The reason is complex. Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide also means increased absorption of carbon in the Earth's oceans. And this increase, in turn, means more acidic sea water. More acidic oceans mean less absorption of sound at low frequencies.

And less sound absorption means louder noises over longer distances. In a paper published in Nature Geoscience, scientists predict that, within 100 years, absorption of sounds at around 200 Hz will go down by 70%, meaning sound could travel much farther.

The effects of less absorption and more noise at this frequency could be huge. For instance, scientists and commercial shipping vessels use these lower range frequencies for navigation and oceanic research. Also, marine mammals, such as whales, use these low frequencies for finding food and mates. Noisier oceans might cripple ocean navigation and interfere with whale life.

Unfortunately, the acidification of the ocean won't end when we stop polluting. In fact, the acidic shallow waters will propagate into the deeper ocean, where sound travels farthest, and possibly spread this noisy effect much farther than expected.

Recently, scientists found that blue whale songs are changing, drifting lower in pitch. Their research hinted at the deep complexity of marine life and the in-progress nature of this kind of science. This new marine acoustics research puts an additional wrinkle in the world of underwater communication, making the story more complex and even more interesting.

Man-made carbon dioxide affects ocean acoustics [EurekAlert]

Architect Jacques Rougerie, whose designs are frequently centered on marine living, has teamed up with oceanographer Jacques Piccard and astronaut Jean-Loup Chretien to develop the concept for the SeaOrbiter, a semi-submersible laboratory. The idea is to give oceanographic researchers a permanent base of operations in the ocean, much like the ISS provides in Earth's orbit. The concept designs for the SeaOrbiter include living quarters, laboratories, and a pressurized deck to allow residents to take daily dives. Rougerie believes that such a base, which would allow researchers to go on months-long missions, would improve our understanding of the oceans:

At the moment, they [oceanographers] can dive only for short periods before they have to be brought back to the surface. It is as though they were taken to study the Amazon jungle and then helicoptered away again after an hour...SeaOrbiter will provide a permanent mobile presence with a window to what is under the surface of the sea.

Rougerie claims that he has half of the €35million needed to complete the SeaOrbiter, and plans are to launch the floating lab in 2011.

One giant leap for ocean exploration [Times Online via Geekologie]

This is lava from Erta Ale, an active shield volcano in the East African Rift. (It hasn't erupted since 2005, but lava flow persists.) In this region of Africa, saltwater from the Red Sea will flood the area, and localized earthquakes continue to affect those who dare to live anywhere near this region. You can view the full breakdown of how an ocean is born here, with more stunning photography from Haddock. In the meantime, try to prevent these sulfuric pools from reaching your bedside.

Birth of an Ocean: How It Works [Scientific American]
Scientists Witness 'Ocean Birth' [BBC News]

An article published in Science today has the details. According to the New York Times:

Scientists attribute dead zones to a process that begins when nitrogen from agricultural runoff and sewage stimulates the growth of photosynthetic plankton on the surface of coastal waters. As the organisms decay and sink to the bottom, they are decomposed by microbes that consume large amounts of oxygen. As oxygen levels drop, most animals that live at the bottom cannot survive. “The overwhelming response of the organisms in our coastal areas is to migrate or to die,” [lead author Robert J.] Diaz said. “To adapt to low oxygen water, it has to be a part of your evolutionary history. It’s not something you can develop in a 40- or 50-year time period.”

About 400 coastal "dead zones" have been identified, and their combined area is comparable to the U.S. state of Oregon. Many are doubling in size every year.

This is bad news for sea life, but even worse for human life. Most of the areas affected are in regions where people raise fish and lobsters in fisheries. Areas hit include the Gulf of Mexico and the Baltic Sea, where the times reports only "microbes" can live now. More recently, China and Norway's Kattegat Sea have grown dead zones, and some are appearing in the United States off the coast of South Carolina and the Pacific Northwest. At least we're safe from Godzilla, who wouldn't be able to swim to shore through the oxygen-destroyed waters.

