Oceanography

Baltic Sea Oxygen Depletion 10X Worse Than A Century Ago

The deepest areas of the Baltic Sea have always had a low oxygen content. The inflow of fresh water is actually limited by low thresholds at the entrance to the Baltic Sea. At the same time, there is a relatively fresh layer above the denser and saltier w ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 1 2014 - 2:22am

Black Carbon Hitches A Ride To The Ocean Floor On Passing Particles

Some of the carbon, like the black soot and charcoal residue of fires, that finds its way into Earth's oceans stays there for thousands for years, and some of the black carbon breaks away and hitches a ride to the ocean floor on passing particles. Vi ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 8 2014 - 11:31am

102 Year Ago Today, The Titanic Set Sail: It Wasn't Simply Unlucky

Speculation goes that part of the problem for the RMS Titanic, which set out on its maiden voyage 102 years ago today, was bad luck; an exceptional number of icebergs. Not really, according to a new analysis. There are more icebergs now. Previously it had ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 10 2014 - 12:30am

Mystery Over Nitrogen's Ocean Exit Strategies

How is nitrogen removed from the ocean? Some new findings may provide answers. The debate centers on how nitrogen, one of the most important food sources for ocean life and a controller of atmospheric carbon dioxide, becomes converted to a form that can e ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 12 2014 - 9:28am

Google Earth Mystery Object?- Hardly!

Google Earth Mystery Object?- Hardly! What is it that you can see in this snapshot of Google Earth in the vicinity of Amsterdam Island? If you think it's a special antenna for transmitting earthquake waves in the general direction of people that a Se ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Apr 14 2014 - 12:19am

Now That's Warming: 50 Million Years Ago, Antarctica Was Like California

Think global warming might change things a little? You haven't seen anything compared to 50 million years ago. Though Antarctica is year-round one of the coldest places on Earth, and the continent's interior is the coldest place, with annual ave ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 21 2014 - 8:26pm

Bio-Duck? What Is That Mysterious Sound In The Southern Ocean?

There has been a unique rhythmic sound emanating for decades from the Southern Ocean. It was first described and named by submarine personnel in the 1960s who thought it sounded like a duck, and since then sailors and scientists alike have called it the & ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 23 2014 - 12:02pm

Corals Adjust Quickly To Rising Ocean Temperatures

86-degree Fahrenheit water is quite comfortable for humans, but to many sea creatures it's deadly. If climate change heats up ocean temperatures, the future of species such as coral, which provides sustenance and livelihoods to a billion people, is t ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 26 2014 - 10:00pm

Aquatic Algae Adapt, And Use A Wider Range Of Light Than Land Kinds

Aquatic algae can sense and adapt to changing light conditions in lakes and oceans, making them able to use a wide range of color, according to a new paper. Phytochromes are the eyes of a plant, allowing it to detect changes in the color, intensity, and q ...

Article - News Staff - May 1 2014 - 10:09am

Melting East Antarctica Ice Could Mean Thousands Of Years Of Unstoppable Sea Level Rises

The melting of a rather small ice volume on East Antarctica's shore could trigger a persistent ice discharge into the ocean, resulting in unstoppable sea-level rise for thousands of years to come, according to computer simulations of the Antarctic ic ...

Article - News Staff - May 5 2014 - 2:50pm