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17 Mar 2021

Carbon Emissions from Trawler Fishing on Par with Aviation -Report

© Andrei Stepanov / Adobe Stock

Trawling of the ocean floor by fishing fleets releases roughly the same amount of carbon emissions into the water as aviation puts into the atmosphere each year, researchers said on Wednesday, calling for greater protection of the planet's seas.In a study published in the journal Nature, a team of 26 scientists and conservationists said marine protected areas (MPAs) are an effective tool for restoring biodiversity, expanding seafood supplies and storing climate-heating carbon.But at present…

17 Sep 2020

Arctic Sea Ice Lows Mark a New Polar Climate Regime

© Kertu / Adobe Stock

At the edge of the ice blanketing part of the Arctic Ocean, the ice looked sickly. Where thick sheets of ice once sat atop the water, now a layer of soft, spongey slush slid and bobbed atop the waves.From the deck of a research ship under a bright, clear sky, “ice pilot” Paul Ruzycki mused over how quickly the region was changing since he began helping ships spot and navigate between icebergs in 1996.“Not so long ago, I heard that we had 100 years before the Arctic would be ice free in the summer,” he said. “Then I heard 75 years, 25 years, and just recently I heard 15 years.

22 Jun 2020

Fast-moving Waterfalls in the Deep Sea

(Image: NOC)

New research led by the National Oceanography Center (NOC) has discovered how fast-moving waterfalls under the sea control the shape and behavior of submarine channels. These underwater channels are the offshore equivalents of rivers, but can be much larger. Submarine channels can extend for tens to thousands of kilometers offshore, providing an important conduit for the transfer of sediment, nutrients and pollutants, such as microplastics, to the deep-sea. Avalanches of sediment…

28 May 2020

Tech Talk: Algorithm Aims to Assist Ocean Search and Rescue

A new MIT-developed search-and-rescue algorithm identifies hidden “traps” in ocean waters. The method may help quickly identify regions where objects — and missing people — may have converged. Image courtesy of the researchers/http://news.mit.edu/

Search & Rescue algorithm identify hidden “traps” in ocean waters, helping to more quickly identify regions where objects — and missing people — may have converged.The ocean is a messy and turbulent space, where winds and weather kick up waves in all directions. When an object or person goes missing at sea, the complex, constantly changing conditions of the ocean can confound and delay critical search-and-rescue operations.Now researchers at MIT, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)…

20 Apr 2020

What Did Scientists Learn from Deepwater Horizon?

Deepwater Horizon burning in April 2010. Image by US Coast Guard

April 20, 2020, marks the tenth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, the offshore oil industry's biggest environmental disaster.Eleven people died, 17 others were injured, Transocean's drilling rig sank, and an incident caused more than four million barrels of oil to spill into the U.S. Gulf of Mexico from the BP-operated Macondo well which spewed oil into the ocean for 87 days before it was finally capped.In a review paper published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment…

14 Aug 2019

Mercury Levels in Fish on the Rise

Warming oceans are leading to an increase in the harmful neurotoxicant methylmercury in popular seafood, including cod, Atlantic bluefin tuna, and swordfish, according to a research.The scientists developed a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive model that simulates how environmental factors, including increasing ocean temperatures and overfishing, affect levels of methylmercury in fish.The Harvard University researchers found that, while the regulation of mercury emissions has successfully reduced methylmercury levels in fish, spiking temperatures are driving those levels back up and will play a major role in the methylmercury levels of marine life in the future.

08 Oct 2018

'Smart Boulders' Measure Seafloor Avalanches

The heavy 800 kg frame that was moved by the flow (© 2017 MBARI)

Researchers have deployed high-tech robotic sensors disguised as boulders for the first time to measure the initiation and evolution of the huge, hard-to-measure seafloor avalanches that regularly damage global networks of seafloor telecommunication cables.The so-called "smart boulders" revealed some surprising findings that will help inform where best to lay the seafloor cables that keep the internet running. Published this week in the journal Nature Communications, this research shows that submarine avalanches of rock and sand…

20 Feb 2018

Seas to Continue Rising Even if Climate Goals Are Met

© digidreamgrafix / Adobe Stock

Sea levels will rise between 0.7 and 1.2 metres (27-47 inches) in the next two centuries even if governments end the fossil fuel era as promised under the Paris climate agreement, scientists said on Tuesday. Early action to cut greenhouse gas emissions would limit the long-term rise, driven by a thaw of ice from Greenland to Antarctica that will re-draw global coastlines, a German-led team wrote in the journal Nature Communications. Sea level rise is a threat to cities from Shanghai to London…

