The powerful and poignant image shows a tiny sea horse holding tightly onto a pink, plastic cotton swab in blue-green waters around Indonesia.
California nature photographer Justin Hofman snapped the picture late last year off the coast of Sumbawa, an Indonesian island in the Lesser Sunda Islands chain.
The 33-year-old, from Monterey, Calif., said a colleague pointed out the pocket-size sea creature, which he estimated to be about 1.5 inches tall — so small, in fact, that Hofman said he almost didn't reach for his camera.
“The wind started to pick up and the sea horse started to drift. It first grabbed onto a piece of sea grass,” Hofman said Thursday in a phone interview.
Hofman started shooting.
“Eventually more and more trash and debris started to move through,” he said, adding that the critter lost its grip, then latched onto a white, wispy piece of a plastic bag.
“The next thing it grabbed was a Q-Tip.”
Hofman said he wishes the picture “didn’t exist” — but it does; and now, he said, he feels responsible “to make sure it gets to as many eyes as possible.”
He entered the photo and was a finalist in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition from the Natural History Museum in London.
“I want everybody to see it,” he added.
“I want everybody to have a reaction to it.”
Hofman, an expedition leader with EYOS Expeditions, said he was wrapping up an expedition in December 2016 when he photographed the sea horse.
As he watched the creature through its journey, he said, his “blood was boiling.”
Hofman said the garbage had washed in, polluting their spot in the sea with sewage that he said he could smell and taste, and that the sea horse was searching for a raft on which to ride it out.
“I had this beautiful, little tiny creature that was so cute, and it was almost like we were brought back to reality — that this is something that happens to the sea horse day in and day out,” he said.
After the Wildlife Photographer of the Year finalists were named this week, Hofman posted the picture on Instagram, prompting emotional responses from people across social media who called it an “eye opening” and “mind-blowing shot” that illustrates a “disgusting” reality.
“It’s a photo that I wish didn’t exist but now that it does I want everyone to see it,” Hofman wrote beneath the image.
“What started as an opportunity to photograph a cute little sea horse turned into one of frustration and sadness as the incoming tide brought with it countless pieces of trash and sewage. This sea horse drifts long with the trash day in and day out as it rides the currents that flow along the Indonesian archipelago.
“This photo serves as an allegory for the current and future state of our oceans. What sort of future are we creating? How can your actions shape our planet? ” he said.
Hofman said that he has since received messages from people all over the world.
“Some of them feel heartbroken, some of them feel frustrated,” he said, adding some in Indonesia acknowledged they have a problem with plastic pollution.
Indonesia is the world's second-largest producer of marine pollution, dumping 3.22 million metric tons of plastic debris per year, according to data published in 2015 by Environmental Health Perspectives.
The country has vowed to reduce such waste by 70 percent by the end of 2025, according to the United Nations.
Maybe, Hofman said, the photo, and others like it, can be catalysts to create change.
“We are really affecting our oceans with our negligence and our ignorance,” he said.
Anyone can write their name in the sand, but Jim Denevan uses the beach to create stunning large-scale art. What started as a hobby over 20 years ago has resulted in worldwide recognition, and he's created masterworks from Russia to Chile to Australia.
At the end of the day, though, Jim's just happy to find a new beach to make his canvas.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly,
captured images of the events. Solar flares are powerful bursts of
radiation.
Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's
atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however — when
intense enough — they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS
and communications signals travel.
To see how this event may affect Earth, please visit NOAA's Space
Weather Prediction Center at http://spaceweather.gov,
the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts,
alerts, watches and warnings.
X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more
information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an
X3 is three times as intense, etc.
The X9.3 flare was the largest flare so far in the current solar cycle,
the approximately 11-year-cycle during which the sun’s activity waxes
and wanes.
The current solar cycle began in December 2008, and is now
decreasing in intensity and heading toward solar minimum.
This is a
phase when such eruptions on the sun are increasingly rare, but history
has shown that they can nonetheless be intense.
The sun should be quiet right now. Instead, it's been shooting hot
particles and plasma into space for the past week, to the delight of
scientists.
Hot on the heels of the epic American total solar eclipse in
August, our sun this month has followed up with what you might call
totally cray behavior.
The biggest star around is supposed to be
entering a phase of relatively little activity right now.
Yet it has
spent the past week shooting off some of the biggest solar flares we've seen in over a decade.
The sun goes through 11-year cycles of solar activity, including a solar maximum when scientists expect to see
the highest level of sunspots and solar flares.
