Sylvia Earle

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Sylvia Alice Earle
SylviaEarle.jpg
After winning a TED Prize in 2009
Born (1935-08-30) August 30, 1935 (age 77)
Gibbstown, New Jersey
Residence Oakland, California
Nationality American
Fields Oceanography
Institutions Deep Ocean Engineering, NOAA, National Geographic Society, Mission Blue Foundation
Alma mater Florida State University (B.S.)
Duke University (M.S. and Ph.D.)
Known for Exploration and environmental advocacy
Notable awards Order of the Golden ArkTED Prize (2009)

Sylvia Alice Earle (born August 30, 1935 in Gibbstown, New Jersey) is an American oceanographer, aquanaut and author. She was the chief scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 1990 to 1992. Since 1998 she has been a National Geographic explorer-in-residence, sometimes called "Her Deepness"[1] or "The Sturgeon General".[2] Sylvia Earle was named by Time Magazine as the first Hero for the Planet. She is an oceanographer, explorer, author, lecturer, Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, leader of the Sustainable Seas Expeditions, council chair for the Harte Research Institute for the Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, founder and chairman of the Deep Search Foundation, and finally the chair of the Advisory Council for the Ocean in Google Earth. Sylvia Earle has founded three companies, among them DOER Marine (Deep Ocean Exploration and Research) in Alameda, California.[3]

Contents

Education and career [edit]

Earle received a B.S. degree from Florida State University (1955) and a M.S. (1956) and Ph.D. (1966) from Duke University. She was Curator of Phycology at the California Academy of Sciences (1979–1986) and a Research Associate at the University of California, Berkeley (1969–1981), Radcliffe Institute Scholar (1967–1969) and Research Fellow or Associate at Harvard University (1967–1981).

Sylvia Earle led the first team of women aquanauts during the Tektite Project in 1970.[4] In 1979, she made an open-ocean JIM suit dive to the sea floor near Oahu, setting a women's depth record of 381 metres (1,250 ft).[1][5] She also holds the women's depth record for a solo dive in a submersible: 1,000 metres (3,300 ft).

From 1980 to 1984 she served on NACOA (the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere). In 1982 she founded Deep Ocean Engineering along with her husband, engineer and submersible designer Graham Hawkes, to design, operate, support, and consult on piloted and robotic sub sea systems.[6] In 1985, the Deep Ocean Engineering team designed and built the Deep Rover research submarine, which operates down to 1,000 metres (3,300 ft).[7][8] By 1986, Deep Rover had been tested and Earle joined the team conducting training off Lee Stocking Island in The Bahamas.[7] She left the company in 1990 to accept an appointment as a chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In 1992 she founded Deep Ocean Exploration and Research (DOER Marine) to further advance marine engineering. The company, now run by her daughter Elizabeth, continues to design, build and operate equipment for deep ocean environments.[9]

Since 1998, Earle has been an explorer in residence at the National Geographic Society.

The 1999 Sustainable Seas Expedition was lead by Earle who also provided the DeepWorker 2000 submersible used to quantify the species of fish as well as the space resources utilized within the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.[10]

In 2011, she received an honorary doctorate from Smith College,[11] and delivered the commencement address at Warren Wilson College.

She was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 2013.[12]

Accomplishments [edit]

Earle has led more than 100 expeditions worldwide involving in excess of 7,000 hours underwater in connection with her research.[13] From 1998 to 2002 she led the Sustainable Seas Expeditions, a five-year program to study the United States National Marine Sanctuary sponsored by the National Geographic Society and funded by the Goldman Foundation. An expert on the impact of oil spills, she was called upon to lead several research trips during the Persian Gulf War in 1991 to determine environmental damage caused by Iraq's destruction of Kuwaiti oil wells. She was also called to consult during the Deepwater Horizon Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 as well as following the oil spills from the Exxon Valdez and Mega Borg.

Earle is the author of more than 180 publications concerning marine science and technology including the books Sea Change: Exploring the Deep Frontier (1996), Wild Ocean: America's Parks Under the Sea (1999), The Atlas of the Ocean (2008), "The World is Blue" (2010), she has participated in numerous television productions and given scientific, technical, and general interest lectures in more than 70 countries. Children's books that she has written include Coral Reefs, Hello Fish, Sea Critters, and Dive!

