Page 30 - Deep Ocean News Today

We think we know so much about the world. and then we see what weve been going through for the last few weeks. the ocean covers 70% of our planet, and we know so little about it, especially in parts that we need to know about now. so were seeing firsthand in two of the biggest stories this morning that very truth. the continued hunt for flight 370 in the southern indian ocean. >> and also the search for survivors on the south korean ferry that capsized on wednesday. at least 33 people dead. 269 ...

I wouldnt say were on the gauge, not in the red zone yet. were still green, yellow and i think we need to be patient to be honest with you. hearing the australians talk about that, it actually gives me some, you know, hope, because what i am hearing in techno world is the side scan images are looking good. were not seeing a lot of clutter. if the stuff was there, wed probably be able to see it. i think it is hard to know. im not a soothsayer but i think theres some confidence we will have to kee...

Is the right way to do this. imagine you are in a sub and you have two, three, four hours and you start working and then it doesnt go well. all of a sudden you have to go back to the you are surface. if you are using an rov, a remote operation vehicle. you have a guy 24/7 on the ship. somebody can relieve that person. we know how to do that kind of stuff. the idea of using a sub to be really honest and the consensus of my colleagues, its not really a good idea. >> the thing is not to show using ...

Jacques coustea. you know some things about the deep ocean. its proving to be quite a mystery to us. we see an example of that in the plane. lets start with the ferry. we see this ongoing search effort. its not a recovery, theyre treating it like a search and rescue still. give us an idea of some of the challenges those divers are facing with an upturned ferry. >> its a really difficult situation. the positive news is that theres a good chance of still recovering some survivors. but for a diver,...

Are but where that vehicle is living and worrying about pinnacles and gullies and things like that there is little information. >> is there an effort or a drive to the that? >> ocean scientists have been pushing for a long time we need to explore the ocean. we have explored about 7% of the deep ocean. >> thats it? >> thats most of the planet. and when we go there. >> thats crazy. >> we find the highest mountains and deepest valleys, water falls and rivers and lakes under water. but we are not ge...

So i think that australia will make a recommendation and malaysia will concur or disagree. but if the first efforts dont pan out i think they will explore the areas of the pings and fan out more. we heard the information about the acoustic tricks of the ocean that some of the signals can travel further than the three miles from the ping. i think they will exhaust all the pings before going to plan "b." >> im getting tweets about this. why not have more bluefins in the water? >> the plan to me --...

It is actually getting in to the food chain and maybe affecting our health. >> it is affecting animals. >> absolutely. 660 species today and thats a conservative estimate are affected by plastic. they get tangled in it or ingest it. it is everyday items, bottles, bags, forks, single use disposables and packaging. and it doesnt disappear. it acts as a sponge for contaminants. >> reporter: noaa says patches of garbage between florida and hawaii. there are international laws that prohibit dumping p...

Miles and telling a pinger locater two and a half miles down, you have to be within a couple of miles in order to locate it. the question is the wreck near the pinger locater? certainly the box is there. so yeah, i think we are within a couple of miles, the 2 1/2 hour transmission they received is seems like good news in terms of trying to locate this thing. >> lets talk about flight 447, a similar air incident. look at two pictures from air france 447. this is a look at the debris field. this i...

Companies need to take responsibility for their products after it leaves their hands. >> what impact will it have on the ocean? ? if it broke up that debris field on the bottom of the sea floor would be massive. >> you are right. the wreckage field could be spread over an extremely large distance. >> reporter: yet as ocean pollution goes the affect would be minimal. >> the debris from the missing plane is a drop in the bucket. 80% of the plastic pollution we find in our oceans starts on land. si...

Even the high amount that we see is one piece of plastic every square ten feet or so. so even though there is a lot of plastic it is very much extended over huge areas, thousands of miles. >> uh-huh. so the best way to stop it on the surface is to be aware of it and stop dumping stuff in the ocean if we can avoid it. and what about below the surface in the area theyre searching? what types of debris can be found on the ocean floor, erik? >> well, to be honest, we dont know enough about the ocean...