Earthquakes, safety at sea and studying oceans

Hi all

I found out today that it’s not just the oceans that are very complex, the whole planet is. While the earth surface seems to be solid to us the earth’s surface is actually made up of separate pieces which are called plates. They all fit together a bit like a jig-saw puzzle. These plates are constantly moving, but very slowly. In fact in a year the plates will only have moved a few centimeters. The places where these plates fit together are called fault lines. These are also places where earthquakes can occur. This is quite a difficult topic to cover in my blog so if you want to find out more about these plates and fault lines you can check out the web link below.
http://www.moorlandschool.co.uk/earth/tectonic.htm

The reason I mention this is because I found out that California has a major fault line. I discovered this was called the San Andreas fault, which is a fault that runs throughout California and is famous for causing the 1906 earthquake that nearly devastated the city of San Francisco. There are many fault lines in the Bay Area that are active and produce quakes. Jennifer, one of the education people here at Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary took me and Sam to see where part of the fault line is. Although you can see the fault lines marked on maps, you can’t see the actual fault line in real life. However, Jennifer showed me the blue poles that mark where the fault line runs.

I was interested to hear that the San Andreas fault separates the continental plate from the Pacific plate, so I could not resist hopping between plates over the fault line and back again!

Unfortunately I was unable to visit Cordell Bank itself, as its 20 miles offshore and the ocean is quite wild here in the winter time. There has been a powerful storm in the area for sometime so the seas have been quite unsafe for me to visit, so instead the staff at Cordell Bank showed me some of the stuff they use to learn about the waters at Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

Jennifer showed me a special coat called a “float coat”. They don’t come in small bear sizes so I tried on a human sized one which as you can see is a little big for me, but it was still warm and toasty!

These coats have built in flotation for researchers on a boat, so they can be safe and stay warm too. If they do accidentally fall in the water the coat will keep them afloat. Its water proof as well! Sam said the air temperatures out on the Pacific can be quite chilly even during the summer months, so if you don’t have fur like me, layering clothes for warmth is important.

Check out this crazy instrument. This is a CTD, instrument which stands for Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth. The frame houses special sensors which records information about the surrounding water. The instrument is lowered to just above the seafloor and collects data the whole way down to help scientists understand what the water column is like. A water column is an imaginary area of water (column shaped) from surface of the ocean down to the seabed. Apparently when they do this test near shore outside of San Francisco, they can detect the fresh water that runs out of the San Francisco Bay, whereas farther offshore and north away from the bay, there is much less fresh water to be detected.

The staff here also have a special submersible (like a miniature submarine) to help the research team use to help them monitor and explore the seafloor habitats of Cordell Bank.

They gave me a controlled model one for me to see. Of course this one is even too small for me, but you get the idea. In an area like this, where the habitats are too deep to SCUBA dive in, this is a great way to learn about this sanctuary.

Bye for now, Ed

Ed the Bear arrives in California

Hi all

Wow, I made it all the way across the country from the east coast and have landed in San Francisco, California. Some of my buddy Steve’s family live in California, but I hear California is a big place so I guess I won't get to see them. I know Steve's cousin Geoff has a child called Sabrina who is really interested in the ocean as well. Hi Sabrina if you are reading this message.

I did not realise just how far it was from one side of the US to the other. It's about 3,000 miles from the east coast to the west coast of the US. I’m glad I didn’t have to walk. California looks quite different to Virginia on the east coast so luckily Sanctuary Sam is from this region and has been pointing out all the amazing things to know about this incredible part of the world. First, I saw the Pacific Ocean which is big! Sam, saw a few of his buddies who started barking at us from the water, as Sam is a California Sea Lion. As you know Sam is now an ambassador for the sanctuaries.

As you can see in this picture, we are in front of the world famous Golden Gate Bridge that crosses San Francisco to Marin County California. The River Adur back home in England is very small compared to this great body of water. We have a small bridge crossing the river, but the Golden Gate Bridge is enormous. It’s hard to imagine how they even managed to build it across the bay especially as the total length of the bridge spans 1.2 miles. The area under the bridge drains approximately 40% of California’s water from the Sierra Nevada mountains to Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers to San Francisco Bay and out to the ocean, which has 3 neighboring National Marine Sanctuaries outside it.

The waters outside the Golden Gate are so productive with marine life that 3 Sanctuaries are here and I will get to visit all 3 of them. To the south is Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, where I hope to see a sea otter and learn about kelp forests and the deep sea Monterey Canyon. Right outside the Golden Gate is the Gulf of the Farallones, where apparently there are quite a few big white sharks, they tell me I am just too small to be a prey item for a white shark, so not to worry.

