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Dugong rescue Puerto Princesa Phillppines An old old written piece from 11 years ago......

2013-05-07T06:17:00.002-07:00

An old old written piece from 11 years ago...... Feature 11/22/02 Rescue at Green Island Bay Text and photos by Rowan Byrne Nestled in the quiet coastal town of Roxas, a couple of hours bus ride from Puerto Princesa, is a tranquil jewel called Green Island Bay. It is rarely found, if at all, in guidebooks as the place is not in the usual tourist route. But this vast area peppered with offshore islands of beautiful beaches also hides nature's rare treasures -- giant clams, turtles, and dugongs! And it was precisely a dugong that would give me an unforgettable experience in Palawan. It started out as another quiet morning and I was busy getting my equipment ready for the day's work. Suddenly, I heard a commotion and my name being called out. It was my landlord and Mr. Nicolas Magbanua, a local baklad or fish corral owner (a baklad is a permanent fishing structure in inshore waters, a common site around the Philippines). Now, I'm always glad to see Mr. Magbanua who is a remarkable and kind man with whom I was introduced by the Pawikan Conservation Project (PCP). This man has rescued more than thirty dugongs in the past couple of years. But that morning, I was absolutely thrilled to hear him calling me, as he was calling out: "I have a dugong! I have a dugong!" It was the first dugong he found trapped in his "baklad" this year. In the year 2000, there were 22, and last year there were 14. The remarkable thing is that he keeps a record of all the measurements and data from the dugong in a personal logbook, and he always sets the dugong free. In other places in the Philippines, when caught under the same circumstances, this IUCN Endangered Specie is often butchered and killed for its meat and for other medicinal purposes. Unlike most fish corral owners, Mr. Magbanua reports such events to government officials and seeks help in releasing the creature. This time he was seeking my help, which I was more than happy to give. We wasted no time and proceeded to his fish corral. I invited some people and children around the area to come with us so they will also get to see a dugong up close, so they could also learn first hand about this creature we are trying to save. The morning heat was beginning to rise and we still had to walk a considerable distance, through mangrove swamps, fishponds, and the rising tide. When we got there, Mr. Magbanua told me to wait, saying he would bring the dugong to me. I was baffled, to say the least, but then I saw what he meant -- the dugong was not actually inside the fish corral anymore but was tied by its tail to a rope (with protective cloth) to a bamboo pole placed in the seabed. The dugong, as I observed, was happily feeding, regardless of its tail being in a noose. He brought the dugong to me, slowly, like a huge dog on a leash. But as soon as the dugong felt the tug on the rope attached to her tail, she started splashing and setting off for the sea. Mr. Magbanua was soon overcome with the sheer strength of this hefty and considerably-sized mammal. I had to grab hold of the rope to stop Mr. Magbanua from going out to sea with the dugong -- or worse still, the dugong being released with a rope still attached to its tail. The dugong eventually calmed down but it was stressed and I knew I had to examine it as rapidly as possible to facilitate a quick release. The dugong was female, 194cm long and weighed approximately 250 kg. Physically, the dugong was in good condition and I suspect she was pregnant. Its nipples or teat were preparing for lactation, and its lower abdomen was heavily distended (in a word, she was very fat!). Her size of about two meters also indicated a good age and mature size for reproduction. She also had a few healed parallel scars across her back and flanks, a natural feature, really, because dugongs tend to bump off objects when they are feeding or playing underwater. She also had small barnacles on her skin across her body, and I removed them carefully, much like a dentist cleaning your teeth of tartar. As I was doing the examination, she would periodically splash with her tail, sending the inquisitive children running behind their fathers, who were also watching all the activity with great interest. The "captors" were all in good spirits and were actually quite noisy around the dugong. They were understandably animated and they liked patting her. Throughout the examination, the dugong never showed any form of malicious intent or aggression -- apart from the tail splashing. Even when Mr. Magbanua placed the head of the dugong on his lap for a photo he wanted, and as he began to gently pat its head saying "nice dugong, nice dugong", the dugong remained peaceful. It was truly gentle to a fault, never posing any danger even considering its size. But I noticed all the excitement was scaring the dugong. I could see the fear in her eyes each time there was a noise or every time she was touched. She would then squeeze shut her eyes so tight, it was heartbreaking. I had to ask everyone to quiet down for a bit When the silence settled, I sat in the water beside her and spoke softly and calmly to her as I gently stroked her head, trying to reassure her that she was safe and had nothing to worry about. Slowly, as I talked to her, she opened her eyes and looked at me. There are no words to describe what it was like to have this majestic creature look at you with such trust. After a while, tears could be seen coming from behind the dugong's eyes. Being a biologist, I comprehended that the "tears" are a normal process that perform a salt regulation function and help the dugong excrete waste salts from its body. But nonetheless, it added to that powerfully moving moment. After the examination, it was time to release her back to freedom. At first she was understandably dazed and confused by what was happening, so I swam with her and kept an eye on her from about an arm's length, guiding her seaward and away from the mangrove. She doubled back towards the mangroves on a number of occasions but Mr. Magbanua was on hand to shoo her back in my direction. We were swimming just beneath the surface in waters about a meter and a half deep. After regaining her composure, she gracefully passed me -- close enough to touch -- in a moment that seemed like an eternity. Then she was off at great speed, at a pace my high performance fins could not match. Mr. Magbanua and I, along with all the other people in his baklad, felt justifiably happy about this rescue. If our lovely princess is pregnant as I suspect, then her return to the sea unharmed provides further hope for the diminishing dugong population in Green Island Bay. And if the wonder I saw in the children's eyes, as well as in their fathers', would translate to more people following Mr. Magbanua's example, then Green Island Bay would truly be a paradise for both marine mammals and the people who understand how beautiful and important they are. ***** How to get there: Green Island Bay is located in Roxas, a 122,000-hectare municipality 142 kilometers northeast of Puerto Princesa City, the capital of Palawan. Roxas is about a couple of hours air-conditioned bus ride away from Puerto Princesa. There are pension houses in town, the most popular is Rover's Pension which costs about PhP575 for a night's stay. Travellers can also opt to stay near the beach, and highly recommended is Retac Garden and Beach Resort in Retac Barangay (a few minutes tricycle ride from the Roxas Bus station). For diving facilities, there is a dive shop operated by Peter Ponnet at the Cocoloco Island Resort. Cocoloco has an office at Roxas that offers transport to the island. Mr. Ponnet is a professional dive master who also offers courses to those interested in doing underwater explorations. About the Author: Rowan Byrne is a marine and freshwater biologist from the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO).

The pros and cons of renewable energy and a quick look at three principal sources of renewable energies

2013-01-18T03:55:00.000-08:00

I have had a deep routed interest in energy and renewable energy resources for many years now and the avenues available to use in response to climate change, whether its geo-engineered solutions, carbon reductions, or use of alternative or renewable energy sources or natural use of ecosystem services, either way the use of these avenues profoundly interests me. I wanted to look at what was going on with renewable energy’s and pinpoint three of most favoured sources. There are many very exciting and ingenious ways of generating energy from renewable resources. No single method is capable of providing the worlds energy needs single handedly, and some have social and/or political or environmental downsides that must be carefully managed to avoid damage and disruption to ecology and communities. However with sensitive planning and international cooperation we can develop all the energy options to work together for the greater good of the planet, its sustainability and our future generations. It is clear that a portfolio of measures is required to replace our existing arterial fossil fuel addiction but we have the will and current and future technology will also play a pivotal role. There is no doubt that there are currently many renewable energy contributors that underwrite our power generation capacity but solar, wind and hydroelectricity power are the most universally acclaimed leaders in this field and I wold like to examine their advantages and disadvantages.

Solar is in my opinion is mind blowing. The total solar energy absorbed by the earth’s atmosphere ocean, land masses is about 3,850000 exajoules a year.(An exajoule is a measure of energy, and let’s just say it’s very very big amount of energy!) In 2002 this was more energy in an hour than the world used in a year! If we used concentrated solar power (CSP) we only need to capture 0.3% less than 1% of the light that falls on the Sahara and Middle East to provide for the electricity needs of Europe…..begs a question what are we waiting for? Well the estimated cost of building a plant a CSP plant in the Sahara is in the region of 450 billion euro and such fund could be found by just diverting 0.72% of the EUs GDP to the project over a 5 year period, so in my opinion it’s doable! As all processes produce waste heat, the water heat form this process could be used to even desalinate saltwater (very energy intensive) and provide freshwater for irrigation, food production and local communities a very interesting thought. Even in the UK domestic solar powered hot water systems provide 75% of a households hot water and in some circumstances households can be paid (yes given money back) for the energy they produce via their solar panels, a process called net metering! Its not all good through as solar CSP plants need cooling water which is costly and not really available in the desert region, and solar panels offer excellent long term returns but governments need to provide more subsidies as they are still perceived as expensive, but this is changing over time.

What’s that I hear you say, what about Wind? In the UK the offshore capacity of wind is substantial, the UKs offshore region could provide up to 33% of Europe’s total electricity supply which is equivalent to three times the UKs current annual electricity consumption and to date the global wind energy sector has created nearly 500m jobs and climbing! Another great example is that the total harnessable global wind resource for 2000 was found to be 72TW (terra watt) which is over 40 times the global electricity demand and the world energy association expects wind power and generation to reach over 152 GW (gigga watts) in the coming years if it hasn’t already surpassed this. The down side is that not every community wants them in their backyard (NIMBYS) and they can affect the visual aesthetics of local and national environments. Offshore there are environmental impacts to birds, bats, fisheries (sharks and skates) and marine navigational traffic. Taking all of these into account the benefits out way the disadvantages in this author’s opinion but you may disagree. Finally a quick look at hydroelectricity when done and developed with minimal environmental impacts is the cleanest and lowest form or renewable energy. I generalise here deliberately but when completed it does provide low carbon rapid energy delivery and in a very clean form. Worldwide hydroelectricity supplies and estimated 816 GW in 2005 alone. This is about 20% of the world’s electricity accounting for 88% of electricity from renewable resources, simply put that’s amazing! In 2008 it was again estimated that less than one third of the world’s hydropower capacity had been developed. With the aid of modern technology and engineering a modern turbine can convert 90% if the energy in the available water into electricity, and small run-of-river hydro installations can harness power with minimal disruption caused by damming. Of course hydropower disrupts ecosystems, obstructing fish and spawning grounds, displaces communities and changes oxygen levels in the water and can reduce sedimentation. We all know the effect of large dams such as the Three Gorges Dam in china and its corresponding effects on people, environment and the changed environment can be seen from space illustrating the current and long term effects of such a project. But the dam its self is the world's largest power station and in terms of installed capacity will generate an amazing 22,500 MW annually and is only second to the Itaipu Dam with regard to the generation of electricity annually. Either way we all need to decide where we want our electricity to come from,(fossil fuel or renewables) do we want a stable environment and continuous economic development or can we find a balance between current fossil fuel usage and generation of electricity and heat from renewable resources to help economic development and human health but also mitigates and reduces environmental impacts and climate change.

Wishes everyone a very happy christmas and a very happy new year

2012-12-17T12:35:00.000-08:00

Wishes everyone a very happy christmas and a very happy new year, thank you for all your likes, comments, suggestions, questions and more its really really been very nice of you all and a great year overall. HAPPY XMAS

HAPPY XMAS TO EVERYONE

clearance-large-poster-prints-free-uk-postage

2012-12-17T08:32:00.000-08:00

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Marine Conservation Zone Consultation has been announced.

2012-12-17T06:16:00.001-08:00

Marine Conservation Zones & the Consultation The eagerly awaited Marine Conservation Zone Consultation has been announced. 'This consultation seeks views on proposals for the designation of Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) in English Inshore and Welsh offshore waters. The consultation seeks to engage with everyone who has an interest in the marine environment and coastal communities. It's the primary opportunity for people to have their say and influence the decisions on how many MCZs are designated and for what features .....' Coastal Futures conferences have over the last 20 years - since 1993 - been promoting the ideas of Marine Protected Areas and the 2013 conference is no different. There will be a full session on the MCZ consultation with views from Natural England - Alan Law, Stephen Lockwood - Chairman of the MPA Fishing Coalition, Mark Russell representing the Seabed User and Developer Group and Richard White from The Wildlife Trusts; Nigel Gooding from Defra will chair the presentations and the 45 minute discussion. This along with a number of the other presentations across the two days on, evidence, the valuation of benefits and management should give delegates a real insight into the major points raised by the consultation. The MCZ issue is just one of thirty+ topics being covered by leaders in their fields which will give you a comprehensive sense of what is happening in our coastal and marine environment

Great White Shark and more Clearance Large Poster Prints SALE!

2012-12-17T06:03:00.000-08:00

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Rowan Byrne sent us this picture of a rare melanistic green sea turtle on Rosalie beach, Dominica in the Caribbean.

2012-12-17T05:58:00.000-08:00

Merf. Thinking is Hard. Jha can has random thoughtz about tapirs, kitties, comics, pretty people, social justice, things in general.

Rowan Byrne sent us this picture of a rare melanistic green sea turtle on Rosalie beach, Dominica in the Caribbean. Picture: www.marinecreatures.com (via Animal pictures of the week: 7 December 2012 - Telegraph) 1166 turtle mistakesareneverfailures likes this mistakesareneverfailures reblogged this from allcreatures simplicityy-iss-boringg reblogged this from aaaaaayla nomefriegues reblogged this from allcreatures aaaaaayla reblogged this from allcreatures daniellexlynnette reblogged this from allcreatures ron2me likes this bouquet-of-clumsy-words13 reblogged this from allcreatures nandastarr reblogged this from aeonbaby nandastarr likes this praopamaka reblogged this from zaratekarate aeonbaby reblogged this from ginger-please yearoftheoctopus reblogged this from allcreatures forevang31 likes this iamdaniellerenee likes this f0und-inl0ve reblogged this from bulldawg12 memoryhaze reblogged this from doubtsanddenial zaratekarate reblogged this from allcreatures doubtsanddenial reblogged this from allcreatures ginger-please reblogged this from allcreatures music-gives-me-wings reblogged this from bulldawg12 bulldawg12 reblogged this from allcreatures fuckcraybitches reblogged this from allcreatures itsazenlife reblogged this from martinitink naoisthetimeforworship reblogged this from allcreatures naoisthetimeforworship likes this ky-letigre reblogged this from allcreatures getuoffirst reblogged this from martinitink spitfirebreathesmoke likes this embrace-enduranc-of-life reblogged this from opulence-and-aesthetics opulence-and-aesthetics likes this opulence-and-aesthetics reblogged this from allcreatures scarsyolo likes this delition reblogged this from allcreatures biddiesintheattic reblogged this from allcreatures brainboner666 likes this moaningg likes this martinitink reblogged this from wayfaringheart easeanywhere likes this chi11-out reblogged this from allcreatures unvecchiomaglione likes this c-tzou reblogged this from allcreatures ivyincarnate likes this thelacerationapprentice likes this chaoticpleasure reblogged this from allcreatures crumblesandburns reblogged this from allcreatures tipanijoy reblogged this from allcreatures boszoli likes this ojamamask reblogged this from allcreatures superstition-imagination reblogged this from allcreatures Show more notes

“Wasting away: would rapid CO2 leaks from submarine carbon capture storage facilities affect the physiology of cold-water corals Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata?” by Rowan Byrne

