Warming ocean temperatures and runoff waters are contributing to flourishing jellyfish populations. The jellyfish swarms, or blooms, cause problems for fish and humans alike. This article links to a slideshow with photos.
Sea Glass is a name used for bits of broken glass that have been rounded and frosted by the action of ocean waves. It used to be a lot more common – not because it has been hunted to near extinction – but because the use of plastic bottles has cut off the supply. This NPR interview is with an artist who has collected sea glass for jewelry-making for the past 20 years.
Foraminifera fossils are tiny calcium carbonate shells, as small as a grain of sand. These fossils yield numerous clues about the water depth, water temperature, climate and other environmental conditions present at the time that they were alive.
A certain type of lipid kills the Emiliania huxleyi phytoplankton by causing its cells to self-destruct. A problem with cancer cells is that they do not self-destruct like normal cells. Studying this lipid could therefore be valuable to a number of scientific fields.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch – a mass of trash and debris the size of Texas – has been growing in the North Pacific Gyre. Project Kaisei is an endeavor that aims to retrieve the garbage and somehow use it as fuel. This article includes a video and photo slideshow.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has an interesting video/slideshow that features research being done to understand phytoplankton of the Antarctic.
A large rift in Ethiopia’s Afar desert may be the beginnings of a new ocean. An eruption from the Dabbahu volcano triggered the rift’s formation, when the ground split about 6 meters (20 feet) in the course of a few days.
The Great Oxidation Event is thought to have occurred about 2.4 billion years ago, when large amounts of oxygen became present in our planet’s atmosphere. A study of Australian shale samples indicates that the oceans were producing oxygen millions of years before this.
More than two months after a blowout at a newly-drilled oil well, crude oil and gas condensate continued to leak into the Timor Sea, between northwest Australia and Indonesia. According to news reports, the company responsible for the leaking well has tried to cap it three times without success.
A new satellite is scheduled to launch from Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome on November 2. It will be able to measure soil moisture and ocean salinity from orbit.
Researchers have found evidence of four tsunamis in the Mediterranean that occurred within the past 3500 years. One was linked to the eruption of Santorini volcano and others may have been caused by earthquakes or landslides.
This satellite image shows a picturesque phytoplankton bloom off New Zealand’s eastern coast. The different colors in the swirls show concentrations of coccolithophores (light blue) and diatoms (dark green-blue).
This audio slideshow features Evelyn Mervine, a graduate student doing research at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She is investigating the Samail Ophiolite of Oman and how it can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The Cambrothyra is an aquatic organism that existed over 500 million years ago. UCSB student John Moore has devoted much of his time to studying the fossilized remnants of these creatures, and shares some of his findings.
“Peacock-hued splashes of color brightened the Bering Sea off the Alaskan coast on October 8, 2009, as NASA’s Aqua satellite flew overhead. This true-color image shows streaks running roughly northwest-southeast, north and east of Alaska’s St. Paul Island. The color likely results in part from blooms of phytoplankton—tiny, plant-like marine organisms that thrive in cold water rich in nutrients.” Quoted from NASA’s Earth Observatory image release.
The Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling is sponsoring an Ocean Science Art contest. Students can submit a drawing, painting, or other artwork featuring the JOIDES Resolution scientific expeditions ship and its work. Winning classrooms and schools will be visited by JOIDES Resolution crew and staff.
During Earth Science Week (October 11 to 17), NASA will release five short educational videos, all part of a series entitled “Tides of Change.” The videos, focusing on the connection between ocean and climate, will be posted at NASA Global Climate Change (http://climate.nasa.gov), a one-stop shop for NASA Earth Science Week education resources related to understanding climate.
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in the Torres Islands, Vanuatu area on Thursday, October 08, 2009 at 09:03:15 AM local time. The earthquake occurred near the boundary between the Australia and Pacific plates. The earthquake’s location, depth, and focal mechanism are consistent with the earthquake having occurred as thrust-faulting associated with subduction along the Australia-Pacific plate boundary.
“A new center has been established at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to pursue research on marine mammal behavior, physiology, and health, and the potential effects of human activities on marine animals and ecosystems.” Quoted from the WHOI website.
“An explosion of knowledge has been made in the last few years about the basic biology of corals, researchers say in a new report, helping to explain why coral reefs around the world are collapsing and what it will take for them to survive a gauntlet of climate change and ocean acidification.” Quoted from the Oregon State press release.
“A rare opportunity has allowed a team of scientists to evaluate corals–and the essential, photosynthetic algae that live inside their cells–before, during, and after a period in 2005 when global warming caused sea-surface temperatures in the Caribbean to rise.” Quoted from the NSF Press Release.
“A thousand miles off California, the North Pacific Ocean Gyre contains one of the oldest and largest ecosystems on Earth–but it may be in danger from a deluge of accumulated plastic trash. Dubbed the “Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch,” the debris at the center of the North Pacific Ocean has the potential to damage marine life and alter the biological environment. ” Quoted from the SEAPLEX website.
Scientists visited NW Rota-1 Volcano on the ocean floor near the island of Guam three years ago. They recently returned to find enormous numbers of shrimp, crab, limpets and barnacles growing on the flanks of the volcano. They also measured the impact of the eruption on local water chemistry.
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Hobart King
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