The Argo Ocean Sensing Float Aray System

As of March 12, there were 3,845 Argo floats deployed around the World. Each float descends to 2,000 meters every 10 days measuring temperature and salinity. Full details can be found HERE.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Settlement

From the International NY Times comes this article about
BP's $18.7 Billion Settlement

My only comment is that proper training, planning and engineering would have been a MUCH better way for BP to spend their $'s..... so the disaster could have been averted.

Deep Ocean Fish, Earth's Carbon Cycle and Climate Change

This is a link that has not been studied much in the past because the total mass of deep ocean fish was estimated to be relatively small. Recent studies however are showing that this estimate is incorrect, and that the total numbers and mass of deep ocean (mesopelagic zone) fish is in fact enormous.

Following are highlights from the NY Times article, Dark Regions of the Ocean May Shed Light on Climate Change and Other Issues:

.......Dr. Irigoien’s expedition, which included oceanographers from Spain, Australia and Norway, sailed the globe in 2010 and 2011 and last year produced a detailed report that estimated the overall bulk of mesopelagic fishes at 10 billion tons, and perhaps even more......

That figure is not only 10 times the earlier estimate but 100 times the globe’s annual catch of seafood and 200 times the estimated biomass of the world’s 24 billion chickens, considered the most numerous vertebrate on land.

Seawater absorbs tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, including that produced by the burning of fossil fuels. The creatures, in turn, use carbon to build their bodies, which eventually join the rain of life detritus into the abyss. (The bodies of humans are about 18 percent carbon, and those of mesopelagic fish about 8 percent.)

This carbon uptake by mesopelagic life prompted Villy Christensen, a fish scientist at the University of British Columbia, to call the deep creatures “unrecognized allies against climate change” and to oppose their harvesting.

This little fish, the Bristlemouth, sure looks like an ally to me.  

 Picture from the NY Times

Thanks to my sister-in-law Dianne for pointing out the above article

Oceans and Climate Change

The New York Times has just published a fascinating article about a 4 year study of ocean pelagic small organisms, from viruses and bacteria, to crustaceans, jelly fish, and salps. Be sure to watch the slide show, it is truly AMAZING!!!
  
Scientists Sample the Ocean and Find Tiny Additions to the Tree of Life
“A lot of what we didn’t really ever see before in the ocean are predators and parasites, zombies and vampires that are floating through this incredible set of diversity, battling it out,” Dr. Palumbi said. “All these tiny little critters add up to something that is really a part of the way our planet operates.”

Sub Ocean Volcanism..... and Climate Change

Yes, this is a topic that rarely makes headlines....BUT it appears to be far more important than previously thought. From Columbia University's, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory:

Seafloor Volcano Pulses May Alter Climate
And a few highlight quotes from this link:

Volcanically active mid-ocean ridges crisscross earth’s seafloors like stitching on a baseball, stretching some 37,000 miles. They are the growing edges of giant tectonic plates; as lavas push out, they form new areas of seafloor, which comprise some 80 percent of the planet’s crust.

Some scientists think volcanoes may act in concert with Milankovitch cycles--repeating changes in the shape of earth’s solar orbit, and the tilt and direction of its axis—to produce suddenly seesawing hot and cold periods.

All I can add is that our Earth system is VERY complicated....BUT none of this information takes away from the impact we humans are imposing with hugely increasing greenhouse gas emmissions, especially CO2.