2012-11-22T12:03:00.000-08:00

“Wasting away: would rapid CO2 leaks from submarine carbon capture storage facilities affect the physiology of cold-water corals Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata?” Rowan Byrne Abstract The world’s oceans provide a sink for surplus CO2 being released into the atmosphere by anthropogenic sources. One consequence of this activity is a reduction in the pH of the marine environment, or ocean acidification. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) represents a novel engineering method that aims to prevent surplus CO2 from reaching the earth’s atmosphere and marine realm. This fledgling technology aims to capture CO2 from large, man-made emission sources and transport this waste to deep, subsurface geological formations on land or at sea. Retaining large quantities (i.e. gigatons) of anthropogenic CO2 in submarine holding pens presents a novel approach for mitigating the release of this greenhouse gas into the environment but many questions remain unanswered about how to prevent CO2 from escaping and, as importantly, what effect(s) this could have on marine communities, such as cold-water corals. Substantial cold-water coral reefs have been reported from around the world at depths paralleling the location of CCS storage sites. The goal of this project was to investigate the possible environmental impacts of CO2, if leaked from sub-seabed storage units, on the physiology of two cosmopolitan cold-water corals: Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata. In the field test species were exposed to a rapid pH reduction from 8.1 to 7.0 over a seven-day period. pH levels were chosen based on the natural variation in volcanic vents which have a natural gradient from 6.4 to 7.8, for our experiment pH 7 was chosen. Rates of coral respiration and calcification were measured and recorded. Results indicated a heightened possibility of negative impacts upon respiration and increased dissolution via alkalinity balance on cold-water-coral physiology. In particular Lophelia petusa coped better with lowered pH (high levels of pCO2), while Madrepora oculata results illustrated detrimental effects on its survival and growth in same environmental conditions being less able to cope within these parameters. Keywords: Carbon dioxide, - Coldwater corals, Lophelia pertusa, Madrepora oculata, Environmental impact, Climate change, CO2 levels, Carbon Capture & Storage, Ocean Acidification, Temperate 1. Introduction Cold-water coral ecosystems have enjoyed increased scientific attention in the last two decades, which has led to intensified research of these habitats and their surrounding environment [2, 3, 4, and 5]. This fresh interest in cold-water corals (CWC) is partly due to new marine technologies facilitating their discovery. Specifically, efforts in deep-coral mound mapping and the geology of carbonate mound formation have already been a focus of extended research [6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. These deep-corals and the geology of carbonate formations along with cold-water habitats play a key role in maintaining species diversity providing habitat and substrate for commercial fish species, maintaining ecosystem balance and could act as possible areas to help mitigate climate change through carbon and energy management via geoengineering strategies. These geological carbonate formations could act as a permanent storage for anthropogenic sourced CO2, acting as a means to reduce further concentrations of atmospheric CO2 and thus contributing to global climate change mitigation. Energy supply and its equivalent effects on our global climate are seen as a serious risk to world economies, human health and the environment. There is no doubt that the global economic community will rely heavily on non-renewable combustible fuels, such as oil & gas, for the foreseeable future. In 1994, world primary energy consumption stood at 8000 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) (toe unit of energy: the amount of energy released by burning one tonne of crude oil, approximately 42 giga joules (GJ)) while oil and gas represented 63% of the world energy supply, with coal supplying 27%, nuclear energy supplying 7%, and hydro electricity supplying 3% [11]. The challenge is to meet ever escalating consumer energy requirements while minimising harmful environmental impacts and conforming to EU legislation that mitigates climate change. One consequence of using combustible primary energy sources is the generation of large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2). It is now well documented that CO2 is a major contributor to global climate change as well as ocean acidification [11]. Excess CO2 has undesirable long-term effects on our environment, ecosystem services and global climate; such as adverse weather conditions, decreasing food production and species migrations and movement into new areas of the globe [12]. In light of this conundrum, mitigation strategies need to be explored aiming to reduce release of harmful greenhouse gases (GHG). These could destabilize global climate and biomes into our atmosphere while meeting ever increasing energy requirements for economic and personal growth. One possible solution is to store CO2 in defunct subsea oil and gas wells, henceforth hydrocarbon reservoirs, through the process of carbon capture and storage (CCS). Through this method, carbon dioxide is stored in liquid form preventing its release into the atmosphere. If CCS is to play a significant role in climate change mitigation, it must be deployed on a wide scale and the injected CO2 must remain in the reservoir for hundreds if not thousands of years to not contribute to greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Further research and contingency must be put in place to model or predict what may happen to this CO2 after hundreds of years and its incorporation into the environment via bioremediation or associated processes. Is there a possibility that this CO2 could be then reutilized in some other format with new technologies maybe for cooling? The UK has a large offshore storage resource within depleted oil and gas fields and saline aquifers. These retention units have enough capacity to provide storage for other EU countries as well as the UK for hundreds of years [13]. Although herculean efforts are being made by many nations to increase their renewable energy portfolios, (coupled with improved energy transference and efficiency measures) thus satisfying their primary energy demands, more measures will need to be developed. Overall, improvements in energy production, conservation and efficiency will help address climate change during the coming decades and these mitigation measures will likely require significantly increased contributions from carbon capture and storage [14]. 2. Carbon Capture and Storage – A Review Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process consisting of the separation of CO2 from industrial and energy-related sources, transported to a storage location and kept in long-term isolation from the atmosphere [15]. The focus is the removal of CO2 directly from industrial utility power plants and afterward storing it in secure underground or subsea reservoirs. The rationale for carbon capture and storage is to enable the use of combustible fossil fuels while reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. As an example, a 100MW pulverized coal-fired power plant emits between 6 and 8 Mt/yr of CO2, An oil fired single-cycle power plant emits about 8 Mt/yr of CO2 and a natural gas combined cycle power plant emits about one half of that 8 Mt/yr of CO2 [14]. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has the potential to reduce climate change and aid mitigation and adaptation costs while increasing the odds of achieving greenhouse gas emission target reductions contributing to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) protocols. CCS measures will contribute to achieving a reduction in greenhouse gases (GHG) while helping to meet Global and European targets. The widespread application of CCS would depend on technical maturity, costs, overall potential, diffusion and transfer of the technology, regulatory aspects, environmental issues and public perception [15]. The 2007 third assessment report by the IPCC indicated no single technology option will provide all of the emission reductions needed to achieve greenhouse gases stabilization [15]. Rather, a portfolio of mitigation measures will be needed in which CCS might play a key role [15]. The capture process can potentially remove 90% of the CO2 generated from combustible fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) electricity generation and industrial processes. Based on the most recent estimates of CO2 emission from fuel combustion 29 gigatonnes (Gt) in 2009 this would represent a mass of CO2 into the thousands of millions of tons [16]. Further information is provided in Table 1 the estimated worldwide capacities for CO2 storage [14] 3. Carbon Capture and Storage Process The process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide can be separated into three main components: (1) capture, (2) transport, and (3) geological storage. Capture of CO2 can be undertaken on site within the power plant combustion emissions process good examples are found in the cement & ammonia production industries and power plant stations burning fossil fuels Generally the CO2 is removed from the atmosphere or industrial emissions and processes by the use of novel concepts being developed in wet scrubbing with physical sorption, chemical sorption with solid sorbents, and separation by membranes [14]. Capture aims to produce a high-purity stream of CO2 not yet liquefied suitable for transport and subsequent storage in deep sea environments. There are three main approaches to capturing CO2 from fossil fuel utilization: (1) Post-combustion, (2) Pre-combustion, and (3) Oxyfuel technology. With post-combustion ¬carbon capture, the CO2 is grabbed after the fossil fuel is burned. The burning of fossil fuels¬ produces something called flue gase¬s, which include CO2, water vapor, sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides. In a post-combustion process, CO2 is separated and captured from the flue gases that result from the combustion of fossil fuel. This process is currently in use to remove CO2 from natural gas. that result from the combustion of fossil fuel. Precombustion carbon capture, CO2 is trapped before the fossil fuel is burned. That means the CO2 is trapped before it's diluted by other flue gases [17]. Oxy-fuel combustion carbon capture, the power plant burns fossil fuel in oxygen. This results in a gas mixture comprising mostly steam and CO2. The steam and carbon dioxide are separated by cooling and compressing the gas stream [18]. The oxygen required for this technique increases costs, but researchers are developing new techniques in hopes of bringing this cost down. Oxy-fuel combustion can prevent 90 percent of a power plant's emissions from entering the atmosphere [18]. After the capture process, CO2 is then transported and then needs to be geologically stored, so that it will not be discharged into the atmosphere contributing excess greenhouse gases. Several key criteria must be applied to the chosen storage method of which multiple storage types are available such as unmineable coal seems, saline aquifers and defunct hydrocarbon oil researces, but the right criteria is key, these being; The storage period should be prolonged for as long as possible to reduce any possibility of environmental impacts or threats to further increasing greenhouse gases in atmosphere, preferably hundreds to thousands of years with an agreed threshold for possible allowed leakages that wont negate UNFCCC targets[14]. Ethical considerations must be considered for bestowing such responsibilities on future human generations. The full array of environmental impacts should be measured and mitigated against thresholds and options and have full UK government and international agreement.The true full cost to society of storage, including the cost of transportation from the source to the storage site, should be minimized and have full monitoring process in place. Economic analysis suggests this technology could be roughly cost competitive with more conventional methods of achieving deep reductions in CO2 emissions from electric power [19]. The potential to generate negative emissions could provide cost-effective emissions offsets for sources where direct mitigation is expected to be difficult, and will be increasingly important as mitigation targets become more stringent [20]. The storage method should not violate any national or international laws and regulations and overall not contribute to climate change via carbon cycle [14]. Carbon storage options include and range from geological sinks, which are underground geologic layers of rock that can store carbon dioxide CO2, saline aquifers (subterranean and subseabed), depleted oil and gas reservoirs, formations for methane, microbial & enhanced oil recovery operations (land and sea), unmineable coal seams to the deep-ocean and under deep ocean sediments (references needed). Deep-ocean storage options consist of direct injection of liquid carbon dioxide into the water column (liquified carbon dioxide is compressed until the gas is liquefied, which is at about 870 pounds per square inch of pressure) at intermediate depths (1000–3000 m), or at depths greater than 3000 m, where liquid CO2 becomes heavier than seawater, so CO2 would drop to the ocean bottom and form a ‘‘CO2 lake’’. If CO2 is injected into suitable saline aquifers or depleted oil or gas fields (i.e., > 800m) various physical and geochemical trapping mechanisms prevent (the presence of Caprock 10) it from migrating to the surface and a key component is the presence of a caprock10 which is found in saline aquifers anomalously rich in Fe-Mg-Ca which through chemical reaction may partially self-seal the plume [14, 20]. This is an essential physical trapping mechanism. Well-drilling technology, injection technology, computer simulation of storage reservoir performance and monitoring methods from existing applications, are being developed further for utilization in the design and operation of geological storage projects that is making CCS as a mitigation option to climate change a reality [15]. The reality is that deep-ocean storage of CO2 is still in the research phase. With this in mind, the scope and probabilities of associated environmental and ecological impact resulting from a physical leak of stored CO2 are, to date, fully unknown. Many questions still surround this new technology, such as whether or not CCS would really fix the problems? Observations from engineered and natural analogues suggest that the fraction retained in appropriately selected and managed geological reservoirs is very likely to exceed 99% over 100 years and is likely to exceed 99% over 1,000 years [15]. Currently Professor Ian Wright of the National Oceanography Centre Southampton is investigating carbon capture storage at the Sleipner Site in the North Sea. The project aims to assess the risks associated with sub-bed CO2 storage to the marine environmental. At the Sleipner site, CO2 is injected via a single well into the Utsira formation, a 250m thick aquifer located at a depth of 800m below seabed and a depth from the surface of 700 to 100m deep About 1 million metric tons of CO2 have been stored annually at Sleipner since October 1996, equivalent to about 3% of Norway’s total annual CO2 emissions [14]. Little is known about the short-term and long-term impacts of CO2 storage on marine ecosystems even though CO2 has been stored in the North Sea (Sleipner) for over 13 years with injection of over 12 million tonnes of CO2 some 800-1000 m beneath the seafloor [14]. For well-selected, designed and managed geological storage sites, the vast majority of the CO2 will be immobilized by various trapping mechanisms and could be retained for up to millions of years [15]. Eventually dissolved CO2 would become part of the global carbon cycle entering the atmosphere through the carbon cycle and elevated levels of greenhouse gases would be observed. In small-scale ocean experiments and model simulations, the technologies and associated physical and chemical phenomena, which include notably, increased pCO2/ lower pH and their effect on marine calcifiers [2, 22]. This is in fact, the rationale for this experiment investigating possible leaks of pCO2 and its corresponding effects on the physiology of cold water coral species. This research aims to quantify the real environmental impacts of CCS leaks on cold water deep sea coral species with rapid lowered pH. 4. Environmental & Safety Concerns Captured CO2 must be safely stored to prevent leakage back into the environment [15]. At present, storage is comprised of two systems: operational and in situ. The more general elements are composed of the day to day operational systems, that being detain, and transfer to storage area for direct injection into defunct oil wells. It is believed that the operational part of the storage process can be controlled due to wealth of knowledge accrued from years of experience amassed by the oil and gas industries and expertise but when the CO2 is injected directly into the defunct oil well reservoir, control of the injected CO2 is handed over to Mother Nature. Along with the possible environmental impacts via leaks, slow mitigation, accumulation and possible destructive induced seismicity activity from earthquakes or plate movements [14]. Bearing in mind the environmental impacts (such as dissolution of calcium carbonate skeletons, reduced ability to survive and reduction in growth due to acidic conditions) on cold-water coral species, (reducing growth and survival) climate change mitigation and human health risks are of utmost concern to society and our environment. Cold-water corals create reefs and three dimensional, forest-like structures on the sea floor, which are comparable to their warm-water tropical cousins in size and complexity [23]. These cold-water reefs and structures act like isolated islands in the normally flat and muddy deep-sea environment. Consequently, cold-water corals create rich ecosystems with thousands of species, providing niches and nursery grounds for a variety of species, including commercial fish species [24]. Cold-water coral ecosystems are long lived, fragile and slow growing, making them particularly susceptible to physical damage. Bottom fisheries, using trawls and heavy gear, have already destroyed or scarred several reefs areas, and represent one of the major threats to cold-water corals. Now along with these other pressures there are potential sources of impact from hydrocarbon and mineral exploration and production, actual direct injection process & its variation, and ocean acidification (OA) [23]. Taking one of these as an example direction injection according to Ohsumi (2003) [25] varying the direct injection depths allow for the use of two different approaches to CCS technology. These being dispersion of CO2 at intermediate depths (mid-depth type), Injection of CO2 at depths greater than 3,000 m (lake type) Ohsumi, 2003 suggests that irrespective of differences in storage schemes, their implementation could have a significant impact on deep-sea organisms including cold water corals [25]. When considering direct injection and possible leaks of CO2 the biological effects on marine calcifiers and systems are extremely contentious, with many legal parameters to work with such as that will have ultimate responsibility for any leaks and damages that may follow [26]. Presently when considering the option of ocean-storage technologies it is uncertain what will truly happen to this stored carbon dioxide in 50, 100, or even 1000 years from now. Hendricks et al. (2005) presents a long list of possible biological impacts caused by CCS facilities leaking CO2 in to the marine environment, they are categorized into acute and chronic impacts [26, 27, 28, 29]. While acute aquatic toxicity impacts, such as rapid exposure from leaked gases, are generally short-lived they can usually be measured in survival or mortality rates within populations [30] In contrast, chronic CO2 toxicity tests require longer periods from months to years in length and frequently are measured through growth of the organism [31]. In general most acute impacts will be seen at the point of injection; whereas unremitting impacts will be dispersed over larger areas [14]. Using elevated CO2 levels Ishimatsu et al (2004) used simulation models in the laboratory and illustrated acute impacts on the survival rate of marine species and ecosystems [32]. Caulfield et al (1997) also used similar simulation models with acute impacts been observed [33]. Currently limited data exists of the tolerance of pCO2 on cold water corals especially Madrepora oculata and various marine organisms, and reviewing the literature and investigating the effects of lower rapid pH on cold water corals and related marine species, this has been repeated on many occasions. Chronic elevated CO2 impacts will have fatal effects on the localized area & species present, population dynamics and surrounding biodiversity, and would be complex to verify via laboratory experiments, hence needing investigation in the deep ocean depths such as Mingulay and Logachev mounds in North Atlantic. This information & review leans towards further opportunities to investigate how our stated aims and objectives of this research and null and alternative hypotheses could be tested which is to measure the effect of lowered pH / pCO2 that could leak from a CCS storage facility and its effect on cold water corals. 