OCEANS
Antarctic ocean sanctuary blocked by Russia, China
Nov 14, 2014
Written by
Chris Fitch
The latest international attempt to protect one million square kilometres of Southern Ocean has failed to reach a consensus
Dead zone in Arabian Sea
Nov 01, 2014
Written by
Tom Hart
A growing ‘dead zone’ in the Arabian Sea has allowed low-oxygen plankton to dominate the base of the marine food chain. The ecosystem change has led scientists to warn that plankton may supplant other food sources local fish rely on
Ocean changes leading to kelp overgrazing
Sep 01, 2014
Written by
Tom Hart
Changes to the distributions of tropical fish species due to ocean warming is leading to overgrazing of kelp forests and seagrass meadows, a new study has found
North Sea fauna changing
Aug 01, 2014
Written by
Olivia Edward
Biological communities in the North Sea have undergone significant changes since the turn of the millennium, according to long-term studies carried out by a team of German scientists
Deep valleys found under Greenland ice
Jul 01, 2014
Written by
Olivia Edward
New study detects tens of kilometres of previously uncharted deep valleys under Greenland ice sheet, suggesting the ice is significantly more vulnerable to warm ocean waters
Gem discovery points to water deep below Earth's crust
May 01, 2014
Written by
Olivia Edward
The discovery of the first terrestrial sample of a water-rich mineral has yielded new evidence that large volumes of water could exist deep within the Earth
Baltic Sea oxygen depletion worsening
May 01, 2014
Written by
Olivia Edward
Oxygen depletion in the Baltic Sea is ten times worse now than it was 100 years ago, the result of nutrient inflows from the land
Warm river water melting Arctic sea ice
Apr 01, 2014
Written by
Olivia Edward
A new NASA study has found that the heat from warm river water draining into the Arctic Ocean is contributing to the melting of Arctic sea ice each summer
Equatorial fish at risk as water warms
Apr 01, 2014
Written by
Charlie Furniss
Climate change is threatening the survival of fish that live near the equator, according to a new study by scientists at James Cook University in Queensland
The devil and the deep blue sea
Mar 01, 2014
Written by
Mark Rowe
The world’s oceans are absorbing about 90 per cent of the heat being added to the globe by climate change and up to a third of the carbon dioxide we’re producing, with potentially catastrophic consequences
Large quantities of freshwater found beneath seafloor
Feb 01, 2014
Written by
Olivia Edward
A team of scientists has discovered huge reserves of freshwater beneath the world’s oceans
Oldest seawater identified
Jan 01, 2014
Written by
Harley Rustad
Scientists from the US Geological Survey (USGS) have identified the oldest large body of seawater, more than a kilometre under Chesapeake Bay in the USA
Ocean acidity a growing concern
Jan 01, 2014
Written by
Harley Rustad
The world’s oceans could see a 170 per cent increase in acidification by the end of the century, according to a research summary led by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)
Arctic seafloor methane release has doubled
Jan 01, 2014
Written by
Olivia Edward
A new study published in Nature Geoscience suggests that the seafloor off the coast of northern Siberia is releasing more than twice as much methane as previously estimated
Ocean currents bring rain to the north
Dec 01, 2013
Written by
Harley Rustad
The fact that more tropical rain falls on the Northern Hemisphere than in the south has been linked to ocean currents, overturning the previous theory that it was caused by the shape of the ocean basins
Russian coastal erosion accelerating
Dec 01, 2013
Written by
Olivia Edward
Coastal erosion in Eastern Siberia is accelerating rapidly as increasing Arctic temperatures reduce sea-ice extent, allowing waves to wash away the permafrost
Cold-water plankton not adapting to warmer oceans
Dec 01, 2013
Written by
Harley Rustad
Ocean warming has led to the decline of a species of North Atlantic zooplankton that’s a vital food source for fish such as cod and hake, according to a new study
Mid-ocean waters warming rapidly
Dec 01, 2013
Written by
Olivia Edward
A new study published in Science suggests that the middle depths of the Pacific Ocean have warmed 15 times faster in the past 60 years than they did during apparent natural warming cycles in the previous 10,000
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