28.09.2012

The sea is our oyster

Posted by Leanne Watson in Interestingness,Ooo, that looks nice

Whether it be stumbling upon a person peeing on their patio or poking our noses inside a local businesses, those of you who follow our Peptalks will know that we like to keep abreast of the latest Google Map developments and findings, and guess what, today is no exception.

Teaming up with environmental scientists at Catlin Seaview Survey Google have succeeded in taking us where no mega amazing camera with high resolution wide angle lenses have so successfully taken us before.

Google's new seaview development lets us explore a whole 360 degrees around the ocean floor giving us an insight into the spectacular views and the diverse wildlife that the ocean has to offer. - All from the comfort of our own homes.

This has been seen as an incredibly positive step in terms of monitoring the world's oceans, as Richard Veevers director of Caitlin comments, "This is a critical decade for coral reefs. We need to be recording them as fast as we can and involving people to halt the decline, which is alarming at the moment".

Currently, Google have allowed us to get up close and personal with 6 reefs: Heron, Lady Elliot, Wilson islands, Molokini Crater, Hanauma Bay and the Apo Islands.

Talking about the decline in coral reefs (and in no way linked with Google) artist and underwater naturalist (not naturist) Jason deCaires Taylor has specially fashioned a variety of underwater houses to act as unconventional habitats for a multitude of sea creatures who have lost their coral habitats due to increasing pollution levels in the sea. The underwater houses will provide new homes for the sea creatures that would once have resided in the coral reefs.

These underwater houses can be found off the coast of Cancun, Mexico and maybe in the distant future we will be able to explore these through Google Maps.

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