As the news from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill continues to seemingly go from bad to worse, I came across this widget provided by the PBS News Hour web site:
What is interesting and most disturbing about this widget is the ability to adjust the flow of oil based on the various estimates being provided by different companies or agencies. The number of 5,000 barrels per day that has been used in most news reporting is now being questioned, as it is being suggested that the number could be far greater.
Independent scientists and research groups have given estimates of 25,000 barrels per day (1,050,000 gallons daily). In fact, in a closed-door hearing today, a senior executive of British Petroleum stated that the number could get to be as high as 60,000 barrels per day or approximately 2.5 million gallons daily.
Read the PBS NewsHour article.
Also, if the size of the oil spill is a bit hard to fathom looking at a map of the Gulf of Mexico, Google Earth provides you with the ability to overlay the spill as its currently known over your city. You need to download the Google Earth software - it's free (click here) or try this link (click here).
The image above is what the spill currently looks like when overlaid on my hometown of Orange County, CA. It reaches from Los Angeles to San Diego and from Santa Catalina Island well into Riverside.
A new web site was launched yesterday that I highly recommend you take a look at: Mission Blue. This new site is part of Dr. Sylvia Earle's foundation and provides a sharp focus on many of her recent expeditionary activities, including an ongoing expedition and ocean conference at the Galapagos Islands.
Ocean conservation can be a very broad and overwhelming issue to get one's arms around, so many organization devote their resources and energy to more specific topics of interest. Mission 
Blue accomplishes this by identifying Hope Spots - geographical marine areas of critical importance that can also serve to highlight specific marine issues or challenges. The web site allows you to select and learn more about a specific Hope Spot - ranging from the Seychelles off of Africa, to Antarctica's Ross Sea, to the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez), and more.
There is a lot of great interactivity with the site, added by Dr. Earle's working relationship with Google, which provided map imagery and a handy version of Google Earth incorporated into the site. And then to round it off, there is a blog to keep readers updated with the activities of each expedition and other events with which Dr. Earle has been involved, such as the creative think tank organization, TED (technology, entertainment, design).
Mission Blue, another avenue for ocean conservation and enlightenment. Check it out.
Google Earth (and its revealing Ocean layer) has been a multi-informational tool, providing varying degrees of visual data for the general public, educational, and research users and organizations. The Ocean layer, to which I am honored to be a content provider, has been continually growing in terms of the quantity of content and the level of detail.
On Monday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a press release a cooperative research and development agreement with Google designed to create state-of-the-art visualizations of scientific data. Working with the software/Internet wizards at Google is a good step towards resolving one of my pet issues with scientific research: getting the data out to the public in a meaningful and useful way thereby better enlightening and motivating the user.
Several initiatives are planned - ranging from improving the undersea topographic data presented in Google Ocean, expanding NOAA's efforts to publish oceanographic data from 
expeditions and observation systems, and enhancing NOAA's educational Earth science display system.
NOAA realizes they have the data and Google has the software muscle to get that data out there in a significant way. It would seem that this could be a great advance in an already productive relationship and I, for one, am looking forward to see what transpires.
If you haven't taken a look at Google Earth/Ocean, it's an easy upload (the program requires an Internet connection to operate). Click here to learn more.
Read the NOAA press release.
I had the pleasure and thrill of traveling above the Arctic Circle to the area known as the Northwest Passage. Working for the research organization InMER, I was tasked with documenting evidence of climate change through interviews with Inuit indian tribal elders and government officials, in addition to capturing images of the flora and fauna.
Flying from one location to another, we came across a vast field of sea ice - the very stuff that provides a floating base for animals like polar bears, penguins, and even seals. My first impression was that the ice was solid and impenetrable. But soon I could see that it was like a vast expanse of shattered glass.
At that very same moment, we learned that the summer ice levels had reached their lowest in recorded history. This made for a very sobering moment. Here I was, looking down on clear cut evidence of climate change, on a landscape as fragile as any you could imagine. With the loss of more and more sea ice, the opening of the Northwest Passage to commercial shipping traffic becomes an increasing reality. That spells serious environmental concerns for the region, not to mention what it says about the worldwide impact of climate change.