In 1986, Earle tied the world solo dive depth record in a sub (and setting the record for a woman), going 1000m in Deep Ocean Engineering's Deep Rover, tying the record set by her then husband Graham Hawkes.[6][14]

Earle was named Time magazine's first "hero for the planet" in 1998. She is a Knight in the Netherlands' Order of the Golden Ark.[15]

She was instrumental in adding a new feature of displaying oceans in version 5.0 of Google Earth.[16]

Earle founded Deep Search (also known as the Sylvia Earle Alliance, Deep Search Foundation, and Mission Blue), a non-profit foundation for protecting and exploring the Earth's oceans.[17] In addition, she serves on several boards, including Marine Conservation Institute.[18]

At The Hague International Model United Nations Conference, Earle gave a 14-minute speech in front of 3,500 delegates and United Nations ambassadors. In July 2012, Earle led an expedition to NOAA's Aquarius underwater laboratory, located off Key Largo, Florida. The expedition, entitled "Celebrating 50 Years Of Living Beneath The Sea," commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of Jacques Cousteau's Conshelf I project and investigated coral reefs and ocean health. Mark Patterson co-led the expedition with Earle. Their aquanaut team also included underwater filmmaker D.J. Roller and oceanographer M. Dale Stokes.[19][20]

Earle made a cameo appearance in the daily cartoon strip Sherman's Lagoon in the week starting 17 September 2012, to discuss the closing of the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory.[21]

Sylvia Earle displays samples to aquanaut inside TEKTITE

Mission Blue [edit]

In 2009, Earle won a TED Prize.[22] With TED's support, she launched Mission Blue, which aims to establish marine protected areas (dubbed "hope spots") around the globe.[23]

“I wish you would use all means at your disposal — films! expeditions! the web! more! — to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas, hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet.” - Sylvia Earle [23]

With Mission Blue and its partners, Earle led expeditions to prospective hope spots: Cuba in 2009,[24] Belize in January 2010, the Galápagos Islands in April 2010,[25] and the Mesoamerican Reef in July 2011.

Quotes [edit]

I want to get out in the water. I wanted to see fish, real fish, not fish in a laboratory.
—Sylvia Earle[26]
People ask: Why should I care about the ocean? Because the ocean is the cornerstone of earth's life support system, it shapes climate and weather. It holds most of life on earth. 97% of earth's water is there. It's the blue heart of the planet — we should take care of our heart. It's what makes life possible for us. We still have a really good chance to make things better than they are. They won't get better unless we take the action and inspire others to do the same thing. No one is without power. Everybody has the capacity to do something.
—Sylvia Earle[27]

Publications [edit]

  • Earle, Sylvia and Al Giddings (1980). Exploring the Deep Frontier: The Adventure of Man in the Sea. National Geographic Society. ISBN 0-87044-343-7. 
  • Earle, Sylvia (1996). Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-449-91065-2. 
  • Earle, Sylvia (1999). Dive: My Adventure in the Deep Frontier. National Geographic Children's Books. ISBN 0-7922-7144-0. 
  • Earle, Sylvia (1999). Wild Ocean: America's Parks Under the Sea. National Geographic Society. ISBN 0-7922-7471-7. 
  • Earle, Sylvia (2000). Sea Critters. National Geographic Children's Books. ISBN 0-439-28575-5. 
  • Ellen, Prager and Earle, Sylvia (2000). The Oceans. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-138177-5. 
  • Earle, Sylvia (2001). Hello, Fish!: Visiting the Coral Reef. National Geographic Children's Books. ISBN 0-7922-6697-8. 
  • Earle, Sylvia (2001). National Geographic Atlas of the Ocean: The Deep Frontier. National Geographic. ISBN 0-7922-6426-6. 
  • Earle, Sylvia (2003). Jump Into Science: Coral Reefs. National Geographic Children's Books. ISBN 0-7922-6953-5. 
  • Earle, Sylvia and Linda K. Glover (2008). Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas (National Geographic Atlas). National Geographic. ISBN 1-4262-0319-5. 
  • Earle, Sylvia (2009). The World Is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean's Are One. National Geographic Books. ISBN 1-4262-0541-4. 

