Category Archives: High Seas

Ever wonder what is the best cruise ship in the world? Everyone will have their own opinion, and whats best for one person may not be best for another. But while we have yet to sail every single ship out there, in our book nothing tops Royal Caribbeans Oasis-class cruise ships at least for now.

First introduced in 2009 with Oasis of the Seas, the cruise line is still building this family of vessels, with Wonder of the Seas in 2022.

In total there are just five of these ships in the world:

So what makes them so special? In a word: Size.

Despite being introduced more than a decade ago, Oasis-class vessels are still the largest cruise ships on the planet. For some people, bigger ships are a drawback. But because of that size, Royal Caribbean is able to do things that are simply unimaginable on a smaller vessel. The result is that your experience on the ship can be completely different than sailing a typical cruise, and in so many ways, we believe it is better.

To give you an idea of exactly why, here are what we think are the major reasons Oasis-class ships beat anything else sailing today.

You may not realize how much larger Oasis ships are compared to other big ships from other lines.

For an idea, these ships come in around 225,000+ gross tons. The next largest group of ships, such as Carnivals Mardi Gras and Costa Smeralda, are about 185,000 gross tons. So the Oasis ships are about 20% larger. But its not just the tonnage.

Oasis-class ships are roughly 200 feet wide at their widest point. Most of the other large ships from other lines are about 140 feet wide. That means Oasis provides so much more space especially in the width of the ship to pack more in.

The result is that due to the size, Oasis ships have more things to do, meaning there is something for everyone. Whether you want a quiet spot to relax and eat a great meal or you want thrill rides, its all available.

With all that space, you might think that the cruise ship can pack on more people. Youd be absolutely right, but there is a caveat to know.

At double capacity, Royal Caribbeans Oasis-class ships hold about 5,500 passengers. That number can reach upwards of 6,700 people at maximum capacity (meaning more than two passengers to some cabins).

But despite being the largest ships in the world by a substantial margin, that passenger figure isnt much higher than some smaller ships. Mardi Gras, the largest ship in Carnivals fleet, holds nearly 5,300 passengers at double occupancy and about 6,500 at maximum capacity. Thats nearly the same as Oasis-class ships.

In other words, the Oasis ships may have more passengers, but they also have more space for everyone.

Sailing with a balcony on your cruise is one of the luxuries of sailing. You get your own private space with a million-dollar view. But on most ships these balconies are very small. They provide a space thats just enough for a couple of chairs and a small table, and not much more.

With the luxury of size (specifically the extra width of the ship), Oasis ships offer about twice as much space on a typical balcony. Theres plenty of room for people to sit, stand, and stretch out, without having to bump into railings or patio furniture. In fact, if you wanted to do so, theres even enough room for you to lay out to get some sun.

One of our favorite spots on Oasis ships is without a doubt is Central Park. Its like nothing else youve seen at sea.

The design of the vessels features a large divide down the middle of the ship. Within this divide, Royal Caribbean has installed a legit park for passengers to enjoy. It features shrubbery and trees, winding paths through, and is lined with restaurants and shops. There is even the sound of birds chirping piped in to add to the atmosphere.

Either side of the park is walled in with cabins that look down into the park, giving the feel of being in an oasis in the middle of a city. If the hustle and bustle of everything to do on the cruise gets you feeling a bit worn out, there is no better place to relax quietly on the ship in our opinion.

One other idea? Wake up early to enjoy a quiet breakfast at one of the many spots to sit in the park.

Another difference that youll find is the Aqua Theater, located on the back of ships in this class. On most Royal Caribbean vessels, the back of the ship is fairly quiet. In this case, the area is an outdoor theater thats like nothing else at sea.

Theres wraparound seating that all faces a pool thats an engineering marvel. The pool deck moves up and down, so it can be completely full of water, or allow performers to dance on top of the pool in a matter of seconds. There are also wires that allow the cast of the aqua shows to fly over the audience and diving platforms for them to jump from during the program.

There are plenty of shows at sea, but the performances at the Aqua Theater are like nothing else youve seen on any other ship. The space at the back of the ship is something you cant miss.

The Aqua Theater sits at the end of another unique space on Oasis-class ships: the Boardwalk. Similar to Central Park, the area is part of a lower deck thats in the middle of the ship, between two soaring stacks of cabins on either side.

This open-air area has a carnival theme with a full-sized carousel you can ride, arcade games, and a number of restaurants and shops. For instance, on Oasis of the Seas there is a large open-air Playmakers sports bar with dozens of TVs, Sugar Beach (candy store), and Johnny Rockets.

As an outdoor area that is also protected from the wind and sun, its a great place to be outside on the ship without having to fight the heat and sun you might find on the pool deck. Other ships just dont have this sort of area.

If youre out on the Boardwalk, then youll likely notice two purple slides that wind down from way above your head. These two slides are the Ultimate Abyss. They actually begin 10 decks above, on Deck 16.

The large angler fish at the top of the ship serves as the launching point. You walk up into its mouth, sit on the specially-made mat, lay back, and hold on tight. The slide drops you down as you spin around. In total the ride only takes about 10-15 seconds but its a big thrill.

This sort of slide would be a major attraction on land, much less a cruise ship. Theres simply nothing else like it at sea and if you (or your kids) love excitement, then its another reason Oasis-class ships are tops.

Want something more refined than 10-story slides? Oasis ships have you covered as well.

On Royal Caribbean ships, many have the Solarium an adults-only pool area thats calmer and more relaxing than just hanging out on the pool deck. In fact, many other cruise lines also have adult-only areas. They are definitely not unique to Oasis-class ships.

What is unique is how Royal Caribbean has built the Solarium on Oasis cruise ships as a focal point. The area is at the front of the ship, offering sweeping views across the horizon. The colors are subdued instead of bright. Theres no loud music like you might find at the mail pools. In fact, the only sound you hear is the pool fountain running.

But perhaps the biggest design feature are the windbreaks that provide an outdoor spot without dealing with the constant breeze as the ship is underway. There are also spots that are more shaded thanks to the tinted glass canopies, but also areas where you can lay out in direct sun.

In short, if you want a quiet, relaxed place to enjoy being outside, then it is perfection.

Every ship you sail will have suite options. But its doubtful they will have anything thats like what you will find on Oasis-class vessels.

Due to the size of the ship, Royal Caribbean is able to do some creative things when it comes to special suites. Think about two-story options, or those that are simply bigger than whats found on other ships. There are also unique spots like Aqua Theater suites that have wraparound balconies overlooking the theater at the back of the ship.

One more unique spot being introduced is the Ultimate Panoramic Suite, which is directly above the ships bridge and offers a bedroom with 180-degree windows, jutting out over the side of the ship.

When it comes to suites, what youll find on Oasis ships is just a step above what youll find on other vessels, even in Royal Caribbeans fleet.

When youre on a ship for a week, its nice to have a lot of dining choices. Nobody wants to eat at the same spot over and over again, or have every meal come from the buffet. The good news is that cruise lines put lots of places to eat on every ship, covering a wide range of cuisines. The difference is with the size of Oasis ships, there is simply more space for more options. You can stay on the ship a week and still not try every single spot.

