Oceanography
Prehistoric greenhouse data from ocean floor could predict Earth's future
October 27, 2011 9:48 am | News | CommentsNew research from the University of Missouri indicates that Atlantic Ocean temperatures during the greenhouse climate of the Late Cretaceous Epoch were influenced by circulation in the deep ocean. These changes in circulation patterns 70 million years ago could help scientists understand the consequences of modern increases in greenhouse gases.
Source of microplastic pollution could be in the next room
October 19, 2011 6:22 am | News | CommentsDoing some detective work, biologists and earth scientists surveyed 18 coasts worldwide, evaluating contamination by small particles of plastic. Based on the size and shape of the particles, they concluded that fibers loosened during a typical laundry cycle in a washing machine could be the primary source for this swiftly growing form of pollution.
Geochemical technique unlocks secrets of ancient ocean
October 11, 2011 7:07 am | News | CommentsEarth's largest mass extinction event eradicated an estimated 90% of Earth's marine life. To better understand the cause of this "mother of all mass extinctions," researchers from Arizona State University and the University of Cincinnati used a new geochemical technique to discover something new: the relative change in anoxia conditions in the ocean.
Multibeam sonar can map undersea gas seeps
October 6, 2011 9:10 am | News | CommentsA technology commonly used to map the bottom of the deep ocean can also detect gas seeps in the water column with remarkably high fidelity, according to scientists from the University of New Hampshire and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Scientists identify microbes that ate natural gas in Deepwater spill
October 3, 2011 12:19 pm | News | CommentsThe Deepwater Horizon spill contained a large amount of natural gas, which immediately became food for bacteria. In a new study, scientists explain how they used DNA to identify the microbes present in the Gulf of Mexico during the spill, and how temperature played a role the microbes' ability to consume the gas.
Rising carbon dioxide levels at end of Ice Age not tied to Pacific Ocean
October 3, 2011 8:33 am | News | CommentsAt the end of the last Ice Age, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rose rapidly as the planet warmed; scientists have long hypothesized that the source was carbon dioxide released from the deep ocean. But a new study using detailed radiocarbon dating of foraminifera found in a sediment core from the Gorda Ridge off Oregon reveals that the Northeast Pacific was not an important reservoir of carbon during glacial times.
NASA produces first global map of ocean salinity
September 27, 2011 8:37 am | News | CommentsUsing both legacy data and imagery collected by the satellite observatory Aquarius after it went operation on Aug. 25, NASA has put together the first complete map of salinity distribution in the world’s oceans. Salinity patterns revealed by the map has already surprised researchers.
Green light for marine renewables?
September 16, 2011 6:01 am | News | CommentsFarms of 'underwater windmills' could affect how sand moves around our coastal seas, affecting beaches, sand banks, and ultimately the risk of flooding, according to Bangor University oceanographer Simon Neill. Writing in Planet Earth , Neill explains how tidal energy farms are like roadworks.
A new battle of the Atlantic is joined
August 23, 2011 10:54 am | News | CommentsOften called the Graveyard of the Atlantic or Torpedo Junction, the seas off the coast of North Carolina during World War II were the site of a devastating period for the United States, during which dozens of ships—mostly merchant vessels—were sunk by German U Boats. Researchers have joined forces and technologies to conduct a large-scale marine archaeology project of the area.
Team assembles first complete map of Antarctic ice flow
August 18, 2011 11:02 am | News | CommentsWith the help of billions of data points captured by European, Japanese and Canadian satellites to weed out cloud cover, solar glare and other blocking features, NASA-funded researchers have created the first complete map of the speed and direction of ice flow in Antarctica.
Oxygen's watery past
August 16, 2011 4:51 am | by Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office | News | CommentsNew research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggests dioxygen may have been made on Earth hundreds of millions of years before its debut in the atmosphere, keeping a low profile in "oxygen oases" in the oceans.
On Greenland, a search for clues to the ice puzzle
August 15, 2011 4:55 am | by Charles J. Hanley, AP Special Correspondent | News | CommentsScattered across the world's largest island, as big as Alaska and California combined and 80% covered by ice, small bands of specialists are searching for signs of how quickly the glaciers the are melting, and what that might mean for the world’s sea level.
Decade-long study reveals patterns of viruses in open ocean
August 11, 2011 12:13 pm | News | CommentsNew findings, resulting from a decade of research, show striking recurring patterns of marine virioplankton dynamics in the open sea, which have implications regarding our understanding of cycling of nutrients in the world's oceans.
