Oceanography News

June 3, 2025

Top Headlines

Scientists Say Next Few Years Vital to Securing the Future of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

June 3, 2025 — Collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could be triggered with very little ocean warming above present-day, leading to a devastating four meters of global sea level rise to play out over hundreds ...

First Direct Observation of the Trapped Waves That Shook the World in 2023

June 3, 2025 — A new study has finally confirmed the theory that the cause of extraordinary global tremors in September -- October 2023 was indeed two mega tsunamis in Greenland that became trapped standing waves. Using a brand-new type of satellite altimetry, the ...

Geological Time Capsule Highlights Great Barrier Reef's Resilience

June 2, 2025 — New research adds to our understanding of how rapidly rising sea levels due to climate change foreshadow the end of the Great Barrier Reef as we know it. The findings suggest the reef can withstand rising sea levels in isolation but is vulnerable to ...

Small Currents, Big Impact: Satellite Breakthrough Reveals Hidden Ocean Forces

May 30, 2025 — While scientists have long studied currents of large eddies, the smaller ones -- called submesoscale eddies -- are notoriously difficult to detect. These currents, which range from several kilometers ...

Latest Headlines

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2021's Hurricane Ida Could Have Been Even Worse for NYC

May 29, 2025 — Hurricane Ida wreaked an estimated $75 billion in total damages and was responsible for 112 fatalities -- including 32 in New Jersey and 16 in New York state. Yet the hurricane could have been even ...

Atlantic Ocean Current Unlikely to Collapse With Climate Change

May 29, 2025 — Researchers created a detailed physical model that suggests a major Atlantic Ocean current will weaken far less under climate change than indicated by more extreme climate model ...

Anthropologists Spotlight Human Toll of Glacier Loss

May 29, 2025 — Anthropologists have examined the societal consequences of global glacier loss. This article appears alongside new research that estimates that more than three-quarters of the world's glacier mass ...

Coastal Alaska Wolves Exposed to High Mercury Concentrations from Eating Sea Otters

May 28, 2025 — Scientists show that wolves that are eating sea otters in Alaska have much higher concentrations of mercury than those eating other prey such as deer ...

Huge Sea-Urchin Populations Are Overwhelming Hawaii's Coral Reefs

May 28, 2025 — This study measured the growth rate of coral reefs in Honaunau Bay, Hawaii, using on-site data gathering and aerial imagery. Researchers found that the reefs are being eroded by sea urchin ...

Oldest Whale Bone Tools Discovered

May 27, 2025 — Humans were making tools from whale bones as far back as 20,000 years ago, according to a new study. This discovery broadens our understanding of early human use of whale remains and offers valuable ...

The Ocean Seems to Be Getting Darker

May 27, 2025 — Scientists, who have spent more than a decade examining the impact of artificial light at night on the world's coasts and oceans, have shown that more than one-fifth of the global ocean -- an area ...

How Marine Plankton Adapts to a Changing World

May 23, 2025 — Plankton may be tiny, but they play an important role in the ocean. As the foundation of marine ecosystems, they support ocean food webs and help regulate Earth's climate by storing carbon. While lab ...

Coastal Squeeze Is Bad for Biodiversity, and for Us, Experts Say

May 20, 2025 — Worldwide, coastal areas are squeezed between a rising sea level on one end and human structures on the other. The distance between a sandy coastline and the first human structures averages less than ...

When the Sea Moves Inland: A Global Climate Wake-Up Call from Bangladesh's Delta

May 23, 2025 — As sea levels climb and weather grows more extreme, coastal regions everywhere are facing a creeping threat: salt. Salinization of freshwater and ...

Climate Change Poses Severe Threat to Bowhead Whale Habitat

May 22, 2025 — New research examining 11,700 years of bowhead whale persistence throughout the Arctic projects that sea ice loss due to climate change will cause their habitat to severely contract by up to 75 per ...

Imaging Technique Removes the Effect of Water in Underwater Scenes

May 21, 2025 — SeaSplat is an image-analysis tool that cuts through the ocean's optical effects to generate images of underwater environments reveal an ocean scene's true colors. Researchers paired the ...

