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Scuba News ..because we can’t be underwater all the time Archive for October, 2008 « Previous Entries Ink squirts make squid swim for their lives Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 Squid can't shout out in alarm to their comrades when danger threatens, but they certainly can squirt out, and this, it seems, serves the same purpose. It is assumed that the main reason squid squirt ink is to have a "cloaking device", allowing them to escape from predators - but other squid may pick up on it as well. Posted in Diving | Comments Off Typhoons bury vast amounts of carbon dioxide at sea Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 In just a few days a single typhoon can dump the same amount of carbon to the bottom of the ocean as an entire year of rain. The storms do this by ripping mud and decaying vegetation off the land, and flushing it down rivers in huge floods and out to sea. Posted in Diving | Comments Off Life in the abyss is no protection from bad weather Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 It's a long way from atmospheric clouds to the floor of the Pacific Ocean, but the two are intrinsically linked. In fact, the climate controls the fate of animals dwelling at the bottom of the abyss, 4 kilometres beneath the surface, new research reveals. Posted in Diving | Comments Off Stark new assessment warns of mass extinctions and the “rise of slime” Friday, October 17th, 2008 When certain species have been decimated to the point of joining the endangered species list, measures are taken to more effectively conserve and revive their population bases. To Jeremy Jackson, ocean ecosystems around the globe similarly have been degraded to the point that they should also be considered "endangered." the effects of habitat destruction, overfishing, ocean warming, increased acidification, and massive nutrient runoff as culprits in a grand transformation of once-complex ocean ecosystems. Areas that had featured intricate marine food webs with large animals are being converted into simplistic ecosystems dominated by microbes, toxic algal blooms, jellyfish, and disease. Jackson has labeled the ongoing transformation "the rise of slime". Posted in Diving | Comments Off Natural colour underwater photographs Thursday, October 16th, 2008 Taking good photos underwater requires a good white light source such as a flash or spotlight. But some wavelengths of light penetrate water more easily than others, and the result is a heavy blue cast. The tint gets progressively deeper as subjects get further from the camera, meaning that corrective filters only work for a narrow range of distances from the lens. A new patent application suggests the solution is to use a camera with a battery of different flashes. Each produces a different wavelength of light, which penetrates water to different extents. A sensor records that effect, making it possible to work out the distance to a subject in the image. Posted in Diving | Comments Off SCUBA News #101 Now Online Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 Issue 101 of SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011) is now available online at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scubanews101.html. With articles, marine facts, your letters and the diving news from around the world. Posted in Diving | Comments Off « Previous Entries

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