tagged w/ Antartica
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Researchers have discovered four new species of octopus in Antarctica with venom that works at sub-zero temperatures.
They hope to analyze the venom to see if it has medical uses, said one of the researchers, Bryan Fry, of the University of Melbourne. Their discovery, during a six-week expedition to Antarctica in 2007, was published in the journal Toxicon.
http://www.greenwala.com/news_articles/8885-Antarctic-octopuses-found-with-cold-resistant-venomResearchers have discovered four new species of octopus in Antarctica with venom that... more
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Holy Sheite seems to be the best term of the day to describe the footage of the Japanese whaling ship run-in with the Sea Shepherd's space-age-whale-protecting-batmobile (thanks progresshiv for bringing this video to Current).
You can read Sea Shepherd's account of the run-in:
In an unprovoked attack captured on film, the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru No. 2 deliberately rammed and caused catastrophic damage to the Sea Shepherd catamaran Ady Gil.
Six crew crewmembers, four from New Zealand, one from Australia, and one from the Netherlands were immediately rescued by the crew of the Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker. None of the crew Ady Gil crew were injured.
The Ady Gil is believed to be sinking and chances of salvage are very grim.
According to eyewitness Captain Chuck Swift on the Bob Barker, the attack happened while the vessels were dead in the water. The Shonan Maru No. 2 suddenly started up and deliberately rammed the Ady Gil ripping eight feet of the bow of the vessel completely off. According to Captain Swift, the vessel does not look like it will be saved.
“The Japanese whalers have now escalated this conflict very violently,” said Captain Paul Watson. “If they think that our remaining two ships will retreat from the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in the face of their extremism, they will be mistaken. We now have a real whale war on our hands now and we have no intention of retreating.”
C'mon. The term "unprovoked attack" raises all kinds of questions. I'm glad there are people out there like the Sea Sheppard vehemently protecting the whales and bringing the issues at hand to the surface~ but frankly, I can't tell if this is unprovoked~ and if memory serves, the Sea Shepard's soul purpose is to attack.
It is curious and interesting that this footage was taken and released by what appears to be the Japanese whaling ship. That raises all kinds of questions.
Meanwhile~ if you are seeking a little more drama to go with your mid-day coffee, enjoy this footage of Whale Wars:
Related Content:
What Lies Beneath~ Diving into the belly of the planet
Extreme(ly) saving the world as we know it
Are whales trying to communicate with us? Holy Sheite seems to be the best term of the day to describe the footage of the... more
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King Penguins are notorious for their prim, tuxedoed appearance -- but a recently discovered all-black penguin seems unafraid to defy convention. In what has been described as a "one in a zillion kind of mutation," biologists say that the animal has lost control of its pigmentation, an occurrence that is extremely rare. Other than the penguin's monochromatic outfit, the animal appears to be perfectly healthy -- and then some. "Look at the size of those legs," said one scientist, "It's an absolute monster."King Penguins are notorious for their prim, tuxedoed appearance -- but a recently... more
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The Explorers Club is a private club that began in Manhattan in 1904. Since its inception members have included everyone from Charles Lindbergh to Neal Armstrong and presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover. The club, which is housed in an old mansion on the Upper East Side, features exotic artifacts from expeditions that have taken place as far away as the moon and an impressive rare book library with over 15,000 volumes on exploration and travel.
Since 2009, Lorie Karnath has presided over the club as president. In addition to being a children’s book author and patron of the arts, Lorie has traveled the world setting up programs that help foster creativity, discovery and science. She has led several Explorers Club Flag expeditions, covering some of the Earth’s most remote locations in search of answers to the world’s most perplexing environmental concerns. Her most recent expedition involved following the migration patterns of white storks, for which she went on to create a German sanctuary.
