An artist’s depiction of the JUICE spacecraft traveling through the Jupiter system. (Image: © ESA) One of the top priorities for scientists looking to find life beyond Earth is determining which icy worlds in the outer solar system hide massive global oceans under their frozen surfaces. And a European Space Agency (ESA) […]
“Currently one-third of all marine species have less than 10 per cent of their range protected.” Credit: The University of Queensland At least 26 percent of our oceans need urgent conservation attention to preserve Earth’s marine biodiversity, a University of Queensland-led international study has found. Dr. Kendall Jones said the international […]
Ice calving from the front of Thurston Island off of western Antarctica on Nov. 5, 2014. The image was taken as part of NASA’s Operation IceBridge, an airborne science mission to study Earth’s polar ice. Credit: NASA/Jim Yungel A new study suggests the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet is less stable […]
Credit: CC0 Public Domain The world’s oceans were the hottest in recorded history in 2019, scientists said on Tuesday, as manmade emissions warmed seas at an ever-increasing rate with potentially disastrous impacts on Earth’s climate. Oceans absorb more than 90 percent of excess heat created by greenhouse gas emissions and quantifying how much they […]
IUCN Climate change and nutrient pollution are driving the oxygen from our oceans, and threatening many species of fish. That’s the conclusion of the biggest study of its kind, undertaken by conservation group IUCN. While nutrient run-off has been known for decades, researchers say that climate change is making the […]
Sea turtle equipped with an animal-borne sensor. Credit: Miquel Gomila/SOCIB Sharks, penguins, turtles and other seagoing species could help humans monitor the oceans by transmitting oceanographic information from electronic tags. Thousands of marine animals are tagged for a variety of research and conservation purposes, but at present the information gathered […]
A plastic bottle on Henderson Island in the Pacific, June 13 2019 Most of the plastic bottles washing up on the rocky shores of Inaccessible Island, aptly named for its sheer cliffs rising from the middle of the South Atlantic, probably come from Chinese merchant ships, a study published Monday […]
Earth’s crust is literally tearing apart to form this volcanic seascape. The volcanic complex was found beneath the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Italian coast. (Image: © FrankRamspott/iStock/Getty Images Plus) Hidden beneath the waves of the Tyrrhenian Sea near southwestern Italy lies a newfound volcanic mosaic dotted with geothermal chimneys and […]
‘Blue finance’ aims to help raise funding for the responsible use of oceans The world’s oceans are set to become an increasingly vital resource for helping the planet cope with soaring population growth, but officials are only beginning to craft regulatory frameworks that would ensure “blue financing” goes where it’s […]
On Aug. 24, explorer Victor Vescovo dove to the deepest part of the Arctic Ocean. (Image: © Five Deeps Expedition/Discovery Channel) Hidden beneath the Fram Strait, a passage that separates Greenland and Svalbard, lies the deepest point in the Arctic Ocean, where the seafloor plunges some 18,209 feet (5,550 meters) […]