Logger Head Island

1. We wanted to keep as much of the civilization away from the hatching area as possible. To do this, we only put the research center near the turtles for easier access for researching purposes. The houses that are further away from the beach all have lighting restrictions after a certain time of day to prevent confusion to hatched turtles.

2. We put it on the opposite end of the island so that there was not to much at one end. We made it so it faces directly into the ocean for the most optimal fishing. It was also away from any of the islands natural occurrences.

3. It could take up a lot of the islands natural space. It could also potentially make a new Eco system on its own causing some of the natural species to migrate to it. Some of the ways it could be reduced would be to place the golf course in a smaller portion of the island away from the naturally occurring things.

4. It would be a very beautiful community that a lot of people would like to vacation on. The golf course alone would be a very good economic booster for the area, as well as all of the homes that would be sold.

5. We make public beaches in potential nesting areas. We leave trash that the animals could potentially eat and choke on and we also can disrupt the naturally occurring waves by building sea walls and jetties.

6.They all act as a natural cement in a way by preventing the waves from doing to much damage. They take away some of the impact and keep a lot of the natural sediment in place.

7. Our group had a lot of good ideas that other group had already integrated into their own islands.

Molasses Spill

The molasses spill off of the coast of Hawaii is an environmental nightmare. Although not as dangerous as an oil spill, much the the sea life is being affected by the spill and many even dying. The video recorded by a local diver shows the true affects of the spill, turning the once blue-green water into a brown mess. The video also shows many dead fish floating around or sinking to the ocean floor. As a result of a faulty pipe pumping the molasses into the ocean instead of it's destination in California The sticky molasses takes the oxygen out of the water and blankets the ocean floor.
           The molasses spill is not only harmful to the marine life in the area, but also to humans as well. Although the molasses does no affect to humans, the dead and rotting fish in the water are making it unsafe to swim in. AS far as clean up goes, much of the work will be done naturally using the tides to wash it all out. The man who recorded the underwater mess said that, "We had a large sewage spill six or eight years ago. It was a stinky mess, but nothing like this."

Experimental Design

I was not able to go on the recent Oceanography field trip so I wrote about the experimental deign of a research trip to the South Pacific. I was familiar with some of the materials that the trip would require due to our most recent in class project with the underwater habitat. The trip would be a minimum of two weeks because just arriving to the destination took seven days. With that in mind, I planned the resources accordingly. There would be plenty of food, and I made sure that there were enough oxygen tanks and other necessary materials to observe the clams properly without harming them. It would be better if the clams would perform their mating ritual while on board the ship so that the scientists don't have to be underwater for the four-six hour mating process. Some of the other materials that may be necessary for the best operation are large holding tanks, and natural materials from the clams natural environment so that the snails are as comfortable as possible as to perform their mating while on the ship. If the scientists were to perform an autopsy on one of the clams, they would need surgical equipment such as a scalpel and would also need a microscope as to view the clam clearly. 

Sand Reflection

The two sands that I am going to compare are from the Bahamas and, Cancun. The bahamas are known for it's white/ pink beaches. This is because it's sand composition is made up of alot of coral. There are a lot of coral reefs offshore and when they break off, they are moved toward the beach. After waves constantly crashing down on them, they are broken down small enough that it looks like sand. Under microscope, the particles looked large in comparison to other grains. The sand that I looked at undermicroscope from Cancun was very different. Though it had a similar white color of the sand, that is all it really shared. The pieces of sand were smaller in size and were rather rounded meaning that they are be bombarded by waves on a more constant basis. The sand was not quite as coral based. It had a more rocky sediment in it that i would assume came from a graite compound. The magnetite for both groupings of sand was rather strong.