But we passed that
point in the current cycle in 2014 and are now approaching the solar
minimum.
So it's a little surprising that a big sunspot has been
shooting off a bunch of flares, including the biggest of the current
cycle, for the past week.
A huge, so-called X-class
flare (the highest level of intensity) was fired off Wednesday.
It
released an amount of energy comparable to that of a billion hydrogen
bombs and sent radiation and plasma soaring toward Earth that's not
harmful to life thanks to our planet's atmosphere and magnetic field.
The solar storm can disrupt communications signals, however, and also
fuels some pretty remarkable auroras.
One
X9.3 flare Wednesday was the strongest flare seen in over 12 years.
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun continuously,
caught a few different views of last week's flares that can be seen in
the above video.
Scientists using a solar telescope on the Canary Islands also managed to capture a close-up view.
It’s always shining, always ablaze with light and energy that drive
weather, biology and more. In addition to keeping life alive on Earth,
the sun also sends out a constant flow of particles called the solar
wind, and it occasionally erupts with giant clouds of solar material,
called coronal mass ejections, or explosions of X-rays called solar
flares. These events can rattle our space environment out to the very
edges of our solar system. In space, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory,
or SDO, keeps an eye on our nearest star 24/7. SDO captures images of
the sun in 10 different wavelengths, each of which helps highlight a
different temperature of solar material. In this video, we experience
SDO images of the sun in unprecedented detail. Presented in ultra-high
definition, the video presents the dance of the ultra-hot material on
our life-giving star in extraordinary detail, offering an intimate view
of the grand forces of the solar system.
"The sun is currently in what we call solar minimum. The
number of Active Regions, where flares occur, is low, so to have X-class
flares so close together is very unusual," said Aaron Reid, a research
fellow at Queen's University Belfast, in a news release.
"These observations can tell us how and why these flares formed so we can better predict them in the future."
A
total of three X-class flares were observed over a 48-hour period,
along with medium-intensity flares that went off earlier last week, and
another, just slightly less intense X-class flare on Sunday.
While the flare activity of the past week has been unusual and
unexpected, it seems likely to come to an end soon.
The big sunspot
responsible for the flares is about to disappear from view as part of
the star's normal rotation.
The …more
Self-driving cars may not hit the road in earnest for many years - but autonomous boats could be just around the pier.
Spurred in part by the car industry's race to build driverless vehicles, marine innovators are building automated ferry boats for Amsterdam canals, cargo ships that can steer themselves through Norwegian fjords and remote-controlled ships to carry containers across the Atlantic and Pacific.
The first such autonomous ships could be in operation within three years.
One experimental workboat spent this summer dodging tall ships and tankers in Boston Harbor, outfitted with sensors and self-navigating software and emblazoned with the words "Unmanned vessel" across its aluminum hull.
"We're in full autonomy now," said Jeff Gawrys, a marine technician for Boston startup Sea Machines Robotics, sitting at the helm as the boat floated through a harbor channel.
"Roger that," said computer scientist Mohamed Saad Ibn Seddik, as he helped to guide the ship from his laptop on a nearby dock.
The boat still needs human oversight.
But some of the world's biggest maritime firms have committed to designing ships that won't need any captains or crews—at least not on board.
In this Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017 photo, a boat capable of autonomous navigation makes its way around Boston Harbor. The experimental workboat spent this summer dodging tall ships and tankers, outfitted with sensors and self-navigating software and emblazoned with the words "UNMANNED VESSEL" across its aluminum hull. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Distracted seafarin
The ocean is "a wide open space," said Sea Machines CEO Michael Johnson.
Based out of an East Boston shipyard once used to build powerful wooden clippers, the cutting-edge sailing vessels of the 19th century, his company is hoping to spark a new era of commercial marine innovation that could surpass the development of self-driving cars and trucks.
The startup has signed a deal with an undisclosed company to install the "world's first autonomy system on a commercial containership," Johnson said this week.
It will be remotely-controlled from land as it travels the North Atlantic.
He also plans to sell the technology to companies doing oil spill cleanups and other difficult work on the water, aiming to assist maritime crews, not replace them.
Johnson, a marine engineer whose previous job took him to the Italian coast to help salvage the sunken cruise ship Costa Concordia, said that deadly 2012 capsizing and other marine disasters have convinced him that "we're relying too much on old-world technology."
In this Tuesday, Aug.15, 2017 photo, Jeff Gawrys, marine technician for Boston startup Sea Machines Robotics, prepares to disengage the navigation of a boat and switch the vessel over to fully autonomous control in Boston Harbor.
(AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Spurred on by the car industry's race to build driverless vehicles, maritime companies are taking advantage of technological breakthroughs and broader public acceptance of artificial intelligence to design tugboats, ferries and cargo vessels that won't need captains or crews, at least not on board.
In this Aug.15, 2017 photo, computer scientist Mohamed Saad Ibn Seddik,
of Sea Machines Robotics, uses a laptop to guide a boat outfitted with
sensors and self-navigating software and capable of autonomous
navigation in Boston Harbor.
Global race
Militaries have been working on unmanned vessels for decades.
But a lot of commercial experimentation is happening in the centuries-old seaports of Scandinavia, where Rolls-Royce demonstrated a remote-controlled tugboat in Copenhagen this year.
Government-sanctioned testing areas have been established in Norway's Trondheim Fjord and along Finland's western coast.
In Norway, fertilizer company Yara International is working with engineering firm Kongsberg Maritime on a project to replace big-rig trucks with an electric-powered ship connecting three nearby ports.
The pilot ship is scheduled to launch next year, shift to remote control in 2019 and go fully autonomous by 2020.
"It would remove a lot of trucks from the roads in these small communities," said Kongsberg CEO Geir Haoy.
Frank Marino with Sea Machines Robotics uses a remote control belt pack to operate a boat in Boston Harbor.
Spurred on by the car industry's race to build driverless vehicles, maritime companies are taking advantage of technological breakthroughs and broader public acceptance of artificial intelligence to design tugboats, ferries and cargo vessels that won't need captains or crews, at least not on board. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Spurred on by the car industry's race to build driverless vehicles, maritime …more
Japanese shipping firm Nippon Yusen K.K.—operator of the cargo ship that slammed into a U.S.
Navy destroyer in a deadly June collision—plans to test its first remote-controlled vessel in 2019, part of a wider Japanese effort to deploy hundreds of autonomous container ships by 2025.
A Chinese alliance has set a goal of launching its first self-navigating cargo ship in 2021.
Cars Vs Boats
The key principles of self-driving cars and boats are similar.
Both scan their surroundings using a variety of sensors, feed the information into an artificial intelligence system and output driving instructions to the vehicle.
But boat navigation could be much easier than car navigation, said Carlo Ratti, an MIT professor working with Dutch universities to launch self-navigating vessels in Amsterdam next year.
The city's canals, for instance, have no pedestrians or bikers cluttering the way, and are subject to strict speed limits.
Ratti's project is also looking at ways small vessels could coordinate with each other in "swarms." They could, for instance, start as a fleet of passenger or delivery boats, then transform into an on-demand floating bridge to accommodate a surge of pedestrians.
Spurred on by the car industry's race to build driverless vehicles, maritime companies are …more
Since many boats already have electronic controls, "it would be easy to make them self-navigating by simply adding a small suite of sensors and AI," Ratti said.
Armchair captains
Researchers have already begun to design merchant ships that will be made more efficient because they don't need room for seamen to sleep and eat.
But in the near future, most of these ships will be only partly autonomous.
Armchair captains in a remote operation center could be monitoring several ships at a time, sitting in a room with 360-degree virtual reality views.
When the vessels are on the open seas, they might not need humans to make decisions.
It's just the latest step in what has been a gradual automation of maritime tasks.
"If you go back 150 years, you had more than 200 people on a cargo vessel.
Now you have between 10 and 20," said Oskar Levander, vice president of innovation for Rolls-Royce's marine business.
Rolls-Royce hopes its self-piloting ship concept will be the naval vessel of the future
Changing rules at sea
There are still some major challenges ahead.
Uncrewed vessels might be more vulnerable to piracy or even outright theft via remote hacking of a ship's control systems.
Some autonomous vessels might win public trust faster than others; unmanned container ships filled with bananas might not raise the same concerns as oil tankers plying the waters near big cities or protected wilderness.
A decades-old international maritime safety treaty also requires that "all ships shall be sufficiently and efficiently manned."
But The International Maritime Organization, which regulates shipping, has begun a 2-year review of the safety, security and environmental implications of autonomous ships.
The cost of subsidies to the UK’s offshore wind farms in contracts awarded in auctions dropped more than 50 per cent and is now well below the price the government has guaranteed for energy from the planned Hinkley Point nuclear power plant
Energy from offshore wind in the UK will be cheaper than electricity from new nuclear power for the first time.
The cost of subsidies for new offshore wind farms has halved since the last 2015 auction for clean energy projects
Two firms said they were willing to build offshore wind farms for a guaranteed price of £57.50 per megawatt hour for 2022-23.