Here is a video that I put together for InMER that has been included in the new ocean layer of Google Earth (courtesy of InMER.org). Check it out and check out the new Google Earth!
Some of the footage I shot for InMER was also used in a segment of National Geographic Wild Chronicles series on PBS. The more that people learn about what is happening to our climate, hopefully the more we can do to improve the situation.
I recently had the opportunity to meet and spend some time speaking with Dr. Sylvia Earle, world renowned oceanographer and a leading advocate for marine conservation. Currently, an explorer in residence with the National Geographic Society, Dr. Earle carries a distinguished list of aquatic accomplishments to her credit. Here are just a few:
- She began her oceanic studies with botany, ultimately writing one of the definitive dissertations on aquatic plant life.
- While men walked the moon, Dr. Earle led an all-women expedition team aboard Tektite II, an undersea research platform, spending two-weeks at 50 feet underwater off the Virgin Islands.
In 1979, she set a depth record for an untethered dive of 1,250 feet wearing the Jim Suit, a pressurized deep sea suit. Brought to the bottom sea floor off Oahu by the submersible Alvin, her 2-hour excursion remains a record unbroken to this day.- Started several companies responsible for the design and development of some of the world's most advanced deep sea submersibles used throughout the world.
- A prodigious author of books on ocean exploration and a producer of documentaries with recognized filmmakers like Al Giddings.
- In the 90's, was chief scientist for NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Currently, Dr. Earle is the driving scientific force behind the latest version of Google Earth which now includes the oceans. And, with co-author Linda Glover, she has just completed an updated Ocean Atlas for National Geographic Publications, available in bookstores now. Like an aquatic Everyready bunny, she just keeps on going.
It was an obvious honor to meet such an accomplished individual, but what struck me most was her enthusiastic support for anyone doing anything to advance the cause of ocean education and enlightenment. My efforts to date regarding shark conservation or working with groups like InMER on climate change issues are small potatoes compared to what she has done, but you would never think it while you're in her presence. She wouldn't let you think it, encouraging you instead and egging you on to "get it done." A true inspirer comes not from what they have done, but from how they make you feel about what you can get done.
I have had the opportunity to meet several celebrities and accomplished individuals throughout my career. Some have been polite but curt, some have been major disappointments, and some have been people like Sylvia Earle - who make us feel good about our hopes and our dreams for a healthier ocean, a healthier planet.
This past Monday in San Francisco, I had the honor and pleasure to attend the unveiling of the newest version of Google Earth - which now incorporates the oceans as well. I was invited to represent the marine education and research organization InMER as a contributing partner to Google Earth. RTSea had provided video and photographic services during InMER's 2007 expedition to the Northwest Passage, above the Arctic Circle, and the resulting footage and images have been incorporated into the new Google Earth. (Previous postings on InMER and the Arctic: click here, here, and here.)
The unveiling took place at San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences with an A-list of dignitaries on hand including former Vice President Al Gore, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and world-renowned oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle. Dr. Earle was the prominent champion and driving source of inspiration for this new version, having once teasingly described the original Google Earth to its creators as "Google Dirt, because you left out over 70% of the planet."
With the new version of Google Earth, users are able to zoom in on the Earth's seas and literally dip below the surface to see an incredible perspective of our water planet. Numerous icons appear that provide text, videos, images, and links to additional information. If you ever found yourself wandering the land and zooming in on details with the old Google Earth, this new version will really have you hooked. But it's more than just a gimmick. This new version represents a serious academic and research tool for both schools and scientists alike, with a variety of visual perspectives of the oceans and a tremendous amount of data that will continue to grow over time as new information is added.
I feel very fortunate to have some of my work available on such a broad worldwide information platform. I thank InMER's CEO and founder, Ed Cassano, and Google for the opportunity and I hope to be able to participate in future contributions to help advance the world's knowledge and appreciation of our oceans.
We need to understand and protect the planet's oceans. None of us would be here without them. 
