New studies provide new insights into the physical and biological aspects of the Red Sea....

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New light has been shed on the processes by which ocean water enters the solid Earth during continental breakup. New research shows a direct link on geological timescales between fault activity and the amount of water entering the Earth's mantle along faults....

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Marine protected areas generate both extreme cooperation and extreme competition among commercial fishers. When these behaviors remain in balance, they can lead to better conservation of marine resources, a new study finds. However, if competition among fishers increases while cooperation declines, it could threaten the long-term survival of marine protected areas, their biodiversity and the communities that depend on them....

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Greenland's snowy surface has been getting darker over the past two decades, absorbing more heat from the sun and increasing snow melt, a new study of satellite data shows. That trend is likely to continue, with the surface's reflectivity, or albedo, decreasing by as much as 10 percent by the end of the century, the study says....

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Biologists have created highly detailed maps charting the seasonal movements and population densities of 35 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises -- many of them threatened or endangered -- in US Atlantic and Gulf waters. The maps give government agencies and marine managers better tools to protect these highly mobile animals and guide ocean planning, including decisions about the siting of wind energy and oil and gas exploration along US coasts....

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Large numbers of California sea lion pups have flooded animal rescue centers in Southern California in the past few years. Now, as part of an ongoing investigation into the Unusual Mortality Event of California sea lions, researchers may have an explanation....

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Researchers have proposed a novel ocean-current turbine design. Fossil fuels propelled the Industrial Revolution and subsequent technological advances. However, our future cannot be based on them, if only because they are a finite resource; and we are very close to exhausting them. Ocean currents are another source of power, comparable to fossil fuels in terms of consistency and reliability, and at the same time, clean and renewable....

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Researchers have found that as multiple species of whales feast on herring, they tend to stick with their own kind, establishing species-specific feeding centers along the 150-mile length of Georges Bank....

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For what may be the first time, NOAA and partner scientists eavesdropped on the deepest part of the world's ocean and instead of finding a sea of silence, discovered a cacophony of sounds both natural and caused by humans....

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The role that geological rock formations offshore of Japan played in producing the massive 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake -- one of only two magnitude nine mega-earthquakes to occur in the last 50 years -- has been the focus of recent study. The work offers new information about the hazard potential of large earthquakes at subduction zones, where tectonic plates converge....

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