Page 93 - Oceans

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US marine geologists Bruce The La Rance tidal barrage Surveyors searching for
1948 Heezen and Marie Tharp start 1967 begins operating near 1998 oil fields discover a huge
using sonar data to map the features of the St. Malo, France, generating 240,000 cold-water coral reef in the North Atlantic,
ocean floors. They publish their World Ocean kilowatts of electricity on each ebb tide. off Scotland. The reef lies at a depth of
Floor map in 1977. 3,300 ft (1,000 m) and covers 39 sq miles
The drilling ship Glomar (100 sq km).
Piloted by Georges Houot 1968 Challenger takes samples of rocks
1954 and Pierre Willm, the French up to 0.6 miles (1 km) below the ocean floor, and The space probe Galileo provides
research submersible F.N.R.S. 3 dives to 13,255 ft confirms the theory of ocean-floor spreading. 2000 evidence that Europa, one of
(4,040 m) off the coast of Dakar, west Africa, Jupiter's moons, may have oceans of liquid water
pioneering a new era of manned submersibles. The worst tropical storm of beneath its icy surface. If so, it would be the only
1970 the 20th century occurs in other body in the solar system with oceans.
The US survey ship Pioneer tows Bangladesh. High winds and flooding caused by
1955 the first marine magnetometer the storm surge kill 300,000 to 500,000 people. The Larsen B ice shelf on the
and discovers magnetic "stripes" on the ocean 2002 northwest side of the Weddell
floor off the West Coast of the US. Scientists diving to the Sea in Antarctica collapses because of high
1977 ocean floor in Alvin discover water temperatures. The collapse is widely
The American nuclear hydrothermal vents near the East Pacific Rise. blamed on global climate change.
1958 submarine USS Nautilus makes
a voyage under the ice at the North Pole, A single oil-well blowout from the The world's first open-sea tidal
proving that there is no land there. 1980 Ixtoc 1 drilling rig in the Bay of 2003 power generator is installed off
Campeche, Mexico, spills 525,000 tons (475,000 the coast of north Devon in southern England.
US geologist Harry metric tons) of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The system uses a turbine to harness the power
1959–62 Hess proposes his of strong tidal streams.
theory of ocean-floor spreading from An unusually severe
midocean ridges. 1982–83 El Niño event disrupts Measurements of ocean
the weather throughout the Pacific region. 2004 currents associated with the
Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh Stocks of fish off Ecuador and Peru in the Gulf Stream show that the flow has slowed by
1960 descend into the deepest part Eastern Pacific are virtually destroyed. 30 percent since the 1960s. They suggest that
of the Pacific—the Challenger Deep in the the Gulf Stream may be under serious threat.
Mariana Trench—in the bathyscaphe Trieste. The dead zone in the Gulf of
1985 Mexico, caused by pollution The Asian tsunami devastates
The US Scripps Institution of carried into the sea by the Mississippi River, 2004 coastal communities in the
1961 Oceanography starts work on is systematically surveyed for the first time. Indian Ocean. It causes more casualties than
the Deep Tow System, pioneering remotely any other in recorded history, with more than
operated oceanographic research. A team led by Dr. Robert Ballard 150,000 people killed and over 25,000 missing.
1985 discovers the wreck of the
British scientists Frederick Vine Titanic on the floor of the North Atlantic, A storm surge caused by
1963 and Drummond Matthews 13,000 ft (4,000 m) below the ocean surface. 2005 Hurricane Katrina floods the
realize that magnetic stripes in the rocks of city of New Orleans , Louisiana, causing the
ocean floor provide proof of Hess’s model of The giant oil tanker Exxon deaths of more than 1,000 people.
ocean-floor spreading. 1989 Valdez runs aground in Prince
William Sound, Alaska, leaking 30 million An international team of
A volcano erupts from the Mid- gallons (114 million liters) of crude oil into the 2005 oceanographers reports that
1963 Atlantic Ridge just south of sea. The oil spill kills 250,000 seabirds and 6,000 the oceans are becoming dangerously acidified
Iceland, and creates the new island of Surtsey. sea otters and is the most destructive in history. by carbon dioxide absorption from the air. This
could have severe consequences for marine life.
Canadian geologist John Tuzo US geophysicist Syukuro
1963 Wilson introduces the theory of 1990 Manabe uses a computer model Scientists drilling into
hotspots, created in the Earth’s crust by plumes of world climate to show that global warming 2006 ocean-floor sediments off
of heat within the mantle. could shut down the Gulf Stream. Canada discover frozen methane at much
shallower depths than expected, raising
First operational multibeam The largest recorded ocean wave the possibility that it could be exploited
1963 sonar sounding system installed 1995 strikes the ocean liner Queen as a fuel, and the fear that it might
on the American survey ship Compass Island. Elizabeth II off the coast of Newfoundland, contribute to climate change.
Canada. The wave is 100 ft (30 m) high.
The floor of the Pacific Ocean A scientific study finds that fish
1964 slides 65 ft (20 m) beneath Using radar data from the 2006 stocks have collapsed in nearly
Alaska, causing the most powerful earthquake 1995 Geosat satellite, Walter Smith one-third of sea fisheries, that the rate of decline
ever recorded in North America. and Dave Sandwell make the first truly accurate is accelerating, and that if the trend continues,
map of the ocean floor. the oceans will be fished out by 2050.
The submersible Alvin makes
1964 its first dive. Operated by the A major coral bleaching event Scientists report that the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the 1998 caused by unusually high ocean 2007 Southern Ocean is soaking up
US, it ushers in a new age of intensive research water temperatures damages more than a less carbon dioxide than in the past, and that
and exploration in the deep oceans. quarter of the world’s coral reefs. this is accelerating climate change.

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