For instance, on Oasis of the Seas there are 20 different places to grab a bite to eat or a snack, ranging from fine dining to grabbing a hot dog to-go. Compare that to Liberty of the Seas a smaller Freedom-class vessel in the Royal Caribbean fleet. That ship only has 11 different restaurants.

With the weight of water and the fact that pools have to go high on the top of the ship to get the sun, there are lots of limits on whats feasible. Thats why you normally find only one or maybe two different pools on most ships, and they are usually small.

But create a ship the size of Royal Caribbeans largest ones, and you can have so many more options. In total, Oasis-class ships have four different pools, including three in the main pool area, and one in the Solarium. Then there are the whirlpool hot tubs, Splashaway Bay, and Perfect Storm water slides.

In short, there is no shortage of options to take a dip or get wet, whether you just want to swim in a traditional pool, soak in a hot tub, or have a kid that wants to play.

In addition to everything weve mentioned, there are also other perks that you might find on a few other ships, but they are part of Oasis vessels as well.

One item is the zipline that crosses the back of the ship, soaring over the Boardwalk decks below. Another are twin Flowrider standing waves. While the Flowrider is a staple on Royal Caribbean, Oasis-class ships boasts two of them.

Then there are some unique bar features like Bionic Bar, which has two robots that mix and serve drinks. Its on a handful of Royal Caribbean ships, including their largest vessels. And theres also the Rising Tide bar. This spot features a moving bar that slowly rises and lowers in the middle of the ship so you can enjoy your beverage.

Bottom line is that the Oasis ships are unlike anything else in Royal Caribbeans fleet and unlike anything else in the world (at least right now).

We know that some people arent always fans of the biggest ships. But in our opinion, that size is a huge advantage that provides so many more options for things to see, eat, and do. Thats what makes these ships the best in our opinion. If you havent sailed them yet, then theres a lot for you to experience.

More:

Best Cruise Ships In The World: 11 Reasons Oasis-Class Ships Are Our Tops in Sailing - Cruzely.com

Sea of Thieves first set sail in March 2018, and within two years it had amassed over 15 million players. Rare and Microsofts open-world game was an instant commercial success, and its continued popularity shows theres a healthy appetite for shared adventure pirate games.

In Sea of Thieves, players raise sails and take to the high seas, collaborating or competing to complete quests across seasonal events. From sea monsters to ghost ships, Rare has developed and fine-tuned downloadable content to build a loyal fanbase. It looks like the studio is on track to support the game for at least ten years.

Like many multiplayer games, Sea of Thieves audience grew during the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, and it consistently makes Steams top 100. The majority of its audience comes from the United States and Germany, with players keen to share their content online. Rare cultivated a game thats almost as good to watch as to play. In spring 2021, Twitch reported that 4.52 million hours of Sea of Thieves gameplay had been viewed.

Published by Microsoft Studios, Sea of Thieves is a flagship game for its cross-platform ambitions. Players can interact seamlessly across Xbox and PC.

But while multiplayer is a huge part of the Sea of Thieves experience, friends can only join each other through online co-op. Neither the PC nor Xbox versions of the game support split-screen multiplayer. So if you want a pirate mate to join your crew, youll need to make sure you both own a copy.

Go here to see the original:

Is Sea Of Thieves Splitscreen? - We Got This Covered

Almost two-thirds of the worlds ocean lies beyond any countrys national jurisdiction in an area commonly referred to as the high seas. In early 2022, negotiators at the United Nations hope to agree on a treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the high seas, known as biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, after a long pause in negotiations because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A frequently cited reason for protecting our planet is to preserve it for future generations, and many young people todaywho make up the largest generation of young people ever, at 1.8 billionare highly engaged in climate advocacy. Pooja Tilvawala, a member of the inaugural class of High Seas Youth Ambassadors, is working to ensure that young peoples voices are heard by governments and other stakeholders as negotiations for a high seas treaty enter the home stretch.

Pooja Tilvawala at the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit, where youth participation inspired her to launch the Youth Climate Collaborative. Courtesy of Pooja Tilvawala

The High Seas Youth Ambassador Program was launched last April by the High Seas Alliance, a coalition of more than 40 nongovernmental organizations working with the International Union for Conservation of Nature to ensure the adoption of a robust and effective treaty. The program offers a platform to empower young people from around the globe to raise their voices in support of a strong agreement to protect the high seas for generations to come.

Born in India and raised in the Philadelphia suburbs, Tilvawala graduated in 2018 from American University in Washington, D.C., with degrees in economics and international studies. She has since worked on various climate and ocean initiatives at the Meridian Institute, a nonprofit consultancy, and founded the Youth Climate Collaborative (YCC), an organization aimed at advancing generational equity in sustainable development efforts. Shes currently a youth network strategic consultant at the Kennebunkport Climate Initiative, a grassroots organization that empowers young voices for climate action.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

A: Growing up, every so often my family made trips to various beaches along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. My cousins and I would stand with the water up to our knees, awaiting the next wave so we could jump over it. I also remember the salty air, the fascinating seashells, and all the families basking in the sun and playing games. Most of all, I remember the vastness of the ocean, which made me feel so small. The ocean was so mysterious to me, almost like another world.

A: This mystery made me curious about the ocean and our relationships with it. For example, what is our role in protecting the ocean and what is its role in protecting us? As the Lorax in the famous Dr. Seuss story says he speaks for the trees, for the past few years Ive tried to speak for the oceanwhich cant speak for itself but needs an advocate. That means first listening to communities about their relationship with the ocean and reading about how our ocean has been protecting us.

A: From a standpoint of generational equity, its important that youth have the opportunities to get involved, voice their stories and opinions, and contribute to decision-making on our global ocean, just like older generations. For example, more youth voices should be at the table in early 2022 when negotiations for the high seas biodiversity treaty resume.

A: Because our ocean cant speak for itself, young people have the prime opportunity to speak for it. We can use our skills with social media, organizing, and more to learn about and advocate for our ocean. The more youth that come together, the louder our voice can be.

A: Ive learned that, often, youth want to take action to protect our ocean, but they dont know where to begin. So its important to educate, empower, and activate youthnot only on the ways to protect the high seas, but where to go or who to connect with to get started.

A: Organizations such as The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Natural Resources Defense Council, for example, have created videos and other resources on the high seas and steps being taken to protect them. To empower young people, the High Seas Alliance created the youth ambassador program to give them the tools and a platform to learn and speak about the high seas. Similarly, many local organizations have put together virtual town halls to get youth involved in building momentum to protect the high seas.

Tilvawala (top right) and YCCs Youth Allies Initiative interns Benjamin Roscoe (left) and Donna Zeng met virtually in May 2021 to discuss next steps for their initiative. Courtesy of Pooja Tilvawala

A: We can learn more about the high seas and actions currently being taken to protect them by following social media accounts and signing up for newsletters from organizations working on the issue. A few accounts to follow on Twitter are @HighSeasAllianc, @PewEnvironment, @DeepStewardship, @OceanUnite, @EarthEcho, @DivaAmon, @Allatsea4, and @HighSeasPolicy. Some go-to newsletters include Ocean Unite and Little Blue Letter.

