Oceanography News

December 25, 2024

Top Headlines

Paleobiologists Unlock 500,000 Years of Fossil Records: Climate Change Impacts and Risks of Marine Carbon Removal

Dec. 23, 2024 — Climate change impacts not only life on land but also the largely unexplored deep-sea ecosystem, home to unique and largely unexplored fauna. Deep-sea animals, which have adapted to stable and ...

ESA and NASA Satellites Deliver First Joint Picture of Greenland Ice Sheet Melting

Dec. 20, 2024 — Scientists have delivered the first measurements of Greenland Ice Sheet thickness change using data from ESA and NASA ice satellite missions. With global warming causing the Greenland Ice Sheet to ...

New Study Highlights the Correlation Between Live Corals and Fishing Yields

Dec. 19, 2024 — A new study examines the correlation between fish yield and live coral habitats. Researchers analyzed the yields of nine fisheries dependent on Australia's Great Barrier Reef from 2016 to 2020. Results show that substantial losses could occur if the ...

Changes in Store for Atmospheric Rivers

Dec. 19, 2024 — Communities up and down the West Coast of the United States can expect atmospheric rivers to evolve as the climate warms. But residents in Southern California will see much different changes than residents in more northerly locations like ...

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Living in the Deep, Dark, Slow Lane: Insights from the First Global Appraisal of Microbiomes in Earth's Subsurface Environments

Dec. 18, 2024 — Which microbes thrive below us in darkness -- in gold mines, in aquifers, in deep boreholes in the seafloor -- and how do they compare to the ...

Giant Virus Encodes Key Piece of Protein-Making Machinery of Cellular Life

Dec. 18, 2024 — Researchers recently discovered that a virus, FloV-SA2, encodes one of the proteins needed to make ribosomes, the central engines in all cells that translate genetic information into proteins, the ...

Diversity of Novel Hydrothermal Vent Styles on the Arctic Ocean Floor

Dec. 19, 2024 — A new study about Earth's northernmost seafloor hydrothermal system shows even more variety in vent styles than previously thought. The study has important implications for understanding the origin ...

Prehistoric Rock in Japan Reveals Clues to Major Ocean Anoxic Event

Dec. 17, 2024 — Researchers analyzed radioisotopes in layers of fossilized volcanic ash. Decay of uranium to lead within tiny crystals enabled scientists to precisely pinpoint dates for certain events. They ...

Buried Landforms Reveal North Sea's Ancient Glacial Past

Dec. 13, 2024 — Glaciologists used sound waves to reveal Ice Age landforms buried beneath almost 1 km of mud in the North Sea. The results suggest that the landforms were produced about 1 million years ago, when an ...

New Approach to Measure Ocean Memory: North Atlantic Ocean Has Nearly Two Decades Memory, Study Finds

Dec. 3, 2024 — A research team has developed new approach to measure ocean memory and found that the North Atlantic Ocean has a memory of approximately one to two ...

Surveys Show Full Scale of Massive Die-Off of Common Murres Following the 'Warm Blob' in the Pacific Ocean

Dec. 12, 2024 — Colony surveys of common murres, an Alaskan seabird, show the full effects of the 2014-16 marine heat wave known as 'the blob.' Analysis of 13 ...

How Helicopter Parenting Protects Baby Reef Fish

Dec. 12, 2024 — Researchers have discovered a rare example of 'great fish parenting' with a common coral reef species found to actively protect their young by eating ...

Tiny Poops in the Ocean May Help Solve the Carbon Problem

Dec. 10, 2024 — Some of the world's smallest animals and their tiny poops could aid in the fight against climate change. A study reports that clay dust sprayed on the surface of seawater converts free-floating ...

Antarctica's Irregular Heartbeat Shows Signs of Rapid Melting

Dec. 10, 2024 — Geoscientists have created a new climate record for early Antarctic ice ages. It reveals that the early Antarctic ice sheet melted more rapidly than previously ...

New Ocean Predator Discovered in the Atacama Trench

Dec. 9, 2024 — Characterized by darkness and intense pressure, the ocean's hadal zone seems uninhabitable, yet dozens of unique organisms call it home. Each species discovered there adds a crucial piece to the ...

Record-Low Antarctic Sea Ice Can Be Explained and Forecast Months out by Patterns in Winds

Dec. 6, 2024 — Researchers show that the all-time record low in winter sea ice extent in 2023 can be explained by warm Southern Ocean conditions and patterns in the winds that circled Antarctica months earlier, ...

How Do Marine Food Webs Respond to Increasing Alkalinity?

