Sonar helps to map Civil War, WWII shipwrecks

Brock Vergakis - 

World War II shipwrecks off North Carolina and Civil War shipwrecks in Virginia are being analyzed with sonar technology so sophisticated that the public could one day view near photographic images in detail even better than diving at some of the sites could provide.

Federal researchers are using sonars to gather data that will result in vivid, three-dimensional images of the shipwrecks that will likely end up online, in museums and as part of other programs designed to promote American maritime heritage.

"Not everybody dives, and so that's why we embrace technologies like this that are cutting-edge, cost-effective and give you a three-dimensional sense of that ship on the bottom," said James Delgado, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Maritime Heritage Program. "The kinds of imagery — it's almost photographic."

Shipwrecks are often popular dive sites, but obtaining detailed images of the ships would allow the public to view them without risk of damaging them and also help scientists determine the condition the ships are in as they try to develop better ways to preserve them. The technology also allows the public to view shipwrecks in waters that aren't very clear.

On Tuesday, researchers headed to North Carolina's Outer Banks to begin creating images of ships sunk in 1942 during the Battle of Atlantic.

On July 14, 1942, a merchant convoy of 19 ships and five military escorts left Hampton Roads en route to Key West, Fla., to deliver cargo to aid the war effort. A German submarine attacked Convoy KS-520 the next day off Cape Hatteras, and the U-boat was sunk by depth charges dropped by U.S. Navy aircraft.

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Plans to restore Cape Canaveral Lighthouse begin

Sue DeWerff -

A project to restore the grounds, walkways and the former keeper's cottages surrounding the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse is now part of a project under way by foundation members and the 45th Space Wing of the United States Air Force.

The project, entitled the "Keepers Brick Project," hopes to raise funds to re-build brick walkways that once linked the lighthouse with the cottages.

The fundraiser will allow visitors and the local community a chance to participate by purchasing individual bricks that will be used to construct the new walkways. Each brick, priced at $150, will include personal engraving of three rows with as many as 12 characters per line.

Funds raised for the project will also be used to build three cottages in the exact location where they existed in the late 1800s.

One of the cottages will be earmarked for use as an archeological center and the lighthouse gift shop, where visitors can purchase high-quality Cape Canaveral Lighthouse merchandise and memorabilia.

Currently the gift shop operates at the Cape cafeteria on the base, or online at www.canaverallight.org.

A second cottage will be constructed with facilities to house foundation members and the Air Force for the purpose of holding conferences and meetings.

The third cottage will serve as a museum and educational center. This building will house information about the history of the lighthouse and its keepers, and serve as a place for visitors to discover general information about the Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral historical sites in and around the area, as well as the history of the lighthouse.

The Cape Canaveral Lighthouse, one of the oldest mapped locations in the U.S., is currently the only lighthouse owned by an Air Force base. Transfer of ownership to Cape Canaveral Air Force station from the U.S. Coastguard took place on Dec. 14, 2000.

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The very weirdest theories about the Loch Ness Monster

Ed Grabianowski -

What is the Loch Ness Monster? No one knows, but that hasn't stopped legions of armchair cryptozoologists from formulating one theory after another on the subject of the world's most famous lake creature.

Ok, it isn't entirely true that we don't know anything about what Nessie is – a lot of evidence indicates that the beast was born of the marriage between a compelling local legend and the imaginations of hoaxers and excitable eyewitnesses alike. The cold, murky waters of that massive lake must surely take on an ominous, mysterious quality during long Scottish nights – is it any surprise that the region generated the Greatest Fish Story Ever Told ?

Since the first publicized sighting in 1933, the adventurous and the curious have been trying to figure out what it is that people keep seeing in those turbid grey waters.

Theory One: Nessie is a Plesiosaur.

This theory might not seem weird because it's been around almost since the original sighting. There are even a few oddly plausible aspects of this theory. Plesiosaurs (specifically, long-necked elasmosaurs) may have been warm-blooded, which would allow one to live in the chilly loch waters. In the early 90s, a Discovery Channel expedition learned that the loch's fish population was much greater than previously known – enough to support a population of evolved plesiosaurs ? Maybe.