The Explorer's Club is full of all sorts of stories and rituals in which members gather a few times a year to share the lore of their past adventures, plan future expeditions and compare notes on their recent discoveries. In additon to "members only" events the club offers a public events calendar in which anyone can sit in on presentations and screenings hosted by the likes of astronauts and the world’s most accomplished scientists and explorers.
http://www.revelinnewyork.com/videos/lorie-karnathThe Explorers Club is a private club that began in Manhattan in 1904. Since its... more
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A large iceberg, nearly the size of Washington DC, continues to drift toward the Southwestern Australian coast.A large iceberg, nearly the size of Washington DC, continues to drift toward the... more
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seal in the wild tries to feed a NAtional Geographic photographer,thinking that he needed to eat.....unbelievable!!!
click on the link if vid won't playseal in the wild tries to feed a NAtional Geographic photographer,thinking that he... more
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THE first complete map of the lakes beneath Antarctica's ice sheets reveals the continent's secret water network is far more dynamic than we thought. This could be acting as a powerful lubricant beneath glaciers, contributing to sea level rise.
Unlike previous lake maps, which are confined to small regions, Ian Joughin at the University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues mapped 124 subglacial lakes across Antarctica using lasers on NASA's ICESat satellite (see map).
The team also observed the lakes draining and filling. While interior lakes tended to be static, many coastal lakes changed significantly. Some even appear to be connected by channels under the ice hundreds of kilometres long. For instance, when upstream lakes under the Recovery glacier drained 3 cubic kilometres of water, lakes downstream gained a similar amount (Journal of Glaciology, vol 55, p 573).
Water flowing under glaciers can act as a lubricant, causing land ice to accelerate into the sea and add to rising sea levels. "The implications for the flow of ice are potentially quite significant," says Andy Smith of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK. Those lakes with no clear drainage channels are of particular interest, he says, because they could be spreading a thin film of lubricating water under glaciers.THE first complete map of the lakes beneath Antarctica's ice sheets reveals the... more
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New research techniques have enabled scientists to discover a host of new species, proving the Antarctic alone has more biodiversity than the Galapagos Islands.
Scientists have found 235 species that thrive at both ends of the earth as well as showing animals are migrating to the cooler poles as the climate warmsNew research techniques have enabled scientists to discover a host of new species,... more
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First asteroids found with Earthlike crust
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (UPI) -- Two meteorites found in Antarctica are from an asteroid with an outer layer or crust similar to the Earth's continents, U.S. scientists said Thursday.
The finding is the first from an asteroid with an Earthlike crust, the University of Maryland geochemists and other researchers reported in the journal Nature.
The discovery also represents the oldest example of rock with this composition ever found, they said.
The meteorites point "to previously unrecognized diversity" of materials formed early in the history of the solar system, write the authors, who are also from the University of Tennessee and the Carnegie Institution for Science.
"What is most unusual about these rocks is that they have compositions similar to Earth's andesite continental crust -- what the rock beneath our feet is made of," Maryland geologist James Day said.
"No meteorites like this have ever been seen before," he said.
Andesite is an igneous, volcanic rock that gets its name from the Andes mountain range in South America, where it is plentiful.
The two meteorites were discovered in Antarctica's Graves Nunatak Icefield in 2007, the scientists said.
They said the rocks are more than 4.52 billion years old and were formed during the birth of the solar system.
Their age, combined with the oxygen isotope data, "points to their origin from an asteroid rather than a planet," Day said.
Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets or planetoids, are bodies, primarily of the inner solar system, that are smaller than planets but larger than meteoroids, but exclude comets.First asteroids found with Earthlike crust
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (UPI) -- Two meteorites... more
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The telescope -- called IceCube -- will occupy a cubic kilometer of Antarctica when it is completed in 2011, said University of Delaware Professor Thomas Gaisser, one of the projects lead scientists.
IceCube will provide new information about some of the most violent and far-away astrophysical events in the cosmos, said Gaisser, who is managing the deployment of the telescopes surface array of detectors, known as Ice Top.
The telescope consists of kilometer-long -- 0.62-mile -- strings of 60 optical detectors frozen more than a mile deep in the Antarctic ice, the scientist said. Atop each string of deep detectors is a pair of 600-gallon IceTop tanks, each containing two optical detectors.The telescope -- called IceCube -- will occupy a cubic kilometer of Antarctica when it... more
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Luckily we are told that even though the boat is taking on water, it is not in danger of sinking???Luckily we are told that even though the boat is taking on water, it is not in danger... more
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Talk about ruining your vacation!!
