Ongoing ocean observations II...

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Source: Ocean Clean-up Paper: Science (Advances) Hat-tip: bad cat 

"and this is why i find the issues raised by so many of the self-described “greens” today who have been so subsumed and outright eaten by the “anthropogenic global warming” story so problematic:

 because they have become the enemies of actual environmentalism and ecology by setting their goals and demands in opposition to that which actually supports the environment. 

and this has become absurd and malformed to the point of being truly dangerous and counterproductive."

Ocean observation of opaque octopus...

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...or more accurately glass octopus. Ah nostalgia! Saw this Massimo* tweet and immediately thought of Paul (nearly 13 years ago!).

Massimo links to the Schmidt Ocean Institute with the story, photos and videos: 

"scientists made two rare sightings of a glass octopus, a nearly transparent species whose only visible features are its optic nerve, eyeballs and digestive tract. Before this expedition, there has been limited live footage of the glass octopus, forcing scientists to learn about the animal by studying specimens found in the gut contents of predators." 

* proof that Twitter isn't only a raging troll infested bear-pit free-for-all.

Ocean observation; orarian oblectation...

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Today is World Ocean Day, something I fully support* [Ocean Conservancy]. "If you are lucky enough to be an orarian (coastal dweller) I hope you appreciate your circumstances; if you are lucky or rich enough to ever get into outer-space and you look down at The Earth, most of what you see will be the blue of water: over 70% of the planet's surface is covered by ocean and it is because of this that the Earth is sometimes called "the water planet" - less than three-tenths (maths was always a strong point) of our globe is covered with land." just looked at that from my Our Ocean obligation...post in 2006. Hope it's still true ;-) 

Another interesting stat: How much water is there on the planet? Less than 3% of that is freshwater. Of that, nearly 70% is in ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow, and 30% sits in ground water.

Of course the oceans aren't just water: there is the very bad, and the good: Obambulating

"95% to 98% of the biomass in the ocean is in microbes, which produce about half of the oxygen on the planet."

There are more than 1030 viruses on Earth and the oceans are...er, An Ocean of Viruses. "The sheer number of viruses and their intimate relationship with microbial life suggest that viruses play a critical role in the planet’s biosphere."

"Ocean viruses may turn over as much as 150 gigatons of carbon per year... "

Good info from NASA: "The story of oceans is the story of life. Oceans define our home planet, covering the majority of Earth’s surface and driving the water cycle that dominates our land and atmosphere. But more profound still, the story of our oceans envelops our home in a far larger context that reaches deep into the universe and places us in a rich family of ocean worlds that span our solar system and beyond." (well, it is NASA!)

* unlike many other 'name Days' and despite the fact that the climate change hysteria has affected ALL such institutions and charities. Also World Water Day, World Toilet Day and World Water Monitoring Day are up there and worth a mention. 

Oriental's ocean obligation...

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Visualized: Ocean Plastic Waste Pollution By Country [LINK: Visual Capitalist] 

"Millions of metric tons of plastic are produced worldwide every year. While half of this plastic waste is recycled, incinerated, or discarded into landfills, a significant portion of what remains eventually ends up in our oceans.

Where does all of this plastic come from? 

In this graphic, Louis Lugas Wicaksono used data from a research paper by Lourens J.J. Meijer and team to highlight the top 10 countries emitting plastic pollutants in the waters surrounding them." [Link to research] 

Spoiler: Brazil is the only country not in Asia to make it to this top 10 list.

Ocean oscillations...

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Not written about Pakistan directly before, except if you include all the problems with a certain community then I have mentioned it indirectly (mostly not good) a few times and for quite a while. 

Today, I only write this after watching rugby union at the weekend...bear with me...The BT Sport commentator remarked about their charity efforts for the Pakistan floods. I must admit I hadn't heard a thing (having been in the Americas for most of the last few months) so I looked it up.

That image is from the Wiki page and what struck me more is that in the first four paragraphs of that page they mention climate change nine (9) times**. After that it isn't repeated until the references at the foot of the page, almost like they were focussing and iterating...trying to convey a message? Here's the first paragraph:

In the sidebar they at least mention other causes: "Poor urban planning, Heavy monsoon rains, climate change". The first two they have got correct. The main text in the 'Impact' section goes on to say these are the worst floods since 2010. Which, in turn, were comparable to the floods of 1988, 1995, and 1997...oh. The monsoon rain that fell in 2010 was the highest since 1994 (another year...they missed 1992) which made it the second highest since 1961 (the 50 years recorded then 1961-2011). 

Hmmmm, see where I'm going with this? Seems the Pakistani Government would try to sort this out... oh they did, back in the 70s after the floods of 1973 and 1976. Difficult though, that Indus thing (big river apparently) starts in a gorge starting in the Himalayas (big snowy mountain range apparently).