5. Brief Biology of Cold Water Corals Deep-water corals are widely distributed throughout the earth’s oceans, with large reefs/beds in the North and South Atlantic & Pacific as well as the depths between tropical latitudes. In the north Atlantic, the principal coral species contributing to reef formation are Lophelia pertusa, Oculina varicosa, Madrepora oculata, Desmophyllum cristagalli, Enallopsammia rostrata, Solenosmilia variabilis, and Goniocorella dumosa [34, 23]. Four genera (Lophelia, Desmophyllum, Solenosmilia, and Goniocorella) constitute most deep-water coral banks at depths of 400–700 metres (1,300–2,300 ft) [35]. Madrepora oculata occurs as deep as 2,020m and is one of a dozen species that occur globally and in all oceans, including the Subantarctic [35]. Colonies of Enallopsammia contribute to the framework of deep-water coral banks found at depths of 600 to 800 m in the Straits of Florida [36]. Lophelia petusa (Figure 1) (Linnaeus, 1758) is widespread along the European continental margin and is often associated, although not exclusively with cold-water coral carbonate mounds [38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 5, 23]. Lophelia sp. was our chosen test species as it’s a colonial species that provides habitat and surroundings for many important species of commercial fish and invertebrates, and other reef building organisms that are key to maintaining biodiversity in deep sea environments. These highly complex 3-dimensional cold-water coral habitats support many other deep sea species, particularly suspension-feeding invertebrates such as other corals, sponges, anemones, hydroids, bryozoans and ophiuroids. The most important cold-water coral reef builders are: Lophelia pertusa, Madrepora oculata, Enallopsammia profunda, Goniocorella dumosa, Solenosmilia variabilis and Oculina varicosa [5]. These cold-water reefs are in many ways analogous to warm-water coral reefs in terms of their three-dimensional topography, ecological function and manner of growth [5]. Lophelia sp. forms large, tree-like colonies with corallites connected by cylindrical branches. L.petusa is protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) Appendix II. The genus Lophelia is monotypic – its only species being L. pertusa), its growth form is variable usually found on rocky or soft bottoms usually in depths in excess of 150 m. Corals like L.petusa form approximately 90% of their skeleton by combining the water’s calcium (Ca2+) and carbonate (CO3) ions to form Aragonite (CaCO3) with the remaining parts of their skeleton being made up of Magnesite (MgCO3), Strontianite (SrCO3), Calcite (CaCO3) the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate, & Calcium fluoride (CaF2), an inorganic and ionic compound of calcium and fluorine occurring naturally as the mineral fluorite. These foundation elements complement each other in the formation of coral skeleton. When they are not optimally balanced or affected by lowered pH this will quickly limit coral growth. Figure 1 Lophelia petusa (Linnaeus, 1758) Source www.marinecreaturesstockphoto.com Madrepora oculata, (Figure 2) (Linnaeus 1758), is a globally distributed stony coral that inhabits known depths of 80–1500 meters. These deep-water stony corals are taxonomically organized within the domain Eukarya, phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, subclass Hexacorallia, order Scleractinia.” M. oculata to be widely distributed, with populations in European waters, the Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean Sea, New Zealand, North West Atlantic, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom [34]. M. oculata develops more delicate coral structures they will help build a comparison to the more robust Lophelia petusa and the affects of exposure to elevated pCO2 levels; acting as a good base for comparison. Existing studies on M. oculata under these low pH conditions have not been extensively tested to date and this will present an rare opportunity to investigate our hypothesis around the physiology of cold water corals and what affects leaks from CCS facilities will cause. Our research aims and objectives were to determine how CWC species adapted to very rapid short 7 day exposure to reduced pH levels in their environment if a CCS subterranean storage facility was to leak and reduce the pH of the surrounding waters. How would this affect their respiratory physiology, and ability to calcify, their ability to build their skeleton and expand their distribution via reef building activities. While beyond the scope of this study this research could also investigate evidence of the cumulative effects of a CCS leak of this nature coupled with ocean acidification (OA) and increased seawater temperature through climate change. The results of this study have implications for understanding their respiratory physiology and distribution of L. pertusa and M. oculata and their physiological capability or capacity to survive environmental changes for short periods of time when exposed to low pH or increased pCO2. Figure 2 Madrepora oculata (Linnaeus, 1758) Source www.marinecreaturesstockphoto.com Figure 3 Study sites at the Mingulay reef, Logachev mounds North Atlantic. 6. Methods and Materials Research aimed to investigate the environmental impacts on cold deep water coral species caused by rapidly elevated pCO2 from deep sea subterranean carbon capture and storage reservoirs and the physiological effects on Lophelia petusa and Madrepora aculata when exposed to sudden and rapid decreases in pH. This approach mimicked a scenario whereby CO2 from was rapidly or intermittently leaked from defunct CCS hydrocarbon reserves. If this was to happen it would significantly reduce localized pH, from normal pH levels and may even continue to reduce further. A system (Figure 4) was purposely constructed to create an 11 unit pH drop by CO2 gas bubbling and a pH probe feedback loop. A solenoid valve (model R-WP017, easy aqua twin guage regulator/solenoid) was attached to a CO2 canister being step up to pump CO2 through a water filtered plastic chamber attached to the side of the holding tank allowing gas to flow into the tank maintaining pH levels at pH 7. When pH levels rose above pH 7 or dropped below, the solenoid value automatically released CO2 into the water to stabilize the pH. It was used as an on board system to examine the metabolic response (O2 consumption) of Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata [46]. This 11 point drop and chosen pH levels were based on the natural variation in volcanic vents (Figure 5) which have a natural gradient from 6.4 to 7.8 pH, for our experiment pH 7 was chosen [1]. Figure 4 CWC pH 7 experiments set up system. Source www.marinecreaturesstockphoto.com Samples were collected from varying depths (200m at Mingulay reef and 800m at Logachev mounds) by remote operated vehicle (ROV). Samples spent minimal time on deck while being transported from ROV containers to their new holding tanks one control tank with a pH of 8.1 and an experimental tank with a pH of 7.0. The holding tanks were approximately 0.5 * 0.5m 2 with a depth of 0.5m made of black plastic flexible resin. The coral fragments were then given 24 hours to acclimatize to their new surroundings. The control tank coral fragments were was treated identically to the experimental fragments but maintained in ambient seawater which had a pH of 8.1. Any changes or effects (such as too much reactant CO2) in the water will affect the corals ability to calcify. Also no one biological process acts in isolation; physical conditions play a major role in the efficiency and rate at which calcification occurs in scleractinian corals and if effected by low pH conditions this will have negative consequences for the calcification process. Serving as an industry standard and a more informative variable, respiration rates of Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata were each recorded over a seven day period beginning on May 25th 2012 at sea on the Heriot Watt 2012 “Changing Oceans Expedition” to the Mingulay Reef complex and Rockall Bank. During this time, coral fragments of Lophelia pertusa were collected from the Mingulay Lophelia reef Complex and while Madrepora oculata was collected from Logachev mounds and both species were exposed to varying scenarios of projected future pCO2 conditions & carbonate levels. Seawater (collected in situ) pH was rapidly reduced to pH 7.0 in a single challenge tank while additional coral fragments were maintained at pH. 8.1 in control tank. Salinity, pH, and temperature were recorded at approximately the same time on each day of the experiment. Respiration rates of Lopheia Petusa and Madrepora oculata oxygen consumption were assessed in coral fragments placed within 220 ml incubation chambers each fitted with a magnetic stirrer and oxygen optode which is designed to measure absolute oxygen concentration and % saturation with high accuracy and is connected to a temperature-compensated oxygen analyser (which provides temperature compensation) (Oxy-4 Mini with Temp-4, Presens & Loligo systems). Each coral fragment was in very good condition prior to the experiment no marks, diseases or defects. Chambers were filled with tank seawater and corals allowed to acclimate to the conditions for 2 hours, to allow them to respire naturally after being transported from their holding tanks to the chambers. Oxygen consumption was recorded for a 20 minute period for each fragment, during which oxygen saturation did not fall below 80% in a pseudo natural dark environment and coral fragments were fed 0.5 mls of brown algae (Tetraselmis suecica) every two days to mimic food availability in their natural environment. Following incubations, fragments were removed and preserved at -20°C for subsequent weight determination, in particular dried weight Vs tissue dry weight. Upon return to Heriot-Watt University, dry weight and ash-free dry weight (450°C for 4 hours) will be determined, and rates of oxygen consumption will be converted to µg C/g tissue-1/h-1 using a respiratory quotient of 0.8 (equal to CO2 eliminated/O2 consumed [46]. Additionally, calcification (growth) rates of corals were assessed by measuring changes in seawater alkalinity during incubation periods. This was achieved using the alkalinity anomaly technique in which coral fragments were incubated stirred and aerated in 220 ml chambers for a 4 h period [48, 49,]. Samples of incubation water were taking at the beginning and end of the experimental period, and total alkalinity determined using an automatic titrator (Metrohm 702 SM Titrino). Figure 5 Natural volcanic vents, natural leakage of CO2 in coastal waters. Source www.marinecreaturesstockphoto.com 7. Equations Calcification (µmol CaCO3 g h-1) was estimated using the equation: c = 0.5(ΔTA) •W/ΔT Where ΔTA is the change of total alkalinity (mol/kg) or the difference in TA measured at the beginning and end of each incubation period (milliequivalent per liter), W is the weight of experimental seawater (kg) and ΔT is the experimental period (h). [49] 8. Results Results were analyzed using individual excel calculation based spreadsheets that calculated changes in respiration results over extended time periods. Measurements from the respiration challenge experiments using Madrepora oculata (Figure 6) indicated an initial increase in respiration rates on days one and two. However, respiration rates decreased from days 3 to 8 illustrating biologically significant results this being confirmed by t test analysis through thorough analysis of all average respiration rates and SE ranges. This is emphasized by respiration rates dropping from 350 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day two to 50 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day three. There were slight increases in respiration rates from 50 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day five to 100 mol O2 g-1 h-1 but it then dropped again to 50 mol O2 g-1 h-1 and finally finishing on day seven on 80 mol O2 g-1 h-1. We recorded a slight increase at the start of the experiment but essentially we experienced a decrease in respiration rates from day 3 to 7 overall. Figure 6 Respiration rates (mol O2 g-1 h-1) of Madrepora oculata under experimental conditions of low pH 7 over a 7 day period May June 2012. Figure 7 Respiration rates (mol O2 g-1 h-1) of Madrepora oculata under controlled conditions of low ph 7 over a 7 day period May June 2012. Results from the control tank(s) containing fragments of Madrepora oculata control (Figure 7) indicated an initial rise in respiration rate of ten to fifteen mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day one, rising again on day two to 30 mol O2 g-1 h-1 and on day three to 40 mol O2 g-1 h-1 with a decrease from 40 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day four to just above zero mol O2 g-1 h-1 and then rising again on day five to 40 mol O2 g-1 h-1, while rising again on day six to 85 mol O2 g-1 h-1 and finally on day seven dropping to 80 mol O2 g-1 h-1. It is interesting to note that the control group had an initial respiration rate that was orders of magnitude lower than the experimental group (10-15 mol O2 g-1 h-1 Vs. 350 mol O2 g-1 h-1, this may indicate there was some stress on the corals prior to their being introduced to the control and experimental tanks. That may need to be investigated further. Overall we recorded biologically significant increases in respiration rates mol O2 g-1 h-1 from day one to four, a slight decrease in respiration rates on day five, and rising once again on day six before finally settling on day seven. Results on Lophelia petusa control species (Figure 8) indicated that after initial respiration rates on day one of the experiment commencing at 30 mol O2 g-1 h-1, there was an increase in respiration rates on day two to 55 mol O2 g-1 h-1. Respiration rates then decreased to 45 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day three, before increasing to 74 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day four, and then once again decreasing to -72 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day five then increasing to -25 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day one and three of the experiment. Overall we recorded a leveling of respiration rates on days one and two, with increases in rates on days two and four with decreased rate illustrated on days five before a final increase in respiration on days seven and eight. Results from the Lophelia pertusa challenge experiment (Figure 9) indicated that after initial respiration rates on day one of the experiment commencing at just under 20 mol O2 g-1 h-1, (experiment respiration rates were taken only on this day no control was taken) there was a slight increase in respiration rates on day two to 20 mol O2 g-1 h-1. Respiration rates then increased to 40 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day three, decreasing to 35 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day four, and again increasing to just under 40 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day five then decreasing to 30 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day six of the experiment. It then decreased further to 10 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day 7 before finally increasing to 55 mol O2 g-1 h-1 with“+/- SE. Overall we recorded a leveling of respiration rates on days one and two, with slight increases in rates from days three and five with decreased rates illustrated on days four six and seven before a final increase in respiration on day eight. Figure 8 Respiration rates (mol O2 g-1 h-1) of Lophelia petusa under controlled conditions of low ph 7 over a 7 day period May June 2012. Examining alkalinity results (Table 1.) it’s important to put things into perspective. A negative Net Calcification Rates (NCR) means that there was loss of calcified material to the water – i.e. more dissolution than calcification while a positive NCR means that there was an addition of calcified material to the skeleton – i.e. more calcification than dissolution. Net calcification is a therefore a balance between the rate of calcification and the rate of dissolution. So in low pH conditions you would expect the water to be corrosive and therefore there to be higher dissolution rates in our test species. It’s important to bear in mind that even if our test species were able to still calcify they might have a negative net calcification rate because the dissolution rate is so high. However they may not, biologically-speaking, actually has calcified at all in any of the treatments, and so it is possible to end up with a negative net calcification rate, or a 0 rate, if they just didn’t do anything. By including more replicates the experiment was able to see beyond the high natural variation that will occur as calcification takes a long time while to happen. Below Table 1 presents a summary of average alkalinity net calcification rates (NCR) and standard error (SE) for Lophelia petusa & Madrepora oculata Vs time zero. CWC Species Average SE Lophelia pertusa Time Zero 1.12741 .69367 Lophelia pertusa control 2.7563 1.1262 Lophelia pertusa experiment 2.3458 1.95057 Madrepora oculata Time zero 1.1274 .69367 Madrepora oculata control -2.8323 1.9943 Madrepora oculata experiment -1.812 1.66505 T-TEST variance 5.144185936 0.35731 Table 1 Summary of average alkalinity net calcification rates (NCR) and standard error (SE) for Lophelia petusa & Madrepora oculata Vs time zero (Time zero being start of experiment)T-test compared average respiration rates and the SE range. Alkalinity results are illustrated emphasizing any variations in alkalinity measurements from Figures 9 to Figure 13. Figure 9 Alkalinity net calcification rates units of micro-mole of CaCO3 per hour per gram of Lophelia pertusa & Madrepora oculata Vs time zero measured in (umol CaCO3/h/g). Figure 10 Alkalinity net calcification rates measured in (umol CaCO3/h/g). (Control and Experiment) for Lophelia pertusa Vs time zero Figure 11 Alkalinity net calcification rates measured in (umol CaCO3/h/g) for Lophelia pertusa experiment species Vs control Figure 12 Alkalinity net calcification rates measured in (umol CaCO3/h/g) for Madrepora oculata Vs time zero Figure 13 Alkalinity net calcification rates measured in (umol CaCO3/h/g) for Madrepora oculata experiment species Vs control 9. Dry Weights Vs Dried Tissue Weight Dry weight vs. tissue weight was part of the data quality management – where we investigated to see if there was a very close relationship between dry weight (before crushing) and dried (crushed) tissue weight and allowed us to identify tissue weights which may have been erroneous. These are illustrated for control and experimental each species in Figures 14, 15, 16, 17. Figure 14 Dry weights Vs dried tissue weight of experimental test species Lophelia pertusa Figure 15 Dry weights Vs dried tissue weight of control test species Lophelia pertusa Figure 16 Dry weights Vs dried tissue weight of experimental test Madrepora oculata Figure 17 Dry weights Vs dried tissue weight of control test Madrepora oculata 10. Discussion 10.1 Respiration L. pertusa & M. oculata Scrutinizing Madrepora oculata results and then comparing them to the Madrepora oculata control a subsequent trend can be observed in both experiments. Results suggest that after