Back in England I helped Steve run a course on sharks, so hopefully I might see one while I am here. And just north of that is Cordell Bank NMS, where an underwater mountain is thriving with amazing colorful invertebrates and fishes. This whole region is known to attract animals all the way across and around the Pacific to feed here because there is so much food in the water. Whales, seabirds, and elephant seals, and more thrive in these cold, food rich waters.

A really wet and intense storm has been in the area for a few days, bringing huge amounts of rain to the area. While residents are happy for the rain as the state has been in a draught, I witnessed large amounts of plastic and styrofoam bits washing up on the beaches as a result.

These items were probably washed into the ocean upstream somewhere and the huge wash of water brought it here. This is a lesson that we can all work harder on to prevent, by making sure we leave nothing on the ground and pick up litter whenever we see it, so it doesn’t wash into the ocean and get eaten by ocean animals. You may remember that when I was visiting Methea at Spokane Community College, (in Washington State, the next state up) she told me about the problem of chemicals and litter being washed into rivers and flowing down stream into the oceans. Now I have seen it for myself.

Bye for now Ed and Sam

Good Bye to the Monitor Sanctuary

Hi all

Well, sadly the time has come for me to leave the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary. I sure had fun and learned a lot! I am sad to leave my new friends, but I am also very excited to meet the staff of Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary next week!  Here is a picture of some of the team I meet here at the Monitor Sanctuary. I hope they enjoyed my visit as much as I enjoyed discovering about the Monitor Sanctuary and the fascinating work they do.

Left to right: John Broadwater, Dave Dodsworth, Jeff Johnston, Joe Hoyt, Shannon Ricles, and Lauren Heesemann.

John Broadwater and Jeff Johnston were actually the archeologist and historian that brought the turret up from the seabed. Joe is the current maritime archeologist working on Battle of the Atlantic Expedition.

Great news, Sanctuary Sam has offered to come with me and keep me company as I visit the various NOAA sanctuaries. I of course said yes. Sam said we are going to learn all about a fascinating underwater habitats off the California coast! I can’t wait….so Sam and I are off ...talk to you soon!

You can check out my next location Cordell Banks on the following link

http://cordellbank.noaa.gov/

Bye for now, Ed and Sam

Why is Heritage important?

Hi all

It may seem strange that I have been spending so much time looking at Maritime Heritage/History. Well, this is just as important as our natural heritage. In fact they are often part of the same thing.

Our heritage reminds us of what has gone before. How our family, village, town, etc came into being and what has contributed to the way they are today. This helps to give us a sense of place within our surroundings. Countries change too as we enter different eras of history.

Maritime history is also praticlualrly interesting. We can find out about the links between different countries in the past. We can find out about how countries traded with each other or how they fought against each other and why. While some ship wrecks have treasure such as gold and silver, many wrecks contain everyday items that people used in the past and by studying them we can see how people used to live. This is also "treasure" and an important part of our heritage.

See what you can find out about your own town or viilage. When was it first built and how has it changed? When was your house built, what was there before it was built? Your local library or museum are good places to start.

And don't forget, the things we do today are creating the Heritage of tomorrow, so it is important that we understand the past.

Bye for now, Ed

Why are there so many ship wrecks?

Hi all

I spent some more time talking with Sam today about the Monitor and Sam told me that the Monitor is only one of thousands of shipwrecks off the North Carolina coast. I asked why so many ships sunk in that area and Sam said there were several reasons. He said that the cold waters of the Labrador Current and the warm waters of the Gulf Stream collide in that area causing very strong currents and hazardous weather. There are also some places where it is difficult to navigate, particularly in the Diamond Shoals area off of Cape Hatteras where the Monitor lays.

Due to all the shipwrecks, they call the area off the coast of North Carolina the Graveyard of the Atlantic! Luckily today, NOAA’s Weather Service helps mariners to know the weather conditions at all times, and NOAA’s Coastal Survey office also helps mariners by keeping the nautical charts updated, so ships will know if the sea floor has changed due to storms, such as hurricanes, making the waters non-navigable.


