How to feed the world & save the oceans: Andy Sharpless (Oceana) at TEDxSF

Andy Sharpless CEO, Oceana puts forth a compelling story on feeding the exploding planetary population and saving the Oceans, and how we can't bring the same conservation mindset to the sea that we did to the land.

Tracking a super storm

Hurricane Sandy's near-surface winds are visible in this NASA GEOS-5
global atmosphere model computer simulation that runs from Oct. 26 to Oct. 31, 2012.

The model works by dividing Earth's atmosphere into a virtual grid of stacked boxes.

A supercomputer then solves mathematical equations inside each box to create a weather forecast predicting Sandy's structure, path and other traits.

The NASA model not only produced an accurate track of Sandy, but also captured fine-scale details of the storm's changing intensity and winds.

First map of American History

First Map, or, Map of 1578 to Accompany Willard's History of the United States
Emma Willard, “First” Map of American History

see David Rumsey collection

“Willard’s second map in the atlas marked the earliest voyages to America, and took pains to represent change over time. Note the inclusion of failed voyages and settlements.”

Links :

• How maps become modern

Pollution of Indonesian waters on full display in surf photos

 Local Indonesian ripper, Dede Suryana, dodging a hefty lip and the unfortunate byproduct of human beings.

Photo: Noyle

From PSFK

Once known for its pristine beaches, Untung Jawa Island, just an hour ride from Jakarta, is now known as ‘trash island’ with hundreds of tons of plastic, styrofoam, and the occasional dead body washing ashore, according to The Asia Sentinel.
Indonesia is a paradise for surfers that travel to remote islands to surf perfect waves but the idilic scenario you’d expect is ruined here with the repulsive debris floating around like the native fauna.

After flights, layovers, car rides, and boat trips, things got serious somewhere in Indonesia.

Photo: Noyle

Hawaiian based surf photographer Zak Noyle captured in stunning shots of how the ocean swell brought massive surges of trash when he was shooting Indonesian surfer Dede Surinaya in a remote bay near Java.

Bede Durbide, all style in the tube.

Photo: Noyle

Tourism is the country’s fifth-largest foreign currency earner and in danger of being ruined by the polluted ‘Wonderful Indonesia’ image.
This was a dangerous shoot because there were large objects in the water, including tree trunks, Noyle said to Surfer Magazine.
“But it was worthwhile because of the international response generated by the images.”

Explore the ocean floor via live cam, in high definition, right now

Underwater live stream

From io9

Stop what you're doing and watch this.
Below the fold are three high-definition streams of the ocean floor, currently broadcasting LIVE via NOAA's new 6,000-meter remotely operated vehicle (ROV), Deep Discoverer.
It's... well... let's just say you might want to clear your schedule for the day.

The Northeast U.S. Canyons Expedition is one of the first exploration missions that lets onshore audiences tune in live, with access to real-time, high-quality video footage from deepwater areas.

For the last month or so, scientists aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer have been working with onshore technicians to better understand the ecology of one of the most poorly understood locations on Earth: the ocean floor.
The mission's specific goal is to explore deep-sea habitats and marine life along the Northeast U.S. Canyons and at Mytilus Seamount, regions of the seafloor situated a few hundred miles off the coast of New England.
To do it, researchers are using a brand new 6,000-meter ROV named Deep Discovery and a sweet camera setup to bring the community closer to the science than ever.

The exploration area for this community-driven expedition was identified based on the discussions and information stemming from the May 2011 Atlantic Basin Workshop and priority area input received from other NOAA programs and the management community.
Using this input, and data acquired during previous Atlantic Canyon Undersea Mapping Expeditions (ACUMEN Project), NOAA and the broader science community have identified a number of exciting targets to explore during the two cruise legs, commencing the next steps in systematic exploration.
In the coming weeks, we expect to explore cold seeps, deep coral communities, undersea canyons, landslide features, and a seamount.

Featured below is the first of three (!) live feeds, all currently streaming live via Okeanos.
The dives are being narrated by mission scientists and technicians.
I've been watching all morning (several hours at this point) and it has been consistently engaging.
Be warned: these feeds are MAJOR time-sucks.
Tons of deep-sea marine life to be had (a swordfish literally just swam by on feed 1) and giddy scientists to narrate the whole thing.
The excitement is palpable.
You feel like you're on a deep sea dive, trying to get squids like the one up top to chase laser pointers (oh yeah, the ROV is equipped with a laser pointer).
It's genuinely incredible.

Enough talk. Here's the primary feed along with the description for today's dive:

Visit http://www.explorationnow.org for live video streams from ships of research and exploration around the world.

This is an Expedition Summary of the recent work by the E/V Nautilus, presented by Exploration Now.

Read more about the mission and its educational aims over at NOAA,
where you can also watch ALL THREE FEEDS SIMULTANEOUSLY.