Bacteria in the Gulf of Mexico consumed many of the toxic components of the oil released during the Deepwater Horizon spill in the months after the spill, but not the most toxic contaminants, new research has found....

Continue reading...

The development and survival of an important group of marine invertebrates known as sea hares is under threat from increasing boat noise in the world's oceans, according to a new study. Sea hares usually hatch from their eggs to swim away and later feed on toxic alga but this study found that when exposed to playback of boat noise, more eggs failed to develop and those that hatched were more likely to die....

Continue reading...

The coral reefs of Palau—an island nation in the western Pacific Ocean—are threatened by sedimentation resulting from land clearing in watersheds. A new study funded by NOAA confirms what Palauans have known for millennia: that cultivated wetlands, in particular taro (Colocasia esculenta) fields, can control soil erosion and reduce the impact of runoff on to near-shore coral reefs.



Continue reading →

...

Continue reading...

Climate modelers have shown that the most likely explanation for the initiation of Antarctic glaciation during a major climate shift 34 million years ago was decreased carbon dioxide levels. The finding counters a 40-year-old theory suggesting massive rearrangements of Earth's continents caused global cooling and the abrupt formation of the Antarctic ice sheet. It will provide scientists insight into the climate change implications of current rising global carbon dioxide levels....

Continue reading...

"Nuisance" flooding--flooding that leads to public inconveniences such as road closures--are increasingly common as coastal sea levels rise.


Continue reading →

...

Continue reading...

The world's oceans are vast and deep, yet rapidly advancing technology and the quest for extracting resources from previously unreachable depths is beginning to put the deep seas on the cusp of peril, an international team of scientists has warned....

Continue reading...

The first measurements of waves in the middle of the Arctic Ocean recorded house-sized waves during a September 2012 storm. More sensors are going out this summer to study waves in newly ice-free Arctic waters....

Continue reading...

Oceanic patterns are important drivers of climatic variability. There is a clear link between periods of drought in the North Ethiopian Highlands and oceanic phases of El Nino, the Indian Ocean Dipole and the Southwestern Monsoons....

Continue reading...

As fishing and the harvesting of metals, gas and oil have expanded deeper and deeper into the ocean, scientists are drawing attention to the services provided by the deep sea, the world’s largest environment....

Continue reading...

Ocean acidification is driving changes in waters vital to Alaska's valuable commercial fisheries and subsistence way of life, according to new research....

Continue reading...