We can also raise awareness about the high seas treaty and the need to protect the high seas. We can invite our peers, parents, and others to learn about the high seas with us, and we can raise this issue in our own networks through conversations and multimedia posts on social networks. We can also bring up compelling points in conversations with people. We can host Instagram Lives on the topic, ask our teachers if we can present on the high seas to our peers, and sign petitions.

A: I hope our efforts will continue to change the perception of our ocean from an asset that we have the right to use to a part of our interconnected world that we have the obligation to treasure, steward, and enable to thrive.

Continued here:

Young Advocate Pushes for Treaty to Protect High Seas and Long-Term Ocean Health - The Pew Charitable Trusts

Supplied

Able Seaman Barry Dulieu preparing to board a rigid-hull inflatable boat during the Navy Reservist exercise in Auckland, outside the Devonport Naval Base.

When he was six, Barry Dulieu travelled on the interisland ferry Tamahine got the chance to steer the ship.

A seed was planted that set him on a maritime course for the rest of his life.

Now 68, the long-time Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve member has patrolled New Zealand waters and taken part in international naval exercises, where he played roles from storming a ship to being an antagonistic evacuee.

The Able Seaman was recently in Auckland for an exercise which provided reservists an opportunity to understand how their role supports the Navys operations.

Dulieu enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1972 and then again in 2005.

READ MORE:* Coronavirus: NZDF reserves deployed to prepare hospital in hard-hit region* Feilding woman celebrates 30 years with Royal New Zealand Navy * Palmerston North navy officer takes up new command

I joined the Naval Reserve because of my love of the sea, ships and the general marine environment. It also felt good to be able to serve my country, he says.

A carpentry tutor at WelTec before retirement, he and his wife Dianne moved to Picton four years ago, where he is a member of the Marlborough Coast Guard.

The move changed his long-term involvement with Wellington Naval Reserve Division HMNZS Olphert and he now collates reports on merchant shipping movements for two regional ports.

He lists among the highlights of his naval career the six months he spent in 2013 on inshore patrol vessel HMNZS Taupo carrying out a variety of tasks along New Zealands coast.

Supplied/Stuff

Able Seaman Barry Dulieu joined the Naval Reserve because of his love of the sea, ships and general marine environment.

In 2017 he joined the Navy team on Exercise Southern Katipo - a combined Defence Force exercise with all three services and international participants covering the West Coast, Nelson and Marlborough regions.

A small team of us were given role playing tasks to test the systems and personnel of the exercise. My role varied from being an antagonistic evacuee causing trouble, to storming a ship and trying to disrupt things.

In 2020 he was back at sea on the offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Wellington for two weeks while the Navy assisted the Ministry for Primary Industries investigating fishing vessels.

I have always been involved with some sort of training throughout the years. Courses like general seamanship, sea survival training, weapons training, the rigid-hulled inflatable boat coxswains course, law of armed conflict and other small courses have all helped shape my role as a Reservist, Dulieu said.

My wife Dianne is extremely supportive of my work and I always had very good employers who have supported and encouraged me to fulfil my efforts in military training, he says.

Assistant Chief of Navy (Reserves) Captain Phillip O'Connell says naval reservists provide a valued, flexible workforce of skilled professionals, supporting the Navy from the front line at sea and ashore to senior management.

Some are people who have signed up for part-time service as an adjunct to their civilian careers. Others are ex-Regular Force personnel who have transitioned to civilian careers or are taking time out from fulltime service for reasons such as whanau needs and further education.

If you are interested in serving while maintaining your civilian career, or thinking of leaving the NZDF to start a civilian career and wanting to maintain your service links, the Navy wants to hear from you.

Excerpt from:

Naval Reserve member stays the course on the high seas - Stuff.co.nz

The Indian Ocean, once considered the backyard of the Indian Navy, has now become critical to the countrys strategic interests.

In view of Chinas growing efforts to increase its military presence in the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and elsewhere, the nations quest for a Blue Water Navy has taken on increased importance.

As a major move toward that goal, Indias first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) Vikrant on Sunday successfully completed a five-day maiden sea voyage as the performance of the key systems of the 40,000-tonne warship was found to be satisfactory, Economic Times reported.

The aircraft carrier, built at a cost of around Rs 23,000 crore, set sail on Wednesday for the crucial sea trials ahead of its planned induction into the Indian Navy by August next year.

India,like China, sees aircraft carriers, and the highly visible power-projection capabilities they engender, as being a fundamental part of its navys ability to match expanding national aspirations.

Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) Vikrant successfully accomplished its maiden sea voyage today. Trials progressed as planned and system parameters proved satisfactory, Indian Navy spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said.

He said the ships performance, including of the hull, main propulsion, power generation and distribution and auxiliary equipment were tested during the sea trials.

The delivery of Vikrant is being targeted to coincide with celebrations to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Indias independence Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, he said.

On the successful completion of the trial, Vice Admiral AK Chawla said it was a historic moment for the country.

Described by the Indian Navy as the nations largest and most complex warship, theVikrantwas built at Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) in Kerala and is a flagship of the Make in India initiative, according to a report in The National Interest.

This has led to growth in indignous design and construction capabilities besides development of large number of ancillary industries, with employment opportunities for 2000 CSL personnel and about 12000 employees in ancillary industries.

Over 76% indigenous content towards procurement of equipment, besides work by CSL (a Public Sector Shipyard under Ministry of Shipping) and their subcontractors is being directly invested back into the Indian economy, NavalNews.com reported.

Around 550 Indian firms including about 100 MSMEs are registered with CSL, who are providing various services for construction of IAC.

The new vessel has a reported top speed of 28 knots and an endurance of around 7,500 nautical miles, powered by General Electric LM2500 gas turbines.

With a length of 860 feet, a width of 203 feet at its widest point, and a height of 194 feet including the superstructure,Vikrantis comparable in dimensions to the Indian Navys current aircraft carrier,INSVikramaditya, a completely reworkedKievclasswarship, National Interest reported.

Vikramaditya,particularly in that it is similarly equipped for short take-off but arrested recovery, or STOBAR operations. This means the warship lacks catapults, and instead it launches its fixed-wing aircraft off an angledski jump rampover the bow.

However, theVikrantis said to have introduced some notable advances over the older, Soviet-era design.

For example, its crew of around 1,700 are provided with specialized cabins for female officers, and the level of automation is reportedly increased considerably, improving machinery operation, navigation, and survivability.

Italian shipbuilderFincantieriserved as a consultant for the design of theVikrants hangar and deck, National Interest reported.

Unlike onVikramaditya, the ship has elevators installed on either side of the superstructure to improve aircraft handling and movements.