initial coral stress where respiration increased there was a decrease in respiration rates from 350 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day two to 50 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day 6. This represents a 70% decrease in respiration rates over a five day period at pH 7. This illustrates that Madrepora oculata even after 24 hours in the challenge tanks before experiment commenced has little tolerance for increased high CO2 / low pH levels. If this experiment continued could it of possibly had a detrimental effect on its growth and survival or are these the coral fragments that illustrated potential stresses prior to being introduced to the experiment. When comparing this to the Madrepora oculata control over the same period while the respiration rates were 20 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day two of the experiment and increased to 80 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day six this is in direct contrast to the experiment species as the control respiration rates increased by 80% (compared to a decrease in experiment). The results illustrate that the control tank after initial coral acclimatization demonstrated increased respiration rates under control conditions. This could suggest the coral fragments were stressed even under controlled conditions even while in a pseudo stable environment with natural pH of 8.1. When we compare the control and experimental species in Lophelia petusa we see a different trend. While the research parameters were exactly the same for this experiment as the preceding Madrepora oculata experiment different results were observed. Examining the Lophelia petusa respiration rates they show that after initial acclimatization in the first two days, respiration slowly increased from 20 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day two to just under 40 mol O2 g-1 h-1 on day 6. This is a percentage increase of 100%. While this is a substantial increase it was a very gradual increase in respiration rates over the course of 5 days, it was not a sudden or dramatic increase. This suggests that Lophelia petusa increased its respiration rates daily as a response to compensate for reduced pH environment, almost like a coping behaviour to help tolerate the increased high CO2 /low pH levels pCO2 environment and/or increased stresses. When we compare this to the control tanks we again see a different result. As respiration rates on day one were near 100 mol O2 g-1 h-1 but on day 6 they were at - 30 mol O2 g-1 h-1., this negative figure suggests that the coral has died or dormant? This is a percentage decrease of 133% (compared to a 100% increase in experimental tank). This could have illustrated two things that while the coral species acclimatized to its new environment and found a normal respiration rate & it continued to decline to try to find it or there was an external factor that affected the control tanks and its ability to find a stable respiration rate. In future the control will need more time to acclimatize, and this should be taken into account when starting and planning experiment i.e. allow further time periods for fragments to acclimatize first. As our control tanks were shared among three Masters students this could of allowed opportunities for external factors to affect control variables. Form & Riebsell (2011) illustrated that Lophelia petusa in longer term experiments of 6 months was capable to acclimate to acidified conditions that lead to slightly enhanced rates of acidification, suggesting that a coping mechanism or gradual acclimatization response is possible when exposed to low levels of pH [50]. The authors found that net growth was sustained in waters that were under saturated with respect to aragonite and that acclimating to acidic seawater did not cause a measurable increase in metabolic rates [50]. Aragonite is a carbonate mineral, one of the two common, naturally occurring, crystal forms of calcium carbonate, CaCO3 (the other form being the mineral calcite) [50]. It is formed by biological and physical processes, including precipitation from marine and freshwater environments. Form et al. 2012 also reported Lophelia pertusa to be somewhat resilient to lower pH and this has in some ways been illustrated in our experiments [50]. If this is combined with the threat of lower pH and increased seawater temperature could this cause increased future mortality in Lophelia pertusa species or have a detrimental combined effect. Forms results for L.petusa illustrate (even in this very short period) it is possible for successful acclimation of coral species to ocean acidification which accentuates the urgency for long-term incubations on these two species of cold-water corals [51]. Essentially, L. pertusa might be able to acclimate to a rapid reduction of pH, but this does not mean they are healthy in the long term (i.e., when exposed to sustained low pH for weeks, months, or years. This also could have detrimental effects as increased metabolic rates come at a cost. Wood et al (2008) found that when the brittlestar Amphiura filiformis was exposed to high pCO2 its metabolic rates increased and the organisms suffered a loss of muscle mass in its arms [51]. Similarly, L. petusa had to compensate or adapt its ability to the elevated pCO2 conditions and this in the longer term may have physiological costs incurred by this compensatory process and reduce survival and fitness [52]. This could lead to an assortment of other problems for L. pertusa, not just dissolution of the coral’s skeleton or an inability to lay down new skeleton or even reproduce. Another factor to consider is bioerosion, or the rate of bioerosion. In shallow water reefs the carbonate budget is largely dependent on rates of bioerosion. If the corals can still make skeleton under low pH, can they do it fast enough to counter the effects of bioerosion in cold water coral habitats. Overall Lophelia petusa illustrated a ability to tolerate high pCO2 / low pH conditions in terms of respiration rates, it also indicated that it may take several days to weeks to possibly activate coping strategies or activate possible metabolic pathways to tolerate high pCO2 / low pH conditions. This is also similar to what Form et al 2011 reported last year. Given the inherent ability of L. pertusa to acclimate and tolerate low pH conditions in the short-term, what does it mean in the longer-term? Can this species thrive under perpetual low pH? Putting this into context for CCS research and exploring the effect(s) of a rapid leak from CCS not long-term exposure, would a rapid leak turn into long-term exposure? This is possible if it was a slow intermittent or continuous leak and then only those corals species located in proximity to the leak would potentially be affected. It is also important to think about what are the environmental or biological triggers similar to hologenome theory of evolution. The theory proposes that the object of natural selection is not the individual organism, but the organism together with its associated microbial communities. Is it these triggers that cause the activation of these possible coping mechanisms to deal with these environmental conditions, and are there other external factors involved that are equally important and need researching, such as coral size, location, regional variation and number of polyps and associated microbes etc. It’s crucial that long-term deep-water experiments incorporate all aspects of the effect of high pCO2 / low pH conditions on CWC species and they have a complete chance for acclimatization. It is now crucial to optimize experiments for respiration and calcification studies and extend work to other known species of cold-water corals at broader geographical and depth scales. It is also pivotal to carry out long-term experiments that take into account coral acclimatization and to test the effects of ocean acidification and other anthropogenic factors in combination with elevated temperature to better predict the fate of cold-water coral bioherms. It was initially hypothesized that both coral species would suffer a percentage decline in respiration rate due to rapid exposure to elevated pCO2. However, our results demonstrate this was substantially illustrated in Madrepora oculata. Madrepora oculata was intolerant of increased pCO2 conditions and acidification affected its respiratory rate. While looking at the results its important to remember that this was a short-term study based on a long living, slow calcifiying, deep water slow growing species and results were based on a very short period of seven days and longer timescales will be needed in future experiments to verify these results and trends. 11. Conclusions It was largely anticipated both species would eventually illustrate a percentage decline in respiration rates due high exposure rates of pCO2 this was demonstrated in Madrepora oculata, and while Lophelia Petusa was more tolerant of increased pCO2 conditions (even in short experimental period) acclimatized to acidification coping better than Madrepora oculata. Slim data exists for effects of high exposure rates of pCO2 on Madrepora oculata. Results indicated a heightened possibility of negative respiration and alkalinity impacts on cold-water-coral physiology in particular Lophelia petusa coped better with lowered pH (high levels of pCO2) while Madrepora oculata results illustrated detrimental effects on its survival and growth in same environmental conditions being less able to cope within these parameters. While looking at the results its important to remember that these were short term studies based on a long living, slow calcifiying, corld water slow growing species. Results were based on a very short period of seven days and longer timescales will be needed in future experiments to verify these results and trends. Overall our results indicate how volatile cold water corals are to lowered pH conditions and if temperature was to increase along with a drop in ph, this could be the tipping point for future survival rates. and affecting scleractinian corals ability to build their skeletons and limited their distribution. [1] Metalpa, R, R; Lombardi, C, Cocito S, Hall-Spencer, JM, Gambi M, C (2010). Effects of ocean acidification and high temperatures on the bryozoan Myriapora truncata at natural CO2 vents. Issue Marine Ecology Volume 31, Issue 3, pages 447–456, September 2010 Article first published online: 22 JAN 2010 DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0485.2009.00354.x © 2010 Blackwell Verlag GmbH [2] Freiwald A. and Roberts J. M. (2005) Cold water corals and ecosystems, pp. 1243. Springer. [3] Hovland M., Vasshus S., Indreeide A., Austdal L. and Nilsen Ø. 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(2005) Acoustic mapping using a multibeam echosounder reveals cold-water coral reefs and surrounding habitats. Coral Reefs 24(4), 654 - 669. [9] Roberts J. M., Long D., Wilson J. B., and Mortensen P. B. (2003) The cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa (Scleractinia) and enigmatic seabed mounds along the Northeast Atlantic margin: are they related? Mar. Pollut. Bull. 46(1), 7-20 [10] Van Weering T. C. E., de Haas H., de Stigter H. C., Lykke-Andersen H., and Kouvaev I. (2003) Structure and development of giant carbonate mounds at the SW and SE Rockall Trough margins, NE Atlantic Ocean. Mar. Geol. 198(1-2), 67-81. [11] DTI (2000) Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage. Publ. UK Department of Trade and Industry, DTI/Pub URN 00/1081 [12] Dodds W, K, (2005). Humanity's Footprint: Momentum, Impact, and Our Global Environment Columbia University Press Pages displayed by permission of Columbia University Press. Copyright. [13] DECC (2010) CO2 Storage in the UK - Industry Potential Senior CCS Solutions Ltd [14] Herzog, H., (2001) What future for carbon capture and sequestration? Environmental Science and Technology 35 (7): 149A-153A. [15] IPCC, (2007, Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage, [Eds] B. Metz, O. Davidson, H. de Coninck, M. Loos, and L. Meyer, Prepared by Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate [16] IEA (2011) Prospect of limiting the global increase in temperature to 2ºC is getting bleaker CO2 emissions reach a record high in 2010; 80% of projected 2020 emissions from the power sector are already locked in Publ. IEA 30 May 2011 [17] Allen, A. (2012). A guide to carbon captures technologies – interactive. Carbon capture and storage encompasses a range of technologies that may cut CO2 emissions by up to 90%. Guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 3 April 2012 12.29 BSTBarry, J.P., K.R. Buck, C. Lovera, L. Kuhnz, P.J. Whaling, E.T. Peltzer, P. Walz, and P.G. Marchetti, C. (1997). On geoengineering and the CO2 problem. Climatic Change, Vol. 1: 59-68. [18] GreenFacts (2012) http://www.greenfacts.org/en/CO2-capture-storage/l-2/3-capture-co2.htm#1 [19] Rhodesa, J, S, Keithb, D, W (2005) Engineering economic analysis of biomass IGCC with carbon capture and storage. Biomass and Bioenergy Volume 29, Issue 6, December 2005, pages 440–450 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2005.06.007 [20] Johnson, D, M. (2004). Source–sink dynamics in a temporally heterogeneous environment. Ecology 85:2037–2045. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/03-0508 [21] Kurihara, H, Kato, S, Ishimatsu, A (2007). Effects of increased seawater pCO2 on early development of the oyster Crassostrea gigas. Vol. 1: 91–98, 2007 doi: 10.3354/ab00009 Published online October 9, 2007 [22] Kurihara, H (2008). Effects of CO2-driven ocean acidification on the early developmental stages of invertebrates. Marine ecology progress series Mar Ecol Prog Ser Vol. 373: 275–284, doi: 10.3354/meps07802 [23] Freiwald, A., Fosså, J.H., Grehan, A., Koslow, T., Roberts, J.M. (2004). Cold-water Coral Reefs. UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, UK. [24] Henry, L, A, Davies, A, J & Murray Roberts J, M (2010). Report Beta diversity of cold-water coral reef communities off western Scotland Earth and Environmental Science Coral Reefs Volume 29, Number 2 (2010), 427-436, DOI: 10.1007/s00338-009-0577-6 [25] Ohsumi, T. (2003). Ocean storage, including costs and risks. In: IPCC Workshop on CO2 Capture and Storage. [26] Hendriks, C M.J. Mace, M,J, Coenraads, R. (2005) Impacts of EU and international law on the implementation of carbon capture and geological storage in the European union by order of the European Commission, Directorate General Environment ECS04057 [27] Fabriciusa, KE, Coopera, T,F, Humphreya, C, Uthickea, S, De’atha, G, Davidsona, J, LeGranda, H, Thompsona, A & Schaffelkea, B. (2011) A bioindicator system for water quality on inshore coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Pollution Bulletin Volume 65, Issues 4–9, 2012, Pages 320–332 The Catchment to Reef Continuum: Case studies from the Great Barrier Reef [28] Uthicke, S, F Patel, and R Ditchburn. (2012). Elevated land runoff after European settlement perturbs persistent foraminiferal assemblages on the Great Barrier Reef. Ecology 93:111–121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/11-0665.1 [29] De'ath, G and Fabricius. K, (2011). Evidence that water quality is an important driver of reef biota is not refuted: response to Ridd et al. Ecological Applications 21:3335–3336. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/11-1212.1 [30] Eka, H, Nilssona, E, Birgerssonb, G, Davea, G, (2006). TNT leakage through sediment to water and toxicity to Nitocra spinipes Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety Volume 67, Issue 3, July 2007, pages 341–348 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2006.10.011 [31] Rand, G.M. (1995). Fundamentals of Aquatic Toxicology: Effects, Environmental Fate, and Risk Assessment. Second Edition. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Taylor and Francis. [32] Ishimatsu, A, Kikkawa, T, Hayashi, M, Lee, KS and Kita J (2004). Effects of CO2 on Marine Fish: Larvae and Adults. Journal of Oceanography Volume 60, Number 4, 731-741, DOI: 10.1007/s10872-004-5765-y [33] Ishimatsu, A, Kikkawa, T, Hayashi, M, Lee, Kita, J. and T. Ohsumi. (2004). Perspectives on biological research for CO2 ocean sequestration. J. Oceanography Vol. 60, No. 4: 695-703. [34] Caulfield, J.A., E.E. Adams, D.I. Auerbach, and H.J. Herzog. (1997). Impacts of ocean CO2 disposal on marine life: II. Probabilistic plume exposure model used with a time-varying dose-response analysis. Environ. Model. Assess. Vol. 2: 345-353. [35] Cairns S.D, Stanley, S. G (1981). "Ahermatypic coral banks: Living and fossil counterparts". Proceedings of the Fourth International Coral Reef Symposium, Manila (1981) 1: 611 [36] Cairns, S.D. (1982) Stony Corals (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa, Scleractinia) of Carrie Bow Cay, Belize. Smithsonian Contributions to Marine Sciences, 12. pp. 272-302. [37] Cairns S, D (1982). Biology of the Antarctic Seas, XI: Antarctic and subantarctic Volume 34. Google books accessed Aug 3rd 2012 [38] Le Danoise (1948) de' l'office des' pêches maritimes (série spéciale). n° 13.etude analytiquede quelques acides gras insaturés d'huiles de ' poisso'ns' par pierre baudart Ingénieur-Chimiste Google translate Le Danoise (1948) of 'the office' Marine Fisheries (special series). No analytical 13.etude some unsaturated fatty acids of oils 'poisso'ns' by stone Baudart Engineer Chemistry. [39] Teichert, C (1958). Concepts of Facies. AAPG Bulletin Volume 42 (1958) DOI: 10.1306/0BDA5C0C-16BD-11D7-8645000102C1865D [40] Zibrowius, H, Schuhmacher, H, (1985) What is hermatypic? Coral Reefs Volume 4, Number 1 (1985), 1-9, DOI: 10.1007/BF00302198 International Society for Reef Studies [41] Jensena, A & Frederiksenab, R (1992). The fauna associated with the bank-forming deepwater coral Lophelia pertusa (Scleractinaria) on the Faroe shelf Volume 77, Issue 1, 1992 pages 53-69 DOI: 10.1080/00364827.1992.10413492 [42] Freiwald et al., (2002); Reef-forming cold-water corals. Ocean margin systems, 2002 - books.google.com [43] Taviani, M. Remia, A Corselli, A Freiwald A, (2005); First geo-marine survey of living cold-water Lophelia reefs in the Ionian Sea (Mediterranean basin) - Facies, 2005 – Springer [44] Roberts, J.M.; Davies, A.J.; Henry, L.A.; Dodds, L.A.; Duineveld, G.C.A.; Lavaleye, M.S.S.; Maier, C.; van Soest, R.W.M.; Bergman, M.J.N.; Huhnerbach, V.; Huvenne, V.A.I.; Sinclair, D.J.; Watmough, T.; Long, D.; Green, S.L.; van Haren, H. (2009) The Mingulay Reef Complex : an interdisciplinary study of cold-water coral habitat, hydrography and biodiversity. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 397. 139-151. 10.3354/meps08112 [45] Roberts J. M.pers comm. 2012 [46] Hatcher, P.G., (1989). Chemical structural models for coalified wood (vitrinite) in low rank coal. Org. Geochem., 16: 1-3,959-968. [47] Smith. S.V & Key G.S (1975). Carbon Dioxide and Metabolism in Marine Environments Limnology and Oceanography Vol. 20, No. 3 (May, 1975), pp. 493-495 Published by: American Society of Limnology and Oceanography Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2835216 [48] Ohde, S and Hossain M.M (2004) Effect of CaCO3 (aragonite) saturation state of seawater on calcification of Porites coral. Geochemical Journal, Vol. 38, pp. 613 to 621, 2004 [49] Form U, A, & Riebesell, U, (2011). Acclimation to ocean acidification during long-term CO2 exposure in the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa Running title: CO2 acclimation on Lophelia pertusa Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences, IFM-GEOMAR, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany [50] Mucci, A (1983) The solubility of calcite and aragonite in seawater at various salinities, temperatures, and one atmosphere total pressure Am J Sci September 1, 1983 283:780-799; doi:10.2475/ajs.283.7.780 [51] Wood, L & Caldeira, K (2008) Global and Arctic climate engineering: numerical model studies. The Royal Society doi: 10.1098/rsta.2008.0132 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 13 November 2008 vol. 366 no. 1882 4039-4056 [52] Guinotte, J, M, Orr, J, Cairns, S, Freiwald, A, Morgan, L and George R (2006). Will human-induced changes in seawater chemistry alter the distribution of deep-sea scleractinian corals? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4: 141–146.http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/1540-9295 (2006)004[0141: WHCISC] 2.0.CO; 2 Appendices This should only give the list of Appendices and what is shown in them. A1 Glossary A2 Abbreviations A3 Background reading more references

