Despite man’s ability to put a man on the moon and send satellites into the far reaches of space, the deepest parts of earth’s own ocean are still shrouded in mystery; indeed it’s probably true that scientists’ maps of Mar’s surface is more detailed that any map they possess of the ocean floor.

Scientists attribute this to the inherent difficulty of communicating with robots and submarines beneath the sea, due to the intense pressure, currents and even marine life that form part of the ocean’s deeper reaches.

However, in order to address this problem, scientists developed the new NEPTUNE network, which went online Wednesday 8^th December.  The deep-sea network will stream data collated from hundreds of undersea instruments, sensors and probes and stream them direct to the internet direct from the ocean floor.

The network consists of a 497-mile ring of fibre-optic cable, situated off the Canadian coast and features five nodes which act as routers to transmit data to the internet.  Each node is encased in a 6.5 ton cage to protect it from fishing trawlers, sea vessels and giant squids.

The network is expected to produce around 50 terabytes of data each year, all of which will inform scientists about everything from earthquake dynamics to the effects of climate change on the water column, and from deep-sea ecosystems to salmon migration.  It will also study gas hydrate deposits which are found along the continental margin and the effects deep-sea fishing can have on benthic communities and marine life as fishermen cast their nets wider and deeper.

Earth hour happened this weekend – where people from around the world were invited to switch off their lights for one hour – and some of the pictures from the event are phenomenal. Below are some of the best – I’ve tried to give credit to the sources but if I’ve missed anything please let me know. 

Earth Hour started in Australia and here is their capital, Canberra: 

(http://blog.enterpriseitplanet.com/green/blog/2008/04/canberra-takes-earth-hour-crown.html)

and Sydney:

(http://timblair.net/ee/images/uploads/shieldyoureyes.jpg)

Some of the world’s most famous monuments took part, such as the pyramids in Egypt:

(http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/mar/29/earth-hour-032909/)

… the Burj El Arab in Dubai:

(http://transracial.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/get-ready-for-earth-hour-2009/)

and the CN Tower:

(http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/index.php/2008/04/02/global-citizens-love-the-earth-for-an-hour/comment-page-1/)

Even Google got in on the act: