Rumbles from the Ocean

Ben Korgen

Description

This warm-hearted introduction to the world ocean and its solvable problems is accessible for readers without specialized backgrounds in science, mathematics or statistics. The author focuses on how the world ocean functions normally, what has happened to it in recent years and what humans can do to help the oceans recover from its wounds and prosper far into the future. He writes in ways that cause readers to feel he is talking directly to each of them one-on-one. Although the book's believability is based on scientific research, it has a palpable flavor of the humanities. Part of this flavor comes from the insertion of three poems, each of which is clearly linked to events or concepts introduced in the previous chapter. To enrich the book's explanations, the usual two-dimension illustrations found in other non-fiction books are replaced by browser addresses that jump readers directly into the rich collection of internet still images, animations, demonstrations and at sea videos. The chapter titles are Never Say Never, Slave Labor with Enlightenment, Crossing the Bar, When the Weather Turned Around, Poem in October, Skimming the Surface Far from Land, Lighting Up, Proportions, The Importance of Rivers, In Upstream Waters, Our Layered World, The Atmosphere, The Mixed Layer, The Upper Ocean, The Deep Sea, The Ocean Floor, Stronger Winds, Crumbling Coral Reefs, The Ocean Overwhelmed, Biomass Losses, Species Replacement, Dolphins, Sharks, Rogue Waves, Seiches, Tsunamis, Tides, Sea Levels, Suffocation on Land, Suffocation in the Upper Ocean, Suffocation in the Deep Sea, But What Should We Do?, The Littlest Hero, Getting Ideas and Getting the Best Ideas.

Informations

• Publié par: First Edition Design Publishing
• Date de parution: 15 janvier 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781506903538
• Langue: English

Extrait

Rumbles FromThe Ocean
It’s Time ToWake Up

Ben Korgen
Rumbles From The Ocean
It’s Time To Wake Up

Copyright ©2016 Ben Korgen

ISBN 978-1506-903-53-8EBOOK

November 2016

Published and Distributedby
First Edition DesignPublishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 20217, Sarasota,FL 34276-3217
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Nopart of this book publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted in any form or by any means ─ electronic, mechanical,photo-copy, recording, or any other ─ except brief quotation in reviews,without the prior permission of the author or publisher.

Acknowledgement for coverdesign: Levent Konuk/Shutterstock.com
To Judy
Author’s Note

This book isan informal, personal account of events I experienced while calling myself agraduate student, doctoral candidate and oceanographer. Although the mainpurpose of this book is to amuse and entertain its readers, I’m includingseveral explanations for the convenience of whoever needs them. I am writingthis from my education as a PhD in oceanography, my experience in oceanography,the references listed at the end of this book, my personal library and my bodyof memories without footnotes, apologies or regrets. You need to read this booknext to a computer because it repeatedly directs you to the numerous visual treatsI am using to make the book’s text come alive.
1. NeverSay Never
2. Slave Labor With Enlightenment
3. Crossing The Bar
4. When The Weather Turned Around
5. Poem In October
6. Skimming The Surface Far From Land
7. Lighting Up
8. Proportions
9. The Importance Of Rivers
10. In Upstream Waters
11. Our Layered World
12. The Atmosphere And Ocean Currents
14. The Upper Ocean
15. The Deep Sea
16. The Ocean Floor
17. Big Problems
18. Stronger Winds
19. Crumbling Coral Reefs
20. The Ocean Overwhelmed
21. Biomass Losses
22. Species Replacement
23. Dolphins
24. Sharks
25. Rogue Waves
26. Seiches
27. Tsunamis
28. Tides
29. Sea Levels
30. Suffocation On Land
31. Suffocation In The Mixed Layer
32. Suffocation In The Deep Sea
33. But What Should We Do?
34. The Littlest Hero
35. Getting Ideas
36. Getting The Best Ideas
References
1. NEVER SAY NEVER
In the fall of 1964, Ibecame a beginning doctoral candidate in the Department of Oceanography atOregon State University. My new major professor started off by recommending thecourses I needed to take during the fall semester. Then he surprised me by suggestingI should apply to go on a Stanford University expedition to the South Pacific scheduledfor the summer of 1965. He directed me to a poster in a nearby hall showinginstructions for applying. I checked it out and laughed. When I got to the partwhere twelve doctoral candidates would be chosen from around the world, Irealized I had no chance to be accepted because of my checkered past as astudent. Because I was a new guy in the department eager to please my majorprofessor, I applied and waited while I launched my brain into the course workhe chose for me. When I received a letter from Stanford University, I brought achair next to a waste basket, sat down and bent over it to make trashing myrejection easy. I opened it and was thrilled to find I was accepted. I also wasthrilled to learn that Sir Alister Hardy, the writer, watercolor artist andEnglish Knight for his work in explaining how food chains functioned in theopen ocean would be a guest scientist on the expedition. My acceptance seemedimpossible, but it reminded me that when a door of opportunity opens, you mustpass through it to learn if it leads to success or failure.
2. SLAVE LABOR WITH ENLIGHTENMENT
My mind was spinningwith happiness when I started taking oceanography courses. I was unaware of anystudent pitfalls or non-course demands on my time. Then I learned that my namewas on a schedule of required oceanography graduate student participation inresearch cruises. I soon found myself on my first cruise offshore of Newport,Oregon on my department’s smallest ship. The ship was tied up in the NewportRiver estuary. I got on board with about a dozen new graduate students then theship started gliding downstream in smooth water toward the entrance to the openocean. Our downstream movement was slow enough to allow the new students to introducethemselves and talk to each other before crossing over a submerged sand bar atthe entrance then moving out into the open sea beyond.
Someone asked me if Iever got seasick. I told him I served four years in the Navy, had all sea dutyafter boot camp and never used seasick pills. When we crossed the bar, the shipsoared upward as if it was becoming airborne, then came down with a loud BAM!.....thenlurched, pitched, heaved and rolled until all of us were sick and vomiting overthe side. I should have known this ride would be different from any Iexperienced in the Navy. I should have been prepared for this because my timein the Navy was spent on five different ships in the Atlantic where waves gotbig enough to scare stout-hearted people but not as big as they get in thePacific where I was now.
After experiencing manyrequired research cruises, I started mentally lumping people into categorieswith the ship captain and other officers as royalty with crew members asrespected workers, oceanography professors as intelligentsia and graduatestudents as slaves willing to sacrifice for what was to come. I also surprisedmyself by learning to enjoy these cruises, the comrades I went out with andappreciated what I learned from them. I was especially thankful we had shipsand people to operate them later in my graduate student career when sea dutywas essential to doing the research at sea that was absolutely essential forearning my doctoral degree in oceanography.
3. CROSSING THE BAR
Alfred, LordTennyson

