Pacific Ocean // Current TV

Dangerous Diving for Abalone

Thayer Walker dives headfirst into the elusive, very lucrative, and often dangerous... more

thayer
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3 years ago
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8 comments

Pfeiffer Beach - Big Sur, California - USA - Pacific Ocean - Earth

My addition to the 'Call For Nature Photography'... more

ninthstate
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3 years ago
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the bay vs. the bag

Plastic bags and other marine debris cause serious problems for the health of our... more

donkeyfly69
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3 years ago
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3 comments

Paradise Lost Thanks to Unjust Governments

Recently the a UN report, reported more than 6 million people will be displaced... more

Kepano
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3 years ago
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1 comment

Island of love - Tahiti

Tahiti (French Taïtiv), formerly Otaheite, island of French Polynesia (an... more

sergio80
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3 years ago
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9 comments

20 dead in Russian nuclear submarine accident

More than 20 people have died in an incident onboard a Russian nuclear submarine after... more

GeoffNI
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3 years ago
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2 comments

U.S.: Killing the Earth?

By now, both candidates agree that global warming is a reality but they don't... more

CJCollectiveWorks
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3 years ago
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31 comments

World's Largest Trash Heap Lies in the Ocean

The Great Pacific Garbage Dump Stretches From California to China By DARCY BONFILS... more

contactkatrinaford
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3 years ago
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Woman Rows Herself To Hawaii, In 99 Days

Ninety-nine days after she rowed west beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, Roz Savage on... more

dafunkyaztec
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3 years ago
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Climate warning from Pacific islands

The tiny Pacific nation of Niue has warned, at an annual summit of leaders from the... more

rwylie
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3 years ago
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1 comment

Raft made of plastic bottles crosses Pacific

Tanned, dirty and hungry, two men who spent three months crossing the Pacific on a... more

love_is_my_religion
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3 years ago
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U.S. Considers Protections for Stretches of Pacific Ocean

President Bush announced today that three isolated stretches of the Pacific Ocean are under consideration for national monument status, a designation that could provide vast new protections for the regions' fragile coral reefs, seabirds and ocean creatures.

Deputy White House Press Secretary Tony Fratto said Bush has asked cabinet secretaries to assess the need for new protections for the large regions of U.S. territorial waters.

"These areas are host to some of the world's most bio-diverse coral reefs and habitat, and some of the most interesting and compelling geological formations in all of our oceans," he said at briefing near the President's Crawford ranch, where Bush is vacationing.

One area under consideration is the waters off the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, including the 36,000 foot deep Mariana Trench, the deepest canyon in the world.

"It's like Yellowstone Park and the Grand Canyon rolled into one," said Joshua S. Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group, an advocacy organization that has urged the designation.
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According to Reichert, one survey found 19 different types of whales and dolphins in the area, which has the highest density of sharks anywhere in the Pacific, and 250,000 seabirds.

Reichert's group has recommended that protections be imposed on about 115,000 square miles of ocean, which would make it the second-largest protected marine preserve in the world. Bush established the largest in 2006, when he gave similar distinction to 140,000 square miles of ocean surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian islands.

The other two areas under consideration for designation are the Rose Atoll, near American Samoa, which Reichert said is known as a nesting ground for green sea turtles and a rare giant clam, and the oceans surrounding a series of islands and atolls in the central Pacific.

While the three areas now will be vetted for designation as a national monument or a marine sanctuary, many environmental experts believe the process will culminate with a grant of some protection for all of them. Reichert said the level of protection could vary. He called for a prohibition on both commercial fishing and oil and gas exploration.

Though environmentalists have been critical of Bush's record, his willingness to protect new ocean areas has gained him widespread praise.

Reichert said that if the same kind of protections Bush granted in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands preserve are extended to the Northern Marianas Islands region, Bush will have established environmental protections for more of the earth's surface than anyone else in history.

"He will have led the nation into a new era of ocean conservation," he said. President Bush announced today that three isolated stretches of the Pacific Ocean are... more

Merge9
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3 years ago
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Epic Fail: Rocket carrying three satellites crashes into Pacific Ocean

Update: they found most of the crash debris in South Pacific

Saturday was a bad day for science, as a privately funded rocket carrying three $atellites was lost on its way to space, bringing a third failure in a row to an Internet multimillionaire's effort to create a market for low-cost space-delivery.

Falcon 1 is a two-stage, liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene powered launch vehicle, and the world's first new orbital rocket in more than a decade.

Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO, said after the launch that although it was an obvious disappointment not to reach orbit, the flight of the first stage with the new Merlin 1C engine, which will be used in Falcon 9, was “picture perfect.”

It appears that a problem occurred during separation on Saturday, which caused the stages to be held together. The matter is still under investigation, and more details will be available as soon as the engineers realize what happened.

“The most important message I'd like to send right now is that SpaceX will not skip a beat in execution going forward,” said Musk, adding that flights four and five for Falcon 1 are almost ready, and that he's already given green light to begin fabrication of flight six. The Falcon 9 development is still on track.

Even with a failed launch, SpaceX said they have more than sufficient funding to continue launching Falcon 1 and develop Falcon 9 and Dragon. “For my part, I will never give up and I mean never,” said Musk.

The Falcon 1's mission is to deploy three separating satellites that will orbit at an inclination of 9 degrees: the Trailblazer satellite developed by SpaceDev, and two smaller NASA satellites. The three satellites attach to the Falcon 1 second stage via the Secondary Payload Adaptor and Separating System developed by ATSB, which is owned by the Government of Malaysia.

Space X is the winner of the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services competition (COTS), and will contribute to help the American mission on the International Space Station after the Space Shuttle retirement in 2010.
Update: they found most of the crash debris in South Pacific Saturday was a bad day... more