Marine Technology Reporter Blogs - images: wikipedia

The crew of the research Vessel Tara has recently completed a two-and-a-half year 70,000-mile expedition. The expedition provides a snapshot of life at the bottom of the oceanic food chain. More than 30,000 samples of seawater were taken from locations across the globe, from the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, south to the remote Antarctic seas. The expedition's findings reveal the diversity and complexity of the tiny plankton that are a vital food source for fish and whales. In total, 1.5 million species of marine microorganisms were recorded – significantly more than were previously believed to exist. They range from creatures that are one centimeter in length, to tiny life forms that are measured in billionths of a meter.

A new study by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, suggests that the nature of California heat waves is changing due to global warming. Climate researchers detected a trend toward more humid heat waves that are expressed very strongly in elevated nighttime temperatures, a trend consistent with climate change projections. Moreover, relative to local warming, the mid-summer heat waves are getting stronger in generally cooler coastal areas. Classic California heat waves have been characterized as interior desert and valley events that are hot during the day and marked by dryness and strong nighttime cooling.

The company Sub Sea research continues work on the Port Nicholson, a wreck found in Boston harbor the beginning of the year. The Port Nicholson was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the summer of 1942. The Port Nicholson is a steel-hulled, 481 ft. merchant ship, coal fired freighter built in 1918 at the Tynes & Wear shipyard. She was carrying two special envoy USSR agents overseeing the delivery of a very important Lend-Lease payment from the USSR to USA. She along with 4 other commercial vessels were being escorted by an unusually high number of military ships. The normal ratio at the time was near 1:10 or less but this convoy ratio was 6:5. Maybe it was the fact they were delivering 1,707,000 oz. troy, in 400 oz. bars of platinum.

Scientists studying Arctic sea ice have recorded the lowest extent ever recorded since 1979. According to the University of Colorado Boulder’s National Snow and Ice data Center, on Aug. 26, the Arctic sea ice extent fell to 1.58 million square miles, or 4.10 million square kilometers. The number is 27,000 square miles, or 70,000 square kilometers below the record low daily sea ice extent set Sept. 18, 2007. Since the summer Arctic sea ice minimum normally does not occur until the melt season ends in mid- to late September, the CU-Boulder research team expects the sea ice extent to continue to dwindle for the next two or three weeks. Since 1979 Arctic sea Ice has been measured using satellite technology.

For the first time a comprehensive oceanographic and fisheries research vessel is preparing to survey the Chukchi Sea. The Chukchi Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the De Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, and in the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, beyond which lies the Beauford Sea. The Bering Strait forms its southernmost limit and connects it to theBering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The sea has an approximate area of 595,000 km² (230,000 mi²) and is only navigable about four months of the year. The main geological feature of the Chukchi Sea bottom is the 700 km (435 mi)-long Hope Basin, which is bound to the northeast by the Herald Arch. Depths less than 50 m (164 ft) occupy 56% of the total area.