FFS. 

These floods happen all the time; in fact you could probably time them, literally. I wouldn't mind betting there's a boy and a girl involved. These climate patterns often lead to 'a cascade of global impacts' [LINK], El Niño–La Niña oscillation, part of  "the intricate relationship between the ocean and the atmosphere" led in 2010 to unusually intense monsoon rains; in fact every flood year mentioned above coincides with La Niña, which "impacts the global climate and disrupts normal weather patterns, which can lead to intense storms in some places and droughts in others". That last sentence was from the Wiki page, they were happy to say that back then (cue Lefty editing) but today it is all about climate CHANGE. No it ISN'T; these are climate events that have happened for hundreds of years! Probably for ever. 

** nine, the same number of MPs that attended a debate in parliament on the abuse, trafficking, rape,drug, gang-rape Pakistani 'grooming' scandal earlier this month

Obambulation on ocean organisms...

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Having time on your hands can be a good or bad thing but the Devil can wait. Reading about viruses leads me to a load of info that had passed me by about the contents of the world's oceans. The obambulation is that this blog post wanders around and has no real point: just a bunch of stuff...but in reality that is all any of my blog-posts are, a reference to look back on.



First point, is a virus an orgaism at all? Well that is debatable...and debated: "From single-celled organisms to human populations, viruses affect all life on earth", "Although viruses challenge our concept of what "living" means, they are vital members of the web of life" and even an impact on evolution?

There are about ten x as many viruses in the oceans as there are bacteria [UW last week...that's the most recent link] and there is A LOT of bacteria. The viruses are numerous but they weigh almost nothing (relatively) and make up about 5% of the ocenas 'organisms'. Bacteria, [LINK] though ten times less numerous, weigh twenty x an average virus and the bacteria make up more than 90% of ocean biomass [PDF] so

"95% to 98% of the biomass in the ocean is in microbes, which produce about half of the oxygen on the planet."

There are more than 1030 viruses on Earth and the oceans are...er, An Ocean of Viruses. "The sheer number of viruses and their intimate relationship with microbial life suggest that viruses play a critical role in the planet’s biosphere."

"Ocean viruses may turn over as much as 150 gigatons of carbon per year... "

"This recycling of carbon and other nutrients suggests that viruses need to be considered in quantitative, dynamic models of global change."



Aha, maybe there was a point after all.

 



Image info:  The viruses, colored orange, attached to a membrane vesicle from the
SAR11 marine bacteria, colored gray, that was the subject of this study.Morris et al./Nature Microbiology

Obambulation on ocean organisms...

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Having time on your hands can be a good or bad thing but the Devil can wait. Reading about viruses leads me to a load of info that had passed me by about the contents of the world's oceans. The obambulation is that this blog post wanders around and has no real point: just a bunch of stuff...but in reality that is all any of my blog-posts are, a reference to look back on.

First point, is a virus an orgaism at all? Well that is debatable...and debated: "From single-celled organisms to human populations, viruses affect all life on earth", "Although viruses challenge our concept of what "living" means, they are vital members of the web of life" and even an impact on evolution? There are about ten x as many viruses in the oceans as there are bacteria [UW last week...that's the most recent link] and there is A LOT of bacteria. The viruses are numerous but they weigh almost nothing (relatively) and make up about 5% of the ocenas 'organisms'. Bacteria, [LINK] though ten times less numerous, weigh twenty x an average virus and the bacteria make up more than 90% of ocean biomass [PDF] so

"95% to 98% of the biomass in the ocean is in microbes, which produce about half of the oxygen on the planet."

There are more than 1030 viruses on Earth and the oceans are...er, An Ocean of Viruses. "The sheer number of viruses and their intimate relationship with microbial life suggest that viruses play a critical role in the planet’s biosphere."

"Ocean viruses may turn over as much as 150 gigatons of carbon per year... "

"This recycling of carbon and other nutrients suggests that viruses need to be considered in quantitative, dynamic models of global change."

Aha, maybe there was a point after all.  

Image info:  The viruses, colored orange, attached to a membrane vesicle from the SAR11 marine bacteria, colored gray, that was the subject of this study.Morris et al./Nature Microbiology

Ocean's olisbos...

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No, not Oceans's Eleven the cheesy all-star-cast Hollywood heist flick but something far more filling: I guess it could be Ocean's Eight, or twelve, or nine or just however many inches as you want in your dildo...if that's your thing. Not just olisbos, toys for him and her and couples.



Olivia Ocean "aims to offer premium products at affordable prices"; the sex toy industry is a booming business for quarantined nations. This company "have seen sales soar by 38 per cent since lockdown, and they're expecting it to hit 50 per cent by the weekend." [The Mirror...think that's the first time I have ever linked to them!]



