Oceanography

Chesapeake Bay Surface Water Temperature Is Increasing Over Time

A new study shows that surface water temperature in the Chesapeake Bay is increasing more rapidly than air temperature, signaling a need to look at the impact of warming waters on one of the largest and most productive estuaries in the world. The study wa ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 16 2015 - 8:00am

Bubble Plume Evidence Suggests Warmer Ocean May Be Releasing Frozen Methane

Warming ocean temperatures a third of a mile below the surface, in a dark ocean in areas with little marine life, might attract scant attention. But this is precisely the depth where frozen pockets of methane 'ice' transition from a dormant soli ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 14 2015 - 6:57pm

Warming Waters Contributed To The Collapse Of New England's Cod Fishery

For centuries, cod were the backbone of New England's fisheries and a key species in the Gulf of Maine ecosystem.  Cod is a cold-water species, and the Gulf of Maine is at the edge of its geographic range. As the ocean warms, the capacity of the Gulf ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 5 2015 - 8:00am

Why Is Arctic Snow Darkening?

For millennia, Greenland's ice sheet reflected sunlight back into space but satellite measurements in recent years suggest the bright surface is darkening, causing solar heat to be absorbed and surface melting to accelerate. Some studies suggest this ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 2 2015 - 3:00am

Growing Antarctic Ice Caused Ancient Mediterranean To Dry Up

An international research team has a hypothesis regarding the mystery of why the Mediterranean Sea dried up around 5.6 million years ago. The event, known as the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC), saw the Mediterranean become a 1.5 kilometer deep basin for ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 10 2015 - 9:00am

Shrinking Shelf, Faster Flow For Zachariæ Isstrøm Glacier

Zachariæ Isstrøm, a glacier in northeast Greenland, began a rapid retreat in recent years, a new study reports. The glacier helps to drain 12 percent of the Greenland Ice Sheet and has the potential to raise sea level significantly if it were to melt, acc ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 13 2015 - 6:58am

Better Than Estimates: Direct Observation Of Greenland Ice Sheet Is Missing Link In IPCC Climate Reporting

Climate researchers have published direct observations of the reduction and melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet during the latest 110 years, a step up from flawed numerical estimates used for all previous claims. In a recent paper, the researchers claim th ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 26 2015 - 11:15am

Forget Pacific Garbage Patch Hype, Focus On Coastal Litter

Though hyper-exaggerated pictures of garbage patches and models extrapolated from a fishing line study in the 1980s get all of the media attention when it comes to pollution, it causes activist groups to raise money by focusing on the wrong thing. The mos ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 19 2016 - 7:17pm

Global Weirding: Blame The North Atlantic

Whether dubbed “climate extremes” or “ global weirding ”, we have been witnessing some surprising and concerning weather events. In Europe, seasons seem to be changing, but not consistently. Since the turn of the millennium, the UK in particular has exper ...

Article - The Conversation - Jan 22 2016 - 8:21pm

Fertilizing Oceans With Iron- A Dumb Idea That Won't Help

Some scientists have been so convinced that iron fertilization will help mitigate carbon increases in the atmosphere that, as in Germany and other countries, they have violated international law with illegal experiments. Another study has found that ferti ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 28 2016 - 9:31am