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A cruise ship carrying 122 people has run aground on the Antarctic coast, the Argentine navy has reported.
Admiral Daniel Martin said the Panama-registered ship, the Ushuaia, was leaking fuel and that a "minimal amount of water" was coming in.
He told local TV that none of the passengers had been hurt and the ship was not in danger of sinking.
The navy said another passenger ship in the area was on its way to rescue those on board.
Argentina and Chile are both reported to be sending a rescue mission to the Ushuaia, which is carrying 89 passengers and 33 crew members. Their nationalities were not immediately known.
"The aim is to get the passengers off as soon as possible and this they're going to do with the Atlantic Dream, which will soon be arriving there," said Adm Martin, referring to the vessel making its way to the stricken ship.
The head of the Argentine National Antarctica Directorate, Mariano Memolli, said the ship ran aground in Wilhelmina Bay, a peninsula stretching towards the southern tip of South America.
Tourist travel to Antarctica is believed to have increased five-fold in the last 15 years.
During 2006-7, more than 37,000 visited the region, according to figures from the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO). Most of those visitors arrived by sea.
The organisation has expressed concern that some vessels are not adequately strengthened for icy seas.
This increases the risk of serious accidents and the risk of an oil spillage if a ship is damaged.
A year ago, 150 people had to be evacuated to lifeboats when their ship hit an iceberg close to the South Shetland Islands in the Antarctic Ocean and started sinking.
The 2,400-tonne M/S Explorer had sustained a hole in its hull and eventually sank. All those on board were picked up by a nearby ship.Talk about ruining your vacation!!
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A cruise ship carrying 122 people has... more
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Scientists have identified new rifts on an Antarctic ice shelf that could lead to it breaking away from the Antarctic Peninsula, the European Space Agency said.Scientists have identified new rifts on an Antarctic ice shelf that could lead to it... more
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Xcorps #28.) WINTER X – seg.3- Crystal Fambrini hosts this special winter edition show which takes the X viewer from southern California to a snowboard/ski event in Switzerland, to Nepal and the top of the world- Mt. Everest and to Antarctica’s tallest peak Mt.Vinson.
The show opens with cool new Tooth and Nail records band Underoath rolling out the tunes to hot host Crystal in a blizzard at the local Mtn.High resort. Looking cool she opens a segment from Europe in Verbier Switzerland where pro snowboarders and skiers tear it up in an event called the Carlsberg High Five, which stands for BIG fun! Great music here from Suburban NoiZe records band the KottonMouth Kings.
After the break the Winter X show continues with more action from Europe and some words from the participants. Then it’s back to So. Cal where Crystal introduces an amazing segment about Mtn. climber Tom Whitaker-the first amputee
to scale the worlds tallest peak. Great documentary shots here by cameraman Jeff Rhodes. Matching music by 5 one – 51 bpm.com See what climber Tom Whitaker thinks the great advantage losing a leg gave him.
The next winter X segment drops down to the worlds coldest continent Antarctica where Xcorps filmmaker Brad Grant takes his cameras on a subzero hike to the top of Mt. Vinson. See what it looks like from a point on this earth few see and what it takes to get there. Music by Maverick records band Deftones doing their haunting song “Minerva”.
After that it’s back to blizzard conditions 2 hours from the beach at Mtn.High where Crystal talks with resort marketing head John McColly about snow and the resorts unique location.
Lot’s of cool winter X action here and some last words from Crystal Fambrini who recaps the show. Tunage from Paul Oakenfold and his song “Motion”.
The show closes out with XC host Jason Lazo looking supersonic for an upcoming Xcorps show called–MIG-21. Stay tuned!
J.S.Edmondson- 4/06 Trt-29:30 Close Captioned
See the Action-Hear the Music-Join the Xcorps! ©2007 TheXcorps
Xcorps #28.) WINTER X – seg.3- Crystal Fambrini hosts this special winter... more
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The unique discoveries under the ice are priceless to scientists but I think it's another clang in the alarm clock of the Earth.The unique discoveries under the ice are priceless to scientists but I think it's... more
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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday.