There are two huge problems with this theory, though. The biological problem is that elasmosaurs were not physically able to raise their heads and necks above the water in the swan-like fashion virtually every photo and eyewitness account indicates.

The geological problem is more severe: in between the supposed extinction of plesiosaurs and the formation of Loch Ness was a period of glaciation that left the entire region encased in ice several miles thick. And if you're about to propose some kind of Encino Man scenario, let me just stop you before you say it out loud. No, just stop.

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Redefinition of Seawater to Aid Climate Research

Hydro International -

Dr Trevor McDougall, specialist in thermal fluid dynamics, CSIRO Wealth from Ocean Flagship, recently led an international science team which has released a new thermodynamic definition of salinity, ‘heat content' and other seawater properties. The science behind understanding the movement of heat through the world's deep oceans is entering a more exact phase with the adoption of a new thermodynamic definition of what constitutes "seawater".

Seawater is a mixture of 96.5 per cent pure water and 3.5 per cent other material, such as salts, dissolved gases organic substances and un-dissolved particles. Salinity, comprising the salts washed from rocks, has been deduced to date solely using the conductivity of seawater.

The new definition of seawater builds on this observational approach and additionally allows for the spatially variable composition of seawater which is not apparent in the conductivity measurements alone.

Speaking at the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) conference in Melbourne as this year's Prince Albert I Medal winner, Dr McDougall said the new definition facilitates the more accurate representation of heat content and of heat uptake by the ocean. The Prince Albert I Medal has been awarded to Dr McDougall for his fundamental advances in ocean mixing processes.

"To date the ocean's role in the climate system has been handled only in an approximate manner, both because of a lack of theoretical understanding of the "heat content" of seawater, and also because of the inability to calculate the required thermodynamic quantities.

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Underwater wonderland: Divers take the plunge to reveal stunning images of beautiful crystal cave in depths of Russia

Daily Mail -

A team of daring cave divers have produced an incredible photo-reportage of the longest underwater gypsum crystal cave in the world. 

The Orda Cave in the western Urals region is three miles of eerily dramatic natural channels created by water so clear divers can see over 50 yards ahead of them.

Over a period of six months the intrepid team led by photographer and journalist, Victor Lyagushkin, 40, from Russia explored the water filled cave tunnels at temperatures barely above freezing.

'This cave is unique - it is real wonder of nature,' explained Mr Lyagushkin.'But if you want to see Orda cave for yourself, you must be experienced cave diver. 

'It means few years of hard training, a lot of heavy and expensive equipment. That is why we decided to show pictures to people across the world.

'Now you need not visit Russia and go underwater - you may see it sitting in your own chair.'

Together the divers documented their journey into Orda Cave as part of a project to raise awareness of the beauty and fragility of this barely explored natural wonder. 

But the expedition was not without danger.

'We do control our risks - before each dive we discuss each moment, to find a solution to any situation we are faced with,' said Mr Lyagushkin.

'If it is too risky, we do not dive. We must be aware of each step, or you will die. 

'But the reward is the possibility to see something beautiful, something that nobody has seen before you. 

'For the millions of years this amazing place has existed water has formed it into a palace while no human was here. 

'To visit this cave gives you a special feeling - I think the same feeling cosmonauts on the Moon have. 

'You are hanging with no gravity in the strange unusual world. You fly like a bird over its landscapes.'

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Coelacanth slowly reveals its secrets

Matt Walker -

An odd-looking ancient fleshy fish continues to serve as a reminder of just how little we know about the natural world.

In 1938, scientists discovered the coelacanth, a large primitive deep-dwelling fish that was supposed to have been long, long extinct.

The fish provided an immediate link to our dim evolutionary past, resembling the lobe-fin fish that were likely the first to leave the water and take to land, ultimately begetting the amphibians, reptiles and mammals we see today, including the human race.

The fish’s discovery was a worldwide sensation, and the coelacanth remains famous to this day, its name synonymous with the concept of living fossils and great natural history discoveries.