This compares with the new Hinkley Point C nuclear plant securing subsidies of £92.50 per megawatt hour.
Nuclear firms said the UK still needed a mix of low-carbon energy, especially for when wind power was not available.
Wind farms offshore UK with the GeoGarage ENC platform (UKHO data)
'Truly astonishing'
The figures for offshore wind, from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, were revealed as the result of an auction for subsidies, in which the lowest bidder wins.
In the auction in 2015, offshore wind farm projects won subsidies between £114 and £120 per megawatt hour.
Emma Pinchbeck, from the wind energy trade body Renewable UK, told the BBC the latest figures were "truly astonishing".
"We still think nuclear can be part of the mix - but our industry has shown how to drive costs down, and now they need to do the same."
Bigger turbines, higher voltage cables and lower cost foundations, as well as growth in the UK supply chain and the downturn in the oil and gas industry have all contributed to falling prices.
The newest 8 megawatt offshore turbines stand almost 200 metres high, taller than London's Gherkin building.
But Ms Pinchbeck said the turbines would double in size in the 2020s.
However, the nuclear industry said that because wind power is intermittent, nuclear energy would still be needed.
Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said: "It doesn't matter how low the price of offshore wind is. On last year's figures it only produced electricity for 36% of the time."
EDF, which is building the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, said the UK still needed a "diverse, well-balanced" mix of low-carbon energy.
"New nuclear remains competitive for consumers who face extra costs in providing back-up power when the wind doesn't blow or the sun doesn't shine," the French firm said.
"There are also costs of dealing with excess electricity when there is too much wind or sun."
EDF added that energy from new nuclear plants would become cheaper as the market matures, as has happened with offshore wind.
Eyes will be raised at this suggestion, as nuclear power has already received subsidies since the 1950s.
But storage of surplus energy from offshore wind is still a challenge.
World's first floating offshore wind farm in Scotland : Each wind turbine is taller than Big Ben and the farm can power 20,000 homes.
'Energy revolution'
Onshore wind power and solar energy are already both cost-competitive with gas in some places in the UK.
And the price of energy subsidies for offshore wind has now halved in less than three years.
Energy analysts said UK government policy helped to lower the costs by nurturing the fledgling industry, then incentivising it to expand - and then demanding firms should bid in auction for their subsidies.
Minister for Energy and Industry Richard Harrington said: "We've placed clean growth at the heart of the Industrial Strategy to unlock opportunities across the country, while cutting carbon emissions.
"The offshore wind sector alone will invest £17.5bn in the UK up to 2021 and thousands of new jobs in British businesses will be created by the projects announced today."
Michael Grubb, professor of energy policy at University College London, called the cost reduction "a huge step forward in the energy revolution".
"It shows that Britain's biggest renewable resource - and least politically problematic - is available at reasonable cost.
"It'll be like the North Sea oil and gas industry: it started off expensive, then as the industry expanded, costs fell. We can expect offshore wind costs to fall more, too," he said.
The subsidies, paid from a levy on consumer bills, will run for 15 years - unlike nuclear subsidies for Hinkley C which run for 35 years.
This adds to the cost advantage offshore wind has now established over new nuclear.
Wind farms offshore UK with the GeoGarage ENC platform (UKHO data)
Prof Grubb estimated the new offshore wind farms would supply about 2% of UK electricity demand, with a net cost to consumers of under £5 per year.
Caroline Lucas, co-leader of the Green Party, said: "This massive price drop for offshore wind is a huge boost for the renewables industry and should be the nail in the coffin for new nuclear.
"The government's undying commitment to new nuclear risks locking us into sky high prices for years to come. Put simply, this news should be the death knell for Hinkley C nuclear station."
Along with three offshore wind farm projects, biomass and energy from waste plants have secured subsidies for low-carbon energy, with a total of 11 successful schemes in the latest auction.
The £57.50 for new offshore wind power is not a true subsidy.
It is a "strike price" - a guaranteed price to the generating firm for power it supplies.
When the wholesale market price for electricity is below that price, payments to the firm are made up with a levy on consumers.
However, when the wholesale price is above the strike price, the generator pays the difference back. It is a way of providing a certain return on investment for large energy projects.
It is impossible to predict what the final additional cost to consumers will be because it depends on market conditions, but it will almost certainly be a fraction of the strike price itself.
Experts warn that in order to meet the UK's long term climate goals, additional sources of low-carbon energy will still be needed.
