EurekAlert! - Oceanography

UNH ocean scientists shed new light on Mariana Trench

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of New Hampshire) An ocean mapping expedition has shed new light on deepest place on Earth, the 2,500-kilometer long Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean near Guam. Using a multibeam echo sounder, state-of-the-art equipment for mapping the ocean floor, scientists from the University of New Hampshire Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center found four "bridges" spanning the trench and measured its deepest point with greater precision than ever before.

University of Miami student Bignami among 5 Guy Harvey Scholarship recipients

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science) University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science graduate student Sean Bignami received a Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation scholarship for his studies of how the changing chemistry of marine waters as a result of ocean acidification might affect the early development of large marine fish.

Batchelor Foundation challenge grant to support helicopter purchase

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science) The University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science announced that it has received a challenge grant for $700,000 from the Miami-based Batchelor Foundation to support its exploration research efforts. The funds will be applied toward the acquisition of a helicopter outfitted with a suite of scientific equipment that will serve as the basis for a one-of-a-kind platform for environmental observations at the School.

Scientists coax shy microorganisms to stand out in a crowd

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Washington) Scientists have advanced a method that allowed them to single out a marine microorganism and map its genome even though the organism made up less than 10 percent of a water sample teeming with many millions of individuals from dozens of identifiable groups of microbes.

Google Earth ocean terrain receives major update

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of California - San Diego) Internet information giant Google updated ocean data in its Google Earth application this week, reflecting new bathymetry data assembled by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, NOAA researchers and many other ocean mapping groups from around the world.

WHOI scientists will install first real-time seafloor earthquake observatory at Cascadia Fault

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) A $1 million grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation to scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will fund the first seafloor geodesy observatory above the expected rupture zone of the Pacific Northwest's Cascadia fault -- an offshore, subduction zone fault capable of producing a magnitude 9 earthquake and generating a large tsunami.

Global experts question claims about jellyfish populations

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of California - Santa Barbara) Blooms, or proliferation, of jellyfish have shown a substantial, visible impact on coastal populations -- clogged nets for fishermen, stinging waters for tourists, even choked intake lines for power plants -- and recent media reports have created a perception that the world's oceans are experiencing increases in jellyfish due to human activities such as global warming and overharvesting of fish.

Global experts question claims about jellyfish populations

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Southampton) A global study has questioned claims that jellyfish are increasing worldwide.

AGU journal highlights -- Jan. 31, 2012

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(American Geophysical Union) Featured in this release are research papers on the following topics: "Fine, jagged ash increased Eyjafjallajökull volcano's influence," "Geological evidence for past earthquakes in Tokyo region," "Much irrigation water comes from non-sustainable sources," "Greenland's pronounced glacier retreat not irreversible," "New record from stalagmites shows climate history in Central Asia," "Io's volcanism influences Jupiter's magnetosphere," and "Massive swarm of tunicates tilts ocean's chemical balance."

The Arctic is already suffering the effects of a dangerous climate change

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(CSIC, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) Two decades after the United Nations established the Framework Convention on Climate Change in order to "prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system", the Arctic shows the first signs of a dangerous climate change. A team of researchers led by CSIC assures so in an article published in the latest issue of the Nature Climate Change magazine.

New CU-Boulder-led study may answer questions about enigmatic Little Ice Age

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Colorado at Boulder) According to new University of Colorado Boulder-led study, the Little Ice Age began abruptly between A.D. 1275 and 1300, triggered by repeated, explosive volcanism, and was sustained for centuries by a self- perpetuating sea ice-ocean feedback system in the North Atlantic Ocean.

What really happened prior to 'Snowball Earth'?

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science) In a study published in the journal Geology, Dr. Peter Swart if the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science suggests that the large changes in the carbon isotopic composition of carbonates which occurred prior to the major climatic event more than 500 million years ago, known as "Snowball Earth," are unrelated to worldwide glacial events.