Changing Oceans Expedition 2012 Marinecreaturesstockphoto.com Blog spot. The last few days, Land ahoy, Scottish Hebrides are back, and final ROV dives.

2012-06-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

Changing Oceans Expedition 2012 Marinecreaturesstockphoto.com Blog spot. The last few days, Land ahoy, Scottish Hebrides are back, and final ROV dives withsome box coring thrown in for good measure!. Well once again we are back in the Scottish Hebrides, after visits to far north regions of the North Atlantic, from Logachev seamount to Scottish marine sites, to Pieces reefs and past the Herbrides seamount and now back at Mingulay reef. After nearly 35 days at sea, thousands of data checks and collection we are heading home for arrival this Friday morning in Glasgow. It’s been a once in lifetime opportunity for me for which I am really really grateful for. I have seen beautiful deep water corals, learned new ways to measure ocean acidification, met some brilliant scientists and new friends, and seen some amazing whales, basking sharks, deep water fish, carrier crabs, and squat lobsters with more attitude then a tiger shark (they are very small!). The deep North Atlantic Ocean, the Scottish Hebrides and more offshore sites really offer so much, for explorers, biologists, scientists and more. To think that 800m down, deep water corals exist, and diversity in my opinion that matches if not exceeds tropical coral assemblages is mind blowing. I mean having now seen deep water black coral, with beautiful fan like branches with encrusting demosponges , and as you zoom in you see a plethora of small marine life hanging on in there, either in a commensally based relationship or not they are all in the same area of seabed surviving in a world void of sunlight and in some circumstances using oceans chemistry and currents to survive. I really couldn’t off asked for more. In short the aim of this changing oceans expedition was to see how the oceans ARE changing to climate change, to examine the adaptation and mitigation strategies species must exercise to survive in these very sensitive and diverse deep sea ecosystems. On this cruise we have collected tons of data that will take months to decipher and code and encode. One thing is for sure, the earth’s ecosystems are all under stress from climate change, they provide for us valuable ecosystems services, that keep us alive, and each day we continue to alter these ecosystems we put more stress on them and their ability to survive, and this will and is effecting us. In closing, one thing you can be sure of is that in my life time, in your children’s lifetime and beyond that we will all need to have adaptation strategies in place to cope with climate change or global climate destabilization, and that’s where research expeditions like this become crucial to aid our understanding and help us develop proper strategies & policies to survive.

Marinecreaturesstockphoto.com Blogspot Changing Oceans Expedition 2012 Rockwell North Atlantic June 201

2012-06-07T13:46:00.002-07:00

Changing Oceans Expedition 2012 Marinecreatures Blogspot Blog 8 Changing Oceans Expedition 2012 Rockall North Atlantic June 2012 Well once again it’s been a very very busy few days. I once again have seen beautiful pilot whales just at the extent of my zoom lens, my own research into deep water corals and exposure to lowered pH from CCS is going well, and I have been daily treated to fantastic sunsets, beautiful gannets, shrinking cups, and jaw dropping corals and biodiversity at Logechev sea mount and Rockall where we are now first dived in 1973! Over the last few days we have had to call off many ROV dives due to the weather, and instead we have been using other research tools to gather data and information, as mentioned before one of these is the CPT, (Conductivity Pressure and Temperature). These essentially are mounted chambers that can be released at different depth to collect water samples and more and even act as a pump for our on board holding or aquarium tanks when we need fresh sea water from about 100m down. This means we get fresh sea water deep water species are used to as the water at the surface has different food sources, temperature and nutrients in it so we need the deep water stuff to keep everything happy and in tip top shape! It’s quite a cool device see photos and it has been down to 800m collecting samples. It also acts as a mechanism to illustrate the pressure at that depth as we attach foam cups to it via a dive bag and when they come back up they are just tiny. Each of us has been decorating them with our own designs and some have found the artist within and made them look very pretty! Check out the photos below and you will see what I mean. Beyond this I have been focusing on my own research with an different species of deep water coral Lophehia madrepora, and it us without doubt a gorgeous coral, extremely robust and beautiful colours of red and orange. This keeps me busy each day feeding, monitoring, measuring its respiration via probes and sensors through a 4 way channel fibre optic transmitter, which as cool as it sounds measures the rate at which the corals respire or breath over 20 minute periods and illustrates this in graphical form. It’s very cool, funky to watch and even better to observe! On other matters each of the sample and survey sites has really impressed me. You would think that deep down 800m plus there are no corals, just sediment , some fish, maybe a shark or two, and rock and canyons, well in some places there are those but in others you have bright colourful, stunning cold water corals Lophelia species and lots of tiny critters on it too!. You can see many more photos of these on our facebook page Marinecreatures Sealife differently but I thought I would share one of my favourites of this deep water anemone in all its glory. There are so many critters around, attached too and passing by these reefs its quiet astonishing. Check out the photos below and on our FB page to see more. Dont forget to Tune into Mooney Goes Wild tomorrow as I will be on it with Professor Murray Roberts talking about the expedition and deep water corals as well and pop back in a few days and I will keep you up to date. Until next time.....

Changing Oceans Expedition 2012 I thought I would say hi and tell you about me and my research out here....

2012-06-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

Changing Oceans Expedition 2012 Hello and nice to meet you. My name is Rowan Byrne. I have been asked to write a small piece for today’s changing oceans blog so I thought I would tell you a little about my research and put it here as well. Though I hail from Ireland, I feel quite at home in my present position as a postgraduate researcher with Heriot Watt University’s School of Engineering and Physical Sciences. This specialty is, as the name suggests, where engineering meets the physical and, in my case, life sciences. As a marine biologist I have always been intrigued by how life and its seemingly infinite complexities.

I have also held a deep fascination for learning about natural biological systems and using information gleaned from these processes to tend and repair damaged areas of our biosphere. It seemed natural for me to gravitate towards the concept and engineering of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and climate change mitigation. CCS is, in brief, capturing carbon dioxide and other flux gases from the source of combustion (e.g., power stations, fertilizer & concrete manufacturing) and transporting it to a storage facility on land, at sea, or even beneath the seabed. These concepts are not science fiction, for CCS technology has been used by the oil industry for under the moniker “enhanced oil recovery” (EOR). EOR is where CO2 is pumped into an old or nearly defunct hydrocarbon reserve (e.g., oil well) to get the remaining oil that is still held within it for processing. This approach ensures CO2 remains in an oil well after oil has been extracted. This means in short that CO2 is pumped into the well to obtain the last supply of oil left there and CO2 remains in its place. , The practice of EOR is really the basis for subsea carbon storage. We have the technology to capture and transport CO2 from point sources. We also have the ability to geologically store this greenhouse gas miles under the bottom of the ocean. This is indeed a feat of modern engineering but becomes particularly interesting to marine biologists when we ask the question “.......”. My research is concerned with the environmental impact(s) of this stored CO2 on marine creatures and the surrounding ecosystems. If this CO2 store were to leak, either during or post injection, it could have rapid and immediate effect on the critters that live near the reservoir. As the name of our expedition denotes, the oceans are changing. One aspect that is currently being altered is the acidity of the sea. If too much CO2 enters the world’s oceans then it could drastically alter in the pH of the water which is normally 8.1 in the ocean to anything from 6.5 to 7.8. To put this in perspective your stomach has a pH value of about 1.5 to 2 and orange juice a pH value of 2.8. Overall changes in pH could have major effects on marine specie, presenting a new challenge to their already perilous existence. While this may be short term from 7 days to 2 months or more it has many consequences for carbon cycles, marine species, ecosystems and us. The severity of this issue for our future generations is why I am investigating the effect(s) of rapidly lowered pH will have on deep water coral species. The key here is avoiding a possible leak in the first place but if it does happen, studying the impact on surrounding marine communities so we will have some idea of what will happen to them and their ecosystems. It is my hope that the results of this research will help guide the development of policies that impose regulations on the type(s) of technology required to safely manage carbon sequestering programs like CCS. www.marinecreatures.com & www.mariencreaturesstockphoto.com Find more info on the cruise on this link with daily updates!

Changing Oceans Expedition 2012 More experiments, ROV Control Room, amazing sights under the water at 800m deep.....UNBELEIVEABLE!

2012-05-31T08:32:00.000-07:00

Well again its been a very busy few days, more measurements, more ROV dives, and some interesting sights on the High definition TV in the dry lab and tonight I get to spend a couple of hours in the ROV hub or area where all the ROV pilots reside with scientists chasing samples, recovering & deploying scientific equipments, so a fun few hours till 1am awaits!

So my own experiments have been going well, I finish the first set of weeklong experiments tomorrow and move on to another deep water coral species tomorrow. I haven’t had a chance to look at the data to date but I can honestly say I am a little excited, might appear sad to you non scientists but really it’s exciting as it’s the first time anyone has done experiments of this kind on deep water species of coral. I have to say without doubt there are patches of coral below me at 800m that would be well suited on the Great Barrier Reef; yes I did say that, they are so colourful, so diverse and full of minute Marinecreatures, it’s really exciting. We have seen a large unidentified shark, scorpion fish, squid, grenadier fish, squat lobsters, brittle stars, pencil sea urchins, deep sea worms (like bristle worms) dogfish colourful shrimps and more. Mix this into a habitat of colour sponges, tubeworms, hydroids (fan like critters) and you have a plethora of biodiversity. Compared to this you can see areas that look like they have been trawled near the tops of the coral mounds which are devoid of life just scavengers or in most cases nothing at all but death brown coral. Quite depressing really, but thankfully the former outweighs the latter.

We have stormy weather approaching this weekend from tomorrow and it’s really really calm here at the moment, I never thought it would get this calm so far out, it’s lovely to see but also reminds me of what is to come, essentially what might be classed as a good ride on a helter skellter ride at any fun park and its free! Anyway internet connection may vary so hopefully after this storm has passed we will be back online again, and by that time I will have started my second experiments on deep water coral, this I am looking forward too. Till next blog enjoy the photos....Deep water Lophelia coral, ROV coming out of the water after a deep dive, ROV Control room, deep sea sea urchin underbelly and mouth, and the 5p critters of the deep oceans.... More on Facebook Group Marinecreatures Sealife differently & Marine Biology www.marinecreaturesstockphoto.com Find more info on the cruise on this link with daily updates!

Changing Oceans Expedition 2012 More Whales, Box Coring, a Beautiful Gannett and more on the RSS James Cook North Atlantic Logachev Mounds....

2012-05-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

More Whales, Box Coring, a beautiful Gannett and more RRS James Cook Changing Oceans Expedition marinecreaturesstockphoto.com Blog Well the last few days have been busy! Again we have had whale sightings, pilot whales and again a Minke whale has come within 100 metres of the ship. We have been box coring today but more about that later, our ROV is a little unwell but working well, and I got my first ever Gannett photo, which I am well chuffed about. My own experiments have been going well they take up about 8 hours of my day but it has to be done, and I might be going out on a limb here but thus far deep water corals seem to have a strong resilience to lowered pH values but watch this space it can all change.

So what’s all this box coring then? Essentially it’s a big closing jaw that goes down to the seabed open and when it has settled on seabed, and sunk in and settled the jaws are closed and sediment, critters, coral and what else is in there all comes up to the surface perfectly packed inside these steel jaws. Once on deck we release the box within the jaws and sort out what is in there with up to 11 different sizes of sieves so that every little (and I do mean minute pieces) piece is collected and preserved. We have collected small crabs, sea urchins, corals dead and alive, crazy looking worms, and mud mud mud glorious mud. It’s really cool as you never know what you find. When the corer comes up nearly all scientists are on deck excited like a child on Christmas morning waiting to see what the Santa of the sea has provided this time around. Its messy work but fun, we all pitch in and we are generally done in no time at all. On other matters while we are sorting through box cores we have the company of many seabirds, just bobbing about next to the boat in anticipation of some food from the kitchen. They are smart enough to know that bits and bobs of coral are of no interest to them, but when the kitchen staff appears, they do get excited. This is how we get to see the glorious Gannet in action. I do like looking at these beautiful birds, and even seagulls all clean and presented are beautiful creatures too in their own right. Anyway that’s enough about Gannets google them and am sure you can find out lots about them, as I am still learning too. Well I hope all is well, the sea is getting a bit choppier at the moment and we are bobbing & rolling a bit but it’s not too bad. Until next blog enjoy the sunshine and hopefully next blog I will have a photo of that elusive Minke whale that keeps appearing just when my camera is inside. Find more info on the cruise on this link with daily updates! www.marinecreaturesstockphoto.com

Changing Oceans Exhibition 2012 Minke Whales, Starlings, Cushion Stars and a 4 way fibre optic oxygen transmitter!

2012-05-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

Well, it’s been a very busy last few days. After steaming for nearly 29 hours, nearly 280 nautical miles, we reached our second destination Logachev mounds which were surveyed over 30 years ago so with your survey this year we can at least get a good idea of how the oceans and this area may have changed, quiet exciting really. While we have been here nearly 2 days now we have once again been a very busy ship. For over 12 hours yesterday noon to midnight we did multi beam survey which is like sending out sonar to the sea bed and seeing what comes back and from this sonar you can then paint a picture of what the seabed is like. This way you can identify coral mounds, reef areas, deep canyons and more it’s really very impressive stuff. The Irish ROV guys really really know their stuff and are very experienced, and I am learning a lot over a cup of coffee and dinner. The crew are totally decent people; happy to help some very interesting stories and have travelled the world on a research vessel, wasn’t long ago they were in Antarctica.

Meanwhile, only here one day and the cook was on deck and shouted, whale.... and he was 110% right a Minke whale popped up about 110m from ship might of winked and dived back down. Rosanna (Zan) our expert photographer got a great shot of its dorsal (back) area and more. At the time I was focusing on our other visiting zoo we had been invaded by 13 am told barn starlings, yes I did say starlings! Totally cute they were taking a rest on their migration, though am no bird specialist but do think they were a little off course. This morning only 4 were left, after nearly all 13 huddled around each other on one the ships emergency lights all night very very cute. Meanwhile my own experiments are going well, about 7 to 9 hours a day of respiration monitoring, am basically measuring the rate at which my deep water corals breath (respire). Each coral gets puts into its own chamber and I seal it up and inside is a small aeration device and along with very expensive oxygen sensors through a 4 way fibre optic oxygen transmitter measure how much they breathe. Its sounds more like made science but in actual fact is time consuming and as long as David Gray or green day even in on my lab iPod, it’s a happy time O2 monitoring in chemistry laboratory 233. Anyhow best get back to it I have to feed my corals now yummy brown algae for dinner and keep them happy, enjoy the photos and shout if you have any questions or I can help. Enjoy the photos of a cushion star, seagulls practicing yoga, a very cute swallow poising for me, and my near enough location. Until next blog..... www.marinecreaturesstockphoto.com

Changing Oceans 2012 Expedition Marinecreaturesstockphoto.com Blog 4

2012-05-25T06:12:00.000-07:00

Well, what can I tell you about what been happening recently now 8 days into the cruise. Ok, since the last blog we have had numerous ROV dives, deployment of spy cameras, multi beam activity, box core sampling for sediments and deployments of EDDY which is a piece of equipment that sits on sea bed collecting various types of environmental data over a 24 hour period. We also have deployed monitoring buoys at various depths that will be left at Mingulay permanently collecting salinity, temperature, pH and more over the coming year and be collected at a later date. It’s been a really really busy time with 12 hour day and night shifts with different researchers coming and going nearly every hour of the day. It’s really a big hive of activity where every second counts and maximising every opportunity to collect data and more. It’s a very exciting time.

The most amazing thing is that you can watch the ROV go down off the ship into the water, down to the seabed and watch it roam about sampling coral, sponges, microbes, marinecreatures and more in high definition in the comfort of the dry lab on Tv. You can interface with the ROV pilot team and ask them to pick up anything interesting you might see on the transect. We have seen beautiful corals, magnificent sea anemones, small squat lobsters, sizeable crabs, beautiful feather duster worms, sea urchins, cute brittle stars, cushion stars, and many species of hydroids. You might think that deep down in cold water anything from 6 to 9 degrees with no light off the coast of Scotland you might not have this plethora of colourful and diverse species but you do. Down here you have many species of coral that don’t need the sunlight, look bleached white as they don’t need colour in the deep sea as opposed to their shallow water cousins, but again its simply breath talking. Along with all of this you have flower like creatures that look like plants but are in fact animals these being anemones awaiting the arrival of their next meal with all tentacles spread out even looking lifeless in the passing currents. We are now heading another 290 nautical miles towards the Logerchev mounts (a seamount) deep into the North Atlantic to do more of the same but in much deeper waters up to 2500m deep nearly 10000 feet. I do hold out hope that we may see some dolphins, maybe a leatherback sea turtle even a sperm whale or associated cetacean species on route and when we get there, that would be amazing. I am still delighted to have seen a basking shark just cruising along the calm Scottish Hebridean waters the other day at sunset, it was really magical. Fingers crossed for more research more coral samples and the odd mega fauna sightings, which of course I will share with you all. Till next time.... www.marinecreaturesstockphoto.com Find more info on the cruise on this link with daily updates!

Changing Oceans 2012 RRS James Cook Basking sharks, ROV and the BBC One Show

2012-05-20T07:07:00.000-07:00

Well what can I say it’s been a fantastic first few days, from successful deployment of the ROV and on our first dive, super clear high definition video down to coral polyp level, where you can see each tentacle on a high definition monitor in the lab, to cries of Basking shark by crew members. Yesterday was a very special moment, I was joking with of the other scientists on board, that the water so was calm of the

Changing Oceans 2012 RSS James Cook Hours Before Departure.....

