The Earth's Oceans Just Got Much Deeper

Cleo Abram, Huge If True, Oct. 2, 2023; Sheldon S., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Ocean Is Deeper Than You Think. We Need Better Maps

(Cleo Abram) Why deep-sea maps are BAD (and how to fix that)... Our maps of the ocean are surprisingly bad! Google Maps makes it look like we know a lot, but we know less about the ocean floor than we do the surface of Mars.

And that’s a big problem, because we are using the ocean all the time: We’re laying internet cables across it, we fight wars in it, we search it during a crisis -- like the imploded OceanGate Titan submersible or the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370...

[Or that time US forces sabotaged the NordStream Oil Pipeline and tried to blame it on the Russians, creating one of the very worst environmental disasters in the ocean, not to mention a shortage of heating oil for Europe and skyrocketing prices and a war of revenge on the Russians].

After all, 71% of the surface of the Earth is water. Yet, we have a surprisingly limited view of what’s below the water. But that’s also understandable. Because cartographically speaking, water sucks. For Mars or Earth’s surface, we can take pictures. But light doesn’t penetrate to the ocean floor, so we need other ways to see it. The good news is we’re developing that tech right now, and an international group called Seabed 2030 is working to piece together a better map.

There is a terrifying, incredible, alien world on our own planet, and we’re FINALLY using technology to see it more clearly. In this episode of Huge If True, I dive deep -- with help from my friend and fellow video journalist @johnnyharris -- to show how we’re mapping the ocean, the surprising things we’ve discovered in the depths, and why this new technology could be huge if true.

Chapters

• 00:00 How bad are our ocean maps?
• 01:40 How deep is the ocean?
• 03:05 What is the deepest part of the ocean?
• 04:04 The craziest method to map the ocean
• 06:20 How does sonar work?
• 07:31 What did the first ocean maps look like?
• 09:30 How do we map the ocean now?
• 10:30 What is Seabed 2030?
• 11:40 How do we use underwater robots?
• 12:27 Concerns with mapping the deep ocean
• 13:11 Why deep ocean mapping is huge if true

Find Cleo Abram on TikTok for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram, on Instagram for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram, on Twitter for thoughts, threads, and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

BIO: Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, she explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, she was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching: To see recent seafloor visualizations (NOAA): https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/maps/ocean-... - To learn more about the high-stakes race to map the Earth's oceans: The Deepest Map, by Laura Trethewey https://www.harpercollins.com/product... - To see how amazing our Mars maps are (Murray Lab): https://murray-lab.caltech.edu/CTX/V0... - Livestream of ocean research (my favorite): / @evnautilus - Deep Ocean: 10 Hours of Relaxing Oceanscapes, BBC Earth: • Deep Ocean: 10 Hours of Relaxing Ocea... - The Ocean is Way Deeper Than You Think, RealLifeLore: • The Ocean is Way Deeper Than You Think - What’s Hiding at the Most Solitary Place on Earth? The Deep Sea, Kurzgesagt: • What’s Hiding at the Most Solitary Pl... - The Unspeakable Horrors of the Deep Sea, Casual Geographic: • The Unspeakable Horrors of the Deep S... - Why no aquarium has a great white shark, Vox: • Why no aquarium has a great white shark - This Incredible Animation Shows How Deep The Ocean Really Is, Insider: • This Incredible Animation Shows How D... - How Much of the Seafloor Is Left to Explore? NOAA: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/world-... - How Deep is the Ocean? NOAA: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/o... - About Seabed 2030: https://seabed2030.org/our-mission/ Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/ Gear I use: Camera: Sony A7SIII Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM and 35mm prime Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX Music: Musicbed Follow along for more episodes of Huge If True: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub... — Welcome to the joke down low: Why did the fish blush? Because it saw the ocean’s bottom. Use the word “blush” in a comment so I know you’re a real one :)

Get an exclusive Surfshark deal! Enter promo code CLEO for an extra 3 months free at https://surfshark.deals/CLEO Subscribe to support optimistic tech content on Huge If True: / cleoabram Check out @johnnyharris for independent journalism that will help you better understand the world: / johnnyharris 

World Environment Day (June 5)

UN.org, June 5, 2023; Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Plastics are the largest, most harmful and persistent fraction of marine litter, accounting for at least 85 percent of total marine waste (InsideCreativeHouse/Adobe Stock/UN.org)

Solutions to plastic pollution

Is eating plastic waste bad for humans?

More than 400 million tons of plastic is produced every year worldwide, half of which is designed to be used only once. Of that, less than 10 percent is recycled. An estimated 19-23 million tons end up in lakes, rivers, and seas annually.

That is approximately the weight of 2,200 Eiffel Towers all together. Microplastics – tiny particles up to 5 mm in diameter – find their way into food, water, and air.

• World Environment Day activities

I'll just pick up this ocean trash...oops!

It is estimated that each person on the planet consumes more than 50,000 plastic particles per year – and many more if inhalation is considered. Discarded or burned, single-use plastic harms human health and biodiversity and pollutes every ecosystem from mountain tops to ocean floors.

With available science and solutions to tackle the problem, governments, companies, and other stakeholders must speed actions to solve this crisis. This underscores the importance of this World Environment Day in mobilizing transformative action from every corner of the world.

