Tuesday, February 20th, 2007
An ocean-crossing vessel that can adapt its movements to the surface of the sea has undergone sea trials in San Francisco.
Marine Advanced Research's Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel (WAM-V), also known as the Proteus adjusts to the surface of the sea rather than forcing the water to conform to its hull. As a result, it has very low fuel consumption and creates minimal wake, even at high speed, making it more environmentally friendly.
Like a car, it uses springs, shock absorbers and ball joints to minimise stresses to the structure, payload and crew. Two engine pods containing the propulsion and ancillary systems are fastened to the hulls with special hinges that keep the propellers in the water at all times.
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Monday, February 19th, 2007
The whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru has been crippled by an accidental fire and is currently without engine power in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Oil and fuel aboard the ship presents an unacceptable risk to the pristine Antarctic environment, and the ice and weather are closing in.
The Greenpeace ship, Esperanza, has offered to tow the Nisshin Maru to safety. The Esperanza was constructed as a fire-fighting vessel and has towing capabilities. Her captain has ten years experience on a salvage tug.
Bureaucrats in Tokyo have rejected Greenpeace's offers of assistance, despite pressure from the New Zealand government and Japan's obligations under the Antarctic Treaty to accept help.
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Sunday, February 18th, 2007
The delicate interplay between the oceans and atmosphere is changing with catastrophic consequences.
Entire marine ecosystems have been wiped out, devastating populations of sea birds and larger marine mammals.
These "dead zones" occur where there are disturbances to the nutrient-rich ocean currents, which are driven by coastal winds.
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Saturday, February 17th, 2007
Dozens of dolphins and sea lions trained to detect and apprehend waterborne attackers could be sent to patrol a military base in Washington state.
The US Navy said it needs to bolster security at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, on the Puget Sound close to Seattle.
The base is home to submarines, ships and laboratories and is allegedly potentially vulnerable to attack by terrorist swimmers and scuba divers.
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Saturday, February 17th, 2007
In a modern update of "fish and chips," researchers are planning a worldwide effort to track the movement of sea creatures tagged with tiny electronic devices.
Following pilot testing in the north Pacific, the Ocean Tracking Network will expand to the Atlantic, Arctic, Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico.
Sea life ranging from salmon to whales, turtles to sharks, will be tagged so they can then be tracked as they swim past arrays of sensors placed at critical locations in the oceans.
In the new system tagged sea creatures will also collect data from other tagged animals they encounter.
That means scientists studying data from a shark, for example, would also know what other fish or sea mammals it had encountered in its travels -- or even the ones it ate if they were tagged.
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Saturday, February 17th, 2007
Hundreds of endangered sea turtles have been found dead along Bangladesh's coast over the past two weeks, triggering concerns about pollution and local fishing practices, an official has said.
A team of four scientists has launched an investigation into the deaths of the olive ridley turtles.
At least 65 of the turtles have been found dead along a five-kilometer (three-mile) stretch of beach near Cox's Bazar, one of the main cities on Bangladesh's coast. Hundreds more dead turtles have been found elsewhere in the area, and on a pair of islands.
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