I asked Sam if the Monitor protected any other shipwrecks in the area, and he said that they have a special project called, “The Battle of the Atlantic.” Archeologists and other divers have been surveying and documenting shipwrecks from World War II. Sam told me that in the summer of 2008, they surveyed three WWII German submarines, U-85, U-352, and U-701. Last summer, they worked on the HMT Bedfordshire, which is an English ship! It was sunk by U-558 on May 12, 1942 right off of Cape Hatteras. Sam also told me that some of the sailors who died on the ship were washed up on Ocracoke Island and are buried there in a small cemetery that now belongs to the British government. Every year on the anniversary of the sinking of the ship they have a small ceremony. He showed me some pictures of the ceremony last May when Monitor staff went to participate.

Sam said that this next summer they will be surveying more ships and some will be merchant ships that were sunk by the German U-boats. He gave me the web site for “The Battle of the Atlantic” expedition, and I can’t wait to learn more and to follow next summer’s blogs about their expedition!

http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/missions/battleoftheatlantic2/welcome.html

It all sounds really amazing. I had lots of questions about how archeologists and divers work underwater, but we ran out of time. Sam said there is a short video clip on the web site that explains it, so I can’t wait to see it! I won't have time to add all this information to my blog, so if you want to know mopre about this fascinating project, you can follow the link below as well.

http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/missions/battleoftheatlantic2/log_082009.html

Bye for now, Ed

Ed's Dive in the News

Hi all

You may remember when I dived in the museum tank to try out my new underwatre housing a chap from the local newspaper took some pictures. Well, here is the artilce they printed.

I hope that the monitor sanctaury benefit from people reading about the work they do and hopefully more people will follow my adventures on my blog as well.

Bye for now, Ed

Ed Dives in the Sanctuary Museum

Hi all

I had a very exciting day today at the sanctuary museum. Today we got the chance to try out my new underwater housing that will allow me to explore some of the sanctuaries underwater without getting wet! I really felt like an explorer.

Outside the tank

The housing was built especially for me by Ed (the human) Williams who works for a company called IRobot. I wasn’t keen to travel down in the housing in the ocean, just incase it leaked. However, I didn’t want them to try it out without me inside it either. So Shannon suggested that we try the housing out in one of the museum tanks. This meant that I would get to examine part of the monitor wreck up close as well.

So early this morning everything was set up for my dive. Sam wished me luck and said he would watch from the side, ready to dive in the water if I needed help.

You may not know this but sea lions are excellent swimmers. Once I was inside I felt like an astronaut but instead of going into outer space I would be diving into the murky depths.

When I was safely inside, the housing was attached to a winch so I could be slowly lowered into the tank. There was a chap from the local newspaper too, taking pictures to record my first dive.

It was very cool. Suddenly there was a whir of motors and a jolt as I was lifted up, swung out and gently

lowered down to the water. Very soon the water was lapping around me and slowly the water closed in above me and I’m diving down into the tank.

Wow! It was so amazing to go into the big tank with the Monitor’s turret! No bear, or member of the public has been down into the turret tank before. I looked out the dome and I could see the metal gun turret in front of me. It looked like there was some brown stuff growing on the metal. Very soon I was heading back up into the light and was lifted back onto the side of the tank. It was brilliant. I can’t wait to try it out in one of the other sanctuaries.

When I was back on dry land, Sam asked me about the dive. I said it was absolutely amazing. You may remember I noticed some stuff on the metal and so I asked Sam if he knew what it was. Sam told me that when the turret was brought up from the ocean floor it was covered in the stuff and it is called concretion! I asked if he meant concrete. He said it is sort of like concrete. It was made up of minerals that are dissolved in the ocean water (remember when I found out what sea water was made of). The concretions are also caused by oxidation of the metal (we call it rust) and even marine animals create a type of “cement” that attaches to the shipwreck.

As you know, the Monitor was an iron clad and metal rusts when it comes in contact with water, so the turret was pretty rusty. Sam said that in the ocean concretion can actually help to protect the Monitor because it adds a layer between the metal and the water, thus keeping the water from rusting the metal even faster. But here in the conservation lab, they remove the concretion and stabilize the metal. He showed me these pictures of pieces before the concretion was removed for conservation…pretty cool.

The picture below shows the propelor after it had been cleaned up and preserved.

If you want to find out more about how metal things rust, try the following. You will need two glass jars, one

filled with sea water and one filled with normal tap water. You will also need two hardware nails. Put one nail in each jar. Which nail do you think will go rusty first?

Oh yes, you can also watch me dive into the museum tank on YouTube, follow the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t53aY8DwhIY

 "Ed the Bear in Monitor Turret"

Bye for now, Ed