An enormous plume of dust from the Sahara Desert has reached the Caribbean Sea on Sunday after traveling more than 3,000 miles as it edges closer to the American South. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration first announced the Saharan Air Layer, or SAL, on June 7 as it appeared in satellite images over Africa. The colossal … Read more
Researchers in the Arctic Ocean map undersea methane pockets distributed across a 250-million-year-old ‘fault zone’ that could accelerate ice sheet withdrawal with future ruptures Researchers mapped a network of undersea methane pockets in the Arctic They found structural instability in the seafloor was the biggest factor effecting which region would experience a rupture, releasing the … Read more
Researchers identify the cleanest air on the planet in the Southern Ocean off the coast of Antarctica, which contains no traceable aerosols or other particles produced by humans Scientists sailed to the Southern Ocean near Antarctica to measure air quality They found no aerosols, bacteria, or other particles that traced to human activity The team … Read more
Elusive ‘dumbo’ octopus filmed in Java Trench 23,000 feet below the ocean surface, breaking the previous record for deepest octopus sighting ever that was set in 1950 near Barbados A team of researchers in Java observed a rare ‘dumbo’ octopus The sighting took place at 23,000 feet, the deepest recorded octopus encounter sd By Michael … Read more
Microplastics shed from tyres are a major source of river and ocean pollution, UK government-backed study finds Researchers from Plymouth studied the sources and transport of microplastics These tiny polluting particles have been found in oceans and waterways globally Tyres now join plastic bags, clothes and cosmetic microbeads as key sources The findings may help the … Read more
Brightly illuminated orange letters at Rarotonga airport cry: ‘Kia orana!’ You’ll hear those words a lot if you’re lucky enough to visit this tiny, lushly forested extinct volcano rearing from the Pacific bed. They mean ‘may you live long’ in Maori, and the etiquette is to reply ‘kia orana’. Make sure you do: bleary-eyed after … Read more
Mussel beds act as traps for microplastic pollution dumped in the ocean by slowing the sea water flowing over them, research shows Experts experimented with flowing water over different mussel reef structures When the mussels clumped together like in nature, the flow became turbulent This increased threefold the amount of microplastic ingested by the mussels By Ian … Read more
Climate change could trigger an ancient El Niño-like pattern in the Indian Ocean that would create extreme weather such as floods, storms and droughts across the globe. El Niño is the name of a current recurring climate phenomenon across the tropical Pacific, which shifts back and forth irregularly every two to seven years, and triggers disruptions of … Read more
Ocean levels could rise as much as 4.2 feet by 2100 if global targets on emissions are not achieved and Earth’s surface warms another 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit, scientists warn Researchers analysed the sea level rise projections of 106 leading experts In a high-emissions scenario, sea levels could rise by 16.4 feet by the year 2300 This … Read more
New study reveals how Chinook salmon use the Earth’s magnetic field as a kind of GPS signal to help navigate in the ocean Researchers confirmed the existence of magnetite crystals in Chinook salmon The crystals allow the salmon to sense magnetic pulses from the Earth They use these pulses as a biological GPS signal to … Read more