25 Apr 2017

White Paper Addresses Bilge Water Noncompliance

Photo: Alfa Laval

A new white paper from Alfa Laval addresses ship owner concerns to ensure vessel compliance with bilge water regulations worldwide. Even if a traditional system with type approval is operating on board, the paper states, there are still risks of violating applicable laws and damaging the marine environment. Alfa Laval – a  leader in heat transfer, centrifugal separation and fluid handling – has announced the availability of a new white paper, Bilge water compliance issues. The…

13 Mar 2017

Arctic Ice Loss Driven by Natural Swings, Not Just Mankind -Study

© z576 / Adobe Stock

Natural swings in the Arctic climate have caused up to half the precipitous losses of sea ice around the North Pole in recent decades, with the rest driven by man-made global warming, scientists said on Monday. The study indicates that an ice-free Arctic Ocean, often feared to be just years away, in one of the starkest signs of man-made global warming, could be delayed if nature swings back to a cooler mode. Natural variations in the Arctic climate "may be responsible for about 30–50 percent of the overall decline in September sea ice since 1979…

06 Mar 2017

Arctic Sea Ice May Vanish Even If World Achieves Climate Goal

© Andreas Altenburger / Adobe Stock

Arctic sea ice may vanish in summers this century even if governments achieve a core target for limiting global warming set by almost 200 nations in 2015, scientists said on Monday. Arctic sea ice has been shrinking steadily in recent decades, damaging the livelihoods of indigenous peoples and wildlife such as polar bears while opening the region to more shipping and oil and gas exploration. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, governments set a goal of limiting the rise in average world temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times…

21 Sep 2016

Tropical Coral reefs lose their Zooplankton through Ocean Acidification

Tropical coral reefs lose up to two thirds of their zooplankton through ocean acidification. This is the conclusion reached by a German-Australian research team that examined two reefs with so-called carbon dioxide seeps off the coast of Papua New Guinea. At these locations volcanic carbon dioxide escapes from the seabed, lowering the water’s acidity to a level, which scientists predict for the future of the oceans. The researchers believe that the decline in zooplankton is due to the loss of suitable hiding places. It results from the changes in the coral reef community due to increasing acidification. Instead of densely branched branching corals, robust mounding species of hard coral grow, offering the zooplankton little shelter.

18 Jul 2016

Ships Worsen Air Pollution Over China, Killing Thousands

Photo courtesy of IMO

A boom in shipping is aggravating air pollution in China and other nations in East Asia, causing thousands of deaths a year in a region with eight of the world's 10 biggest container ports, scientists said on Monday. Often overlooked compared to cars and factories that are far bigger causes of smog, ship traffic has more than doubled off East Asia since 2005 and some pollution from the fuel oil of ships wafts inland, they said. The Chinese-led study estimated that sulphur dioxide…

13 Jul 2016

Breakthrough in Reconstruction of Warm Climate Phases

Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have overcome a seeming weakness of global climate models. They had previously not been able to simulate the extreme warm period of the Eocene. One aspect of this era that particularly draws interests to climatologists: It was the only phase in recent history when greenhouse gas concentration was as high as researchers predict it to be for the future. The AWI scientists have now found that the apparent model weakness is due to a misinterpretation of the temperature indicator TEX86. These molecules, which are produced by archaea do not record the surface temperature of the ancient ocean as expected, but rather the temperature of water depths up to 500 metres.

09 Jun 2016

Arctic Sea Ice Sheds Weight in May

Arctic sea ice hit a record low in May 2016 as scientists discovered the first-ever link between melting ice in Greenland and a phenomenon known to warm the area faster than the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado, sea ice extent across the Arctic was 4.63 million square miles, which was an astonishing 224,000 square miles below the previous record low for the month of May, set in 2004. Data published by the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) this week showed average sea ice extent for last month was more than 500,000 sq km (193,000 sq miles) smaller than May 2012. "We just didn't break the old May record, we're way below the previous one," Mark Serreze, the center's director said.

14 Mar 2016

Sea Level Rise Projected to Displace 13 million in U.S. by 2100

The number of people who could be displaced in U.S. coastal regions due to rising sea levels this century as a result of climate change is much higher than previously thought, with more than 13 million Americans at risk with a 6-foot (1.8 meters) rise including 6 million in Florida, scientists said on Monday. The researchers assessed sea level change scenarios by 2100 from the U.S. Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for coastal states along with population growth trends and projections in high-risk areas. With a sea level rise of 3 feet, locations forecast to house 4.2 million people would be at risk of inundation while a doubling of the rise would bring the number to 13.1 million.