Dec. 6, 2024 — To mitigate climate change, human-made carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions must be reduced as quickly and drastically as possible. Additionally, some of the CO2 already emitted needs to be safely removed ...

Rapid Surge in Global Warming Mainly Due to Reduced Planetary Albedo

Dec. 5, 2024 — Rising sea levels, melting glaciers, heatwaves at sea -- 2023 set a number of alarming new records. The global mean temperature also rose to nearly 1.5 degrees above the preindustrial level, another ...

Massive Asteroid Impacts Did Not Change Earth's Climate in the Long Term

Dec. 4, 2024 — Two massive asteroids hit Earth around 35.65 million years ago, but did not lead to any lasting changes in the Earth's climate, according to a new ...

Ocean Density Identified as a Key Driver of Carbon Capture by Marine Plankton

Dec. 3, 2024 — New findings have revealed that changes in ocean density have a significant impact on the rate at which marine plankton incorporate carbon into their shells. This has profound implications for carbon ...

Countdown to an Ice-Free Arctic: New Research Warns of Accelerated Timelines

Dec. 3, 2024 — Scientists demonstrate how a series of extreme weather events could lead to the Arctic's first ice-free day within just a few ...

The Melting of Greenland: A Climate Challenge With Major Implications for the 21st Century

Nov. 29, 2024 — The melting of Greenland is accelerating, with an estimated loss of between 964 and 1735 gigatons of ice per year by 2100 in a scenario of high greenhouse gas emissions (SSP585), according to three ...

Coral Adaptation Unlikely to Keep Pace With Global Warming

Nov. 28, 2024 — Coral adaptation to ocean warming and marine heatwaves will likely be overwhelmed without rapid reductions of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to an international team of ...

Oceans Emit Sulfur and Cool the Climate More Than Previously Thought

Nov. 27, 2024 — Researchers have quantified for the first time the global emissions of a sulfur gas produced by marine life, revealing it cools the climate more than previously thought, especially over the Southern ...

Enhancing Seaglider Technology to Measure Carbon Dioxide

Nov. 26, 2024 — Scientists around the world rely on ocean monitoring tools to measure the effects of climate change. Researchers advanced the technology available to measure carbon dioxide in the ...

Delay and Pay: Climate Tipping Point Costs Quadruple After Waiting

Nov. 26, 2024 — The cost of reversing the effects of climate change -- restoring melted polar sea ice, for example -- quickly climbs nearly fourfold soon after a tipping point is crossed, according to new work. Much ...

Under-Ice Species at Risk as Arctic Warms

Nov. 26, 2024 — 'Specialist' lifeforms that live under Arctic sea ice are at risk as the ice retreats, new research ...

Quantum Mechanism Identified as a Key to Accelerating Ocean Temperatures

Nov. 26, 2024 — Accelerating rates of heat uptake by oceans that don't fit current climate models can now be explained by quantum ...

In Patagonia, More Snow Could Protect Glaciers from Melt -- But Only If We Curb Greenhouse Gas Emissions Soon

Nov. 22, 2024 — In an era of dwindling glaciers, Southern Patagonia has managed to hold on to a surprising amount of its ice. But, a new study suggests that this protective effect might be pushed up against its ...

Exploring the Impact of Offshore Wind on Whale Deaths

Nov. 21, 2024 — Scientists have presented work examining the circumstances surrounding the whale deaths off the coast of New Jersey in the winter of 2022-23, which prompted concern that survey work in the area ...

Less Cold: Ocean Cold Period in the Early 20th Century Less Pronounced Than Previously Thought

Nov. 21, 2024 — A new study shows that the oceans were less cold in the early 20th century (1900--1930) than previously thought. During this period the ocean appears too cold due to the way some measurements were ...

Fewer Than 7% of Global Hotspots for Whale-Ship Collisions Have Protection Measures in Place

Nov. 21, 2024 — A new study has quantified the risk for whale-ship collisions worldwide for four geographically widespread ocean giants that are threatened by shipping: blue, fin, humpback and sperm whales. ...

Climate-Driven Hazards Increases Risk for Millions of Coastal Residents, Study Finds

Nov. 21, 2024 — A new study estimates that a 1-meter sea level rise by 2100 would affect over 14 million people and $1 trillion worth of property along the Southeast Atlantic ...

Research Highlights the Pressures Human Activities Place on Tropical Marine Ecosystems

Nov. 20, 2024 — The tropical coastlines of Southeast Asia are home to some of the most important and biodiverse marine ecosystems on the planet. But as well as being essential to communities along these coastlines, ...