Fool's Gold: A Hidden Climate Stabilizer

May 21, 2025 — Researchers look to extremes in the past to study how the system reacts to imbalances. They detail an overlooked mechanism for how the ocean can help stabilize massive releases of carbon into the ...

Glaciers Will Take Centuries to Recover Even If Global Warming Is Reversed, Scientists Warn

May 19, 2025 — New research reveals mountain glaciers across the globe will not recover for centuries -- even if human intervention cools the planet back to the 1.5 C limit, having exceeded ...

Scientists Use Salinity to Trace Changes in the US Northeast Coastal Ocean

May 19, 2025 — The near-bottom water on the U.S. Northeast continental shelf provides a critical cold-water habitat for the rich regional marine ecosystem. This 'cold pool' preserves winter temperatures, ...

Study Reveals Healing the Ozone Hole Helps the Southern Ocean Take Up Carbon

May 16, 2025 — New research suggests that the negative effects of the ozone hole on the carbon uptake of the Southern Ocean are reversible, but only if greenhouse gas emissions rapidly decrease. The study finds ...

Rising Temperatures Lead to Unexpectedly Rapid Carbon Release from Soils

May 16, 2025 — How sensitively does organic carbon stored in soils react to changes in temperature and ...

Ancient Ocean Sediments Link Changes in Currents to Cooling of Northern Hemisphere 3.6 Million Years Ago

May 16, 2025 — New research from an international group looking at ancient sediment cores in the North Atlantic has for the first time shown a strong correlation between sediment changes and a marked period of ...

Scientists Use Fossils to Assess the Health of Florida's Largest Remaining Seagrass Bed: Surprisingly, It's Doing Well!

May 15, 2025 — A new study shows that seagrass ecosystems along the northern half of Florida's Gulf Coast have remained relatively healthy and undisturbed for the last several thousand ...

Sharp Depletion in Soil Moisture Drives Land Water to Flow Into Oceans, Contributing to Sea Level Rise

May 14, 2025 — The increasing frequency of once-in-a-decade agricultural and ecological drought has underscored the urgency of studying hydrological changes. A research team has analyzed the estimated changes in ...

Submarine Robot Catches an Underwater Wave

May 12, 2025 — Engineers have taught a simple submarine robot to take advantage of turbulent forces to propel itself through ...

It's Not Just El Niño: New Climate Phenomenon Impacts Hawai'i Rainfall

May 12, 2025 — El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is known to have a significant impact on climate across the Pacific, including Hawai'i, and adjacent continents. However, atmospheric scientists have now ...

Internal Clocks Determine the Ups and Downs of Antarctic Krill

May 9, 2025 — Antarctic krill do not only react to external environmental influences such as light or food. They also use their internal clock to adapt to the extreme conditions of the polar ...

Scottish Shrimp Study Illuminates New Potential for Bait-Less Fishing

May 8, 2025 — Fishing pots fitted with LED lights catch significantly more shrimp and fish, new research ...

Database Reveals Vital Ocean Links to Aid Conservation

May 8, 2025 — Scientists have launched an interactive global map to show the migratory patterns of more than 100 marine species in an effort to protect at-risk ...

Satellites Observe Glacier Committing 'Ice Piracy'

May 8, 2025 — A glacier in Antarctica is committing 'ice piracy' -- stealing ice from a neighbor -- in a phenomenon that has never been observed in such a short time frame, say ...

2024 Sea Level 'Report Cards' Map Futures of US Coastal Communities

May 6, 2025 — Researchers have released their 2024 U.S. sea level 'report cards,' providing updated analyses of sea level trends and projections for 36 coastal communities. Encompassing 55 years of ...

Artificial Oxygen Supply in Coastal Waters: A Hope With Risks

May 5, 2025 — Could the artificial introduction of oxygen revitalise dying coastal waters? While oxygenation approaches have already been proven successful in lakes, their potential side effects must be carefully ...

Loss of Sea Ice Alters the Colors of Light in the Ocean

May 2, 2025 — The disappearance of sea ice in polar regions due to global warming not only increases the amount of light entering the ocean, but also changes its color. These changes have far-reaching consequences ...

Oceans Are Heating Faster in Two Bands Stretching Around Globe

May 1, 2025 — The world's oceans are heating faster in two bands stretching around the globe, one in the southern hemisphere and one in the north, according to climate ...