The size of those elevators, however, could still be a problem, since they appear to be scaled more or less exclusively to the Russian-madeMiG-29K Fulcrumfighter jet, potentially preventing any larger fixed-wing types from being deployed, at least without significant modifications.

However, a successor is being sought under theMulti-Role Carrier Borne Fighter(MRCBF) competition, which calls for 57 new jets.

Toward this effort, Boeing has been especially active in demonstrating that the Super Hornet can operate from a ski jump deck, with a series of trials using the ground-based ramp at Naval Air StationPatuxent Riverin Maryland.

The version offered to India for a contract estimated to be worth at least US$6.6 billion, is the advanced Block III Super Hornet.

It features an advanced cockpit for improved SA (Situational Awareness), new computing & advanced data link, conformal fuel tanks, SATCOM connectivity, block II IRST (Infra-Red Search and Track), increased airframe lifetime as well as the possibility to team up with the IndianP-8I.

As well as MiG-29Ks, and the future MRCBF, theVikrantis likely to embark, in the near-term at least,Kamov Ka-31 Helixairborne early warning helicopters,Ka-28 Helixanti-submarine helicopters, andHAL Chetakplane-guard and utility helicopters, National Interest reported.

In terms of sensors and weapons, theVikrantincludes the Israeli-supplied IAI Elta EL/M-2248MF-STAR, with four active electronically scanned radar arrays, which can be used for surface search as well as tracking aerial contacts.

The defensive weaponry is a mix of Israeli and Russian systems, withRafael Barak 8surface-to-air missiles complemented byAK-630Gatling-gun-type close-in weapon systems.

Commander Madhwal said that the successful completion of the maiden trials, despite challenges faced due to the coronavirus pandemic, is a testimony to the dedicated efforts of a large number of stakeholders.

This is a major milestone activity and historical event. The carrier would undergo a series of sea trials prior to its delivery in 2022, he said.

Once the newVikrantis commissioned into service, planned for the middle of next year, India will once again possess two carriers, but its ambitions extend beyond that, National Interest reported.

The next indigenous carrier, or IAC-2, INSVishalisplanned to be significantly bigger, in the region of 65,000 tons, compared to 40,000 tons for the newVikrant.

Reflecting this ambition, India has looked to both the UK and the US for potential collaboration on IAC-2, in particular in the fields of launch and recovery systems, propulsion and overall design.

This vessel is expected to enter service sometime in the 2030s and may well incorporate anElectromagnetic Aircraft Launch System(EMALS) in place of the ski jump.

Sources: Economic Times, The National Interest, Hindustan Times, LiveMint.com, NavalNews.com, Business Insider

Read this article:

India's Vikrant warship gets a taste of the high seas - Asia Times

Something strange is happening to sea turtles in the Florida Keys, and scientists and conservationists are working together to understand why.

Stranded green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the Southernmost island chain in the United States are showing high rates of internal and external tumors 51.5% to be exact. This is more than double the 22.6 percent incidence rate for green sea turtles in Florida overall.

The tumors are caused by fibropapillomatosis (FP), a "transmissible tumor disease of ecological importance," said Bette Zirkelbach, the manager at The Turtle Hospital in Marathon, FL who coordinated the study. Every species of sea turtle is affected, but green sea turtles, especially in the Florida Keys and around other developed islands, seem particularly prone. The wildlife rescue expert and education specialist explained how the tumors grow internally in sea turtles as well as externally on their eyes, flippers, necks and more. Tumors can inhibit critical activities such as foraging, swimming, ingestion, breathing and more, leading to hunger, distress and even death if untreated.

The Turtle Hospital has been treating sea turtles with FP tumors for more than 35 years. Now, they're collaborating with Annie Page-Karjian, an assistant research professor & clinical veterinarian at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University, and Force Blue, an organization that trains combat veterans and military divers for new ocean conservation missions, to complete the Florida Keys Sea Turtle Health Study and find the root of the disease.

The Florida Keys Sea Turtle Health Study is a novel, collaborative research project involving scientists, conservationists and veterans. David Gross

Page-Karjian, a marine disease ecology and sea turtle health expert, led the study. The goal was to conduct a health assessment of free-ranging juvenile green sea turtles in the Florida Keys. The waters are an exemplary foraging ground for these turtles, Zirkelbach added. Despite this, little is known about the movement, foraging ecology, and health of the local population.

"We are studying this disease in the region of the world where it is thought to have originated, to learn more about the epidemiology and pathophysiology of FP," Page-Karjian said. "This disease is enzootic in Florida's green sea turtles, a federally protected species, and can be debilitating or even fatal in some cases."

A green sea turtle named Tenora was euthanized in Sept. 2020 after having a large external tumor on her left shoulder and similar ones on her lungs. Tiffany Duong / Ocean Rebels

"Understanding the habitats of green turtles with this alarming FP rate is a crucial step toward elucidating factors that may contribute to the disease," Zirkelbach said. Because the Florida Keys waters host green sea turtles as they forage and grow, the waters are "of particular concern," she added.

Currently, threats to sea turtle health globally include environmental degradation, infectious diseases, biotoxins and chemical contaminants. FP has been observed in turtles around Florida, Texas, Hawaii, Africa, Australia, Cuba, Costa Rica, the Caribbean Islands and the Bahamas. It is primarily observed in sea turtles around developed coastlines, and studies suggest a link between FP and human impacts on the environment. Scientists believe the disease, which is related to a herpes virus, might be linked to warmer seas and polluted waters, Zirkelbach said. If this is the case, increases in ocean temperatures linked to the climate crisis could increase disease range and/or prevalence.

The Force Blue team provided primary funding and manpower for the study. The organization's mission is to redeploy Special Operations veterans into the world of marine conservation. As part of this project, the team trained for and participated in the capture and release of sea turtles on the water for this project. In South Florida, the group has contributed to other notable conservation work, including reattaching 100-year-old coral heads ripped up by hurricanes and helping to restore endangered corals ahead of Super Bowl LV.

The work also serves as a type of in-field, mission-based "therapy" for these warriors and military divers, Zirkelbach added. The veterans enjoy "a new mission and a sense of continued service" in fighting for the planet, Force Blue Executive Director Jim Ritterhoff said.

Force Blue team members trained on proper handling and release of sea turtles to participate in the study. Bette Zirkelbach / Turtle Hospital

Over 10 days, the field team collected, sampled, tagged and released 38 green sea turtles. All work was conducted pursuant to NMFS ESA Permit No. 21169 and FWC MTP 204.

Next, blood and tissue samples will be processed and analyzed to understand turtle diet, disease prevalence, biotoxins present and everything in between. The research team wants to know what is going on with turtles and what that can teach us about the health of the oceans.

For vulnerable and endangered species like sea turtles, emerging wildlife diseases like FP and other consequences of increased human activities threaten their future. Scientists and conservationists like the study team must come up with "innovative approaches" to help maintain healthy populations until the chronic underlying causes of these issues can be addressed, Zirkelbach said, quoting another study that the Turtle Hospital collaborated on.

So, what's the takeaway?

