Dirty Water: Toxic Metallic Compounds
Along with oil and excess nutrients, toxic metallic compounds can also make their way to the marine environment and cause damage that may be passed along through the food web.
Life Goes On: Vertebrates: Marine and Terrestrial
Marine biologists informally classify marine animals into two large groups: invertebrates and vertebrates. Vertebrates have backbones, while invertebrates do not. There are far more invertebrates than vertebrates in the ocean, but the vertebrates-wh...
Life Goes On: Fishes: Sensory Mechanisms
Fishes survive in the ocean in part due to their sensory mechanisms. They utilize both sight and smell in this regard, as well as what's called a lateral line system. This is a series of pores and canals along the body and sometimes on the head that...
Using Tidal Power
Renowned oceanographer and geophysicist Walter Munk talks about the potential use of tidal power to generate electricity. He notes that the Bay of Fundy is frequently mentioned as a possible site for this sort of power generation. According to Dr. M...
Noise Pollution and Marine Life
Renowned oceanographer and geophysicist Walter Munk talks about the impact of sound on marine animals. He discusses the campaign of environmental groups to cut down on noise pollution in the ocean--a campaign which Professor Munk argues resulted in ...
Treasure Trove: Commercial Uses of Sediment
Marine sediments are enormously important economically. Gravel and sand are obtained from the ocean for use as construction materials. In addition to offshore diamond deposits, tin and titanium are found in the ocean. Oil and natural gas resources a...
Treasure Trove: Fishery Management
As concerns about overfishing increase, the need for effective fishery management becomes critical. The focus is on maintaining a sustainable harvest of resources. There are a number of factors that complicate that process, including the challenge o...
Marine Animals and Sound
Renowned oceanographer and geophysicist Walter Munk talks about the use of sound by marine animals. Professor Monk observes that while scientists don't fully understand all the ways marine animals use sound, it is generally believed that animals in ...
Sonar
Renowned oceanographer and geophysicist Walter Munk talks about sonar, which stands for sound navigation and ranging, the process by which objects (like submarines, for example) are discovered when sound waves are reflected off of them and then dete...
The Heard Island Test and Climate Change
Renowned oceanographer and geophysicist Walter Munk talks about efforts to measure ocean warming through sound in a test done near Heard Island, an area considered unique because sound emanating from that point can theoretically reach every ocean ba...