MBARI Finds Mammoth Tusk on a Pacific Seamount

Posted on by December 2, 2021

Interesting news from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).

While exploring a seamount by ROV from aboard the R/V Western Flyer in 2019 the MBARI team spotted what looked like an elephant’s tusk. The seamount is located 300 kilometers (185 miles) offshore of California and is 3,070 meters (10,000 feet) deep.

Only able to collect a small piece at the time, MBARI returned in July 2021 to retrieve the complete specimen. Now researchers are examining the tusk and have confirmed that the tusk—about one meter (just over three feet) in length—is from a Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi). The cold, high-pressure environment of the deep sea uniquely preserved the tusk, giving researchers the opportunity to study it in greater detail. Computed tomography (CT) scans will reveal the full three-dimensional internal structure of the tusk and more information about the animal’s history, such as its age. 

“This specimen’s deep-sea preservational environment is different from almost anything we have seen elsewhere,” said University of Michigan paleontologist Daniel Fisher, one of the researchers studying the tusk, who specializes in the study of mammoths and mastodons. “Other mammoths have been retrieved from the ocean, but generally not from depths of more than a few tens of meters.”

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Coral Spawning on the Great Barrier Reef & Hope of Recovery From Climate Change

Posted on by December 1, 2021

Divers and scientists recorded the massive spawning of coral in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef last week in a yearly show of life that signals hope that the world’s biggest coral reef ecosystem can recover from climate change.

“It’s a sign of hope that it’s doing well, and we need to keep protecting it,” said marine biologist Gareth Phillips, who monitored the coral spawning event, which is when the corals breed over two to three days by casting sperm and eggs into the water once every year in the Pacific Ocean.

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Citizen Scientist Volunteers Survey Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

Posted on by November 30, 2021

Crowdsourcing has arrived on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Thousands of “citizen scientist” volunteers have spent the last 12 weeks participating in the Great Reef Census 2021. Volunteer teams of scientists, divers, tourists, and skippers have ventured to the far corners of the reef, from the tip of Cape York to the remote southern Swains. Last year, volunteers captured and uploaded over 13,000 images to the Great Reef Census platform. This year over 30,00 images have been submitted in the survey that ends tomorrow.

From the Great Reef Census website: Spanning 2,300km in length and comprising over 3,000 individual reefs, the Great Barrier Reef is one of the world’s most incredible natural icons, but only 5-10% is regularly surveyed. Given the immense size of the Reef, the impacts of disturbance events such as coral bleaching, extreme weather and poor water quality are often patchy, affecting some reefs more than others.

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U of Maine Prints World’s Largest 3D Printed Boat on World’s Largest 3D Printer

Posted on by November 29, 2021

The University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center recently used its 3D printer to construct the world’s largest 3D-printed boat. In doing so, the university was awarded three Guinness World Records for the world’s largest prototype polymer 3D printer, largest solid 3D-printed object, and largest 3D-printed boat. The boat, named 3Dirigo, is 25′ long and weighs 5,000-pounds. 3Dirigo is built of a 50% plastic-wood cellulose blend and took 72 hours to print. The U of Maine 3D printer can print objects up 100′ long.

Below are two videos — the first of the 3Dirigo’s unveiling and the second a timelapse video of the boat being printed.

Unveiling of a 25-foot boat made by a 3-D printer

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Voyage to the Titanic or to the Edge of Space — the Costs Are Astronomical

Posted on by November 28, 2021

Would you rather take a voyage to the wreck of the Titanic or to the edge of space? A ticket for either happens to start at around $250,000, which makes the likelihood of experiencing either well out of reach for most of us mere mortals.

Oceangate Expeditions has announced its second annual trip to the Titanic’s final resting place. It will carry passengers, dubbed, ‘mission specialists,’ along with researchers, 12,500 ft beneath the North Atlantic Ocean to survey the vessel up close from inside the company’s submersible Titan.

The Titanic Expedition is conducted as a series of eight-day missions in May and June. Each seat now costs $250,000 – a $125,000 increase from last year.

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Grain de Sail to Deliver Medical Supplies to Dominican Republic by Sail

Posted on by November 28, 2021

In what is described as the first carbon-free humanitarian logistics effort, Grain de Sail has announced that it is partnering with two non-profits to deliver unused medical supplies from New York to the Dominican Republic by sail.

Grain de Sail is a French company that sells fine chocolates, coffee, and organic wines.  Its cargo-sailboat, a modern 72′ schooner, was built to carry wines across the Atlantic from St. Malo, France to New York and then pick up cocoa and coffee in the Dominican Republic and return to France. The schooner is currently on its third transatlantic voyage, bound for New York City, carrying 10,000 bottles of wine.

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Report: US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point Has “Lost Its Way”

Posted on by November 26, 2021

A recent report by the National Academy of Public Administration concluded that the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point has “lost its way.”  The congressionally ordered review of the federal merchant marine academy determined that the school was beset with problems including aging facilities, a striking lack of diversity, and a curriculum that was failing to keep up with the needs of an evolving shipping industry.

“The findings and recommendations of this report address long-standing issues that put the safety and health of the midshipmen and the entire USMMA community in peril,” wrote Teresa W. Gerton, the public administration academy’s chief executive.

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Thanksgiving Repost — Whaling Ships, Sarah Josepha Hale, Mary’s Lamb & a Liberty Ship

Posted on by November 25, 2021

Happy Thanksgiving to those on this side of the pond and below the 49th parallel. (The Canadians celebrated the holiday in October.) Here is an updated repost of a story I think is well worth retelling.