Page-Karjian explained. She said, "Sea turtles are considered suitable indicators of ecosystem health, so by understanding their health status, we can get a sense of things that are going right (and wrong) in their preferred habitat coastal seagrass ecosystems."

Because turtles are a sentinel for the seas, and due to the connectivity of planetary systems, we can extrapolate to the overall health of the oceans and the planet as we analyze the general state of wellness of sea turtles, Zirkelbach noted. She said, "Sea turtles have survived our planet for over 100 million years. What is happening to the health of sea turtles will eventually affect all life. Important data collected from projects like the Florida Keys Sea Turtle Health Study can help policy makers to better manage our marine ecosystems" for the benefit of all.

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Read more:

Sea Turtles in the Florida Keys Have High Tumor Rates. Are Humans to Blame? - EcoWatch

The Chinese admiral Zheng He must have made quite the impression when the 300 ships under his command arrived at a new destination. The biggest vessels, known as treasure ships, were by some estimates longer than a soccer field. Their rigging was festooned with yellow flags, sails dyed red with henna, hulls painted with huge, elaborate birds. Accompanying them were an array of support boats, including oceangoing stables for horses, aqueous farms for growing bean sprouts to keep scurvy away, and water taxis for local transportation. The 15th century citizens who received him in what are now Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India, Kenya, and Yemen had never seen anything like it.

And that was before the 28,000 inhabitants of Zhengs ships debarked to establish trade relations with the local government. They came bearing luxuries, from tools (axes, copper basins, porcelain) to cloth (fans, umbrellas, velvet) to food (lychees, raisins, salted meats). In return, they received tribute goods to carry back to China, including spices and precious stones andon a few notable occasionsostriches, elephants, and giraffes.

Almost a century before Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus made voyages that kicked off the era of European colonialism, Zheng spent three decades plying the waters between China and the East Coast of Africa, setting up diplomatic relationships that would reshape Asian life. His seven expeditions challenged what humans could do at sea, pushing the limits with their boats size, complexity, and capacity for long-distance travel.

Zhengs influence might have been yet more outsized if geopolitical pressures hadnt changed China instead. But his legacy still lives on from the Swahili coast to Yemen, Calcutta to Hong Kong. Michael Yamashita, a photographer and contributor to National Geographic, spent several years writing a book and producing a multipart documentary on the Chinese mariner. He was the greatest explorer that the world had never heard of, Yamashita says.

Performers parade in front of a replica of a treasure ship sailed by navigator Zheng He at a launching ceremony in 2006 (600 years Zheng's voyages) in Nanjing, China. Image Credit: China Photos, Getty Images

Zheng (known in early life as both Ma Sanbao and Ma He) was born around 1371 in Southwest China, his family part of a Muslim ethnic minority in an area still controlled by Mongols of the recently toppled Yuan dynasty. The battles that marked the transition from Yuan to Ming dynasty in the area were brutal and bloody. During one, Zheng (who was still a boy) saw his father murdered. He was left alive but captured and, as was common practice at the time, castrated and made a eunuch.

It is almost incomprehensible that he managed to emerge from such relatively fringe or marginal socio-political positions to become the leader of this huge maritime enterprise, Huang Jianli, a historian at the National University of Singapore, said in an email. But he did. Zheng was assigned to serve Zhu Di, a rebellious prince, and he was by his masters side when Zhu Di installed himself as emperor in 1402.

Zhu Di had expansive ideas about Chinas role in the world and the way it could use trade and widespread diplomacy to assert its power. He assigned his trusted confidante a leadership role, naming him admiral. Starting in 1405, they worked together to establish a far-reaching web of tribute relationships with 48 countries, city-states, and kingdoms all over Asia. Zheng, who according to reports was almost seven feet tall, became a towering figure in both stature and status.

The scale of the boats he sailed was equally remarkable. China had been building mind-bogglingly enormous ships for at least a century before Zheng came along. Both Marco Polo and the Moroccan explorer Ibn Batuta wrote of seeing huge seagoing vessels in their visits to the East. Some experts believe the treasure ships Zheng sailed were 400 feet long, or five times the size of Columbus ships, with 70,000 square-foot decks, though those numbers remain in debate. But even if we take the estimates most people think are too small, those are twice what the Europeans used to sail around the world, says Travis Shutz, a historian of maritime China at SUNY Binghamton.

Both the treasure ships and the support vesselsbattleships, boats carrying grain and horses, local transportationfeatured divided hulls with several watertight compartments. This engineering innovation had roots in early Chinese seafaring. It allowed Zheng and other Chinese mariners to take unprecedented amounts of drinking water on long voyages, while also adding much-needed ballast, balance, and stability.

But for Shutz, what made the armada most impressive was the sheer logistics necessary to build and command it. Under Zhengs instruction, workers in six provinces along Chinas coast and inland along the Pearl River cut down trees, processed lumber, and built shipyards in order to construct scores of vessels. In inland cities, an additional team focused on dredging the river once the treasure ships were ready to float out to sea. Thats something that makes it really impressive, how they mustered so many resources, Shutz says.

A partial replica of one of Zheng He's treasure ships at the Maritime Experiential Museum in Singapore displays its below-deck cargo. Image Credit: Choo Yut Shing, Flickr

For his National Geographic documentary, Yamashita spent years tracing Zhengs seven voyages, following the trade winds and stopping nearly everywhere the giant eunuch went. In Indonesia, Yamashita visited some of the same sulfur mines recorded in Zhengs ships log, as well as temples devoted to his spirit. In Melaka, Malaysia, he visited the enormous storehouses Zheng built to house goods going to and from points further afield. The communities that grew up around the storehouses were among the first of many permanent overseas Chinese populations that would dot the continent and eventually grow to a majority in nearby Singapore. In India, Yamashita followed Zheng to the famed pepper markets of the Malabar Coast; the spice flooded China so quickly after Zhengs visit that it transformed from a top-shelf luxury to an everyday additive.

And after stopovers in Sri Lanka and Yemen, Yamashita visited the islands off of Kenyas Swahili Coast, where he found people fishing with Chinese-style nets. Local legend has it that several of Zhengs ships wrecked there, caught in some of the worlds most extreme tides, and the mariners on board married into the population. We found lots of Ming pottery all over the place, Yamashita says. They used it to decorate the houses.

But, Shutz says, after decades of travel and trade, the sheer logistical and labor costs of maintaining what amounted to a floating metropolis began to wear on Emperor Zhu Diespecially as the Mongols began threatening from the north, forcing the Chinese capital to move to Beijing. Producing and stocking giant ships became prohibitively expensive. Zhengs last voyages were mostly focused on returning foreign trade envoys to their homelands.

Then Zhu Di died, and a new ruler with deeply different priorities replaced him. Eunuchs like Zheng, who valued trying new things, enriching imperial coffers, and building Chinas world reputation, suddenly had much less power. Instead, more conservative Confucian courtiers had the new emperors ear. They were more focused inward, on protecting China from the Mongols with the construction and expansion of the Great Wall.