More than 400 penguins, most of them young, have been found dead on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro state over the past two months, according to Eduardo Pimenta, superintendent for the state coastal protection and environment agency in the resort city of Cabo Frio.
While it is common here to find some penguins — both dead and alive — swept by strong ocean currents from the Strait of Magellan, Pimenta said there have been more this year than at any time in recent memory.
Rescuers and those who treat penguins are divided over the possible causes.
Thiago Muniz, a veterinarian at the Niteroi Zoo, said he believed overfishing has forced the penguins to swim further from shore to find fish to eat "and that leaves them more vulnerable to getting caught up in the strong ocean currents."
Niteroi, the state's biggest zoo, already has already received about 100 penguins for treatment this year and many are drenched in petroleum, Muniz said. The Campos oil field that supplies most of Brazil's oil lies offshore.
Muniz said he hadn't seen penguins suffering from the effects of other pollutants, but he pointed out that already dead penguins aren't brought in for treatment.
Pimenta suggested pollution is to blame.
"Aside from the oil in the Campos basin, the pollution is lowering the animals' immunity, leaving them vulnerable to funguses and bacteria that attack their lungs," Pimenta said, quoting biologists who work with him.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of... more
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New evidence has emerged that a large plate of floating ice shelf attached to Antarctica is breaking up, in a troubling sign of global warming, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday.
Images taken by its Envisat remote-sensing satellite show that Wilkins Ice Shelf is "hanging by its last thread" to Charcot Island, one of the plate's key anchors to the Antarctic peninsula, ESA said in a press release.
"Since the connection to the island... helps stabilise the ice shelf, it is likely the breakup of the bridge will put the remainder of the ice shelf at risk," it said.
Wilkins Ice Shelf had been stable for most of the last century, covering around 16,000 square kilometres (6,000 square miles), or about the size of Northern Ireland, before it began to retreat in the 1990s.
Since then several large areas have broken away, and two big breakoffs this year left only a narrow ice bridge about 2.7 kilometres (1.7 miles) wide to connect the shelf to Charcot and nearby Latady Island.
The latest images, taken by Envisat's radar, say fractures have now opened up in this bridge and adjacent areas of the plate are disintegrating, creating large icebergs.
Scientists are puzzled and concerned by the event, ESA added.
The Antarctic peninsula -- the tongue of land that juts northward from the white continent towards South America -- has had one of the highest rates of warming anywhere in the world in recent decades.
But this latest stage of the breakup occurred during the Southern Hemisphere's winter, when atmospheric temperatures are at their lowest.
One idea is that warmer water from the Southern Ocean is reaching the underside of the ice shelf and thinning it rapidly from underneath.
"Wilkins Ice Shelf is the most recent in a long, and growing, list of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula that are responding to the rapid warming that has occurred in this area over the last fifty years," researcher David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) said.
"Current events are showing that we were being too conservative, when we made the prediction in the early 1990s that Wilkins Ice Shelf would be lost within 30 years. The truth is, it is going more quickly than we guessed."
In the past three decades, six Antarctic ice shelves have collapsed completely -- Prince Gustav Channel, Larsen Inlet, Larsen A, Larsen B, Wordie, Muller and the Jones Ice Shelf.
New evidence has emerged that a large plate of floating ice shelf attached to... more
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A New Zealand newspaper reports that one of the last shipments to a US research base in Antarctica before the onset of winter darkness wasn't sophisticated technical equipment -- but a year's supply of condoms.
Bill Henriksen, the manager of the McMurdo base station, told the 'Southland Times' nearly 16,500 condoms were delivered last month and would be made available, free of charge, to staff throughout the year.A New Zealand newspaper reports that one of the last shipments to a US research base... more
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A glacier used as a benchmark to measure global warming's impact on the Antarctic Peninsula melted more than usual in the past year, according to an Argentine glacier researcher.
The whole of Antarctica holds enough ice and snow to raise world sea levels by 187 feet if it all melted over thousands of years, according to U.N. data.
Pavithra George reports.A glacier used as a benchmark to measure global warming's impact on the Antarctic... more
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