Oceanography

Climate Change And Ocean Currents Linked For The Last 6 Million Years

After analyzing core samples from the seabed off the coast of Spain and Portugal, near the Strait of Gibraltar, scientists say they have proof of shifts of climate change over the past six million years.   The team also discovered new evidence of a deep-e ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 12 2014 - 3:03pm

What Responsibility Does The Ocean Have In Greenland's Glacier Melt?

The Greenland Ice Sheet is huge, a 1.7 million-square-kilometer, 2-mile thick layer of ice that covers Greenland. In the last 40 years, ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet has increased four-fold, contributing to global sea level rise. Some of the melti ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 23 2014 - 10:19pm

Global Warming Of 400,000 B.C Sunk The Greenland Ice Sheet

If the Greenland ice sheet ever gets past its stability threshold, it won't be the first time.  400,000 years ago, a nearly complete deglaciation of southern Greenland happened, raising global sea levels as much as 6 meters. Not quite what was predic ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 25 2014 - 9:00pm

Thank Ancient Ocean Currents We're Not In An Ice Age Right Now.

If your glass is half full, you recognize that in recent geological history, 90,000 of every 100,000 years have been ice ages, and it's been 12,000 years since the last one. In that light, global warming might be a good thing. ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 27 2014 - 8:00am

Ocean Salinity: New Hypothesis On Cause Of Ice Age 2.6 Million Years Ago

A paper in Scientific Reports posits a new cause of the ice age that covered large parts of the Northern Hemisphere 2.6 million years ago. The study found a previously unknown mechanism by which the joining of North and South America changed the salinity ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 27 2014 - 10:30am

Like Fishing And The Ocean Ecosystem? Thank Whales

Whales are relatively rare and so they probably don't make much of a difference in the overall ocean.  A team of biologists disagrees. They reviewed several decades of research on whales from around the world and found that whales make a huge differe ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 5 2014 - 11:30am

Iron's Impact On The Ocean Carbon Cycle Needs Greater Study

Iron is one of the essential elements of life. Found in enzymes like myoglobin and hemoglobin and cytochrome P450, iron is an essential cog in the biomachinery of every living cell.  Iron is present in tiny concentrations in seawater. On the order of a fe ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 3 2014 - 10:36am

Changing Antarctic Winds Could Accelerate Sea Level Rise

Changes to Antarctic winds have been implicated in southern Australia's drying climate but a new estimate says they may also have a profound impact on warming ocean temperatures under the ice shelves along the coastline of West and East Antarctic. ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 7 2014 - 11:00am

Bioerosion In Mesophotic Coral Reef Geology

A new study on biological erosion of mesophotic tropical coral reefs- low energy reef environments between 30-150 meters deep- provides new insights into processes that affect the overall structure of these important ecosystems. The purpose of the study w ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 8 2014 - 4:00am

Marginal Ice Zone Project Tracks Breakup Of Arctic Summer Sea Ice

As sea ice begins to melt back toward its late September minimum, it is being watched by researchers who have put sensors on and under ice in the Beaufort Sea.  The international effort hopes to figure out the physics of the ice edge in order to better un ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 16 2014 - 3:33pm