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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 2003)
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Western Pacific gray whales - The world's most endangered whales - Numbered at less than 100 worldwide Travis Swenson •THE BATTALION Source: The Los Angeles times By Robert Stackhouse THE BATTALION A Texas A&M Galveston study provides evidence that undersea oil and gas exploration has not seriously altered western gray whales 4 living and feeding behaviors in the waters around Northern Russia’s Sakhalin Island, though the point is still debat ed by conservationists. Dr. Bemd Wursig, a professor of marine biology at Texas A&M at Galveston, has studied a population of western gray whales over five years, and concluded that oil and gas drilling does not affect the highly endangered species. “The main purpose was to find the number and habitat usage of western gray whales,” Wursig said. With a limited population of sur viving whales, people in the oil and gas industry and environmental groups are concerned about the sur vival of western gray whales. These whales are a very endan gered species, with only around one hundred left in the world. Disturbing this fragile environment is a concern, but day-to-day behavioral patterns of the whales are negligibly affected by oil and gas operations, Wursig said. “(The whales) are affected to a degree, but they continue to use that habitat (where oil and gas exploration is ongoing,,” he said. The data supporting his contention - the idea that drilling operations and the world’s most endangered whale species can peacefully co-exist - was collected using surveying instruments and global positioning systems. Such information can provide insight into the behavioral patterns of whales of both a survival and social nature. The surveying techniques Wursig and his group used found spe cific information on whales’ depth, distance from shore, and spacing from each other, he said. By modeling the whales 4 posi tions in three dimensions, researchers can determine if feeding habits are being disrupted by oil operations. A photographic record of whales can help determine their lifespan, since each whale has its own unique markings, which can be used to iden tify them over time. “We go out on a Zodiac inflatable boat to photo-identify each whale. A photo record can say something about longevity,” Wursig said. Whales may also be tracked through their DNA. Samples are taken using a harpoon resembling a crossbow, which are then biopsied and recorded. But Richard Charter, a marine conservation advocate with the Oceans Program of the Environmental Defense Organization said oil operations are hazardous to whale populations, despite the fact that their feeding and behavioral pat terns have not changed. “There has been an ongoing con troversy about the effects of seismic survey activities on whale popula tions,” he said. The instruments used to conduct seafloor oil deposit surveys are believed by some to be harmful to whales, also. Oil exploration uses high frequen cy sound waves directed at the ocean floor to determine the size of oil and gas deposits under the ocean. Seismic impulses such as these have been linked to whales found beached near oil exploration sites, Charter said. According to an article by the Los Angeles Times, seismic research con ducted by the National Science Foundation is being held responsible for the deaths of two beached whales. Wursig said his reasearch has yet to address the effects of seismic sur vey techniques on whales. Wursig’s research has been funded in large part by the oil industry. “The major ones have been Exxon and S.E.I.C,” Wursig said. Though Dr. Wursig’s research shows that the day-to-day operations of offshore platforms are not altering the behavior of the western gray whales, it remains to be seen whether the seismic activity portion of oil exploration is harmful to the whales. NASA e-mails reveal pre-disaster saftey uncertainties By Ted Bridis THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — One day before the Columbia disaster, senior NASA engineers wor ried the shuttle’s left wing might burn off and cause the deaths of the crew, describing a scenario much like the one investigators believe happened. They never sent their warnings to NASA’s brass, according to dozens of pages of e-mails NASA released Wednesday. “Why are we talking about this on the day before landing and not the day after launch?” wrote William C. Anderson, an employee for the United Space Alliance LEG, a NASA contractor, Jess than 24 hours before the shuttle broke apart. ■Two days earlier, one frustrated engineer asked, “Any more activity today on the tile dam age or are people just relegated to crossing their fingers and hoping for the best?” After intense debate — occurring by phone and e-mails — the engineers, supervisors and the head of the space agency’s Langley research facility in Hampton, Va., decided against taking the matter , to top NASA managers. Jeffrey V. Kling, a flight con troller at Johnson Space Center’s mission control, foresaw with haunting accuracy what might happen to Columbia during its fiery descent if superheated air were allowed to penetrate the wheel compartment. Kling wrote just 23 hours before the disaster that his engi neering team’s recommendation in such an event “is going to be to set up for a bailout (assuming the wing doesn’t burn off before we can get the crew out).” Kling the following day was among the first in mission control to report a sudden, unexplained loss of data from the shuttle’s sensors in the left wing. The e-mails describe a far broader discussion about the risks to Columbia than the concerns first raised three days earlier by Robert Daugherty, a NASA senior research engineer at Langley. He was concerned most about the safety of the shuttle land ing with flat tires or wheels dam aged from extreme heat. Daugherty was responding to questions on Jan. 27 from Carlisle Campbell, a NASA engineer at Johnson Space Center, about how re-entry heat could damage the shuttle’s tires. One day into the debate, Daugherty expressed frus tration to Campbell about the apparent lack of interest with his remark about keeping fingers crossed. Among the messages was one from Daugherty’s boss at Langley, Mark J. Shuart, to another Langley supervisor, Doug Dwoyer, describing Daugherty as “the kind of conserva tive, thorough engineer that NASA needs.” One e-mail, from R.K. “Kevin” McCluney, a shuttle mechanical engineer at Johnson Space Center, described the risks that could lead to “LOCV” — NASA shorthand for the loss of the crew and vehicle. But McCluney ultimately rec ommended to do nothing unless there was a “wholesale loss of data” from sensors in the left wing, in which case controllers would need to decide between a risky landing or dangerous bailout attempt. “Beats me what the breakpoint would be between the two decisions,” McCluney wrote. Investigators have reported such a wholesale loss of sensor readings in Columbia’s left wing, but it occurred too late to do anything — after the shuttle was already racing through Earth’s upper atmosphere and moments before its ulti mate demise a Why are we talk ing about this on the day before landing and not the day after launch? — William C. Anderson NASA contractor Reality! Now Hiring Community Assistants/Leasing for 2003! Real Living. Real Learning. Don't settle for anything less. Full-size washer and dryer Deluxe maltress Resort style shared living Fully furnished Individual lease Free roommate matching Big study desk Free cable TV access Free HBO & ESPN Free highspeed Internet X . * X Win 6 months to 1 year FREE RENT! 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Rev, Dr, John Polkinghorne: Polkinghome made a 25-year career as a theoretical particle physicist before he decided in midlife to enter the seminary and become an Anglican priest. Polkinghome has written that he respects both science and religion and believes that sciences search for understanding ultimately leads to God. presented by «Trt coite of Engineering Dr, Alan Guth: Guth, a National Academy of Science member and physics professor at MIT, is known as the father of the "inflationary universe" theory, which holds that a repulsive force embedded in the universe caused the inconceivably rapid early expansion of the Big Bang.