It’s that time of year again for king tides! January 29th – 31st are the last days for California king tides during the 2013-2014 season. The California King Tides Initiative is asking members of the public to take photos of the highest tides of the year to help document and visualize the potential impacts of… [read more]
Michael Daniel Ho reports from a polar bear adventure
Wildlife photographer Michael Daniel Ho just returned from a polar bear adventure in Canada! He generously shared some stellar photos and took time to answer a few questions about his trip. After reading his answers, you will most likely add “seeing polar bears” to your bucket list. Just bring lots of warm layers along, Michael… [read more]
Sea level rise: a 50 cent explanation
What’s the deal, why are sea levels rising? Here’s the low down from Josh Willis, an oceanographer at JPL, “What’s happening with the planet right now is that it’s heating up and the main reason it’s heating up is because of green house gases in the atmosphere, like carbon dioxide, that are put there by… [read more]
Sea level rise: when news isn’t news
Climate change has become a hot topic in more ways than one, so instead of jumping straight into the issues surrounding sea level rise it’s worth discussing how climate change or global warming can sometimes play out in the news. Let’s start with something cool, concrete, and agreeable: numbers. Most people would agree that .3… [read more]
Introducing oceanographer Josh Willis
In my ongoing pursuit to understand ocean science and marine life, I’ve attended many lectures. My favorite and one that still stands out in my memory was presented by Josh Willis, an oceanographer who works for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, more commonly known as JPL. What was so great about this talk? It was presented… [read more]
Diving into the more complicated side of the ocean
When I started writing my blog, I purposely named it Ocean Wild Things to keep my options open. Because not only do the world’s oceans contain many wild and crazy critters, oceans are wild in every way. My intention was to write about the physical characteristics of the oceans right away, but the more I… [read more]
Whales and dolphins have lived through some crazy times
In the last two million years, the earth has gone through many changes. Yet, many whales and dolphins have managed to survive it all. I’m talking ice ages, sea level rise, dramatic shifting of land masses and coastlines. Although, it does seem like it would be easier for fully aquatic animals to adjust to shifting… [read more]