2012-05-17T00:58:00.000-07:00

RSS James Cook Hours Before Departure..... So, final preparations are under way for our departure later today. I have begun to familiarise myself with The RSS James Cook and to be honest it’s a fantastic vessel with a very health and safety conscious lead scientist, captain and crew. It has everything you really need and more. We all have spent the last 24 hours unpacking, checking, rechecking equipments, boxes, machines and more to make sure we have everything we need before we get going. The plan is to head to Mingulay Reef today, this should take about 20 hours + of steaming (depending on the waves), and arrive there sometime tomorrow where we can all start conducting some research, I really cat wait. There will be a chance I hope to go ashore and visit Mingulay Island having been uninhabited since 1912 and apparently has extensive bird populations of puffins, guillemots and more, it should present some good photo opportunities. The weather is supposed to be good so fingers crossed. All in all a very exciting 4 weeks at sea lies ahead. Find more info on the cruise on this link with daily updates! Anyway I will sign off for now and update more in a day or so.

Changing Ocean Expedition 2012 2 Days before departure on RSS James Cook.

2012-05-14T07:37:00.002-07:00

Changing Ocean Expedition 2012 2 Days before departure on RSS James Cook. Well folks today I had the total pleasure to see the RSS James Cook at the dock side on the Clyde in Glasgow Scotland. Its is a fantastic research vessel the likes I have never really seen before. We have loaded up some final preparations and equipments from Heriot Watt in Edinburgh and with some more tweeks and additions over next few days we set sail at 8am on Thursday 17th of May. As you all know its a research cruise with over 25 of the best scientists from around Europe and US all done and organized by the Principal Scientist Professor Murray Roberts of Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh.Its all to do with Ocean Acidification and many aspects will be investigated over the next 5 weeks, quiet an exciting opportunity. Over the next 5 weeks I will try to update and let you know how its all going so drop by when you can, catch up and let me know your thoughts, suggestions, questions you may have and generally if you just want to say hi. Dont forget to drop by our new website and our facebook page... on this link We will have limited internet so bear with me but will do my best to let you all know about this really cool expedition. Find more info on the cruise on this link with daily updates! All the Best Rowan :)

The impact of rising energy prices and the effect of climate change may have on your own style of living. Do we need to make do with less, in terms of capital goods, travel, and perceived acceptable levels of comfort?

2012-03-30T03:25:00.000-07:00

Folks I was reading many articles over the last few weeks and it got me thinking. With the impact of rising energy prices and the effect of climate change, ocean acidification and more will these all eventually or now have an effect on your own style of living. Do we need to make do with less, in terms of capital goods, travel, and perceived acceptable levels of comfort? I can foresee a situation where for the good of all we will need to cut back on our consuming and live more sustainable. To live sustainably, the earth’s natural resources must be used at a rate at which they can be replenished. However, our consumer-driven society is putting enormous pressure on the planet and its limited resources. Europe’s environmental footprint is one of the largest on the planet. If the rest of the world lived like Europeans, it would require the resources of more than two earths to support them. Economic growth and the development of modern technologies over many decades have brought new levels of comfort to our lives. This has led to an ever-greater demand for products and services and, in turn, to a growing demand for energy, commodities and natural resources. The way we produce and consume is contributing to many of today’s environmental problems, such as climate change & global warming, ocean acidification, diffuse pollution, and depletion of natural resources, species and biodiversity loss. If you look at the way we are living, with increasing populations, more and more countries seeking resources for development releasing more green house gases into the atmosphere and pressure on natural resources and ecosystem services at their highest within mother nature there just isn't enough natural resources or to go round.

We are living off the planet's capital, not its interest alone, depleting it daily and not renewing many parts of this resource, after all we live on an island with limited resources in a big galaxy. It’s amazing to think but you would never run a commercial business like this and get away with it, human consumption and arising climate change impacts are upon us and we are in overshoot or near tipping point. We essentially live on an island with limited resources that’s what the earth is an island or another way to look at it if we lived on a cake the cake is not going to get any bigger and we all have a limited slice and more we eat the less there is. If we are going to live sustainably & fairly we need to use far less, share our technology and innovation so developing countries can combat climate change (make it egalitarian) and leave some space for the rest of the world to develop. We need to shrink the size of our economic activity and think sustainability.

Technology Solutions Geoengineering to Climate Change Carbon Capture and Storage.

2012-02-12T13:09:00.000-08:00

At present while most of the world fixates on how to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHG) we emit into our atmosphere, scientists and engineers are busy workings on various "geo-engineering" technologies fixes to mitigate the effects of climate change. The two main geo-engineering approaches consist of carbon dioxide removal known as CDR and solar radiation management techniques known as SRM techniques. An example of SRM techniques is sulfur aerosol management in the higher stratosphere that can cut incoming solar radiation. Many scientists oppose using new technology to fix problems created by old technology as some are only in their theoretical stages, but others view it as a quick and relatively inexpensive way to solve humankind's most challenging environmental problem.

While this report will mainly focus on carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a current technology fix for climate change, I would like to briefly introduce some of the other technology fixes that are being discussed in the realm of geo-engineering and climate change mitigation then discuss carbon capture and storage in more detail for the remainder of this report. One geo engineering theory proposed involves deflecting heat away from the Earth's surface with solar shields or satellites with movable reflectors. Computer models suggest that blocking eight percent of the sun's Earth-bound radiation would effectively counteract the warming effect of our C02 pollution. This SRM technique was inspired by the cooling effects of large volcanic eruptions -- such as Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991 -- that blasted sulfate particles into the stratosphere and when erupted effectively cool the global temperature for some time, even years! These particles reflect part of the sun's radiation back into space, reducing the amount of heat that reaches the atmosphere.

Another leading theory is, "ocean fertilization," which entails scattering iron powder throughout the world's seas, providing nutrients to boost the amount of phytoplankton that thrive in the water's upper surface layers. Through photosynthesis, these plants absorb CO2, which in theory stays with them when they die and fall to the ocean floor. Initial experiments have not proved too fruitful, however, but more research is underway. Another theory suggests, "engineered weathering," which entails replacing some of the oceans carbonic acid with hydrochloric acid. This accelerates the underwater storage of CO2 otherwise destined for the atmosphere. Engineered weathering dramatically accelerates a cleaning process that nature itself uses for greenhouse gas accumulation. Other avenues to explore include cloud seeding, which is a form of intentional weather modification, in the attempt to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds, by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alter the microphysical processes within the cloud. The usual intent is an increase in rain or snow, but hail and fog suppression are also widely practiced in airports. Other solutions range from growing more trees, genetically engineered crops, greening deserts, to even using aluminum foil to wrap up the Polar Regions to increase the albedo effect, whitening of lower level clouds over the sea by spraying tiny water droplets into the air, putting a few million small sunshades on space or even painting everyone’s roof white but these all need further research if at all applicable.

Other mitigation options include energy efficiency improvements, the switch to less carbon-intensive fuels, nuclear power, renewable energy sources, enhancement of biological sinks, and the substantial reduction of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. A lot of these technology fixes will depend on social and political agendas or climate and if they are desirable or not.

Finally another technological fix involves "sequestration," or carbon capture and storage (CCS) involving the storage of CO2 either deep underground pumped into rock or deep in the ocean below the seafloor. Costs of such technologies have been prohibitive, but new regulations could force the issue in the near term. Recent CCS plans for the UK's first carbon capture project at the Longannet power station in Fife have been scrapped, but the UK government hopes other schemes could work, indicating interest at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire in the future. CCS has the potential to reduce overall mitigation costs and increase flexibility in achieving greenhouse gas emission reductions. The widespread application of CCS would depend on technical maturity, costs, overall potential, diffusion and transfer of the technology to developing countries and their capacity to apply the technology, regulatory aspects, environmental issues and public perception.

These are areas that all need development for CCS to be successful in the long term. So what exactly is carbon capture and storage and how can it be used as a technology fix for climate change mitigation? Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) is a process consisting of the separation of CO2 from industrial and energy-related sources, transport to a storage location and long-term isolation from the atmosphere. It is worth a note that in the third assessment report (TAR) by the IPCC, has indicated that no single technology option will provide all of the emission reductions needed to achieve stabilization, but a portfolio of mitigation measures will be needed in which CCS will play a key role.

CCS is essentially a three stage technology where CO2 is captured from large man-made CO2 emission sources, transported via a network of pipelines and stored in deep subsurface geological formations. The capture process can potentially remove 90% of the CO2 generated from fossil fuelled (coal, oil and gas) electricity generation and industrial processes (such as steel and concrete manufacture) - based on the most recent estimates of CO2 emission from fuel combustion 29 gigatonnes (Gt) in 2009 this would represent a mass of CO2 into the thousands of millions of tons. In order to prevent this large volume of CO2 reaching the atmosphere it can be injected and safely stored in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs such as the Shell reserve ‘Goldeneye’ in the North Sea as one example or non-potable saline aquifers or unmineable coal seams.

So why is CCS such an important part of our mitigation policies for a technology fix for climate change? Rising CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere from pre-industrial levels of 280ppm to a present day value of 380ppm has led to increasing ocean acidification and may be contributing to climate change and a rising of global temperatures. A doubling of man-made CO2 emissions since the 1970's coupled with geological evidence, shows that changes of this magnitude usually occur over timescales of 5,000 to 10,000 years, suggesting that it is likely man-made CO2 is contributing significantly to this rise in atmospheric CO2 & temperature. If fossil fuel combustion is allowed to continue to grow unabated then it is projected that CO2 emissions will reach 35.4 Gt a year by 2035. This is in line with the worst case scenario in the IPCC 2007 Climate Change report which couples CO2 rises to a world average temperature increase from 2.4-6.4°C by 2100. If the world is to maintain its current dependence on fossil fuels then CCS is a necessary technology for tackling rising atmospheric CO2. The UK emits more than 500 million tons of carbon dioxide every year. The quantity has steadily increased since the start of the industrial revolution (1800's). Worldwide, emissions are still rising.

So what is the current status of CCS technology and what are the different types in use today? Today’s CO2 capture systems consist of Post-combustion, Pre-combustion and Oxyfuel combustion. Post-combustion capture of CO2 in power plants is economically feasible under specific conditions being used to capture CO2 from part of the flue gases from a number of existing power plants.

The technology required for pre-combustion capture is widely applied in fertilizer manufacturing and in hydrogen production. Although the initial fuel conversion steps of pre-combustion are more elaborate and costly, the higher concentrations of CO2 in the gas stream and the higher pressure make the separation easier.

Oxyfuel combustion is in the demonstration phase and uses high purity oxygen.

This results in high CO2 concentrations in the gas stream and, hence, in easier separation of CO2 and in increased energy requirements in the separation of oxygen from air. Pipelines are preferred for transporting large amounts of CO2 for distances up to around 1,000 km. For amounts smaller than a few million tons of CO2 per year or for larger distances overseas, the use of ships, where applicable, could be economically more attractive. CO2 can also be carried by rail and road tankers, but it is unlikely that these could be attractive options for large-scale CO2 transportation. Storage of CO2 in deep, onshore or offshore geological formations uses many of the same technologies that have been developed by the oil and gas industry and has been proven to be economically feasible under specific conditions for oil and gas fields and saline formations, but not yet for storage in unmineable coal beds.

If CO2 is injected into suitable saline formations or oil or gas fields, at depths below 800m, various physical and geochemical trapping mechanisms would prevent it from migrating to the surface. In general, an essential physical trapping mechanism is the presence of a caprock10. Coal bed storage may take place at shallower depths and relies on the absorption of CO2 on the coal, but the technical feasibility largely depends on the permeability of the coal bed. The combination of CO2 storage with enhanced oil recovery or, potentially, enhanced coal bed methane recovery could lead to additional revenues from oil or gas recovery.

Well-drilling technology, injection technology, computer simulation of storage reservoir performance and monitoring methods from existing applications, are being developed further for utilization in the design and operation of geological storage projects. Ocean storage potentially could be done in two ways: by injecting and dissolving CO2 into the water column (typically below 1,000m) via a fixed pipeline or a moving ship, or by depositing it via a fixed pipeline or an offshore platform onto the sea floor at depths below 3,000m, where CO2 is denser than water and is expected to form a “lake” that would delay dissolution of CO2 into the surrounding environment. Ocean storage and its environmental and ecological impacts are still in the research phase and with this in mind, you would have to ask would physical leakage of stored CO2 compromise climate change mitigation as a technology fix?
Observations from engineered and natural analogues as well as models suggest that the fraction retained in appropriately selected and managed geological reservoirs is very likely to exceed 99% over 100 years and is likely to exceed 99% over 1,000 years.

For well-selected, designed and managed geological storage sites, the vast majority of the CO2 will gradually be immobilized by various trapping mechanisms and, in that case, could be retained for up to millions of years. Because of these mechanisms, storage could become more secure over longer timeframes and in the interim period better technologies and usages could be developed. Release of CO2 from ocean storage would be gradual over hundreds of years. Ocean tracer data and model calculations indicate that, in the case of ocean storage, depending on the depth of injection and the location, the fraction retained is 65–100% after 100 years and 30–85% after 500 years (a lower percentage for injection at a depth of 1000m, a higher percentage at 3000m). In the case of mineral carbonation, the CO2 stored would not be released into the atmosphere. If continuous leakage of CO2 occurs, it could, at least in part, offset the benefits of CCS for mitigating climate change.

Assessments of the implications of leakage for climate change mitigation depend on the framework chosen for decision-making and on the information available on the fractions retained for geological or ocean storage. Studies conducted to address the question of how to deal with non-permanent storage are based on different approaches: the value of delaying emissions, cost minimization of a specified mitigation scenario or allowable future emissions in the context of an assumed stabilization of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.

Some of these studies allow future leakage to be compensated by additional reductions in emissions and/or improvements in energy efficiencies and technology, but the results depend on assumptions regarding the future cost of reductions, discount rates, the amount of CO2 stored and the atmospheric concentration stabilization level assumed. In other studies, compensation is not seen as an option because of political and institutional uncertainties, and the analysis focuses on limitations set by the assumed stabilization level and the amount stored. While specific results of the range of studies vary with the methods and assumptions made, all studies imply that, if CCS is to be acceptable as a mitigation measure, there must be an upper limit to the amount of leakage that can take place. Eventually dissolved and dispersed CO2 would become part of the global carbon cycle and eventually equilibrate with the CO2 in the atmosphere. In laboratory experiments, small-scale ocean experiments and model simulations, the technologies and associated physical and chemical phenomena, which include, notably, increases in acidity (lower pH) and their effect on marine ecosystems and calcifiers, have been studied for a range of ocean storage options. The reaction of CO2 with metal oxides, which are abundant in silicate minerals and available in small quantities in waste streams, produces stable carbonates. The technology is currently in the research stage, but certain applications in using waste streams are in the demonstration phase. The natural reaction is very slow and has to be enhanced by pre-treatment of the minerals, which at present is very energy intensive.

Around the world and in the UK there are numerous oil and gas fields, many of which are becoming emptied of hydrocarbons. These are perhaps the best places to store CO2. A study in 1996 estimated that the UK has space for about 5.3 Gt CO2 in depleted oilfields (i.e. 5,300,000,000 tons), and about 11-15 Gt CO2 in depleted gas fields while the same 1996 study estimated that we could store 19 - 716 Gt CO2 like this (i.e. up to 716,000,000,000 tons) - perhaps sufficient for 500 years of UK emissions in saline aquifers as a geological store. There are more geological problems in using such storage sites, as we know less about the geology. (However many of the rocks are similar to oilfields, so there is good reason to suppose that these saline aquifers are well worth investigating in more detail. In fact, the only present day test site for underground CO2 storage in the North Sea uses a saline aquifer at 1km below the seabed, which is cited above the Norwegian Sleipner Field.) This is about 10 years of total UK CO2 emissions in oilfields, and a further 30 years in gas fields. Both in the UK & worldwide the technical expertise is available to plan the storage and an established industry base that could undertake the work with decades of experience from the oil and gas sectors.

It is without doubt that we should be exploring the substantial role CCS can play as a technology fix for climate change mitigation. While longannet CCS project has stalled other sites must be investigated as the private sector is keen to actually start to inject CO2 into now defunct oil and gas reservoirs under the seabed. There is no doubt that this mitigating technology will continue to play a part until at least 2050 and hopefully by this time we will have developed lower-carbon technology, better energy efficiency measures and have reduced CO2 emissions to levels that are not causing environmental damage. Another good reason to start CO2 storage sooner rather than later is that we have the infrastructures (at least at sea in place) being present in UK offshore oil and gas fields platforms. These platforms can be modified for CO2 storage, at a fraction of the cost of building and installing new facilities. Possible retro fitting is all that is required in situ for them to be operational. By the end of the next decade, many of these platforms will have been removed as the oil and gas supplies run dry and this will be an opportunity missed. New facilities for CCS would hence have to be built, increasing the costs of CCS technology.