But new research just published reveals, in its own way, just how little we still know about this fish, despite it being the subject of intensive scrutiny and excitement for more than 70 years.

A team of scientists based in France and Germany has just summarized the results of a 21 year study into coelacanths living in the Comoros Islands, in the western Indian Ocean.

That in itself is impressive.

After its initial discovery in South African waters, another was not sighted by western scientists until fourteen years later, when a few fish were found swimming off the Comoros. The fish was not filmed alive until the BBC serendipitously took some footage of one for the programme Life on Earth broadcast in 1979 (see video below) and the first photos of the fish in its natural habitat were not taken until 1988.

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Cornish marine firm fined £10k over safety breaches

BBC News - 

The owner of a Cornish marine company has been fined £10,000 for safety breaches which put a diver's life at serious risk, a court heard.

Kenneth Dunstan, owner of Mylor Marine Maintenance of Marlowe Bridge, pleaded guilty to breaching four diving safety regulations before Truro magistrates.

The court heard Mr Dunstan from Saltbox Road, Mylor Bridge used incorrect equipment and an unqualified diver. The Health and Safety Executive found the breaches on 5 May 2010.

'No choice'

The court heard that one of Mr Dunstan's employees had been working underwater on moorings in the estuary near St Mawes. Inspectors said they found the diver was using one tank of breathing gas with a mouthpiece.

They said a full face mask and two tanks were required. The court heard there was no standby diver or a lifeline and the employee did not have the proper qualifications.

There was also no diving plan for the work being carried out, which should have included a risk assessment and a project plan, the court heard.

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Missing diver's epic swim to safety

Dorset Echo -

A missing diver was found alive and well shortly before a massive air and sea rescue operation was called off.

The diver managed to defy the odds by swimming for four hours to shore after becoming separated from his boat.

He stumbled ashore and made his way to the top of the cliff where he managed to alert the emergency services.

A major rescue operation was launched after he disappeared off the coast close to the Lulworth Banks off Ringstead yesterday afternoon.

Portland Coastguard received an emergency call at 4pm and tasked the search and rescue helicopter, Weymouth all-weather and inshore lifeboats and Dorset Police’s inflatable rib craft to scour the area for the missing man.

Local boats in the area also answered a call to join in the hunt.

A spokesman for the coastguard said: “We received a call at 4pm of a missing male diver in Weymouth Bay and we got the helicopter, two lifeboats and police rib and various other local boats on scene.

“It is believed that a couple of people had gone scalloping, it wasn’t a dive boat he was with.”

The man is believed to have been wearing full scuba diving gear.

Coastguards were close to calling off the search when the man was found on the coast near Ringstead shortly before 8pm.

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Navy scientists display futuristic tools of war

News Herald -

An aquatic robot swam along the side of a ship in a demonstration of new technology at the U.S. Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City on Thursday.

It’s all part of the testing of underwater unmanned vehicles, or underwater robots, that will be incorporated into the Navy’s arsenal to fight enemies of America at sea.

Researchers, scientists and military personnel have gathered to watch the latest gadgets and gizmos tested as part of the Navy’s Office of Naval Research Mine Countermeasures Science and Technology at the warfare center over the past two weeks.

Phil Bernstein, head of the Unmanned Systems Technology Branch at the warfare center, discussed why robots are important to the military and why the demonstration took place.

“We are trying to get the robots to do the dirty, dull and dangerous work,” Bernstein said. “This is a place where we have the opportunity to bring lots of robotic and unmanned systems together and demonstrate them in a relative environment, out into the ocean and not just in somebody’s backyard. We get sailors and Marines out to see the technology that will be coming out in the next five years.”

The varieties of robots are constantly evolving at the Navy’s research center.

“There are different vehicles (robots) for different missions,” Bernstein said. “But they are all predominantly related to (sea) mine hunting.”

Many of the robots showcased Thursday could be deployed as equipment on board the new Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), Bernstein said. The LCS is designed to be active in shallow coastal waters.

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