Detecting detrimental change in coral reefs

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Phil Dunstan has watched reefs deteriorate at an alarming rate. Recently he has found that the Landsat Satellite data offers a way to evaluate these changes globally. Using an innovative way to map how coral reefs are changing over time, Dustan now can find 'hotspots' where conservation efforts should be focused to protect these delicate communities.

Life beyond Earth? Underwater caves in Bahamas could give clues, says Texas A&M marine expert

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Texas A&M University) Discoveries made in some underwater caves by Texas &M University at Galveston researchers in the Bahamas could provide clues about how ocean life formed on Earth millions of years ago, and perhaps give hints of what types of marine life could be found on distant planets and moons.

Viruses con bacteria into working for them

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering) MIT researchers have discovered that certain photosynthetic ocean bacteria need to beware of viruses bearing gifts. These viruses are really con artists carrying genetic material taken from their previous bacterial hosts that tricks the new host into using its own machinery to activate the genes, a process never before documented in any virus-bacteria relationship. The con occurs when a grifter virus injects its DNA into a bacterium living in a phosphorus-starved region of the ocean.

CU-Boulder-led team to assess decline of Arctic sea ice in Alaska's Beaufort Sea

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Colorado at Boulder) A national research team led by the University of Colorado Boulder is embarking on a two-year, multi-pronged effort to better understand the impacts of environmental factors associated with the continuing decline of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean.

Scientists aboard Iberian coast ocean drilling expedition report early findings

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(National Science Foundation) Mediterranean bottom currents and the sediment deposits they leave behind offer new insights into global climate change, the opening and closing of ocean circulation gateways and locations where hydrocarbon deposits may lie buried under the sea.

Coastal storms have long-reaching effects, study says

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Public Library of Science) Coastal storms are known to cause serious damage along the shoreline, but they also cause significant disruption of the deep-sea ecosystem as well.

Life discovered on dead hydrothermal vents

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Southern California) A team led by USC microbiologist Katrina Edwards found that the microbes that thrive on hot fluid methane and sulfur spewed by active hydrothermal vents are supplanted, once the vents go cold, by microbes that feed on the solid iron and sulfur that make up the vents themselves.

WHOI's John Waterbury receives NAS Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) The National Academy of Sciences has awarded John Waterbury, scientist emeritus in the Biology Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the 2012 Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal.

Broadest study of ocean acidification to date helps scientists evaluate effects on marine life

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of California - Santa Barbara) Might a penguin's next meal be affected by the exhaust from your tailpipe? The answer may be yes, when you add your exhaust fumes to the total amount of carbon dioxide lofted into the atmosphere by humans since the industrial revolution. One-third of that carbon dioxide is absorbed by the world's oceans, making them more acidic and affecting marine life.

Researchers meet to refine carbon budget for US East Coast

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Virginia Institute of Marine Science) A large group of researchers gathered at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science to integrate and refine field measurements and computer models of carbon cycling in the waters along the US East Coast.

Unprecedented, man-made trends in ocean's acidity

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(University of Hawaii ‑ SOEST) Recent carbon dioxide emissions have pushed the level of seawater acidity far above the range of the natural variability that existed for thousands of years, affecting the calcification rates of shell-forming organism. These findings by an international team of scientists appear in the Jan. 22 online issue of Nature Climate Change.

Louis St. Laurent receives Nicholas P. Fofonoff Award from AMS

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Louis St. Laurent of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was selected by the American Meteorological Society to receive the prestigious Nicholas P. Fofonoff Award. There will be a formal presentation at the Annual Awards Banquet on Jan. 25, 2012, at the AMS annual meeting in New Orleans, La.

Mysterious flotsam in Gulf of Mexico came from Deepwater Horizon rig, WHOI study finds

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Using state-of-the-art chemical forensics and a bit of old-fashioned detective work, a research team led by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution confirmed that mysterious material found floating in the Gulf of Mexico came from the Deepwater Horizon rig. They further determined that tracking debris from damaged rigs can help forecast coastal impacts and guide response efforts in future spills.