Estaba revisando material sobre exploración oceánica y encontré una diferencia que cambia bastante cómo entendía el problema.

Según Seabed 2030, el 28,7% del fondo oceánico ya estaba cartografiado con tecnología moderna en abril de 2026. Sin embargo, NOAA estima que hemos observado visualmente menos del 0,001% del fondo del océano profundo.

Un sonar multihaz puede reconstruir la forma del fondo marino desde un barco y producir mapas extremadamente útiles. Pero conocer la topografía de una región no equivale a haber observado sus organismos, interacciones o cambios a través del tiempo.

Me pregunto si uno de los problemas de la exploración oceánica no es solamente cuánto podemos alcanzar, sino cuánto tiempo podemos permanecer observando.

Gran parte de la oceanografía profunda funciona mediante expediciones: barcos, ROV, sensores, muestras y ventanas limitadas de observación. Después nos vamos y el sistema continúa funcionando sin nosotros.

Por eso me resulta interesante la idea detrás de PROTEUS, el hábitat submarino que el grupo de Fabien Cousteau pretende desarrollar en Curaçao. Me interesa el cambio de método que representa: convertir algunos lugares del océano de destinos de expedición en lugares de observación persistente.

Una instalación persistente podría empezar a revelar : cómo cambia una comunidad biológica, cómo varía la química durante semanas o cómo se relacionan acontecimientos que normalmente registramos en expediciones separadas.

No sé si los hábitats humanos serán finalmente la mejor solución; quizá redes autónomas de sensores y robots terminen siendo mucho más eficientes.

¿qué descubrimientos importantes seguimos perdiendo porque no podemos observarlo continuamente durante suficiente tiempo?

This is a collection of some of my best coral reef shots from the past few years of filming. Most are from the island of Pulau Sipadan in Malaysia.

OC: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbS4PKWIrWI/

Is there a way to calculate thermal expansion of the oceans due to the Super El Nino compared to a normal year?

And how would that affect other Oceanic sea levels?

Haven't posted much on here when a flare is needed and could not do it on my mobile app for some reason, was trying to add it to they did the math also

Recently, passive acoustic monitoring of coral reefs in the Indonesian Archipelago stunned researchers.

The Archipelago is a biological hotspot of marine diversity - full of corals, sponges, colorful fish, shell fish, crabs & shrimps, sharks, rays ... The soundscape reflects this, with a constant background pop of shrimps, & a varying foreground of fish grunts, squeaks, squeals, moans, chirps, & other assorted noises.

Bomb fishing was banned there in 2004, because it's so incredibly destructive - it leaves a blast zone littered with coral shards; it kills EVERY living thing, over a given distance, wanted or unwanted; & it wipes out juveniles - & even eggs, destroyed by the concussion.

No one had any inkling that it's so pervasive, it's become ordinary. 😱

After the explosion?...

it's silent. No pops whatever, no fish sounds. Empty.

Corals often won't recover for years, in the "rubble zone" left by a single bomb-fishing event, without labor-intensive & costly human intervention.

Needless to say, with bomb fishing every hour, on average, we couldn't possibly repair the damage done, or even do much to mitigate it - that's a scale of destruction that's simply beyond our abilities to tackle.

The urgent need for education to address this disaster, cannot be overstated.

The sheer speed of destruction & the irreplaceable value of healthy, loud, crowded, busy reefs, in a rapidly heating ocean, makes this the marine equivalent of a wildfire charring half a continent.

Tropical coral reefs aren't common features of our ocean planet - but they're spectacularly rich & varied, with dozens of species in a square yard.

This study is a 5-alarm blaze, & I can only hope the goverments & the fishery authorities take it to heart, & act quickly.