Zheng embarked on his last voyage in 1431, and he died en route in what is now Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). He was buried at sea. Soon after, the new emperor outlawed most formal maritime trade. Forget soccer-field-sized boats: the Chinese state wouldnt finance any voyages again for several hundred years. When they returned to the ocean, the world would be a very different place.

Performers atop a replica of a treasure ship sailed by Zheng He at a 2006 launching ceremony in Nanjing, China. Image Credit: China Photos, Getty Images

In the decades that followed, any suggestion of China returning to the high seas was firmly rejected. Many of the records of Zhengs voyages were reportedly destroyed during political fights or simply lost to the vagaries of time. The loss of those documents has left a hole in what we know about Zheng, leading to academic arguments about everything from exactly how big his boats were (we know they were significantly larger than Columbus, but how large?) to why he went where he did (was it proto-colonialism or just posturing?). The author Gavin Menzies even found success publishing 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, a best-sellingbut now widely debunkedbook that claimed Zheng actually circumnavigated the globe in his sixth voyage.

What we do know is that Zhengs voyages had a lasting impact on Asia, setting up patterns of migration and cultural exchange that continue today. After the state abandoned virtually all maritime trade, coastal communities stepped back in, some residents turning to smuggling and piracy to meet market demand. Other families instead emigrated to one of the many new overseas Chinese communities taking root in places like Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Many of those new communities sprang up at nodes where Zheng had stopped to develop trade relationships. Thats one reason Southeast Asia is dotted with temples devoted to him.

Those trade networks, Shutz says, were also essential to the spread of two Chinese technologies that helped build our modern world: gunpowder and compasses. Both items were conceived and commonly used for different purposes in China: compasses for divination practices and gunpowder for firecrackers. Thanks to the trade relationships Zheng helped establish, they were much more widely taken up for navigation and warfare across Asia and Africaand eventually used by Western colonial powers to reshape the world for the next several centuries.

Yamashita also sees Zheng, a Muslim wielding power in a mostly Buddhist society, as a man with really modern thinking about equality. In particular, he cites a set of stone tablets Zheng left behind in a temple in Sri Lanka as evidence of this mindset. The trilingual carvings mark offerings to Buddha in Chinese, to Hindu deities in Tamil, and to Allah in Persian. In these carvings, Yamashita sees a legacy of tolerancea message, he says, of equal gifts for all; all gods exactly the same.

Gallery of Admiral Zheng He in Melaka, Malaysia. Image Credit: Chongkian, Wikimedia Commons

Historians like to imagine what might have happened if Chinese voyages hadnt stopped with Zheng. What if they had still been in Mozambique when the Portuguese showed up? Shutz wonders. Would the two powers have traded or gone to war? How would that have affected the violence European powers inflicted as they divided up the world for colonization? It would have been a different path for sure, he says.

Instead, for centuries, Zhengs voyages remained a testimony of Chinas maritime capability if and when it wished to summon, Huang says. Its a reminder thats become increasingly pertinent in the past few decades as China has reasserted itself in world economics and politics.

Now, Huang sees in Zhengs rise and fall a warning for the United States as it continues to pour money into maritime military maneuvers in Asia and Russia. These ventures are extremely costly to the state coffer and peoples welfare, he writesone reason they were ultimately halted in China in Zhengs time. Instead of building more aircraft carriers and staging endless military exercises the world over, U.S.A. should spend its hard-earned money on its failing domestic infrastructure and solving its deep socio-economic problems.

Even so, until recently Zhengs accomplishments either received only a passing mention or werent taught at all in Western history curricula, Shutz says. While he didnt learn about Zheng during his own schooling some 20 years ago, Shutzs younger sister learned about him in her junior high school history class in 2015. In this small change, Shutz sees the beginning of a bigger trend in the American approach to world history. Its much less focused on Europe and more focused on the world writ large, he says, letting all these varying cultures speak for themselves.

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The legendary Chinese seafarer the West overlooks - NOVA Next

Yes, weve got an ocean of bad news. Climate change is warming and acidifying seawater, stressing or destroying coral reefs. Marine species ranging from whales to algae are endangered; overfishing is crushing many subsistence fisheries.

Coastal ecosystems have been wiped out on a grand scale; key ocean currents may be faltering; mining firms are preparing to rip up the deep seafloor to harvest precious minerals, with unknown ecological costs. And let's not even talk about ocean pollution.

But theres good news, too, says Nancy Knowlton, a coral reef biologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. In fact, she says, many marine conservation efforts around the globe are seeing good results.

There are a lot of successes out there, and most people dont know about them, Knowlton says. Its important to share those successes, she adds, to avoid paralyzing feelings of hopelessness and to spread the knowledge of approaches that work. Thats why she and her allies began pushing the #oceanoptimism Twitter hashtag in 2014. Organizations such as Conservation Optimism and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative have broadened her theme, helping to share conservation stories, findings, resolve and resources.

In marine conservation, successful efforts typically are neither quick nor cheap and require trust and collaboration, Knowlton wrote in a 2020 Annual Review of Marine Science paper promoting ocean optimism. Focusing on success stories, she stressed, helps motivate people to work toward new successes.

Here are glimpses of a few bright spots in the pitched battle for the blue planet.

An international moratorium on commercial whale hunting that started in the 1980s has shown dramatic results, even though a few species are still hunted by several countries and indigenous groups. While some whale populations remain very much in trouble the North Atlantic right whale, for instance, is critically endangered others are rebounding. The population of humpback whales in the western South Atlantic, which had dropped to around 450 in the 1950s, now is estimated at around 25,000 near the level scientists estimate existed before hunting began. The International Whaling Commission estimates the global population of these whales now may be around 120,000 animals. Blue, bowhead, fin and sei whale populations are also growing globally, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Sea turtles are another success story. Most populations of turtles included in a recent survey were found to be growing, even though the animals must be protected on both land and sea. In Florida, scientists estimate that the population of green turtle nests climbed from 62 in 1979 to 37,341 in 2015. And in Texas, Kemps Ridley turtle nests rose from just 1 to 353 over roughly the same time period, Knowlton notes.

In many areas, the ocean is dangerously overfished. But the worlds most valuable fisheries, which make up roughly 34 percent of global captures, are relatively healthy in general, environmental economists Christopher Costello of the University of California at Santa Barbara and Daniel Ovando of the University of Washington in Seattle wrote in the 2019 Annual Review of Environment and Resources.

Hot debates continue about the status of many species that were massively overfished for decades. But there is good evidence that sustainable management is now being achieved for some species in some regions. According to the UNs Food and Agriculture Organization, 34.2 percent of the worlds marine fisheries are currently overfished, but harvests have held relatively steady for fisheries ranging from Alaska pollock to European sardines (pilchards) to Indian mackerel and yellowfin tuna.

