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3. Promising Areas for Ocean Exploration
Pages 42-62

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From page 42...
... This powerful theory provides researchers with an excellent first-order understanding of the age and history of Earth's ocean basins and it is the starting point for ~ I investigating earthquakes and volcanoes. Few surprises would be likely to emerge from an ocean exploration program that focused on measuring the geologic age or the tectonic history of the seafloor.
From page 43...
... Recommendation: Several promising areas were identified as having broad international interest and are recommended as potential initial exploration themes: marine biodiversity; the Arctic Ocean; the Southern Ocean and Antarctic ice shelves; deep water and its influence on climate change; exploring the ocean through time; and marine archaeology. Studies in those areas will reveal additional insights into living and nonliving resources (fisheries, bioproducts, energy resources, mineral deposits)
From page 44...
... The Ocean Biogeographic Recent confirmation of the extensive distribution of deep, cold-water coral reefs (Lophelia and Madrepora spy surprised and alarmed the fisheries management community and conservation organizations. Cold-water corals occur in the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans to depths of 2,000 m, and they are estimated to grow very slowly, between 6 and 25 mm per year.
From page 45...
... Currently managed as a federation of database sources, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System is expected to develop into a globally distributed network of species-based, geographically referenced databases that will be available to a variety of users, including ecosystem managers, fisheries organizations, and coral-reef-monitoring programs. Because even remote areas of the ocean contain detectable amounts of contaminants (Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection, 2001 )
From page 46...
... The marine biodiversity theme area highlights the interdisciplinary nature of the proposed ocean exploration program, the proposal and funding selection process, and the utility of such a program. A few particularly exciting areas for exploration of marine biodiversity include microbial life within the ocean, extreme environments such as hydrothermal vents, the subseafloor biosphere, coral reefs, seamounts, and continental shelves.
From page 47...
... Those ecosystems are unlike any other on Earth, and they do ~7 FIGURE 3.2 The surprise discovery of complex marine ecosystems that exist independent of sunlight and photosynthesis revolutionized our understanding of the possibilities for ecosystem support. The tube worms, crab, and fish pictured here all depend on chemosynthetic bacteria expelled from the seafloor at the hydrothermal vents (Lutz et al., 2001; used with permission from Richard Lutz, Rutgers University; Stephen Low Productions; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
From page 48...
... Photosynthesis gives off oxygen gas as a byproduct, while chemosynthesis produces sulfide (used with permission from E Paul Oberlander, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
From page 49...
... Subseafloor Biosphere In 1991, scientists working in the submersible Alvin on the midocean ridge in the eastern Pacific witnessed a "blizzard" of microbes and microbial debris being spewed out of the seafloor (Haymon et al., 19931. The material rose more than 30 m above the ocean bottom and formed a white layer 10 cm thick on the seafloor.
From page 50...
... has been widely reported for tropical oceans around the world likely the result of overfishing, eutrophication, and pollution from land runoff; increased disease susceptibility; and harvesting of corals for international trade (World Resources Institute, 1998; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2002a)
From page 51...
... PROMISING AREAS FOR OCEAN EXPLORATION FIGURE 3.4 (A) A diseased colony and (B)
From page 52...
... Similar benefits of exploration could be seen in coastal waste management, marine minerals exploitation, and environmental matters associated with ocean energy. ARCTIC OCEAN The broad continental margins of the Arctic Ocean basin contain unknown quantities of living and nonliving resources.
From page 53...
... Because programs supported by IASC are terrestrial (International Arctic Science Committee, 2003) , an Arctic Ocean exploration program could provide complementary information regarding marine resources.
From page 54...
... IGY in particular was momentous, triggering among other things the space age, the human exploration of the polar regions, and spawning the World Data Centres, the World Climate Research Programme, the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, and the Antarctic Treaty System. Although enormous progress has been made in the last 50 years, much fundamental and globally relevant polar research remains to be completed.
From page 55...
... Although the scientific objectives of IPY-4 will evolve, the overarching goal will be to collect synoptic measurements in the polar regions to address the specific scientific directives. A partial list of objectives include determining the causes and effects of climatic variability, monitoring lithosphere dynamics, coordinating in situ and remote sensing of oceanographic and terrestrial conditions, assessing the response of the polar environment to fluctuations in solar intensity, and evaluating the socioeconomic impact of environmental changes.
From page 56...
... Arctic Seafloor The tectonic history of the western Arctic Ocean is basically unknown. The ultra-slow spreading of the Arctic midocean ridges gives rise to spectaculartopographic relief and a complex crustal architecture.
From page 57...
... The hydrographic barriers and geologic features that enclose the Arctic Ocean's spreading centers pose a significant directional barrier to dispersal of vent species. The recent recovery of a few specimens of vent fauna during dredging along the Gakkel Ridge (Figure 3.6)
From page 58...
... A.. 3 r FIGURE 3.6 Arctic Ocean map showing the Gakkel Ridge (used with permission from M
From page 59...
... The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research is an international, nongovernmental committee of the International Council for Science that provides advice on scientific research i n the region. Th is wel l-establ ished 59 Recent moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer satellite imagery analyzed at the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center revealed that the northern section of the Larsen B ice shelf, a large floating ice mass on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula, has shattered and separated from the continent.
From page 60...
... Indeed, the multinational effort involved in installing and operating observation systems for ocean exploration, at coastal or open-ocean priority sites, might prove essential in creating the required synergies among interested nations to get a viable international ocean exploration program started and fully operational. Ocean-observing systems, shared within a multinational framework, should help provide answers to questions about regional priorities in fisheries, pollution, biodiversity, and ocean circulation to ocean exploration participants worldwide.
From page 61...
... Although there are national programs of marine archaeology in France, Greece, Portugal, Israel, Spain, and Australia, among others, federal support of global archaeology in the United States comes mainly from NSF, which no longer funds all aspects of marine archaeology, and from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which does not support essential exploratory surveys.
From page 62...
... In all, the areas highlighted are likely not only to attract partners from many nations, but to provide important discoveries relatively rapidly. Should an ocean exploration program be initiated for a lengthy period of time, these areas of promise could be greatly expanded.


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