Sunset andevening star,
And oneclear call for me!
And maythere be no moaning of the bar,
When Iput out to sea,

But such atide as moving seems asleep,
Too fullfor sound and foam,
When thatwhich drew from out the boundless deep
Turnsagain home.

Twilightand evening bell,
And afterthat the dark!
And maythere be no sadness of farewell,
When Iembark;

For tho'from out our bourne of Time and Place
Theflood may bear me far,
I hope tosee my Pilot face to face
When Ihave crost the bar.
4. WHEN THE WEATHER TURNED AROUND
Early in my career as agraduate student, I found myself taking a course called Marine Plankton. At thetime, all the oceanography courses were taught in the Oregon State’sOceanography Department located at the University in Corvallis about fifty fourmiles from the ocean. I was fascinated from the start in this course. Afterbeing introduced to marine plankton in the classroom, I soon learned thatparticipation in a student research project was required. The students weregrouped into teams of three people each with each team instructed to hammer outa plankton research project to be carried out in Yaquina Bay, a broad estuaryat Newport. Each team would present its project plan to the professor who wouldapprove of it, revise it or ask for a replacement. The department would provideany nets and water sampling bottles needed, small outboard motors, aluminumboats large enough to seat three people and vans to transport people andequipment to Newport as needed.
Our team of threegraduate students presented a plan to do an overnight study of planktonbehavior in Yaquina Bay lasting from well before sunset to well after dawn. Theprofessor was pleased and approved of it immediately. There was a good deal oflight left in the day when the three of us pushed off and started takingsamples. The air was still and the surface waters glassy. We were confident ofsuccess until we misjudged the strength of the river currents moving usdownstream toward the ocean. We slammed into an anchored buoy with an underwaterprojection that punctured our aluminum boat below its waterline. Water startedleaking in, but all three of us remained calm for several reasons. The weatherwas nice, we understood our mistake, the hole was small and we had lots oflight remaining for getting a repair.
We found a marina nearbyand received a sturdy looking patch without losing much time. When we went backinto the estuary, it started to get darker, the breeze picked up speed and thecurrent seemed to get stronger moving seaward. We guessed that the tide hadreversed to seaward, adding to the strong river flow. As it got darker, a hugebatch of big logs appeared and became more and more numerous. We were aided indodging logs by using our rapidly improving current navigation skills, ouroutboard motor skills and our big battery spotlight lantern. We were so focusedon succeeding; we continued to collect samples when conditions continued toworsen. In time, the winds got fierce enough for us to realize we had to choosebetween completing our project or certain death. While finding our way to landdodging logs and squinting into unbelievably strong winds, we fell in love withour big lantern when we realized we would never get out of this alive withoutit. Being saved by a lantern reminded me of my childhood reading Evereadycartoons showing heroic people saving themselves from nature’s wrath thenseeing their way to safety using a flashlight loaded with dependable Evereadybatteries.
As soon as we escapedalive from the log infested water, we realized we were experiencing a very bigwind storm. One of the student’s friends arrived in a van to take us and ourgear back to Corvallis. While driving away from the estuary parallel to a steephill, we passed a culvert guiding a torrent of water moving directly toward usin the pipe but bent ninety degrees to our left and vaporized by the fiercestwinds I ever witnessed. When we returned to Corvallis, we learned that thewinds on Yaquina Bay that night had reached a speed of a hundred and five milesan hour. The next time I walked d