On the high seas beyond national jurisdiction, fishing vessels largely operate without legal restrictions, and sometimes hundreds of vessels will target a given region and make huge hauls. Such incidents may suggest that the unregulated high seas would be a tremendous threat to sustainability of the worlds fisheries, Costello and Ovando wrote. Somewhat incredibly, this does not appear to be the case. Among the likely explanations: High seas fishing accounts for only 6 percent of global fish catch; pursuing highly mobile and unpredictable species such as tuna can be extremely expensive; and regional fisheries management organizations do watch over many catches in the high seas.

The high seas may come under better control through a United Nations treaty on marine biodiversity, which may be finalized next year after many years of meetings. This would greatly broaden the international resources available for proper fisheries management anywhere on the ocean.

Moreover, technology is changing the game in fisheries enforcement, says Heather Koldewey, a senior technical advisor at the Zoological Society of London. Organizations such as Global Fishing Watch and Ocean Mind track large fishing vessels via satellite imaging, making it easy to track suspicious activities such as clusters of vessels in a protected zone. In 2019, for example, after Global Fishing Watch partnered with the US Coast Guard in the Pacific, the patrol tripled its number of fishing vessel boardings. Also in 2019, Ocean Mind joined with Interpol and several nations and successfully tracked and seized an illegal fishing vessel in Indonesia.

Theres also hope for an end to the large governmental subsidies given to high-seas fisheries that are ecologically unsustainable and also, by World Trade Organization assessment, dont make economic sense. Each year, China, the European Union, the United States and others give about $35 billion of subsidies to their fishing industries, many of them high-seas fleets going after populations that cant sustain the attack. Without these large subsidies, as much as 54 percent of the present high-seas fishing grounds would be unprofitable, estimated marine biologist Enric Sala of the National Geographic Society and his coauthors in a 2018 Science Advances paper.

Finalizing years of negotiations to reduce these subsidies will be a high priority for WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Marine protected areas are regions of the ocean designated to guard ecosystems that may be particularly crucial for preserving biodiversity or withstanding specific severe threats. Almost 8 percent of the ocean has been structured as MPAs, although less than half of that area is fully protected against fishing and loss of other resources. Coverage is growing for instance, in April 2021 the European Commission and 15 countries announced support for two MPAs that would protect more than 3 million square kilometers of the Southern Ocean off Antarctica.

Safeguarding marine environments, MPAs also offer major benefits to human communities, such as reestablishing fish populations that can be sustainably fished just outside their waters. An analysis of the Papahnaumokukea Marine National Monument off Hawaii, the third-largest protected area in the world, found little, if any, negative impacts on the fishing industry, according to a 2020 Nature Communications article. And in Southern California, MPAs preventing fishing in 35 percent of one coastal area led to a 225 percent increase in spiny lobster catch after just six years, scientists reported in a 2021 Scientific Reports paper.

A worldwide 30 by 30 initiative seeks to protect at least 30 percent of the globe by 2030, with backers including the G7 group of wealthy industrial nations.

OK, nothing like the progress that is needed. But there are some happy stories, although they may take decades for the payoffs to be evident, says Carlos Duarte, a marine ecologist at King Abdullah Science and Technology University in Saudi Arabia.

One example is a series of governmental restrictions that began in the 1970s to ban leaded fuels in vehicles, a major source of ocean pollution. During a global expedition in 2010 and 2011, Duarte and colleagues looked at levels of lead across the ocean and found they had dropped to negligible. By banning leaded fuels, we actually restored the whole ocean within 30 years, he says.

Oil spilled into the ocean from tankers has also dropped dramatically over the decades, primarily due to steady tightening of regulations and conventions like the International Maritime Organizations International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships.

True, plastics are a global garbage disaster. Although public awareness has climbed dramatically, as much as 23 million metric tons of plastic waste still enter aquatic systems each year, according to a 2020 article in Science. This megaproblem must be solved primarily upstream, in manufacture and use, says Marcus Eriksen, an environmental scientist at 5 Gyres Institute in Santa Monica, California. Today, the optimism is around the innovators, the private sector rising to the challenge to fill the consumer need without the externalities of pollution, he says. Eriksen points to manufacturers ramping up production of innovative biomaterials such as microbially synthesized polymers called polyhydroxyalkanoates, or PHAs, that are designed to be fully degradable by microbes in the ocean and other natural environments.

Vast stretches of healthy coastal ecosystems have been lost to pollution, urban expansion, conversion for aquaculture and other human activities. But not all the news is bad take mangroves, for instance, which make enormous contributions to biodiversity, fisheries, storm protection and carbon storage on warm coastlines around the world.

Weve seen a slowdown of the losses of mangroves and in many regions of the world were starting to see an increase, says Duarte. We are very, very capable of restoring mangroves at scale, and I think its doable to restore them to almost their historical extent within the next 30 years.

The most dramatic example, Duarte adds, is the restoration of 1,400 square kilometers of Vietnams Mekong Delta mangrove forest, destroyed by the US Air Force in the 1970s. When I worked there in the late 1990s, if I wasnt a trained mangrove ecologist I would have thought I was in a pristine mangrove forest, he says. And that mangrove sequesters an amount of carbon that is very significant compared to the emissions of Vietnam, which has a huge positive role in mitigating climate change.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed roughly a quarter of a million people helped to shift international thinking about the importance of defending and reestablishing mangrove forests, Duarte says. Judging by analyses of the tsunamis impact published later, it was clear that in the villages where there was a pocket of mangrove sheltered between the shoreline and the village, there was almost no human cost, he says. Even property losses were severely reduced.

In the Philippines, too, some mangrove forests are being recovered after decades in which half of them were lost, mostly to aquaculture ponds or coastal development, says Koldewey. Weve made huge progress in science-based but community-led mangrove restoration projects, she says. Within five years, theyre functioning, trapping loads of carbon, stopping waves eroding shore or damaging people and habitats, and doing their mangrove thing.

Its important, though, that these efforts are done right. (To learn more, see Knowable Magazines article on mangrove restoration.) Key to success, researchers have learned, are selecting the right mangrove species and planting them in the right locations and being sure to involve local communities.

Mangroves arent the only types of coastal ecosystems being renewed around the world. Salt marshes and oyster reefs are also being restored on a large scale in Europe and the US, Duarte and colleagues note in a 2020 Nature paper. One recent study, for example, counted 140 saltmarsh restoration projects in Europe, and massive efforts are underway in Louisiana and Florida. Restoration attempts of seagrass, seaweed and coral reef ecosystems are also increasing globally, although they are often small in scale, the Nature authors add.

Ocean wind technologies are proven around the world, and often are highly competitive with other energy sources, especially with the advent of larger turbines and other engineering advances. By one estimate, this year the global installed offshore wind capacity will climb 37 percent.

These giant offshore wind factories will deliver enormous amounts of energy with very low levels of greenhouse gases, offering an important potential for wind energy to really make a big contribution to going carbon neutral, Knowlton says. In 2019, the International Energy Agency estimated that close-to-shore offshore wind sites have the potential to provide more than the current global electricity demand. Offshore turbines do bring ecological risks, including damage to marine ecosystems, interference with fisheries and threats to birds, but leading environmental groups see those risks as quite acceptable with proper design and management. Its past time to push for more offshore wind, the Sierra Club declared in March 2021.