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b Rosenblatt, Roger (October 5, 1998). "Sylvia Earle: Call Of The Sea". Time. Retrieved December 16, 2011. 
  2. ^ "Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer Information, Facts, News, Photos". National Geographic. Retrieved February 12, 2011. 
  3. ^ Earle (2009)
  4. ^ Collette, BB (1996). "Results of the Tektite Program: Ecology of coral-reef fishes.". In: MA Lang, CC Baldwin (Eds.) The Diving for Science…1996, "Methods and Techniques of Underwater Research" Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences Sixteenth Annual Scientific Diving Symposium, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Retrieved 2013-04-14. 
  5. ^ Kesling, Douglas E (2011). "Atmospheric Diving Suits – New Technology May Provide ADS Systems that are Practical and Cost-Effective Tools for Conducting Safe Scientific Diving, Exploration, and Undersea Research". In: Pollock NW, ed. Diving for Science 2011. Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences 30th Symposium. Dauphin Island, AL: AAUS. Retrieved 2013-04-14. 
  6. ^ a b New York Times, "SCIENTIST AT WORK: Graham Hawkes; Racing to the Bottom Of the Deep, Black Sea", William J. Broad, 1993 August 3 (accessed 30 Juli 2012)
  7. ^ a b English, JG (1987). "DEEP ROVER submersible operations for science". In: Lang, MA (ed). Coldwater Diving for Science…1987. Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences annual scientific diving symposium 31 October - 1 November 1987 Seattle, Washington, USA. Retrieved 2013-04-14. 
  8. ^ Griffin, James J; Sharkey, Phillip I (1987). "Design of the next generation of research vessels". In: Lang, MA (ed). Coldwater Diving for Science…1987. Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences annual scientific diving symposium 31 October - 1 November 1987 Seattle, Washington, USA. Retrieved 2013-04-14. 
  9. ^ "About DOER Marine". DOER Marine. Retrieved December 16, 2011. 
  10. ^ Auster, Peter J; Lindholm, James (2005). "The Ecology of Fishes on Deep Boulder Reefs in the Western Gulf of Maine (NW Atlantic).". In: Godfrey, JM; Shumway, SE. Diving For Science 2005. Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences Symposium on March 10-12, 2005 at the University of Connecticut at Avery Point, Groton, Connecticut. (American Academy of Underwater Sciences). Retrieved 2013-04-14. 
  11. ^ "Sylvia Earle to be 2011 commencement speaker". Retrieved May 15, 2011. 
  12. ^ "Ocean record-breaker to visit NMMU". Port Elizabeth Herald. 2013-04-12. Retrieved 2013-04-17. 
  13. ^ Home Page for Sylvia Earle
  14. ^ Burnaby Mail, "Her Deepness drops in and warns of growing threat to the oceans", Deborah Smith, 2011 November 23 (accessed 25 March 2012)
  15. ^ "Sylvia Earle, Oceanographer". National Geographic Society. Retrieved December 16, 2011. 
  16. ^ A deep dive into the ocean in Google Earth
  17. ^ "Deep Search GuideStar report". GuideStar. Retrieved December 15, 2011. 
  18. ^ Marine Conservation Institute
  19. ^ "Celebrating 50 Years Of Living Beneath The Sea". University of North Carolina Wilmington. 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2012. 
  20. ^ Rosser, Saul (July 2012). "A Personal Perspective on 50 Years of Living Beneath the Sea". National Undersea Research Center. Retrieved July 18, 2012. 
  21. ^ This Week in Comics: What To Read Daily Ink Retrieved 18 September 2012
  22. ^ "2009 Winners". Retrieved December 16, 2011. 
  23. ^ a b "Sylvia Earle". TED Prize. Retrieved February 12, 2011. 
  24. ^ "Cuba". SEA. Retrieved December 16, 2011. 
  25. ^ "The Mission Blue Voyage". TED. Retrieved December 16, 2011. 
  26. ^ "Interview: Sylvia Earle Undersea Explorer". Academy of Achievement. 27 January 1991. Retrieved 18 April 2012. 
  27. ^ Quote from the film Bag It.

External links [edit]

Authority control
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