Soldato
- Joined
- 14 Jun 2004
- Posts
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A MASSIVE ocean vortex discovered off the West Australian coast is acting as a "death trap" by sucking in huge amounts of fish larvae and could affect the surrounding climate.
A team of scientists from The University of Western Australia Murdoch University, CSIRO and three American, French and Spanish research institutions announced the discovery of the vortex after a month-long research voyage in the ocean just west of Rottnest Island.
Led by Dr Anya Waite, a biological oceanographer from UWA, the 10-member team found the vortex – 200km in diameter and 1000m deep – spinning at speeds up to 5kph just off the Rottnest Canyon.
Dr Waite said the vortex, shaped like a giant child's spinning top, was created by current movement down the coast and is one of the largest ever found off of WA.
Visible from space, the vortex is acting as a "death trap" by sucking in fish larvae from closer to the shore, she said.
I'll have it powered up in 30 seconds sir
Planet-like objects floating alone through space harbor disks of material that could make other planets or moons, something like miniature versions of our solar system, astronomers said today.
What exactly to call any of these objects and systems is up in the air, however.
In one new study, six objects ranging in heft from five to 15 times the mass of Jupiter were observed. None are bound to stars. All are young and have disks of gas and dust that resemble disks found around young stars. Our own Sun had such a disk, out of which asteroids, comets and planets formed, theorists say.
Planemo or brown dwarf?
The scientists involved in the new research are calling the objects "planemos," short for planetary mass objects that were born in the manner of stars and do not orbit normal stars.
Shake it Baby
A team of scientists from The University of Western Australia Murdoch University, CSIRO and three American, French and Spanish research institutions announced the discovery of the vortex after a month-long research voyage in the ocean just west of Rottnest Island.
Led by Dr Anya Waite, a biological oceanographer from UWA, the 10-member team found the vortex – 200km in diameter and 1000m deep – spinning at speeds up to 5kph just off the Rottnest Canyon.
Dr Waite said the vortex, shaped like a giant child's spinning top, was created by current movement down the coast and is one of the largest ever found off of WA.
Visible from space, the vortex is acting as a "death trap" by sucking in fish larvae from closer to the shore, she said.
I'll have it powered up in 30 seconds sir
Planet-like objects floating alone through space harbor disks of material that could make other planets or moons, something like miniature versions of our solar system, astronomers said today.
What exactly to call any of these objects and systems is up in the air, however.
In one new study, six objects ranging in heft from five to 15 times the mass of Jupiter were observed. None are bound to stars. All are young and have disks of gas and dust that resemble disks found around young stars. Our own Sun had such a disk, out of which asteroids, comets and planets formed, theorists say.
Planemo or brown dwarf?
The scientists involved in the new research are calling the objects "planemos," short for planetary mass objects that were born in the manner of stars and do not orbit normal stars.
Shake it Baby