Overall CCS will play a key role in our future endeavors to combat climate change. With China building and possessing substantial amounts of coal power electricity stations that they are going to burn anyway, ways to stop the CO2 getting into the atmosphere are a big priority. CCS would also compliment biomass power plants, as they burn biomass that has sequestered CO2 already this absorbed CO2 will be captured and stored away from the atmosphere and essentially make the power station carbon negative. As Mark Lynas in his book The God Species says ‘this could be a useful tool in meeting our 350 ppm goals’.

The Role of Oceans in Greenhouse Gas Cycling when thinking about Climate Change...

2011-12-04T09:46:00.000-08:00

For millions of people climate change is not a scary scenario in the future, it is happening now. Pacific Islands are about to disappear under the sea and substantial glaciers & icecaps melt at an alarming rate. It is clear that the oceans and their stability play a pivotal part. The oceans have long been recognized as a regulator of our environment and weather systems. Over the last 150 years data and information has illustrated an overall warming of the oceans. This warming is indisputable and is supported by additional lines of evidence that tell us that global warming from greenhouse gases and the effects on the ocean are upon us. There are many processes within the climate system and natural external forcing such as volcanic activity to solar output changes; however these factors alone do not explain the observed temperature changes. With is radiative forcing (heat) caused by increasing greenhouse gas concentrations and changes in the aerosol loadings which provides a more plausible explanation due to human activates based around burning of fossil fuels. Data and statistical comparisons between observed temperatures and greenhouse gas increases and a simulated climate models by the IPCC that take into account various external forcing agents and analysis of the possible causes led to the IPCC 2007 conclusion ‘that most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid 20th century is a very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations’. This report illustrates the pivotal role the oceans play in absorbing, regulating, controlling and understanding greenhouse gas cycling and the effects on the ocean from global warming and climate change.

Greenhouse gases greatly affect the temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth's surface would be on average about 33 °C (59 °F) colder than at present. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, burning of fossil fuels has contributed to the increase of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere from 280ppm to 390ppm, despite the uptake of a large portion of these emissions through various natural "sinks" such as the ocean. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions come from combustion of carbonaceous fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. CO2 is a product of ideal stoichiometric combustion of carbon. Since 2000 fossil fuel related carbon emissions have equaled or exceeded the IPCC's "A2 scenario", except for small dips during two global recessions while still are on the increase. The role of the ocean plays in greenhouse gas cycling is pivotal. It’s this interaction with the many greenhouse gases that contribute, regulate, maintain and protect our atmosphere. A greenhouse gas (GHG) is gaseous elements of the atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation. They exist naturally in the Earth's atmosphere. The Earth is like a greenhouse whereby the atmosphere allows heat from the sun in, but only lets a certain amount out, trapping the remaining heat. In effect, the Earth can support life just like a greenhouse and essentially uses this model. The history of greenhouse gases dates back to 1859 where John Tyndall. He identified absorption of thermal radiation by complex molecules, he noted that changes in the amount of any of the radiative leap active constituents of the atmosphere such as water and CO2 could have reduced ‘all the mutations of climate which the researchers of geologists reveal’. Svante Arrhenius a Swedish scientist was the first to claim in 1896 that fossil fuel combustion may eventually result in enhanced greenhouse gases & global warming. He proposed a relation between atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and temperature. He found that the average surface temperature of the earth is about 15 degrees Celsius because of the infrared absorption capacity of the greenhouse gases, water vapor and carbon dioxide. He called this the ‘natural greenhouse effect’. Examples of greenhouse gases include water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide & ozone. Below you will find a brief background to each of these gases.

The greenhouse effect is benign; it is what the earth needs. The process starts when light from the sun comes through the atmosphere with particularly efficient penetration of the visible and ultraviolet or high-energy, end of the spectrum, and directly warms the earth. What radiates back upwards is very largely infra-red radiation, and a significant portion of that radiation that goes back from the earth towards space is absorbed into the atmosphere. Therefore the atmosphere retains some of the radiated heat which warms the atmosphere by about 30 degrees Celsius. Water vapor isn't a very well-built greenhouse gas but makes up for that weakness in absolute numbers. Water vapour boosts global warming in a way that as the temperature rises oceans and lakes release more. Essentially this extra water vapour in turn adds to the warming cycle, being one of the several positive feedback loops critical to the unfolding of future climate change. Carbon dioxide (CO2) accounts for about 380 of every million molecules in the air or 380 ppm, this number have been escalating by 1 to 3 ppm or about one quarter to three quarters percent per year. Overall the worldwide emissions of CO2 are increasing at 7% per year. While CO2 is naturally found in the atmosphere the amount of CO2 is increasing due to fossil fuels being burnt. The significant point to remember is plants and the ocean soak up huge amounts of carbon dioxide, helping to keep CO2 levels from increasing. The ocean is the biggest sink for carbon storage on the planet. Methane another greenhouse gas emerges from peat bogs, farming practices, rice paddies, vehicles homes and factories. It is one of the most powerful greenhouse gases and is emitted from many sectors. Greenhouse gasses have different forcing potential. E.g. methane has a much greater forcing per unit volume than carbon dioxide (forcing is the retention of energy (heat) in the atmosphere due to greenhouse gases). This means an average methane molecule absorbs 20 to 25 times more infrared energy then carbon dioxide molecules. It has soared in concentration in the last few decades due to ever-changing land use.
Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas with tremendous global warming potential (GWP). When compared to CO2, N2O has 310 times the ability to trap heat in the atmosphere. N2O is produced naturally in the soil during the microbial processes of nitrification. Some reports suggest atmospheric levels have risen by more than 15% since 1750. N2O also causes ozone depletion. A new study suggests that nitrous oxide emission currently is the single most important ozone-depleting substance (ODS) emission and is expected to remain the largest throughout the 21st century.

Ozone in the lower atmosphere is an air pollutant with harmful effects on the respiratory systems of animals and will burn sensitive plants; however, the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere is beneficial, preventing potentially damaging electromagnetic radiation from reaching the Earth's surface. Ozone is present in low concentrations throughout the Earth's atmosphere having many industrial applications. At times it is difficult to assess its global concentration as it also only survives for a few days in the troposphere. Recent research has shown little change in tropospheric ozone amounts since the 1980s but models hint and a global increase of about 30% since the Industrial Revolution (Henson 2008). Because of its short-lived nature, tropospheric ozone does not have strong global effects, but has very strong radiative forcing (like methane).

Since the 1960's, scientists have developed sophisticated climate models to help understand the ocean's role in moderating climate and greenhouse gas cycling. Yet many questions remain unanswered. How will changes in climate trends and changes in climate variability affect life in the ocean and on land? How will changes in the ocean's chemistry and biology interact with these changes in climate? How are human activities contributing to changes in the marine environment and, in turn, how might these changes affect humans? The important thing to remember is that greenhouse gases aren't the only influence on temperature, there are many other variables, such as the clouds, aerosols, but in broad terms the ocean interacts with the atmosphere and greenhouse gasses in two main ways. The first way is physically, through exchange of heat, water, and momentum. The Ocean covers more than 70% of the Earth's surface and contains about 97% of its surface water, storing vast amounts of energy in the form of heat. Moreover, the ocean has a relatively large temperature inertia, or resistance to change. Earlier scientists perceived the ocean as an unchanging "desert" due to its slow circulation and its low biological productivity. Yet, today we know the biological and physical functioning of the ocean system can change quickly over both small and large areas (i.e., during an El Niño). The ocean often drives the timing and patterns of climate change, and was recently labeled by some scientists as the "global heat engine."

As heat rises from the ocean it warms the atmosphere, creating air temperature gradients and, consequently, winds. In turn, winds push horizontally against the sea surface and drive ocean current patterns. Meanwhile, variations in temperature and salinity control vertical Ocean currents warmer fresher waters flow upwards while colder, denser water tends to sink. Over time, a complex circulation pattern was established whereby warm surface waters move pole ward where it escapes more readily to outer space, while cold, deep currents are established in the ocean depths. Through this complex ocean circulatory system, the oceans and atmosphere work together to distribute heat and regulate climate and greenhouse gases. Scientists studying this circulation pattern have speculated that global warming could shutdown or slowdown the thermohaline circulation of the oceans and trigger localized cooling in the North Atlantic and lead to cooling, or lesser warming, in that region. This would also affect areas like Scandinavia and Britain that are warmed by the North Atlantic drift. This circulation transports enormous amounts of heat, resulting in more moderate climates on land areas that are near the ocean.

Through recent climate modeling estimates over the course of the 20th century, it observed the ocean to be reduced by about half the expected surface warming due to rising greenhouse gas levels. Scientists have observed an overall cooling trend in the east despite the strong and frequent El Niño events after 1975. Modelers conclude that as a consequence of the exchanges of heat and momentum (or interaction of air and water currents) between ocean and atmosphere, the mean temperature of the Pacific Ocean increases less than it would if it only exchanged heat. Thus, given its efficiency at redistributing heat pole ward, the ocean is effectively delaying and regulating global warming and greenhouse gases. But scientists don't know if the ocean's role as "climate moderator" will persist over the long term with increasing greenhouse gases. There is evidence that large and abrupt changes in the ocean's circulation have had major impacts on global climate in the past. Some scientists question whether the existing ocean circulation pattern is stable enough to withstand the stresses of rising temperatures, heightened greenhouse gases and fresh water runoff. As the rate of greenhouse gases increases this in turn will increase the amount of fresh water runoff lessening the salinity and density of the surface water, thereby raising its freezing point. More surface ice would inhibit the escape of heat and could result in a major reorganization of the ocean's circulation system, affecting global climate.

Chemically, the ocean is both a source and sink of greenhouse gases. Much of the heat that escapes the ocean is in the form of evaporated water. Water vapor contributes to the formation of clouds, which shade the surface having a net cooling effect. In the long run, scientists don't know which process (cloud shading or water vapor heat retention) will exert the larger influence on global temperatures.) CO2 is perhaps the most important greenhouse gas because of its links with human fossil fuel based activities especially in last 150 years.
The majority of the world's carbon resides in the ocean, and the processes that result in exchanges between the surface ocean and the atmosphere, and between the upper ocean and the deep ocean, are critical.In part, the upper ocean has lower concentrations of total carbon than the deep ocean as a result of the actions of this pump. Some scientists speculate that if the ocean's circulation pattern is disrupted, it could become a source rather than a sink for carbon and atmospheric CO2 levels could rise much higher than they are now.

The delicate chemistry and biology of the oceans is affected by increased CO2 in the atmosphere and in turn affects the role of the ocean in greenhouse gas cycling. There is about fifty times as much carbon dissolved in sea water in the form of CO2 and carbonic acid, bicarbonate and carbonate ions as exists in the atmosphere. As mentioned the oceans act as an enormous carbon sink, and have taken up about a third of CO2 emitted by human activity. Gas solubility decreases as the temperature of water increases and therefore the rate of uptake from the atmosphere decreases as ocean temperatures rise. CO2 is taken up by the ocean, forming carbonic acid in equilibrium with bicarbonate and carbonate ions. Some is consumed in photosynthesis by aquatic organisms, and a small proportion of that sinks exiting the carbon cycle. Increased CO2 in the atmosphere has led to decreasing alkalinity of seawater making the ocean more acidic increasing biodiversity loss and habitat degradation. In particular with decreasing alkalinity, the availability of carbonates for forming shells decreases, particularly invertebrates, although there's evidence of increased shell production by certain species under increased CO2 content. NOAA states in their May 2008 "State of the science fact sheet for ocean acidification" that: "The oceans have absorbed about 50% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) released from the burning of fossil fuels, resulting in chemical reactions that lower ocean pH. This has caused an increase in hydrogen ion (acidity) of about 30% since the start of the industrial age through a process known as “ocean acidification.”

A number of studies have demonstrated adverse impacts on marine organisms from excessive greenhouse gases, including:
i. The rate at which reef-building corals produce their skeletons decreases and ocean warming leads to mass coral bleaching events. When the ocean temperature increases corals get stressed and bleach white and die while production of numerous varieties of jellyfish also increases.
ii. The ability of marine algae and free-swimming zooplankton to maintain protective shells is reduced.
iii. The survival of larval marine species, including commercial fish and shellfish, is reduced while changes in plankton levels will have implications for higher trophic levels – e.g. fish and in turn will affect humans.

This also has knock on affects for migration of fish species and loss of habitat to warmer oceans, impacting on valuable economic fisheries. Recent online reports by the BBC (September 2011) have illustrated this is already happening with alien species entering new areas of the ocean where they were not seen before. In Scotland, SEPA is investigating the impact and abundance of alien species in Scottish waters.

Also, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) writes in their Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report: The uptake of anthropogenic carbon since 1750 has led to the ocean becoming more acidic with an average decrease in pH of 0.1 units. Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations lead [sic] to further acidification. While the effects of observed ocean acidification on the marine biosphere are as yet undocumented, the progressive acidification of oceans is expected to have negative impacts on marine shell-forming organisms (e.g. corals) and their dependent species." Some marine calcifying organisms (including coral reefs) have been singled out by major research agencies, including NOAA, OSPAR commission, NANOOS and the IPCC, because their most current research shows that ocean acidification should be expected to impact them negatively.
Ocean Acidification

One of the key questions in climate change research is how the physical and biological processes of the ocean will respond to chemical and physical changes in atmospheric greenhouse gases? For example, will there be increased storms that increase mixing in the upper ocean (as was seen in record number hurricanes in the Caribbean in 2005 with increased mean ocean temperature correlation, and droughts in Amazon in same year were linked to ocean atmosphere conditions in the Atlantic). Will phytoplankton become more or less productive affecting the whole food chain of the oceans and ourselves? Windblown dust as mentioned from soils and desert sands are rich in iron. When they settle into the ocean, could serve as "fertilizer" for the phytoplankton again affecting food chains and its productivity. Will this dust input increase as a result of increased greenhouse gases? Will this increase the efficiency of the biological pump and thereby increase the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere by the ocean?. There is some evidence that larger amounts of iron may be deposited in the ocean in the future as global warming causes increases in windblown continental dust. Theoretically, if iron-containing aerosols fall in large regions of the ocean that are rich in other nutrients, then this would act like "fertilizer" to promote burgeoning phytoplankton populations, thus slowing the rate of CO2 increase in the atmosphere and partially offsetting the anticipated warming.

While we know that short-term events, such as El Niño, dramatically affect phytoplankton concentrations in the Pacific, scientists aren't sure how, over the long-term, changes in ocean circulation will affect the ocean's productivity. During an El Niño event, the whole marine food chain is disrupted and larger fish and mammals must either starve or move to where phytoplankton are more abundant which in turn has and will affect humans through commercial fisheries. Linking these intense events with changes in climate variability is one of the most pressing issues. A comprehensive program of observations and modeling (and IPPC scenarios) is necessary to improve our ability to make predictions on the future course of the Earth systems along with possible research into carbon capture and carbon storage in seawater.

As one example modern advances in shipping technology have hinted at one avenue for mitigation of carbon and greenhouse gases by investigating the possibility of storing carbon in seawater by ships as they travel. A company called Ecospec believes it is able to imprison CO2 in seawater without any danger of carbon leaking out later. Ships are equipped with machinery that can treat seawater. The equilibrium increases the pH value in the seawater and leads the exhaust through it. CO2 is thus bound as calcium carbonate in their water which can be released into the sea reducing the ships emission by 50%. There are still substantial issues with this technology; above all we must be sure that the carbonate is in fact stable under various conditions such as in the case of reduced pH and increased temperatures.

We have to bear in mind that a solution will be unstable if it turns out that the carbonate disintegrates again releasing CO2 back into the atmosphere and ocean but this is one improving route that shows promise in mitigation of greenhouse gases especially from the transportation sector who is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases in the world. While mentioning transportation and shipping, with the retreat of the polar ice caps especially the Arctic sea, this will have political consequences for us all with Russia , UK, US and Canada all reviewing claims to that region due to melting ice caps and possible availability to further sources of more fossil fuels.

Overall for millions of people climate change is not a scary scenario in the future it’s happening now, Pacific Islands are about to disappear under the sea and substantial glaciers & icecaps are melting at an alarming rate. We must cut greenhouse gas emissions by heavy investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency and to take further steps to stop global warming at a maximum of 2°C and cut emissions by 85% by 2050, this is a fact we cannot deny. All countries and sectors must bear this burden together and make his egalitarian and assist developing countries so no one country shoulders this burden. Implementation is everyone responsibility.

Whale, Dolphin or Porpoise - Whats are the characteristics of different types of cetaceans?

2011-03-24T02:36:00.000-07:00

Whale, Dolphin or Porpoise - Characteristics of Different Types of Cetaceans
Search Words: whales, dolphins, cetaceans, baleen whales, mysticeti, Dolphin, Porpoise, Orca Whale Watching, Whales and Dolphins

Whales
Whales, dolphins and porpoises all fall under the order Cetacea. Within this order, there are two suborders, the Mysticeti, or baleen whales, and the Odontoceti, or toothed whales. If you consider that, all whales, dolphins and porpoises are really whales. However, these terms can also be used as a way to distinguish size among species, with cetaceans longer than about 9 feet considered whales, and those less than 9 feet considered dolphins and porpoises. Within the dolphins and porpoises, there is a wide range in size, from the orca (killer whale), which can reach lengths up to about 32 feet, to the Hector’s dolphin, which can be less than 4 feet long.

Difference Between Dolphins and Porpoises:
While dolphins and porpoises are very similar and people often use the term interchangeably, scientists generally agree that there are four major differences between dolphins and porpoises:
* Dolphins have cone-shaped teeth while porpoises have flat or spade-shaped teeth.
* Dolphins usually have a pronounced “beak,” while porpoises do not have a beak.
* Dolphins generally have a very curved or hooked dorsal fin, while porpoises have a triangular dorsal fin.
* Porpoises are generally smaller than dolphins.

To get even more detailed, the term porpoise should also refer only to the six species that are in the family Phocoenidae (harbor porpoise, vaquita, spectacled porpoise, Burmeister’s porpoise, finless porpoise and Dall’s porpoise.)
You can find more examples of whales on www.marinecreatures.com or go to our marine biology facebook page and/or our marinecreatures facebook page to find out more and get daily updates See lots of photos of Whales and Dolphins on www.marinecreatures.com

Sources:
* American Cetacean Society. 2004. ACS Cetacean Curriculum (Online), American Cetacean Society. Accessed October 15, 2008.
* Waller, Geoffrey, ed. SeaLife: A Complete Guide to the Marine Environment. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C. 1996.

What are the Differences Between Baleen and Toothed Whales?

2011-03-24T02:33:00.000-07:00

I have often been asked what are the Differences Between Baleen and Toothed Whales? Here is a brief answer that should help you understand more about the difference between these two types of whales.

Key words: Whales, dolphins, baleen whales, cetaceans

There are over 80 recognized species of cetaceans, and these species are divided into two main groups: the baleen whales and the toothed whales. While they are all considered whales, there are some important differences between the two types.

Baleen whales...
* Are generally larger than toothed whales. The largest animal in the world, the blue whale, is a baleen whale.
* Feed on smaller fish and plankton with a filtering system made up of hundreds of baleen plates.
* Tend to be solitary, although they occasionally gather in groups to feed or to travel.
* Have two blowholes on top of their head, one right next to the other.
Female baleen whales are also larger than males of the same species. Examples of baleen whales include the blue whale, fin whale, and humpback whale.

Toothed whales...
* Are generally smaller than baleen whales, although there are some exceptions (e.g., the sperm whale and Baird's beaked whale). The toothed whales include all species of dolphins and porpoises.
* Are active predators and have teeth that they use to catch their prey and swallow it whole. The prey varies depending on species, but can include fish, seals, sea lions or even other whales.
* Have a much stronger social structure than baleen whales, often gathering in pods with a stable social structure.
* Have one blowhole on top of their head.

Unlike baleen whales, males of toothed whales species are usually larger than females. Examples of toothed whales include the beluga whale, bottlenose dolphin, and common dolphin. You can find more examples of toothed and Baleen whales on www.marinecreatures.com or go to our marine biology facebook page and/or our marinecreatures facebook page to find out more and get daily updates!

Information on Carcharodon carcharias, The Great White Shark ‘Jaws’

2011-03-18T02:31:00.000-07:00

Information on Carcharodon carcharias, The Great White Shark ‘Jaws’

Kingdom Animalia Phylum Phylum Chordata Class Class Elasmobranchii Order Order Lamniformes Family Family Lamnidae Genus Genus Carcharodon Species Species: Carcharodon carcharias [Endangered Status

Great white sharks, Carcharodon carcharias (Linnaeus, 1758), aka white sharks, white pointers, blue pointers, man-eaters, manila sharks, have, according to E.O. Wilson "...rightfully been called a top carnivore, a killing machine, the last free predator of man—the most frightening animal on earth." This common perception of white sharks is changing though as we learn more about these increasingly threatened sharks, some courageous explorers have not only free-dived with these "killing-machines," they lived to talk about it. Not that free-diving with white sharks is recommended, but these bold experiments have shown that these majestic, yet intimidating, creatures are not predators of man. Great white sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, are the largest known predatory fish in the sea. They reach lengths of over 6.1 external link m and can weigh up to 2,268 external link kg. They have a conical snout, pitch black eyes, a heavy, torpedo-shaped body, and a crescent-shaped, nearly equal-lobed tail fin that is supported on each side by a keel. The great white swims in a stiff-bodied, tuna-like fashion, unlike the sinuous whole-bodied swimming stroke of most sharks.

The name "white shark" is thought to have come from its universal all-white belly. The dorsal coloring of great white sharks, however, ranges from pale to dark gray and can vary tremendously depending on lighting and water color and visibility. The great white's average length is around 3.6 external link m, but there have been reports of sharks as large as 7.62 external link m. The great white belongs to the Family Lamnidae (the mackerel sharks), which includes mako and salmon sharks. Along the California coastline, adult great whites are an important predator of marine mammals, particularly the calorie-rich elephant seals. Juveniles feed mostly on fish and add marine mammals to their diet when they reach about 450 external link kg. White sharks are able to prey on such large creatures with their large upper teeth, which are triangular in shape and sharply serrated to cut large pieces of flesh from prey. The bottom teeth are narrower and used to hold prey. An unusual characteristic the white sharks (shared by other mackerel sharks and thresher sharks, Family Alopiiidae) is the ability to maintain parts of their body (swimming muscles, stomach, and brain) at temperatures above that of the surrounding water, which classifies them as endothermic or warm-blooded, like mammals.

Great white sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, have one of the widest geographic ranges of any marine animal. They are found in all cold temperate and tropical waters, from 60°N latitude to 60°S latitude. They were long thought to be primarily coastal inhabitants; however, from recent satellite tracking studies we now know that they migrate long distances, sometimes crossing entire ocean basins. Along the central California coast, they can be found hunting near elephant seal haulout areas from October through March. Off the western cape of South Africa, they can be found near cape fur seal haul-outs from May to September. In North American waters, white sharks have been reported from Newfoundland to Florida, and from from the Aleutian Islands, Alaska to southern Mexico. Nowhere in its range is the white shark very common, and in fact, they are becoming increasingly rare.

Recent research on interactions between great whites and various species of seals and sea lions suggests that great whites hunt their prey visually. Using their dark dorsal colors to help them blend in while cruising near rocky bottoms, they watch for unsuspecting seals on the surface above. When an animal is sighted, they accelerate quickly to the surface and ram into their prey, simultaneously stunning it and taking a large bite. They then return to feed on the carcass.
It should be noted that great whites often receive considerable injuries from their prey, many have been observed with deep scarring on the head from the teeth and claws of elephant seals and sea lions. It is still undetermined whether great whites are territorial; however, current observations indicate they seem to possess a home range. Recent research has shown that great whites exhibit complex social behavior that establishes rank among individuals. After one great white makes a kill, others sometimes come and feed off the same kill with no apparent aggressive interactions.
Very little is known about the reproductive cycle of the great white shark. Development is ovoviviparous. The smallest known free swimming white shark measured 1.1 external link m and weighed about 16 external link kg. Along the west coast of North America, it is believed that great whites give birth to their live young in the warmer southern California waters. The young may then slowly migrate northward as they grow larger. Ovoviviparous: eggs are retained within the body of the female in a brood chamber where the embryo develops, receiving nourishment from a yolk sac. This is the method of reproduction for the "live-bearing" fishes where pups hatch from egg capsules inside the mother's uterus and are born soon afterward. Also known as aplacental viviparity.

Gestation period is unknown, but may be longer than a year, after which mother great whites may take a year “off” before becoming pregnant again. Litter size ranges from 2 to 10 (possibly to 17) pups, each 1.0-1.5 external link m long at birth. Male great whites mature at 3.5-4.1 external link m in length and 9 to 10 years of age; females mature at 4-5 external link m and 14 to 16 years. Maximum lifespan is believed to be more than 30 years.

Although great whites, Carcharodon carcharias, have little commercial value, fishing for these sharks became a popular sport with big game fish anglers. The fearsome reputation of the great white has given it almost legendary status as an apex predator and they are often killed by humans for sport and for their jaws, teeth and fins. Great whites are very curious and most so-called “attacks” appear to be motivated by curiosity rather than a desire to feed and most attacks on humans are not fatal. Ironically, the great white is far more threatened by humans than we are of them. Great white sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, are now listed as Vunerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

"Despite the high profile media attention the Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) receives, relatively little is known about its biology. It appears to be fairly uncommon compared to other widely distributed species, being most frequently reported from South Africa, Australia, California and the northeast United States. World catches of Great White Sharks from all causes are difficult to estimate, though it is known to have a relatively low intrinsic rebound potential (Smith et al. 1998). Threats to the species include targeted commercial and sports fisheries for jaws, fins, game records and for aquarium display; protective beach meshing; media-fanned campaigns to kill Great White Sharks after a biting incident occurs; and degradation of inshore habitats used as pupping and nursery grounds."
Because of the importance of this species as a key predator in marine ecosystems, the great white was granted protected status in 1991 in South Africa and in 1994 in California and Australia and is listed on CITES external link Appendix II. Great white sharks are also an important species for marine eco-tourism, observed by divers from the safety of cages in South Africa, southern Australia and Isla Guadalupe, Mexico.

Visit www.marinecreatures.com to see a white shark gallery and photos of great white sharks.

References & Further Research
Photos images of great white sharks on www.marinecreatures.com
Advice to Swimmers, Surfers, Kayakers & Divers Concerning Sharks in California Waters by John E. McCosker, PhD external link
The Pelagic Shark Research Foundation external link
Florida Museum of Natural History external link
Video @ pelagic.org external link
Young White Shark on Exhibit - Monterrey Bay Aquarium external link
Great White Shark Diving - Shark Diver - Absolute Adventures! external link
Sociable Killers - New studies of the white shark (aka great white) show that its social life and hunting strategies are surprisingly complex. By R. Aidan Martin and Anne Martin external link
Fergusson, I., Compagno, L.J.V. & Marks, M. 2005. Carcharodon carcharias. In: IUCN 2009. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.2. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 23 December 2009.

Quiz on marine creatures Marine Biology and Ocean inhabitants.

2011-03-14T02:06:00.000-07:00

Quiz on marine creatures

What do you know about marine creatures? Here is a selection of information and details on marine creatures that I frequently get asked about these being, octopus, eels, lobsters, sharks, dolphins, whales, stingrays, sehorses, sea urchins, oysters and jellyfish.

Let's start with the octopus. Among other facts, beside the question from the quiz, there are some interesting facts about this marine creature. Did you know the octopus is the smartest of all invertebrates? It does not have an internal or external skeleton, which enables it to squeeze in small and tight places, away from predators. The only hard part of their body is their beak, which resembles the one of a parrot. The color of its blood is blue due to the presence of hemocyanin, which is dissolved in their plasma instead of being carried by red cells. The life expectancy varies from 6 months to 5 years, depending on the specie. Now, let's focus on the next marine creature from the quiz!

Eels belong to an order of fish called "Anguilliformes" or true eels. There are approximately 800 species of eels. Although some creatures are commonly called "eels" because of their similar shape, it does not make them eels. In fact, the "electric eel" is a good example of that. Some eels live in holes located at the bottom of the ocean. These holes are called "eel pits". While most "true eels" prefer to live in shallow waters, these great swimmers can live in depth as low as 4,000 meters (13,000 ft). Did you know that the electric eel is not considered to be a "true eel"? In fact, true eels belong to the Anguilliformes order. The electric eel is considered to be a fish sharing a similar shape.If you're curious about marine creatures go to www.marinecreatures.com or drop us an email with any questions or request for photos or information.

Stingrays are cartilaginous fishes related to sharks. While some species inhabit salt water bodies of water such as seas and oceans, other species live in fresh water. Although most stingray species have a stinger, others have multiple stingers and some have none. Some species have shell-crushing plates while others have sucking mouth parts. Stingrays are ovoviviparous creatures, which mean that live young in the womb, there is no placenta. In fact, they feed on a yolk sack. Once they run out, the female provides her litter with uterine milk. The size of a litter varies between 5 and 13 babies.

Seahorses suck up food with their long snouts. They feed on small shrimps and plankton. They are bony creatures, covered by a thin skin but no scales. There are approximately 80 species of seahorses. Their eyes move independently from each other, contrary to most animals Their "true courtship dance" lasts 8 hours. They share the pregnancy. The female is responsible for carrying the eggs to full maturity, at which time she transfers them into the male's pouch. When the eggs hatch, they young come out of his pouch.

Lobsters belong to the family of crustaceans. They are invertebrates but are able to move more easily than other invertebrates as they have an exoskeleton, which is an external skeleton. In their case, it is made of hard shells and makes them "arthropods". As arthropods, their nervous system and eyesight are poor. Lobsters have 10 walking legs, the front two being claws. Lobsters are omnivores, which mean their menu contains a mix of meat and plants. Their favorite food items are: fish, mollusks, other crustaceans, worms and various plants. In some cases, cannibalism has been observed in captivity. The average length for lobsters ranges between 25 and 50 cm (9.8 and 20 in). Scientists suggest that contrary to humans, lobsters do not become weaker, slow down or lose fertility with age, which explain catching lobsters of impressive sizes. The largest lobster, according to the Guinness World Records, was caught in Nova Scotia, Canada. He weighted 20.15 kg (44.4 lbs).
Oysters are bivalve mollusks. Bivalve meaning they have two hard shell plates bound with a flexible ligament called a hinge. Among oysters, the main types are: true oysters, which are considered to be a culinary delicacy worldwide, and pearl oysters, which are not eaten but harvested for their pearls. A pearl is created by covering a small parasite with layers of nacre over the years. A pearl can be perfect after a period of time ranging from 3 to 6 years. Pearl farmers use a small piece of mollusk shell to start the process. Oysters are called "filter feeders". They draw water through their gills using the beating of cilia. This process trap the plankton in the mucus of the gills then gets transported to the mouth where it is ingested. An oyster can filter an average of 5 L of water (1.3 US gal) per hour. An oyster also has a three chambers heart, two kidney and colorless blood.
Did you know?

Did you know that oysters are an excellence source of iron, zinc, selenium and vitamin B12? In fact, the healthiest way to serve them is raw on the half shell.
More interesting facts about marine creatures!

Sea urchins belong to the Echinoidea class. They can be found in all oceans. Their round and spiny shell is called a "test". Sea urchins mostly feed on algae. Their predators are wolf eels, sea otters and humans. Sea urchins are served as culinary delicacies in several parts of the world. The average sea urchin measures between 6 and 12 cm (2.4 and 4.7 in) across although depending on the specie, some have been known to reach up to 36 cm (14 in). Sea urchins are sensitive to touch, light and chemicals.

Whales are cetaceans divided in two suborders: Mysticeti (baleen whales) and Odontoceti (toothed whales). Baleen whales are filter feeders, which means they filter water through keratin comb-like plates that retain plankton while releasing water. Toothed whales feed mainly on fish. Their length varies depending on their specie. While the Blue whale, which is the largest mammal on the planet, has a length of 35 m (115 ft), the pygmy sperm whale measures 3.5 m (11 ft). More than 2 million whales have been killed through "whaling", which means hunting whales. This practice originally began in the 1600's and was legislated by a moratorium introduced by the International Whaling Commission in 1986. Although it is not absolute, it has prevented the extinction of several whale species.

Dolphins are marine mammals also called cetaceans. They share that order with whales and porpoises. Dolphins live in pods, another term for groups. They are naturally sociable creatures and very smart. In fact, scientists often compare them to humans. There are 32 dolphin species. Dolphins are slaughtered in some Asian countries such as Japan because they consider them responsible for the decrease in the amount of fish caught and ripped nets. The movie "The Cove" is a documentary based on this cruel practice. Their mercury filled meat is sold to their people for consumption. On the other hand, some natives living on a Pacific island are using dolphins to fish off the beach.

Jellyfish inhabit all oceans. Some jellyfish species are also found in freshwater. These species usually measure up to 25 mm (less than 1 inch) in diameter, are colorless and do not sting. A group of jellyfish is called a bloom. Contrary to what their name implies, a jellyfish is not a fish, it is a member of the Cnidaria phylum. The presence of jellyfish blooms can be detrimental for both the environment and humans. Jellyfish can harm humans by stinging them, which can sometimes be deadly, and cause a decrease in tourism of coastal waters. They can also damage fishing nets, poison and crush captured fish, eat fish eggs and young fish. They are also responsible for clogging nuclear power plants, desalination plants and ships' engines. Last but not least, the largest jellyfish specie, the Nomura's jellyfish, has been known to overturn small boats.