New research reveals a cross-seasonal pathway linking tropical sea surface temperatures to the Antarctic polar vortex, with implications for long-range climate prediction.

A new study by UW–Madison geoscientists, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the obliquity cycle — a 40,000-year astronomical cycle tied to changes in Earth’s axial tilt — influenced ocean productivity in subtropical latitudes about 34 million years ago when the Antarctic ice sheet was first expanding.

Prolonged exposure to microplastics can disrupt vital physiological processes in gorgonians, such as respiration. Although these pollutants do not cause visible damage to tissues and cells, their effects could have an ecological impact on these organisms that structure the seabed, particularly if exposure continues over time occurs alongside other environmental pressures, such as ocean warming, habitat degradation or the growing accumulation of plastics in the marine environment.

Hawaii faces economic and logistical challenges for dealing with plastic waste, including marine debris that lingers in its ocean waters. Researchers are pioneering a method to recycle the islands’ derelict fishing nets and plastic trash into asphalt roads. Demonstrations on Oahu show that adding recycled materials may provide an end-of-life fate for the region’s garbage, leading to less-polluted oceans. The researchers will present their results at ACS Spring 2026.

At Bigelow Laboratory, we know that the smallest things can have the biggest impact on the ocean ecosystem. A multi-institutional team, led by URI and featuring our researchers, is helping show just how important some of these tiny animals called copepods are for shuttling energy and nutrients across the ocean food web. The team has spent the last several years using advanced laboratory and field methods to understand how the biological communities of the surface and seafloor are connected in the Gulf of Maine and how that relationship — and the larger marine food web — adapts as environmental conditions change. This work is challenging oceanographers' assumptions about how the Gulf of Maine ecosystem works and highlighting the challenges of using historical data to understand our rapidly changing future.

A research team shows that future air pollution controls could significantly reshape atmospheric nitrogen deposition to the oceans, with unexpected consequences for marine productivity and climate feedbacks.

Techniques developed to study the distant past—from dating ancient artifacts to reconstructing climate records in ice cores—are now being repurposed to better understand the lives of modern sea turtles. Using radiocarbon methods from archaeology, researchers show that sea turtle shell plates are biological time capsules that record signs of major environmental disturbances in the ocean.