Oceanic crust recycles itself much faster than previously thought
August 10, 2011 12:29 pm | News | CommentsAccording to the latest studies of volcanic samples, rock of the oceanic crust, which sinks deep into the earth due to the movement of tectonic plates, reemerges through volcanic eruptions after around 500 million years. Geologists had thought this process would take about 2 billion years.
Scientists predict and then find undersea volcano eruption
August 9, 2011 11:31 am | News | CommentsLocated about 250 miles off the Oregon coast, the volcanic Axial Seamount was recently found to have erupted, fulfilling the predictions of two scientists five years earlier. The feat is the first successful forecast of an undersea volcanic eruption.
Tsunami’s power breaks off icebergs a hemisphere away
August 8, 2011 11:07 am | News | CommentsThe Tohoku Tsunami triggered by a major earthquake in northern Japan this spring did more than devastate northern Japan. It also freed massive icebergs from Sulzberger Ice Shelf. Scientists just published the first study that directly observes this type of connection.
Carbon Flux Explorers to trace the ocean’s carbon cycle
August 4, 2011 5:01 am | by Paul Preuss | News | CommentsSince the early 2000s a dozen experimental floating test platforms called Carbon Explorers have produced detailed information on the carbon cycle in the world’s oceans. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s next-generation platform, the Carbon Flux Explorer, survived a brief three-day test in a stormy gale and will soon fully deploy.
Titanic explorer embarks on new deep-sea journey
July 29, 2011 5:57 am | by Stephen Dockery, Associated Press | News | CommentsRobert Ballard, who discovered the Titanic wreck in 1985, is aiming to find far older sunken vessels in the Black, Aegean and Mediterranean seas. His research vessel, the E/V Nautilus, has launched on a four-month voyage to comb grounds covered by sailors of ancient history.
Ocean rising may continue even after warming stops
July 18, 2011 12:48 pm | by Daniel Stolte | News | CommentsResearchers have found that melting ice sheets contributed much more to rising sea levels than thermal expansion of warming ocean waters during the Last Interglacial Period. The results further suggest that ocean levels continue to rise long after warming of the atmosphere levels off.
Navies to float science robots in pirate waters
July 15, 2011 5:26 am | by Vijay Joshi, Associated Press | News | CommentsDriven away by Somali pirates, international scientists are asking the Australian and U.S. navies for a favor: deploy 19 robotic instruments in the Indian Ocean to record critical data on climate and monsoon.
Tsunami airglow signature could lead to early detection system
July 14, 2011 6:07 am | by Kim Gudeman | News | CommentsResearchers at the University of Illinois have become the first to record an airglow signature in the upper atmosphere produced by a tsunami using a camera system based in Maui, Hawaii. It preceded the tsunami by one hour, suggesting that the technology could be used as an early-warning system in the future.
Looking back on the race to estimate oil flow from Deepwater Horizon
July 7, 2011 9:25 am | by Dan Krotz | News | CommentsAs the world focused on the ongoing crisis in the Gulf of Mexico after the blowout of BP’s Deepwater Horizon Macondo well, Berkeley Lab researchers dropped everything to estimate how much oil was flowing from the mangled wellhead. Computational modeling generated a relatively accurate measurement within days, and their has prompted new discoveries about flow based on reservoir permeability and other factors.
Scripps researchers discover new force driving Earth's tectonic plates
July 6, 2011 12:23 pm | News | CommentsScientists who study tectonic motions have known for decades that the ongoing "pull" and "push" movements of the plates are responsible for sculpting continental features around the planet. Now, evidence has been presented to support the idea that hot spots of magma plumes from deep in the Earth could propel plate motions around the globe.
Deep ocean drillers battle the crust’s hardest rocks
June 30, 2011 12:36 pm | News | CommentsThe drilling team from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) have pushed Hole 1256D, a deep scientific borehole, more than 1,500 m below the seafloor and into the Pacific Ocean's igneous crust. They are now encountering metamorphic rocks that is sometimes even tougher than the most resilient of hard formation drilling and coring bits.
Whales, plankton migrate across Northwest Passage
June 27, 2011 12:48 pm | by Arthur Max, Associated Press | News | CommentsThe Northwest Passage, the route through the frigid archipelago from Alaska across northern Canada, has been ice-free from one end to the other only twice in recorded history, in 1998 and 2007. But the ice pack is retreating farther and more frequently during the summers.
