CNMI | Southern Fried Science

Help the Victims of Typhoon Yutu

Posted on October 29, 2018 by Bucky Villagomez

Photo credit: Nicole Cabrera

On Thursday, October 25, Super Typhoon Yutu slammed into my home islands of Saipan and Tinian packing sustained winds of 178 miles per hour. The storm resulted in one fatality and widespread destruction. Friends and family have lost everything.

Andrew Thaler and I would like to reach out to the Southern Fried Science community of readers to ask your support in helping our friends and family in the the islands with relief efforts (Andrew has conducted OpenROV workshops in the region and has helped with efforts to confer UNESCO World Heritage and National Marine Sanctuary status on the Mariana Trench).

You can help by:

SPREADING THE WORD

The easiest way for you to help, and it doesn’t cost anything, is to share this blog on social media so that more eyes are reading this call for help. Please use the hashtags #SuperTyphoonYutu and #YutuRelief. Also, please share other people’s photos and stories on social media (you can find them using the hashtags). Finally, you can help spread the word by sharing news stories. Here are some from CNN, NPR, USA Today, Washington Post. Civil Beat also has a post with lots of photos of the destruction. Again, please use the hashtags.

DONATING

The Pacific Daily News, the newspaper of record on Guam, has a list of ways readers can help the victims. There is also a website yuturelief.com, that looks like it is run by various members of our diaspora. I encourage you to read both websites and see what method of donating works best for you. Here are a few others:

Saturation diving, destroying the world with Bitcoin mining, deep-sea mining, Arctic shrinkage, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 21, 2018

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Yale study: Newspaper op-eds change minds and The Long-lasting Effects of Newspaper Op-Eds on Public Opinion. Scientists and conservationists, this May, make an effort to publish a Letter to the Editor or OpEd in your local paper. If you’ve done so, please leave a link to it in the comments.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Immediately after college, my backup plan if I didn’t get into grad school was to go to work as an underwater welder doing saturation diving. After reading this, I’m pretty glad I didn’t go that route. The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver.

Walking the talk in Vanuatu, the first country in the world to ban plastic straws.
We’ve been saying this for a awhile now. Cryptocurrencies that rely on ever increasing processing power to resolve transaction are an environmental disaster. Alarming Study Suggests Bitcoin Consumes an Astonishing Amount of Energy and It’s Only Getting Worse.

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Stitching Hope for the Coast is still accepting contributions from knitters around the world. Join the fun!

An octopus’s garden in the sea, the world’s densest island, dangers of deep-sea fishing, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: April 23, 2018

Posted on April 23, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

The journey is over but the expedition continues. Follow us on Open Explorer for our ongoing adventures in the Mariana Islands.
WHOI is looking for some science communication superstars: Science Writer & Multimedia Producer and Social Media Specialist.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

The Okeanos Foundation for the Sea.

Nuclear Legacy Voyage with Okeanos Marshall Islands.

Why We Created This First-of-Its-Kind Digital Field Journal.

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Alvin dives for early-career scientists, join me in the Marianas Islands, stump a scientist, embraces MPAs, and more! Tuesday (?) Morning Salvage: April 17, 2018

Posted on April 17, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

We’re late because Andrew doesn’t understand time zones.

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

This is an incredible oportunity for an early career researcher to get their feet wet leading a deep-sea science cruise: Announcing a NSF-UNOLS Early Career Training Cruise Opportunity to the East Pacific Rise 9° 50’N – December 2018

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

We have a new writer! Please welcome the Original Saipan Blogger, Bucky Villagomez!
Hafa Adai from the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands! Are you following along with our adventure on OpenExplorer? Yesterday was one of the highlights of my career: Marine Ecology and Underwater Robotics in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

The Okeanos Marianas. Our research vessel for the day.

Add this to the list of things that are really not good: Atlantic Ocean Current Slows Down To 1,000-Year Low, Studies Show.
Look, if anyone could actually pull this off, it’s Phil Nuytten, but I. Have. Questions: Who’d like to live under the sea? H/T to Dr. Diva Amon.

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Behold, the interactive Salt Marsh!
David S. and S. David did a thing!

Hurricane Irma, the Manatee Sheriff, climate change, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: September 11, 2017

Posted on September 11, 2017 by Andrew Thaler

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

One week left! The OpenCTD and Oceanography for Everyone has been selected as a finalist in National Geographic’s Chasing Genius Challenge! Please help me win the People’s Choice award by voting for the OpenCTD. Visit http://www.natgeochasinggenius.com/video/776, create or sign into your Chasing Genius account, and click the yellow star to vote on my video. You can vote once per day until September 15.
“Everyone is homeless. We can’t help each other because everyone needs help.” Ayana Johnson is working to raise funds (and the Waitt Foundation is matching donations, to help the people of Barbuda, where almost every structure on the island was leveled.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Yes, I would like to pet a giant isopod, thank you.

We have a new expedition planned to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Join us: Marine Ecology and Underwater Robotics in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The Manatee Sheriff sends Manatee officers to rescue stranded manatees in Manatee County.

Protect Our Oceans: from the ground in Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

Posted on September 5, 2017 by Guest Writer

Carlotta Leon Guerrero is a former Member of the 23^rd, 24^th, and 25^th Guam Senate. She was also a two-term president of the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures and previously worked as a radio and television journalist in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

In April 2017, President Donald Trump ordered Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke to examine 27 protected areas established by Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama using the 1906 Antiquities Act. Included in the list were four marine monuments in the Pacific Ocean, the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in Hawaii, Mariana Trench Marine National Monument in the Mariana Islands, Rose Atoll Marine National Monument in American Samoa, and the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (sometimes referred to as Pacific Remote Island Areas or PRIA), which is made up several isolated islands and atolls under American control. This should have all of us on Guam and in the Pacific concerned, because we are the people who will have to live with the outcome.

Monday Morning Salvage: January 23, 2017

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Andrew Thaler

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Come back to the Mariana Trench with me! I’ve taken the almost ten hours of assorted dive footage from our adventures in Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Guam and edited it down to just the best four minutes. Share, subscribe, and enjoy!

Jetsam (what we’re enjoying from around the web) Read More

Monday Morning Salvage: December 26, 2016

Posted on December 26, 2016 by Andrew Thaler

Welcome back! We missed a week while I was traveling across the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands and Guam, so dig in and enjoy!

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

The Mariana Trench!

The Mariana Trench Monument

It’s the deepest place on the planet and we’ve been all hands on deck sharing the latest science from the bottom of the ocean with our friends in Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Guam. Check out our expedition on OpenExplorer for a blow by blow of the 12-day adventure. Visit the Friends of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument Facebook page for more exciting stories from the field. We even got some nice coverage in the local press: Marine scientists talks about Marianas Trench at Rotary and Marianas Trench Marine National Monument to be discussed on ‘Your Humanities Half-Hour’.
The Guam Daily Post has my favorite coverage of this adventure: With the help of a tiny robot, scientists deepen support for a Mariana Trench sanctuary.