Amazing war story told at DIVE 2011

21 October 2011

      Visitors to the DIVE 2011 exhibition, held at Birmingham’s NEC over 22/23 October, can hear about wrecks at one of the few locations in North America that Germany attacked during WW2.

  Rick Stanley’s afternoon talks at the show detail the wrecks and their remarkable history according to relatives of a key personality involved in the action in 1942.
  Before WWII, Germany had acquired iron mined from Newfoundland’s Bell Island.  Once war was declared, this relationship ceased and the Bell Island ore started to be shipped to Britain.  
  Germany’s response was to attack shipping taking on iron ore in Bell Island’s Conception Bay. Four Allied carriers moored there were torpedoed by German U-Boats over a two-month period in 1942.  
  In September, U-513 torpedoed the Canadian Lord Strathconca and the British Saganaga. In November, U-518 sunk the Rose Castle and PLM-27.  
  Today these wrecks sit upright and intact at depths ranging from 18m to 48m, in clear water and covered in starfish, anemones, sea urchins, mussels and crabs.  
  In the mid 2000s Marita, the daughter of Captain Rolf Rüggeberg of U-513, was clearing out her mother’s house when she discovered a small box.  
  Inside were military documents, slide photos of icebergs and two Iron Crosses that Rüggeberg had received for sinking the Lord Strathconca and the Saganaga.  
  Her husband Barry started researching and managed to obtain a copy of the logbook detailing the U-boat’s action.

  The story then took on a new twist when Barry attended one of the Dive Shows here in the UK.  
  After meeting representatives of Ocean Quest Newfoundland, which runs trips to dive the wrecks that Rüggeberg torpedoed, Marita and Barry visited Bell Island in July last year.
As a result of their experience, they decided to donate Rüggeberg’s possessions related to the sinkings, including the two Iron Crosses, to the Bell Island Museum.

                                                 Source: divernet.com

Camera’s pictures reveal 1000-mile drift

26 October 2011

           A housed digital camera washed up on a Florida beach had clearly travelled a long way, judging by its photographic content.

  The barnacle-encrusted housing was found on a beach in St John’s County.
   After photos were downloaded, it became clear that the camera had originated from the Cayman Islands, about a thousand miles away.
 Pictures clearly depicted the wreck of the decommissioned US warship Kittiwake, sunk off Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman in June 2009.
  From images downloaded from the point-and-shoot Sealife camera, the wreck of the Kittiwake was clear with little algae present, suggesting that the dive occurred shortly after its sinking.
  Based on this evidence, the camera will have been drifting for some two years before it was finally recovered. 
  The search for its owner is now on. A firm possibility is that the camera will have belonged to someone who stayed at Grand Cayman’s waterside Sunset House hotel and scuba diving resort, which serves many of the visitors who arrive to dive on the wreck.

 The camera’s owner can contact its finder via Sunset House at http://sunsethouse.com, where further description and photographs from the “Kittiwake Camera Mystery” can be seen.

                                     Source: divernet.com

Ocean acidification: Global warming's 'Evil Twin' threatens world's seas

April 2, 2011

             The rise in human emissions of carbon dioxide is driving fundamental and dangerous changes in the chemistry and ecosystems of the world's oceans, international marine scientists have warned.

  QUEENSLAND, Australia — The rise in human emissions of carbon dioxide is driving fundamental and dangerous changes in the chemistry and ecosystems of the world's oceans, international marine scientists have warned.

  "Ocean conditions are already more extreme than those experienced by marine organisms and ecosystems for millions of years," the researchers say in the latest issue of the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution.

  "This emphasises the urgent need to adopt policies that drastically reduce CO2 emissions."

  Ocean acidification, which the researchers call the 'evil twin of global warming', is caused when the CO2 emitted by human activity, mainly burning fossil fuels, dissolves into the oceans. It is happening independently of, but in combination with, global warming.

  "Evidence gathered by scientists around the world over the last few years suggests that ocean acidification could represent an equal -- or perhaps even greater threat -- to the biology of our planet than global warming," co-author Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and The University of Queensland says.

  More than 30% of the CO2 released from burning fossil fuels, cement production, deforestation and other human activities goes straight into the oceans, turning them gradually more acidic.

  "The resulting acidification will impact many forms of sea life, especially organisms whose shells or skeletons are made from calcium carbonate, like corals and shellfish. It may interfere with the reproduction of plankton species which are a vital part of the food web on which fish and all other sea life depend," he adds.

  The scientists say there is now persuasive evidence that mass extinctions in past Earth history, like the "Great Dying" of 251 million years ago and another wipeout 55 million years ago, were accompanied by ocean acidification, which may have delivered the deathblow to many species that were unable to cope with it.

  "These past periods can serve as great lessons of what we can expect in the future, if we continue to push the acidity the ocean even further" said lead author, Dr. Carles Pelejero, from ICREA and the Marine Science Institute of CSIC in Barcelona, Spain.

  "Given the impacts we see in the fossil record, there is no question about the need to immediately reduce the rate at which we are emitting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere," he said further.

  "Today, the surface waters of the oceans have already acidified by an average of 0.1 pH units from pre-industrial levels, and we are seeing signs of its impact even in the deep oceans," said co-author Dr. Eva Calvo, from the Marine Science Institute of CSIC in Barcelona, Spain.

  "Future acidification depends on how much CO2 humans emit from here on -- but by the year 2100 various projections indicate that the oceans will have acidified by a further 0.3 to 0.4 pH units, which is more than many organisms like corals can stand," Prof. Hoegh-Guldberg says.

  "This will create conditions not seen on Earth for at least 40 million years."

  "These changes are taking place at rates as much as 100 times faster than they ever have over the last tens of millions of years" Prof. Hoegh-Guldberg says.

