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News & Info
Randy Monroe Meets World-Renown Oceanographer and Explorer Dr. Bob Ballard PDF Print E-mail
Written by Admin   
Tuesday, 25 May 2010 21:23

Last month, MSES's Randy Monroe MS was invited to meet world-renown oceanographer and explorer Dr. Bob Ballard at the Dean Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek as part of their Guest Speaker series. The meeting was made possible by KTVU Channel 2 News and the Marine Science Institute based in Redwood City, CA.

Randy Monore with Dr. Bob Ballard Randy Monore with Dr. Bob Ballard

All of Mt. Diablo Unified School District's 5th grade classes including other area schools in Pittsburg and Antioch have the opportunity to spend a day on-board the  doing a variety of "real" data-based oceanographic sampling each winter while moored in the delta.  Students from all over the S.F. Bay area utilize the ship the rest of the year when its at home in the South Bay.MSI's vessel R/V Robert G. Brownlee Randy has been working MSI and their delta program for the past 10 years.

While Dr. Ballard is famous for discovering the Titanic, his greatest fame comes from the discovery of hydrothermal vent systems near mid-ocean ridges at the bottom of every ocean. This has led to the knowledge and understanding of completely new ecosystems. Dr. Ballard's initial discovery off of the East Pacific Rise found bizarre and strange creatures feeding on bacteria that uses hydrogen sulfide near water at 300 degrees Celcius; hot enough to melt lead. These organisms include albino shrimp, giant clams, brown mussels and 6 foot tube worms; which have red blood from hemoglobin similar to humans. The bacteria that live inside the tube worm's gut metabolizes hydrogen sulfide chemosynthetically. Though chemosynthesis is the base mechanism in these particular ecosystems, photosynthesis plays an indirect role as dissolved oxygen is used in the metabolic processes of the hyrogen sulfide. Later discoveries in the Atlantic found methanogens that form the base of a true chemosythetic food web that neither directly, nor indirectly relies on photosynthesis and dissolved oxygen to metabolize.

Its is these novel extremophillic bacteria that intrigued Monroe regarding his astro-biological quest.  It poses the real possibility of life on other terrestrial icy bodies such as Europa and Enceladus; moons of Jupiter and Saturn respectively that have liquid water oceans and believed to have sea-floors with volcanic activity similar to Earth.  This was the basis for his research at the Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) as part of the Microbial Ecology Program (MEP) Team in 2006-2008 under Dr. Phil Hugenholtz.

Dr. Ballard's insightful lecture addresses the tremendous need to further our understanding of our own planet and Earth's oceans. His remark, "We know more about OUR moon than OUR own oceans" leads to the obvious... so, let's keep exploring!

Last Updated on Tuesday, 25 May 2010 23:05
 
Whale Watching is Exciting! PDF Print E-mail
Written by Admin   
Wednesday, 17 February 2010 15:05

Whale Tail

Randy Monroe took this picture of a humpback whale tail off the Maui, Hawaiian coast while visiting the island.

"Whale Watching is the best type of hunting, say Randy. The only shooting involves a camera, not harpoons that took a majority of these cetaceans to the brink of extinction!"

"Now largely protected in many areas, they are on the rebound, these behemoths of the oceans are absolutely amazing", concludes Randy.

In an effort to inspire and show the beauty of our fragile oceans ecosystems and aligned with the popular autumn Monterey Bay Day where we saw Risso's, Pacific White-sided and Common Dolphins. MSES is planning another "Whale Watching Expedition out of Half Moon Bay to the edge of the Continental Shelf Islands over Spring Break. Details to follow.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 25 May 2010 23:06
 
"Monterey Bay Day" — A Great Success! PDF Print E-mail
Written by Admin   
Monday, 23 November 2009 22:13

Last week's SOLD-OUT Monterey Bay Day was such an amazing trip! The students participated on 2 charted boat trips into the Elkhorn Slough Estuary and out in Monterey Bay to observe a host of birds, fish and marine mammals; pelicans, gulls and terns, sandpipers, plovers, cormorants, cranes, egrets, loons, grebes, murres, curlews, goshawks, sea nettles and jellies, mola-mola (sunfish), sea otters, bottlenose dolphins, Pacific white-sided and Risso (pelagic and similar to Pilot whales in body size and shape) dolphins. Then we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for tour including the new sea horses exhibit.Afterwards we wnt to Vision Quest Ranch and Wild Things for an up-close and personal meeting with a number of lions, tigers, several, cougar, lynx and bobcat, hyena, bears, African elephants, water buffalo, zebra, camel, llama, caribou, African porcupine, kangaroo, baboon, capuchin, ring-tailed lemur, great horned owl and parrots. We capped off the day and filled up at In-n-Out Burger!

Stay tuned for the Monday February 8, 2010 Day Trip coming soon...

Last Updated on Tuesday, 25 May 2010 23:05
 
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NASA Image of the Day
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A Chameleon Sky

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Which Day Trip sounds most exciting?