Fifty years celebrating World Environment Day

Every citizen will one day take a stand (or seat).

Led by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and held annually on June 5th since 1973, World Environment Day is the largest global platform for environmental public outreach and is celebrated by millions of people across the world.

In 2023, it is hosted by Côte D'Ivoire. Why take part? Time is running out, and nature is in emergency mode.

To keep global warming below 1.5°C this century, we must halve annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Without action, exposure to air pollution beyond safe guidelines will increase by 50 percent within the decade, and plastic waste flowing into aquatic ecosystems will nearly triple by 2040. We need urgent action to address these pressing issues. More

Who do you think you are? Greta?

"I'm the solution"? Look, Kids, you should be getting arrested just like Greta. She's so brave.

.

Keep carbon resources in the ground.

By now sensible people may have noticed that dear Greta Thunberg is being used as a tool to both drive the climate change movement and to destroy it.

It's controlled opposition. Great Greta turns off more people than she turns on, with her simplistic messaging, perceived hypocrisy, and erratic emotional outbursts. This is not an emotional issue but an existential one.

I didn't ask for white privilege or riches, to be attractive or propped up by the powers that be.

.

Issues, issues, there are so many issues.

No one wants to live in a dirty environment. Citizens aren't the ones profiting from dirtying it; yet we're the ones being shamed into cleaning it up.

Why not turn attention to those entities that profit from spoiling nature, appropriating resources, and leaving a toxic mess for all of us to breath in and eat? Go vegan. It's the best thing one can do for the world. And if protesting, protest the real villains.

Higgs Boson, Selling Out, Sex (video)

(Fermi Lab) scientist Don Lincoln describes the nature of the Higgs boson. Several large experimental groups are hot on the trail of this elusive subatomic particle ,which is thought to explain the origins of particle mass.

Katy Perry "sold her soul" (traded in her ideals for material success) after a strict Christian upbringing. Her words are dubbed out of context.

(CIRvideos) New life is breathed into one of the oldest criminal enterprises -- the trafficking of humans into sexual slavery. Thousands of Eastern European women have been sold into prostitution. Photojournalist Mimi Chakarova investigates this rarely documented journey at priceofsex.org.


(Huffington Post) Tons of radioactive garbage coming to US from Japanese tsunami

Neutrinos, the faster than light particles?

• VIDEO: Time traveling particles
  
• Biking through Los Angeles (CicLAvia 2011)
• Audie Cornish overtakes NPR
• Ancient Jain temple renovated in India
• Reconstructing dreams as YouTube videos
• PHOTOS: Bezeklik 1000 Buddhas Caves (Wiki)
  

The Fukushima nuclear disaster today (video)

RT.com, Greenpeace, 60 Minutes Australia. Dr. Michio Kaku, Wisdom Quarterly

The consequences of the Fukushima disaster will be emerging for at least several decades. According to the Japanese government, it will take up to 30 years for the complete clean up of the radiation released from the reactors.

Japan aims to reduce radiation by half over the next two years. To do so it may have to remove and dispose of massive amounts of radioactive soil, possibly enough to fill 23 baseball stadiums, reports Reuters.

(Manekinekotattoo) Exposing the "unspeakable" that will impact "all of humanity."

Experts say the areas inside the evacuation zone will have to remain uninhabited throughout the years of contamination. All collected soil and other waste will be stored in the Fukushima Prefecture, in an “interim facility” with an estimated capacity of up to 28 million cubic meters.

Despite official information, some reports suggest the Japanese government is seriously downplaying the real amount of radioactive substances that leaked from Fukushima.... More

Japanese fear authorities hide ugly truth about nuclear risks

The Japanese government is starting radiation checkups for more than two million people living near the crippled Fukushima plant. But many citizens of the country fear those in charge prefer face-saving public ignorance to life-saving knowledge.

• VIDEO: The Unbelievable Truth About Fukushima

Fukushima nuclear disaster

Fukushima crisis to be resolved in six months

Earthquake in Japan Fukushima nuclear disaster

Almost half the children in Fukushima test positive for radiation

Fukushima nuclear disaster

Fukushima Prefecture “like another universe” to Greenpeace activist

Fukushima nuclear disaster

‘Nuclear-test monitoring works like anti-burglar system"

Will UFOs from the heavens clean up the radiation?

Scientists study plastic patch in Pacific

Plastic debris gathering underwater in the Pacific Ocean Gyre (yourdailythread.com)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Marine scientists from California are venturing this week to the middle of the North Pacific for a study of plastic debris accumulating across hundreds of miles (km) of open sea dubbed the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch."

(gsc.edu)

A research vessel carrying a team of about 30 researchers, technicians, and crew members embarked on Sunday on a three-week voyage from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, based at the University of California at San Diego. The expedition will study how much debris -- mostly broken down plastic fragments -- is collecting in an expanse of sea known as the North Pacific Ocean Gyre, how that material is distributed, and how it affects marine life.

Plastic debris contaminating the Pacific Ocean around Hawaii (people.tribe.net)

The debris ends up concentrated by circular, clockwise ocean currents within an oblong-shaped "convergence zone" hundreds of miles (km) across from end to end near the Hawaiian Islands, about midway between Japan and the West Coast of the United States. More>>