  Under such circumstances "Conditions are likely to become very hostile for calcifying species in the north Atlantic and Pacific over the next decade and in the Southern Ocean over the next few decades," the researchers warn.

  Besides directly impacting on the fishing industry and its contribution to the human food supply at a time when global food demand is doubling, a major die-off in the oceans would affect birds and many land species and change the biology of Earth as a whole profoundly, Prof. Hoegh-Guldberg adds.

                                            Source: cdnn.info

Asia Dive News : Asian coral reefs suffer mass bleaching

October 27, 2011

           Coral reefs are suffering widespread damage in what is set to be one of the worst years ever for the delicate and beautiful habitats

  The phenomenon, known as coral bleaching because the reefs turn bone white when the colourful algae that give the coral its colour and food is lost, has been reported throughout south east Asia, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.

  Divers and scientists have described huge areas of previously pristine reef being turned into barren white undersea landscapes off the coast of Thailand and Indonesia. The popular island tourist destination the Maldives have also suffered severe bleaching. Reefs in the Caribbean could also be under threat. High ocean temperatures this year are being blamed for the bleaching, which experts fear could be worse than a similar event in 1998 which saw an estimated 16 per cent of the world's reefs being destroyed.

  Dr Mark Eakin, coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch, said: "The bleaching is very strong throughout south east Asia and the central Indian Ocean. "The reports are that it is the worst since 1997/1998. This is a really huge event and we are going to see a lot of corals dying." Coral reefs provide refuge and food to nearly a quarter of all marine species, making them among the most biologically diverse habitats on the planet.

  Bleaching can also rob fish and other species of important shelter and food sources. Although reefs can often recover from bleaching, it leaves the coral vulnerable to damage from storms, infections and other environmental stress, increasing the risk of deaths. Coral reef monitoring teams have reported mass bleaching of coral reefs off the coast of Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia while the Maldives, Sri Lanka and reefs off the coast of east Africa have also been hit.

  With ocean temperatures reaching record levels and combined with the end of an El Nino episode, scientists fear there could be even more damage to corals as the year continues. Scientists in Thailand have reported reefs suffering 90% of their corals being bleached and up to 20% of the corals dead. Olivia Durkin, who is leading the bleaching monitoring at the Centre for Biodiversity in Peninsular Thailand, said: "This year's severe coral bleaching has the potential to be the worst on record.

  "Extensive bleaching, death and disease are reported not only in corals, but giant clams, sea anemones and soft corals are also losing their symbiotic algae." Corals are a delicate combination of animal, algae and rock that form intricate undersea structures, providing shelter for thousands of brightly coloured fish and also acting as nurseries for the young of many larger open sea fish. Coral colonies are made up of polyps, which secrete a stony skeleton that forms the intricate and delicate looking structures.

  A microscopic algae known as zooxanthellae live within the coral where they convert energy from the sun into food for the coral animals. Bleaching usually occurs when ocean temperatures exceed a threshold that is around one degree higher than the average seen during the warmest summer months. Although scientists do not fully understand why it happens, bleaching is thought to occur when these prolonged periods of these high temperatures combine with excessive sunlight levels.

  This causes the symbiotic algae in the coral to become over active, causing it to poison the coral host and leading to the coral expelling the algae into the surrounding water to defend itself. Without the algae to provide food and nutrition, the corals grow weak and leaves them vulnerable to disease and damage from storms. In many cases the coral dies, leaving an undersea wasteland that quickly becomes infested with weedlike algae which covers every surface. It can take corals between 10 and 70 years to recover from such bleaching events. Climate scientists have also warned that bleaching will become more common as global temperatures continue to rise.

  Research published on Friday in the journal Science showed that coral growth in the Red Sea has declined by a third over the past 12 years due to rising temperatures and warned that coral there would cease growing entirely by 2070 if warming continues. Volunteers in Cambodia say this year they have seen bleaching of 90% to 100% of the shallow water reefs around the country's coast Koh Rong and Koh Rong Semleon Islands after water temperatures rose by 3 degrees. Half of the reefs off Pulau Weh, in Indonesia have seen 80% of their corals bleached.

  Stuart Campbell, director of marines programs at the Wildlife Conservation Society in Indonesia, said: "This is an unfortunate situation, as coral reefs of northern Aceh have shown remarkable resilience in the aftermath of the tsunami which hit the area in December 2004. "In May 4% of colonies were recorded dead. The level of coral mortality that will occur in all is still unknown." Many of the reefs in the Pacific that have been hit had survived previous bleaching events with little impact.

  The reefs at Lord Howe Island about 370 miles off the east coast of Australia. which are a World Heritage Site for their unique beauty and biodiversity, have also been hit by its largest ever recorded bleaching event. Reefs in the Maldives have been slowly recovering since high ocean temperatures in 1998 caused widespread bleaching of corals around the world. Biologists fear this new bleaching will damage the already vulnerable reef further. Mayotte, which is off the coast of northern Madagascar, has suffered high levels of mortality in the wake of the bleaching.

  There are also concerns that the bleaching could spread to popular tourist reefs in the Caribbean after temperatures there have been high since the start of the year. Dr Eakin added: "This year may be a tough year in the Caribbean. It all depends on what the tropical storms do. "When I visited Thailand a couple of weeks ago, it was an eerie experience to look around to see white in places that should have been full of bright colours and life. It was almost worse than looking at a dead reef, because what we were looking at was a reef that was right on the verge of dying." "It doesn't just effect the corals themselves but the fish that live there.

  There were anemone fish sitting in the middle of bleached anemone behaving strangely and not defending their territory. It was like they were a little stunned. "For species that feed on coral, this is even worse for them." There are also concerns for the health of native UK corals growing off the coast after species such as the pink sea fan have been devastated by diseases.

                                            Source: The Telegraph