Until the Civil War, Thanksgiving was a sporadically celebrated regional holiday.  Today, Thanksgiving is one of the central creation myths of the founding of the United States, although not universally admired. The story is based on an account of a one-time feast of thanksgiving in the Plymouth colony of Massachusetts during a period of atypically good relations with local tribes. 

The actual history of what happened in 1621 bears little resemblance to what most Americans are taught in grade school, historians say. There was likely no turkey served. There were no feathered headdresses worn. And, initially, there was no effort by the Pilgrims to invite the local Native American tribe to the feast they’d made possible.

Thanksgiving only became a national holiday in 1863.  Before the celebration spread across the country, Thanksgiving was most popular in New England. On 19th-century American whaling ships, which sailed from New England ports, they celebrated only the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Of the three holidays, Thanksgiving may have been the most popular. On Norfolk Island in the Pacific, they also celebrate Thanksgiving, the holiday brought to the island by visiting American whaling ships.

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Vaquita Porpoises on the Brink of Extinction

Posted on by November 24, 2021

Vaquita Photo: Paula Olson, NOAA

In 2017, we posted about an attempt to use Navy-trained dolphins in a last-ditch effort to capture and save the few surviving vaquita. The vaquita is a small porpoise found only in the Gulf of California that is in imminent danger of extinction. The project was abandoned when a captured vaquita died from the stress of capture. In 2017, fewer than 30 vaquita were left. Now the number is around 10. 

The vaquita weren’t discovered until 1958 and now are in danger of being wiped out by illegal gill-netting by fishermen in the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez. The vaquita are being caught and drowned in gill-nets set by fishermen to catch shrimp and fish. Researchers say the nets are the only known cause for the species’ catastrophic decline, but getting rid of them has turned out to be a challenge.

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Yara Birkeland — Electric, Not-Yet-Autonomous, Container Ship Makes Maiden Voyage

Posted on by November 23, 2021

In August we posted Yara Birkeland, Crewless Electric Container Ship, First Voyage by Year’s End.  We noted that if all went according to plan, the ship would make its first journey between two Norwegian towns before the end of the year, with no crew onboard.  The 103 TEU all-electric container ship did recently complete a 38 nautical mile maiden voyage from the town of Horten to Oslo. Nevertheless, the plan has changed. The brief voyage took place with crew aboard. It is now expected to be two or more years before autonomous operations are likely to commence.

The ship is powered by a 7 MWh battery bank and should be capable of a top speed of 13 knots. When operational, Yara Birkeland will sail on two routes, between Herøya and Brevik (~7 nautical miles (13 km)) and between Herøya and Larvik (~30 nautical miles (56 km)).

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LightSail 2 in Space for 30 Months & Still Sailing on Sunbeams

Posted on by November 22, 2021

For several years, we have followed the Planetary Society‘s efforts to launch a solar sail that would be propelled by the light radiating from the Sun. In July 2019, the society’s LightSail 2 deployed a 32-square-meter solar sail, about the size of a boxing ring, in Earth orbit. Now 30 months later, LightSail 2 continues to sail on sunbeams. 

LightSail 2 is the first spacecraft in Earth orbit to be propelled only by sunlight. The craft orbits the earth powered by the momentum of solar photons striking the sail. 

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Construction Halted at Secret Chinese Facility in UAE Container Port

Posted on by November 21, 2021

Following pressure from the United States, work has been halted on what intelligence agencies believe was a secret Chinese military facility under construction in a commercial port in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Wall Street Journal reported that satellite imagery of the port of Khalifa had revealed suspicious construction work inside the CSP Abu Dhabi container terminal built and operated by a Chinese shipping corporation, COSCO.

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Volcanic Activity on Iwo Jima Lifts Sunken WWII Ghost Ships

Posted on by November 20, 2021

A number of small Pacific island nations, including Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Marshal Islands, are facing an existential threat from rising sea levels. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), sea level in the western Pacific Ocean has been increasing at a rate 2–3 times the global average, resulting in almost 0.3 meters of net rise since 1990.

Not every island group is sinking, however. The Drive recently highlighted a beach on Iwo Jima,  which is rising due to recent volcanic activity, revealing two dozen “ghost ships” sunk during World War II. The ships were originally scuttled to create an artificial breakwater for a planned harbor. 

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50 Million Red Crabs Swarm to the Sea on Australia’s Christmas Island

Posted on by November 19, 2021

Millions of bright red crabs have begun their yearly mating migration from the forest to the sea on Australia’s Christmas Island. The scarlet crabs are marching from the jungle toward the Indian Ocean, swarming roadways, parks, and residential neighborhoods, so they can mate in or near burrows by the water. Many roads are closed and specially-made crab bridges have been erected to allow the crabs to more safely cross the larger thoroughfares.

The Washington Post reports that according to the Australian government, some 50 million red crabs live on Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands — the only places in the world where they can be found. The phenomenon happens each year and is determined by the phase of the moon, according to Parks Australia, which calls the mass migration “one of the most incredible natural processes on Earth.” 

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Sails of Change Set to Begin Fossil Fuel-Free Attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy

Posted on by November 18, 2021

The maxi-trimaran Sails of Change (ex-Spindrift 2) and its crew of 11, led by Dona Bertarelli and Yann Guichard, are awaiting a favorable weather window to set off from La Trinité-sur-Mer, in southwest Brittany, on their latest attempt to claim the Jules Verne Trophy. To win the trophy they will have to beat the around the world record of 40d 23h 30′ 30″ set by Francis Joyon and his crew in 2017.

In addition to trying to set a new record, the team will be attempting to sail around the globe without an auxiliary engine or the use of fossil fuel.

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