Oxygen-Starved Ocean 'Dead Zones' [NY Times via KSJ Tracker]

Ellis' 2004 comic (illustrated by Tom Strong's Chris Sprouse) is set "one hundred years from now" and starts with the discovery of the remains of a race of war-loving aliens on one of Jupiter's moons by a team of UN weapons inspectors, before ending with an appropriately large-scale discovery about the true origin of life on Earth, 2001-style (There's also a potential swipe at Bill Gates and Microsoft in there as well, just for good measure). No wonder, then, that producers Nick Wechsler and Gianni Nunnari - the producers of 300, currently behind another adaptation of a Frank Miller comic, Ronin - snapped up the movie rights last year.

The latest news on the adaptation is the announcement of a writer joining the project: Ryan Condal, a relative unknown whose only previous script is a revamp on the King Arthur story, called Galahad. Whether that means that he'll bring an appropriate sense of scale to the screenplay (Or, alternatively, have everyone saying "thee" a lot) remains to be seen. Ellis himself definitely isn't the man to ask about the subject - On his blog, he reposted the Hollywood Reporter announcement of Condal's announcement with the comment "And now you know as much as I do!" Of course, if that's true, Warren may need a better agent.

Ryan Condal to adapt 'Ocean' [Hollywood Reporter]

The project's lead scientist, John Parkes says the the discovery is just the beginning. The deeper in the Eath you go the hotter it gets, obviously, and the critters Parkes and his team found live in sediments that sit at about 100 degrees C, or the boiling point of water. That's from from the hottest environment bacteria have ever been found in, though, so he thinks life could survive even deeper as much as 5 or 6 kilometers down.

Source: Nature

According to Freedom Ship International, the city will have:

* 18,000 living units, with prices in the range of $180,000 to $2.5 million, including a small number of premium suites currently priced up to $44 million.
* 3,000 commercial units in a similar price range
* 2,400 time-share units
* 10,000 hotel units
* A World Class Casino
* A ferryboat transportation system that provides departures every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, to 3 or more local cities giving ship residents access to the local neighborhood and up to 30,000 land-based residents a chance to spend a day on the ship.
* A World-Class Medical Facility practicing Western and Eastern medicine as well as preventive and anti-aging medicine.
* A School System that gives the students a chance to take a field trip into a different Country each week for academic purposes or to compete with local schools in numerous sporting events. For example; The Freedom Ship High School Soccer team plays a Paris High School team this week at home and an Italian team next week in Italy, while the Freedom Ship High School Band presents a New Orleans Jazz musical at a concert hall in London.
* An International Trade Center that gives on-board companies and shops the opportunity to show and sell their products in a different Country each week.
* More than 100 acres of outdoor Park, Recreation, Exercise and Community space for the enjoyment of residents and visitors.

Freedom Ship International

Scott Robertson loves to draw hovercraft, or "los aerodeslizadores" as they say in Spanish, which sounds a whole lot cooler. Even though they aren't touching the water, they look like they could cut right through it with the knife-edged fins, and check out the wake they're tossing out behind them. You wouldn't want to get sucked into one of those engines, but you'd probably love sitting behind the wheel of one of these things.

The ship will be a small town, generating 55 megawatts of power and housing 120 people. Scientists on board will study the role of the polar waters in global climate change and the movement of contaminants through the water, air and ice. The Aurora also will have two "moon pools" in the bottom of its hull, giving access to the water under the ice for underwater vehicles studying the explosion of life that happens in the polar seas every spring.

The main problem is figuring out who owns this ship. The Aurora Borealis is a joint venture between the ESF, the Germans, the Russians and possibly other European countries. So where does it dock when it's at home? More importantly, who do we sue if (when) it crashes and spills tons of oil all over the North Pole? Hopefully all this uncertainty will make the organizers way more cautious about wreaking damage on the environment they're trying to study. We can only hope. The Aurora Borealis is expected to launch in 2014. [Science Daily]