Think long and hard...before you buy...they're made in China ;-)

And go to the right place because this Olivia Ocean may make you think of getting wet but it's for you to relax and sleep...and even worse, please don't go to Olivia + Ocean to order a sex toy, it's a '(cool) moms'' swimwear store. Ah crap, I should never have started this blogpost...

Ocean's olisbos...

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No, not Oceans's Eleven the cheesy all-star-cast Hollywood heist flick but something far more filling: I guess it could be Ocean's Eight, or twelve, or nine or just however many inches as you want in your dildo...if that's your thing. Not just olisbos, toys for him and her and couples.

Olivia Ocean "aims to offer premium products at affordable prices"; the sex toy industry is a booming business for quarantined nations. This company "have seen sales soar by 38 per cent since lockdown, and they're expecting it to hit 50 per cent by the weekend." [The Mirror...think that's the first time I have ever linked to them!]

Think long and hard...before you buy...they're made in China ;-) And go to the right place because this Olivia Ocean may make you think of getting wet but it's for you to relax and sleep...and even worse, please don't go to Olivia + Ocean to order a sex toy, it's a '(cool) moms'' swimwear store. Ah crap, I should never have started this blogpost...

Optimus odous II...

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In the original optimus odous I asked rhetorically if anyone could still say that the Carcharodon carcharias in the film 'Jaws' didn't look real (I could have asked the same thing here). In the picture below it's a similar tale: decoy seal, sublime predator. Photo credit Dana Allen (Cater News) in False Bay, off Cape Town in South Africa. From the DT picture gallery today. You get the feeling this shark has been pictured before: just imagine it's a dog with a bone: he's looking at the camera and he's smiling!

Optimus odous II...

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In the original optimus odous I asked rhetorically if anyone could still say that the Carcharodon carcharias in the film 'Jaws' didn't look real (I could have asked the same thing here). In the picture below it's a similar tale: decoy seal, sublime predator. Photo credit Dana Allen (Cater News) in False Bay, off Cape Town in South Africa. From the DT picture gallery today. You get the feeling this shark has been pictured before: just imagine it's a dog with a bone: he's looking at the camera and he's smiling!

Ocean's 'ogre'...

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"That's a twenty footer." "Twenty-five." replied Quint. 'They're going to need a bigger boat'. In 1975 the first film to have a real effect on a young Ows was Jaws. I liked to fish and liked the sea and I had read the book long before the highest-grossing film in history at the time came to town on a wave of 'hysterical' media stories of it literally keeping people out of the water (I also have a very personal link to Jaws 2...something I've mentioned before [that post that will give you a hint as to my opinion of a 'death order' for any shark, ogre or not]). The superb and ominous soundtrack helped Jaws become 'one of the greatest films of all time'. And now it's being remade and produced by Robert Rodriquez, that tells you what it will be like ...bloody brilliant (see what I did there?).



The sad irony is that Jaws is being played out for real in Western Australia: with Ben Linden the fifth person killed by a shark off WA's coast in less than a year: the latest victim of Brutus; "If something is in the four to five metre vicinity and it's a white shark - which is the description we've got from witnesses - you make the assumption that it could be the same shark."

Ocean's 'ogre'...

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"That's a twenty footer." "Twenty-five." replied Quint. 'They're going to need a bigger boat'. In 1975 the first film to have a real effect on a young Ows was Jaws. I liked to fish and liked the sea and I had read the book long before the highest-grossing film in history at the time came to town on a wave of 'hysterical' media stories of it literally keeping people out of the water (I also have a very personal link to Jaws 2...something I've mentioned before [that post that will give you a hint as to my opinion of a 'death order' for any shark, ogre or not]). The superb and ominous soundtrack helped Jaws become 'one of the greatest films of all time'. And now it's being remade and produced by Robert Rodriquez, that tells you what it will be like ...bloody brilliant (see what I did there?).

The sad irony is that Jaws is being played out for real in Western Australia: with Ben Linden the fifth person killed by a shark off WA's coast in less than a year: the latest victim of Brutus; "If something is in the four to five metre vicinity and it's a white shark - which is the description we've got from witnesses - you make the assumption that it could be the same shark."

Ocean odyssey...

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Lettuce pray they aren't tempting fate: "Relatives of some who died on the Titanic are on a voyage to the North Atlantic site where the liner sank, to mark 100 years since the disaster. MS Balmoral* has left Southampton docks, retracing the route of the ill-fated cruise liner's maiden voyage".



* MS Balmoral was built and previously sailed as Crown Odyssey.

Ocean odyssey...

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Lettuce pray they aren't tempting fate: "Relatives of some who died on the Titanic are on a voyage to the North Atlantic site where the liner sank, to mark 100 years since the disaster. MS Balmoral* has left Southampton docks, retracing the route of the ill-fated cruise liner's maiden voyage".

* MS Balmoral was built and previously sailed as Crown Odyssey.