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Her name is (Sylvia) Earle

November 12, 2009 by 1 Comment

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.

Filed Under: People

How many animals and plants live in the ocean?

November 21, 2008 by 1 Comment

(Please note: This post does not give an exact answer to the question.)

It is comparable to the amount of stars in the sky. Especially if you think that 95% of the world’s oceans are unexplored.

That is why in 2000 a huge census of what lives in the ocean started. The Census of Marine Life brings together more than 2,000 scientists from 82 countries try to answer the question. Every so often a report card of their progress is unveiled to the public – and the latest one was this month. It is great – they are always finding new wacky stuff.

Currently, there are about 230,000 known marine creatures that have gone through the process of becoming legitimately described as “unique”. Since 2003 the Census of Marine Life has discovered more than 5,000 new living creatures – But, 111 have been processed as new and unique creatures! The scientists are making remarkable progress.

Here is a brief list of some of the new wacky stuff they have found:

  • An octopi that lives in the deep-sea – unusual since lacks an ink sack like other octopi – you don’t need to ink in the dark, right?
  • Sea stars and sea spiders larger than a bread box.
  • A completely blind lobster species with very unique antennae used for feeling.
  • A brand new orange and black stripped shrimp that lives off the coast of Africa.

This is a link to the most recent progress report – 24 pages – great pictures!

http://www.coml.org/pressreleases/highlights08/coml_highlightsReport08-sm.pdf

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!

Filed Under: Biodiversity