be. It is not uncommon to have a storm surge of 25 feet (about 6 kids standing on top of each others shoulders)!

The wind speed of the hurricane can get up to 150-200 miles per hour! Even once the winds slow down to next-to-nothing, it is important to remember that they are going to start back up again – but, go in the opposite direction. The respite you experienced was the ‘eye’ of the storm. A hurricane is a big doughnut of wind and water constantly cycling around destroying everything in its path. It can be up to 300 miles across.

Image (c) environment.nationalgeographic.com

Do you have another great question? Email info@beachchairscientist.com.

Do sharks really never stop moving?

In order to breathe sharks have to keep moving. They have to engulf water to extract the oxygen in the water and then the rest of the water filters out of their gills. If the water current is very strong they can stay still.

Do you have another great question? Check out www.beachchairscientist.com and enter let us know or e-mail beachchairscientist@gmail.com!

No, sharks do not have a sixth sense

Sharks really do have a sixth sense.

It is the electrosensory organ that we spoke of with the hammerhead sharks. The electrosensory organ is called the ampullae of Lorenzini. Sounds intimidating, however, it’s really just a jelly filled canal that starts near the nose and helps them find food under the sand and figure out what direction they are going.

Do you have another great question? Email info@beachchairscientist.com.

What is the best book about the ocean?

That seems like a fun question. And, worthwhile, especially since we wrote about the best beach movies this winter. But…Are we talking non-fiction or fiction? Let’s just say for the sake of relaxation you are asking about fiction. I can name some that come to mind, but, would love to hear feedback from others as well!Moby_Dick_by_KissMyShades

Here is my list:

Jaws by Peter Benchley

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

I am sure there are many more that I have yet to read…please add your favorites to the comment section. Thanks!

Has anyone read Robinson Crusoe by Robert Louis Stevenson? I feel like that would be worthy of the list, but, don’t want to say I read it when I never did…

Do you have another great question? Check out www.beachchairscientist.com and enter let us know or e-mail beachchairscientist@gmail.com!

image (c) deviantart.com

Oh, Bermuda Triangle, where art thou?

bermuda-triangle

Do you have another great question? Check out www.beachchairscientist.com and let us know what you always ponder while digging your toes in the sand or e-mail beachchairscientist@gmail.com.

Image (c) behindblondiepark.com

How many oceans are there?

In reality, there is just one ocean.

However, I understand the confusion as of late on the geographic names applied to different sections of this ocean ecosystem. While we lost a planet (Pluto), we gained an ocean! In 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization named this new ocean the Southern Ocean. Basically, it is the southern equivalent of the Arctic Ocean, except a little bit larger in sprawling space. So, there are 5 oceans.

Here they are in a listing of greatest to least in square miles:

Pacific (64,186,000)

Atlantic (33,420,000)

Indian (28,350,000)

Southern (7,848,300)

Arctic (5,106,000)

Do you have another great question? Check out www.beachchairscientist.com and let us know what you always ponder while digging your toes in the sand or e-mail beachchairscientist@gmail.com.