Of course, marine scientists cant forget the enormous threats to the ocean for a second. Were not being naive, says Koldewey. Theres a lot of bad news, but were balancing the narrative with: How do we solve it? There are reasons to be optimistic and everybody has a role to play in being part of the solution.

Duarte has become more hopeful in the past few years, as growing signs of conservation success crop up around the world, often from efforts launched decades ago. Taking on the challenge to heal the oceans will be hugely difficult, but if we dont do it now, a decade from now it will be impossible, he says. We made a goal to stop grieving about the ocean, to accept the loss and then engage in action because we still have the capacity to reverse much of the losses and turn over a healthy ocean to our grandchildren.

Knowable Magazine is an independent journalistic endeavor from Annual Reviews.

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Seven Reasons to Be Optimistic About the World's Oceans - Smithsonian Magazine

SP80 has the world sailing speed record in its sights. The fledgling Swiss outfit has started building a new sailing boat designed to reach a blistering top speed of 80 knots and make history in the process.

The futuristic 23-footer, which is practically a Formula 1 car of the high seas, has been dubbed eponymously the SP80. It was first unveiled as a concept in early 2019 and is now picking up some serious, well, speed. Renowned Swiss watchmaker Richard Mille has jumped aboard as a major partner and the team just laid keel at noted Italian shipyard Persico Marine. This means the SP80 is getting closer to its goal of setting a new record in 2022.

The sleek speed machine has been specially engineered to reach 80 knots (roughly 92 mph) at full tilt using the wind as its sole source of power. With a beam of just over 19 feet, the 330-pound vessel sports a hull forged from Carbon TPT. This lighter yet stronger type of carbon, which comes courtesy of North Thin Ply Technology, also graces the cases of Richard Milles high-end timepieces.

The SP80 is designed to reach 80 knots using just the wind.SP80

As for propulsion, the SP80 is equipped with a giant kite that spans roughly 65 feet and helps it fly across the waves like an oceanic fighter jet. Its also fitted with a special super-ventilated foil that works to position the boat at the surface of the water to ensure stability even at breakneck speeds. Furthermore, the engineers are working on an innovative new power module that transmits energy from the kite to the foil while the vessel is soaring.

The SP80 is due to hit the water in summer next year, with the record attempt slated for the end of 2022. With one captain at the helm, the kite boat will need to better the current record of 65.45 knots that was set by Paul Larsen in the Vestas Sailrocket 2 back in 2012.

We are confident that the boat will meet our expectations and that its structure will be able to withstand the loads we have designed it for. After three intense years of working on optimizing our concept, the whole team is very proud to see the final boat taking shape at Persico Marine, Mayeul van den Broek, co-founder of SP80, said in a statement. The launch will come soon and we are already looking forward to the first sail.

Godspeed, SP80.

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SP80

SP80

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Meet the SP80, a Sleek New Boat Designed to Break the World Sailing Speed Record - Robb Report

The first major assessment of its kind in seven years from the UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found the globes ocean, lands and air temperatures are rising, and the human influence is unequivocal.

But what does the IPCCs Sixth Assessment Report say about changes in Australia, and what can we expect for the future?

Australias land area has warmed by about 1.4C and New Zealands by 1.1C in the 110 years since 1910.

The year-to-year changes in temperatures are now above anything that could have been caused by natural variation. There is high confidence that temperatures have been pushed above their range of natural variability across all areas.

The report says land and ocean across the world was 1.09C hotter between 2011 and 2020 than it was in preindustrial times, taken as the period between 1850 and 1900. All the warming was caused by human activities.

There are now more incidents of extreme heat and less cold extremes, and the report says those trends for Australia will continue.

Australias fire season has lengthened since 1950 and the number of days with extreme fire danger has increased.

The intensity, frequency and duration of fire weather events are projected to increase throughout Australia (high confidence) and New Zealand (medium confidence), says the report.

As global temperatures rise from 1.5C to 2C and beyond, heatwaves, droughts, floods and other impacts become more widespread. Sandstorms and duststorms will probably increase across the continent.

With Australias population heavily concentrated along the coast and in coastal cities, rising sea levels pose a major risk.

It is virtually certain that global mean sea level will continue to rise over the 21st century, the report says.

Sea levels are forced upwards through thermal expansion because warmer ocean water holds more space, and also because ice attached to land mainly at glaciers and ice sheets is melting.

Ice sheet loss has increased by a factor of four between 1992-1999 and 2010-2019 and ice melting from glaciers and ice sheets has overtaken thermal expansion as the main contributor.

The most recent period from 2006 to 2018 saw global oceans rising at a rate of 3.7mm a year. In Australasia, sea levels rose faster than the global average in recent decades.

There will be an increase in coastal flooding and the shore will retreat in the 21st century and beyond.

Beaches have already started to retreat and if emissions remain very high, then sandy shorelines could retreat by 50 metres or more by the end of the century. Many sandy coastlines in Queensland, Northern Territory and the north of Western Australia could retreat by more than 200 metres in the absence of building barriers, the report says.

Even under the most ambitious cuts to emissions, the worlds oceans will probably rise between 28cm and 55cm from levels in the 20-year period of 1995 and 2014. But if emissions remain very high, seas will rise between 63cm and 1.01m.

But the report also says increases of 2 metres cannot be ruled out because of the challenges in modelling how the massive ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica will react to rising heat.

The IPCC report is less confident about changes in rainfall and drought in Australia, but there is medium confidence that heavy rainfall and river floods will increase in the future.

But in the south and east of the continent, rainfall has generally decreased and the instances of droughts affecting ecosystems and agriculture have risen.

In northern Australia, there has already been a rise in annual rainfall and heavy rain events, with a fall in droughts and the total number of cyclones.

Across the east of the continent, the average rainfall in cool seasons will fall, but there is medium confidence that there will be more extreme downpours. Droughts are projected to increase at 2C of warming.

The most pronounced changes in rainfall have been seen in the south-west of Australia, where higher greenhouse gases have seen significant loss of rainfall which is very likely to continue, even if emissions are cut drastically.

At times, changes in ocean temperatures can have large influences on rainfall in parts of Australia. These changing phases known as El Nio and La Nia will deliver even greater swings in rainfall in the second half of the century around the world, the report says.

There is also high confidence that snow cover and depth in Australasia has already fallen, and this is projected to continue.

Extra heat taken up by oceans is having profound affects around the globe. The changes in heat are irreversible on scales of a century or greater.

The report says the top 700m of the ocean has warmed since the 1970s, with the science showing its extremely likely that human activity has been the main driver.

In Australia, an increase in marine heatwaves has been observed and, like acidification in the continents marine environment, will worsen.

For the first time, the IPCC has released an interactive chapter to its blockbuster report where regional changes and projections for the future under different levels of greenhouse gas emissions can be explored.

See the article here:

What does the IPCCs report mean for Australia, and what can we expect in the future? - The Guardian