Okay. Elections are over and the school semester is coming to an end, so finally I have some breathing room. I am going to be creating a couple new tabs with goodies as well as theme changes: jacque cousteau video page   Fellow ocean blogs Other blogs I have created: Marine Conservationists United, Here to there.  Changing the Intertidal zone/beach page. (lots of new photos/neat species).  Modifying blog topics:   “More original blogs less re-blogs”.  Action links.  How to create change in your local community.  Oceanography textbook concepts/art/figures.  Ideas: Identifying beach types and beach parts. 
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Okay. Elections are over and the school semester is coming to an end, so finally I have some breathing room. I am going to be creating a couple new tabs with goodies as well as theme changes: 

jacque cousteau video page  

Fellow ocean blogs

Other blogs I have created: Marine Conservationists United, Here to there. 

Changing the Intertidal zone/beach page. (lots of new photos/neat species). 

Modifying blog topics:   “More original blogs less re-blogs”. 

Action links. 

How to create change in your local community. 

Oceanography textbook concepts/art/figures. 

Ideas: Identifying beach types and beach parts. 

New way to look at data from the ocean online!  smarterplanet: The World’s Oceanographic Data, at Your Fingertips | Wired Science | Wired.com Have you ever wondered what the water temperature off the Kamchatka Peninsula is?  What about the wind speed in the Andaman Sea?  Or maybe you’re losing sleep over the chlorophyll levels in the South Pacific.  Fortunately, all of that information –- and 450 million other data points collected from oceanographic instruments around the world –- is freely and easily accessible thanks to the Marinexplore project.
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New way to look at data from the ocean online! 

smarterplanet:

The World’s Oceanographic Data, at Your Fingertips | Wired Science | Wired.com

Have you ever wondered what the water temperature off the Kamchatka Peninsula is?  What about the wind speed in the Andaman Sea?  Or maybe you’re losing sleep over the chlorophyll levels in the South Pacific.  Fortunately, all of that information –- and 450 million other data points collected from oceanographic instruments around the world –- is freely and easily accessible thanks to the Marinexplore project.

spacebus:

2012 UCSB Washburn Lab, ARC Program

This is a Wave Pressure Data Logger, which is made in the UCSB Washburn lab.

This instrument detects changes in wave pressures from changing wave heights.  It measures four times a second in absolute water pressure.  This high sampling rat is needed to capture such intricate pressure changes in surface waves.  It is powered by four D-cell Batteries, which and run up to three months.  Data is stored on to a 2GB SD card.  

The test button verifies the battery voltage, configuration files, recording pressure, and connections.  The start and stop botton record the start and stop times of sampling.

The instrument is protected with clear PVC tubing, and rubber o-rings prevent water leakage. 

A Global Map of Human Impacts to Marine Ecosystems What happens in the vast stretches of the world’s oceans - both wondrous and worrisome - has too often been out of sight, out of mind. The sea represents the last major scientific frontier on planet earth - a place where expeditions continue to discover not only new species, but even new phyla. The role of these species in the ecosystem, where they sit in the tree of life, and how they respond to environmental changes really do constitute mysteries of the deep. Despite technological advances that now allow people to access, exploit or affect nearly all parts of the ocean, we still understand very little of the ocean’s biodiversity and how it is changing under our influence. The goal of the research presented here is to estimate and visualize, for the first time, the global impact humans are having on the ocean’s ecosystems. Our analysis, published in Science, February 15, 2008 (no subscription required), shows that over 40% of the world’s oceans are heavily affected by human activities and few if any areas remain untouched. Source:http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/globalmarine
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A Global Map of Human Impacts to Marine Ecosystems

What happens in the vast stretches of the world’s oceans - both wondrous and worrisome - has too often been out of sight, out of mind.

The sea represents the last major scientific frontier on planet earth - a place where expeditions continue to discover not only new species, but even new phyla. The role of these species in the ecosystem, where they sit in the tree of life, and how they respond to environmental changes really do constitute mysteries of the deep. Despite technological advances that now allow people to access, exploit or affect nearly all parts of the ocean, we still understand very little of the ocean’s biodiversity and how it is changing under our influence.

The goal of the research presented here is to estimate and visualize, for the first time, the global impact humans are having on the ocean’s ecosystems.

Our analysis, published in Science, February 15, 2008 (no subscription required), shows that over 40% of the world’s oceans are heavily affected by human activities and few if any areas remain untouched.

Source:http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/globalmarine

Source: nceas.ucsb.edu

What is the hydrologic cycle ?  The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or H2O cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. Water can change states among liquid, vapor, and ice at various places in the water cycle. Although the balance of water on Earth remains fairly constant over time, individual water molecules can come and go, in and out of the atmosphere. The water moves from one reservoir to another, such as from river to ocean, or from the ocean to the atmosphere, by the physical processes of evaporation, condensation,precipitation, infiltration, runoff, and subsurface flow. In so doing, the water goes through different phases: liquid, solid, and gas. Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cycle How does the hydrologic cycle effect the ocean’s salinity ?  Evaporation of ocean water and formation of sea ice both increase the salinity of the ocean. Understanding why the sea is salty begins with knowing how water cycles among the ocean’s physical states: liquid, vapor, and ice. As a liquid, water dissolves rocks and sediments and reacts with emissions from volcanoes and hydrothermal vents. This creates a complex solution of mineral salts in our ocean basins. Conversely, in other states of ocean water such as vapor and ice, water and salt are incompatible: water vapor and ice are essentially salt free. Since 86% of global evaporation and 78% of global precipitation occur over the ocean, SSS(Sea Surface Salinity) is the key variable for understanding how fresh water input and output affects ocean dynamics. By tracking SSS we can directly monitor variations in the water cycle: land runoff, sea ice freezing and melting, and evaporation and precipitation over the oceans. Source:http://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/oceanography/physical-ocean/salinity/
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What is the hydrologic cycle ? 

The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or H2O cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. Water can change states among liquid, vapor, and ice at various places in the water cycle. Although the balance of water on Earth remains fairly constant over time, individual water molecules can come and go, in and out of the atmosphere. The water moves from one reservoir to another, such as from river to ocean, or from the ocean to the atmosphere, by the physical processes of evaporation, condensation,precipitation, infiltration, runoff, and subsurface flow. In so doing, the water goes through different phases: liquid, solid, and gas.

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cycle

How does the hydrologic cycle effect the ocean’s salinity ? 

Evaporation of ocean water and formation of sea ice both increase the salinity of the ocean.

Understanding why the sea is salty begins with knowing how water cycles among the ocean’s physical states: liquid, vapor, and ice. As a liquid, water dissolves rocks and sediments and reacts with emissions from volcanoes and hydrothermal vents. This creates a complex solution of mineral salts in our ocean basins. Conversely, in other states of ocean water such as vapor and ice, water and salt are incompatible: water vapor and ice are essentially salt free.

Since 86% of global evaporation and 78% of global precipitation occur over the ocean, SSS(Sea Surface Salinity) is the key variable for understanding how fresh water input and output affects ocean dynamics. By tracking SSS we can directly monitor variations in the water cycle: land runoff, sea ice freezing and melting, and evaporation and precipitation over the oceans.

Source:http://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/oceanography/physical-ocean/salinity/

Source: Wikipedia