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POPSAustralia gets access to underwater bounty There seem to be the implication that we can 'own' an environment. While there is constant talk of conservation, it never seems to get in the way of a good profit. The world is a boat. and we are just passengers, not owners. We should feel obliged to leave it in a fit state for travelers on the next leg of the journey. I suppose it was a choice between oil rigs, and bottom trawlers. The black smoker' is the spout from a seabed hydrothermal vent. At the sea floor, due to the pressure, water is still liquid at 400deg C, and is as acidic as vinegar.
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POPSEarth hums while making love waves The seismic stations had to be boring, or the waves would not nave been heard above the noise. Named after Professor Augustus Love the mathematician who created the model of such waves in 1911. They are still unsure exactly how they are formed, but believe wind , ocean or solar forces may contribute. They say that now they know what to look for, they can find the waves at other stations, which might help point researchers in the direction of the source.
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POPSOceans to fall, not rise over millennia Of course they're talking about a geological timespan -80 Million Years. That doesn't change the potential rise over the next 10-100 years. A mere flash in geological time. There is a curious reason, The oceans are becoming deeper. Changes caused by continental drift being the primary cause. For example The Atlantic will widen, and the Pacific will shrink. While they say the estimated drop is around 120 m, if the Ice on Greenland and Antarctica happened to melt, as it seems to be doing today, the drop would only be 70 m
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POPSWarships poised to shoot down satellite They say they must deal with the 'toxic propellant hydrazine I fail to see how a missile can deal with it any better that reentry Perhaps the missiles are surplus and they need to justify military spending. How much hydrazine is there? The satellite was defunct. The whole equation just doesn't add up. The cure seems to be far worse than the problem.
3
POPSSouthern Ocean rise due to warming not ice. I'm sure whatever affects one ocean will affect all of them either directly or indirectly. With all of the talk of ice melts, where the rise may come from land based ice, that slides into the ocean when once it would have been frozen tight, one of the primary causes of sea level rise will be due to the fact that like all but a few things, water expands when it warms. While the temperature rises may seem small, the volumes involved mean the expansion can be significant. That's not to mention the increased amount of energy held in the water, which can contribute to stronger storms, and rougher seas. The ocean is a big place, and for the temperature to rise by one degree, means a vast amount of energy stored.
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POPSKing Penguins face extinction as planet warms An example of how a broken link in a food chain can wipe the whole chain out. Their main diet , small fish, and squid, in turn rely on krill-tiny shrimp- which are sensitive to temperature change. Many Whale species prime source of food is also krill. There are many other creatures whose sensitivity to temperature can make life for them literally impossible either through being unable to survive themselves or through a threat to their food sources and so food chains. The environment is a house of cards, being dismantled from the bottom up. When the house collapses, it will do so in a flash. We won't have time to get our coats.
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POPSCrustacean "Swarm" Destroying Small Hiroshima Island The island's soft rock, a material called tuff that is primarily composed of densely compacted volcanic ash, is an ideal habitat for the booming population of nanatsuba-kotsubumushi Through normal weathering, it would usually take thousands of years for the elements to reduce an island the size of Hoboro to debris But some experts have estimated that, at the current rate, the island may be gone within a century Hoboro appears to be something of a geological oddity, with no other islands in the immediate area made of the same material. Although he prefers not to put a time scale on the island's destruction, Okimura added that it's unclear where the burrowing creatures will go when Hoboro does ultimately disappear beneath the waves
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POPSUN Climate Chief to visit Antarctica Much of the ice that has built up over the land at the poles has been frozen fast to the land. As the climate warms, and sea level rises, a sheet of water can form between the ice and the land. Then, due to the buildup, and weight of the ice on the water, an ice sheet can slip into the ocean, creating turbulence, greater ocean volume, and an acceleration of the melt. Will we soon have a planet where there is no ice?
4
POPSChina Raises 800 year old ship I was wondering how it had held together after 800 years, but apparently they managed to lift it - Very slowly and carefully. They plan to store it in a tank with the same temperature and pressure as the ocean floor, that kept it waiting for 800 years, with windows so it can be seen by the public. They're selling the porcelain on Ebay with a reserve of 1c ($20,000 postage)
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POPSChemical find shuts down 2 L.A. reservoirs The chemical bromate, is craeted when bromine in groundwater is combined with chlorine, and exposed to sunlight. It is said to be the first time an occurrence like this has been observed. Bromine is a key ingredient in flame retardants, so the chemicals used to fight the California fires may be leeching into the ground water. The dams are a fraction of LA's total water storage, but fire retardant chemicals would have been used over a wide area of California State, so soils may have unusually high bromine levels. It may pay to find out exactly why this happened to be wary of where it may happen again.
3
POPSResearchers Find New Deep Water Coral The coral was found in a national park created by George Bush, off the Hawaiian Islands. It is 3000-6000 ft deep and is a reminder that so few of the existing marine species that exist have been discovered. We know more about the moon, than the Ocean
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POPSunderwater waterfallby
mona 11-13-2007 
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fascinating - impossible to clip. visit source for full article. not very long and certainly a worth-while read!
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POPSSan Franscisco oil spill cleanup continues Just over 16% of the oil has been recovered, but by the weekend most of the oil would be beyond containment and capture. It was said oil and birds, don't mix, and that while some globules would remain, most would dissolve in the water. Oil and water don't mix, but the oil may just be broken down into smaller drops. The oil dissolving isn't much consolation. It just means the lowest, and dirtiest grade of oil-bunker fuel, will become a part of the open ocean. It won't disappear.
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POPSUrea 'climate solution' may backfire Similar to the idea of seeding the ocean with iron, the project is being seen as a way of generating 'carbon credits' Independent scientists have called for further research, however the biggest hurdle seen by the companies seems to be arranging the approval of various national governments. I remember W.C Fields mentioning something about not drinking water because of fish urine. It's a wonder they need more. There is also significant runoff from fertilizer containing nitrates, ending up in the ocean. The company says it is researching but wants to protect 'intellectual property' Natural upswellings of nitrogen have been known to produce toxic blooms, and nitrous oxide, a more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2
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POPSShip emissions kill 60,000 a year Most ships run on bunker fuel, which is cheaper than distillate, but more polluting. Many freighters are registered in countries with few regulations. It also occurred to me that the bunker fuel was a product from oil refineries, and companies who need to get rid of it somehow to avoid it lining the bottom of the barrel. Just burn the evidence
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POPSScientists enhance nature's carbon handling mechanism When rock is weathered, CO2, in water percolates through soil and rocks and becomes alkaline. This alkaline water can hold carbon better as bicarbonate, will reduce the acidity, and some of the carbon remains in sediment that settles on the bottom.
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