12 Jan 2016

Icebergs Turn Oceans Greener

Icebergs the size of Singapore could be playing a bigger role in how much carbon the Southern Ocean absorbs than previously thought, a new study says. Icebergs that break off Antarctica could account for twice as much carbon dioxide stored in the Southern Ocean than previously believed, the study  suggested. The findings were published this week in Nature Geoscience. Pioneering research from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Geography discovered melting water from giant icebergs, which contains iron and other nutrients, supports hitherto unexpectedly high levels of phytoplankton growth. These plankton blooms - which can stretch for hundreds of miles - then absorb a substantial amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and lock it into the ocean depths.

13 Nov 2015

Sea Ice Plays Pivotal Role in Arctic Methane Cycle

The ice-covered Arctic Ocean is a more important factor concerning the concentration of the greenhouse gas methane in the atmosphere than previously assumed. Experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) report on the newly discovered interactions between the atmosphere, sea ice and the ocean in a recent online study in the journal Nature’s Scientific Reports. Sea ice forms a natural barrier on the Central Arctic Ocean, limiting gas exchange between water and atmosphere. Over the past several years, the summer sea ice cover in the Arctic has rapidly decreased. “We’re investigating how the changed conditions are affecting the geochemical interaction between the ocean…

23 Feb 2015

Study: Ocean Acidification Threatens Shellfish Production

Oyster farmer Perry Raso at Matunuck Oyster Farm in Rhode Island (Photo courtesy of the NOAA)

U.S. shellfish producers in the Northeast and the Gulf of Mexico will be most vulnerable to an acidification of the oceans linked to climate change that makes it harder for clams and oysters to build shells, a study said on Monday. The report said the two regions would be more at risk in coming decades than the Pacific Northwest, which had previously suffered the most from the problem, with losses to the oyster industry estimated at $110 million, putting 3,200 jobs at risk. Carbon dioxide…

21 May 2015

Global Warming Slowdown Tracked to Indian Ocean

Global surface warming has slowed since the start of the twenty-first century, while Pacific heat uptake was enhanced. Analyses of ocean heat content suggest that the warm water was transferred to the Indian Ocean, through the Indonesian straits, reports "Natue". Scientists reported that the Indian Ocean heat content has risen sharply, accounting for more than 70% of the global ocean heat gain in the upper 700 metres of the Indian Ocean over the past decade. The scientists conclude the Indian Ocean has become increasingly important in altering global climate variability. A team led by University of Miami and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) researcher Sang-Ki Lee experimented with a global climate model.

25 Nov 2014

Thickness of Antarctic Sea Ice Surpass Expectations

Antarctica's ice paradox has yet another puzzling layer. Not only is the amount of sea ice increasing each year, but an underwater robot now shows the ice is also much thicker than was previously thought, a new study reports. The discovery adds to the ongoing mystery of Antarctica's expanding sea ice. According to climate models, the region's sea ice should be shrinking each year because of global warming. Instead, satellite observations show the ice is expanding, and the continent's sea ice has set new records for the past three winters. At the same time, Antarctica's ice sheet (the glacial ice on land) is melting and retreating. Measuring sea ice thickness is a crucial step in understanding what's driving the growth of sea ice…

26 Oct 2015

Warming Could Make Oil-rich Gulf 'Intolerable' by 2100 - Study

Global warming could make life in the oil-rich, desert kingdoms of the Gulf "intolerable," with summer temperatures exceeding 60 degrees Celsius (140 F) by 2100 if action is not taken to curb fossil fuel emissions, a study warned on Monday. Using climate models and other scientific data, researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Loyola Marymount University found five of the region's major cities, including Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, would exceed the limit of human habitability in summer months. "If greenhouse gas emissions continue on their current trajectory, then temperatures in that region will reach levels intolerable to humans," Elfatih A.B. Eltahir, an MIT engineering professor and the study's co-author, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

14 Jan 2015

Accelerating Sea Level Rise Threatens Coasts

Sea level rise in the past two decades has accelerated faster than previously thought in a sign of climate change threatening coasts from Florida to Bangladesh, a study said on Wednesday. The report, reassessing records from more than 600 tidal gauges, found that readings from 1901-90 had over-estimated the rise in sea levels. Based on revised figures for those years, the acceleration since then was greater than so far assumed. The report said the earlier readings were incomplete or skewed by local factors such as subsidence. The new analysis "suggests that the acceleration in the past two decades is 25 percent higher than previously thought," Carling Hay, a Canadian scientist at Harvard University and lead author of the study in the journal Nature, told Reuters.