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Study Shows: Currently 270000 Tons of Synthetic Material Floating in the Oceans

December 15, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee 1 Comment

A team of researchers discovered that around 5 trillion plastic materials are present in the oceans of the world. This number of plastic is equal to nearly 38,500 garbage trucks.

The study uncovers that these plastic items are awfully influencing the life and health of sea mammals. The concerned authorities carry out certain trash operation every month in order to provide safe future to sea organisms.

The chief goal of the researcher is to determine the impact of synthetic material on the marine ecosystem through this research. They went on approximately 24 trips to gather the data for the research. They utilized a mesh net to collect the small plastic materials that floats on the sea surface. On the other hand, experts on boat calculated the number of large plastic items.

Afterwards, researchers used specific computer models in order to calculate the plastic material. However, they merely counted the plastic located at the surface on the sea. They did not include the material lying on the floor of the ocean.

Earlier, Spanish researchers carried out a research which revealed similar amount of plastic present on the ocean of the world. However, both the group of researchers performed the study with different methodologies.

Kara Lavender Law of the Sea Education Association informs that the experts accumulated the data from the regions which are not in the reach of scientists. Some of these areas are Southern Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean.

The report published in the Journal PLOS ONE.

Report Says: Currently 270000 Tons of Plastic Floating in World’s Oceans

December 11, 2014 By Germaine Hicks Leave a Comment

A recent report demonstrates that around 270,000 tons of plastic floats in the Earth’ oceans. This large amount of plastic can effortlessly fill more than 38,500 garbage trucks.

Every size and kind of plastic material such as toys, bottle caps, pacifiers and shopping bags are included in this estimation. Even the most remote oceans are not free of plastic.

The chief goal of this research is to calculate the exact quantity of synthetic material present in the oceans. Additionally, researchers want to closely analyze the impact of plastic materials on the entire marine eco system and the life of sea mammals such as seabirds and fish.

Earlier, a study revealed that plastic items kill entangling dolphins, sea turtles and other animals. A few marine animals also dies when these plastic fragments lodge in their throats.

The ships that were responsible for the accumulation of data traveled all around the world for nearly six years. They gathered small pieces of plastic through net and predicted worldwide figures with computer models. However, the study merely include plastic present on the surface of the ocean.

Markus Eriksen, the lead author of the study informed that useless fish nets and buoys are the biggest source of plastic in the oceans.

Other researchers notified that collected the data from the regions where scientists are unable to start researcher like Indian Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean and Southern Ocean.

Studies Target Warming Oceans – Climate Post

October 9, 2014 By Germaine Hicks 3 Comments

From the top of the waves to the bottom of the briny deep two new studies shed light on the issue of the warming of the oceans.

The oceans absorb the overwhelming majority of heat produced by man. They also absorb carbon dioxide as do plants. The two new studies share interesting new data on the processes and effects.

In the journal Nature Climate Change, they estimate the rate of the upper levels of the ocean depths between the years 1970 and 2004. Lead author of the of the study, Paul Durack, an oceanographer stated the importance of the data gathering and results. He emphasized that there’s been an underestimation of the problem due to poor sampling that took place before as well as limitation of the methods used to analyze such that conservatively estimated temperature changes in what he says a data sparse regions.

His team used climate model simulations and satellite data and the results he says suggest that the warming of the oceans has been underestimated by a whopping 24%-58%. This data does indeed match previous data but this is the first time researchers have attempted to estimate how much heat was missed.

For the first 2,300 feet of the oceans the researchers used temperature measurements and satellite measurements of sea level as well as computer models to find the rate of the sea level rising. They then compared the rise measured by the satellites covering each hemisphere.

In the second of the studies conducted by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, they poured over data gleaned from satellites as well as direct ocean temperature data from the years 2005 to 2013 and discovered that ocean depths deeper than 1.24 miles did not warm. William Llovel the lead author of the JPL study stated that the deeper parts of the ocean were harder to measure and that the combination of research tools shows only a glimpse of how much deep warming is in relation to sea level rise.

They also discovered that the growing warming of the oceans were responsible for at least 1/3 of Earth’s 2.8 millimeters of annual sea level rising. They figure floating probes are the only resort to to get more accurate data from deeper waters. These probe are called Deep Argo which will reach depths of 19,700 feet.

New Satellite Snapshots Exposed Thousands Of Underwater Volcanoes of Ocean

October 4, 2014 By Germaine Hicks Leave a Comment

According to the recent reports revealed, Scientists have developed a novel map of the entire world’s seafloor, displaying a brighter image of the compositions that actually formed the cordial, least explored parts of the ocean. The study was published in the ‘Science’ journal.

The achievement was based on accessing 2 intact streams of satellite data, researchers claimed.

Novel map shows hundreds of unexplored mountains that are growing from the seafloor, named as seamounts. These seamounts are eventually appeared in the map, along with the novel hints of continents formation. The scientists have merged the existing data with the enhanced remote sensing instruments, which helps them to explore ocean expanding centers and small studies remote ocean basins.

In the meantime, the researchers mapped the earthquakes too and found that the seamounts and the earthquakes are connected often. These seamounts are once volcanoes and that is why researchers generally discovered nearby tectonically active plate boundaries, mid-ocean ridges and sub-ducting zones.

The novel map is as authentic as the previous one developed 20 years ago, researchers from California’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) stated.

Don Rice, program director in the National Science Foundation’s Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research, said that, “the team of researched have developed a powerful tool in order to explore the regional seafloor and geophysical processes.”

The map, which was developed by using a scientific model in order to capture the gravity measurements of the ocean seafloor, also extracts data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) CryoSat-2 satellite.

David Sandwell, lead author of the paper and geophysicist at SIO stated that, “Things you could see very clearly are the most common landform on the planet, named as abyssal hills.”

Furthermore the researchers said that, the map offers a window within the tectonics of deep oceans. Alternatively, this map also offers a base for the upcoming Google’s ocean maps version. Researchers believed that it would cover large voids between shipboard depth profiles.

In earlier times, undetected features include newly exposed continental connections across South America and Africa and new evidence for seafloor spreading ridges in the Gulf of Mexico. The ridges were active 150 million years ago and are now buried by mile-thick layers of sediment.

Oceans Reveal Their Secrets To Satellites

October 3, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

The journal Science has published an astonishing study that shows how the oceans had far more mountains, thousands of them than anyone had expected. Not only mountains but basins, tectonic ridges, and other spectacular geophysical features.

The data came from both existing maps and two satellites that were already in orbit doing other assignments. Thee satellites now provided far more better resolution of the secrets of the ocean depths. The research was done by California’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) and as well as several other institutions in allegiance with SIO.

There is a lot of science that went into this discovery and not just one source or technology. These teams of researchers piled on whatever they could use to get the best imaging possible and that meant satellites, sonar, computer software, existing maps and more. This was a collaborative effort to finally see if they could get a better idea of the makeup of the ocean floor. To their surprise they were able to find thousands of active, dormant, and long dead volcanoes. Mountain ranges are formed by either volcanoes like Mt. Kilimanjaro in eastern Africa and Mt. St. Helens in the Pacific Northwest of the US, or by compression like the Himalayan Mountains that formed when the Indian subcontinent tectonic plate crushed into the greater Asian land mass.

Using these technologies to study the ocean floor scientists can now determine the dynamics of the geographical phenomena we wouldn’t have seen or didn’t know about before. These topographical data will be used by just about every scientist on the planet from biology, to fluid dynamics, and meteorology. Seeing how the ridges that form the tectonic plates that formed the continents, scientists will get a glimpse of history going back untold millions of years. They’ll know where to send submersibles to collect samples and see what the rocks might have endured and when they were formed.

This and the other information gleaned from this research can well change the face of science across the board. Now we’re another step closer to understanding our oceans which was an area many complained about that we had neglected.

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