Over the past 230,000 years, the growth and retreat of the Icelandic ice sheet have led to major changes in the seawater chemistry of the North Atlantic, caused by the interaction between volcanism and ice in Iceland. Scientists at the Institute of Environmental Physics at Heidelberg University have demonstrated this using sediment cores from the northeastern Atlantic – the Rockall Plateau. The researchers analyzed the isotopic composition of the rare-earth element neodymium in these drill cores. According to their findings, the isotopic signal fluctuated significantly over the course of glacial and interglacial periods, following the “rhythm” of the ice ages, as shown by the studies led by Prof. Dr. Norbert Frank.

Climate variability in the Atlantic Ocean can help predict cutaneous leishmaniasis outbreaks in North Africa several months in advance. The study identifies how specific climate patterns affecting rainfall across the region influence, over different timescales, the transmission of this disease and make it possible to develop a seasonal forecasting system with up to one year’s lead time.

Earth’s oceans went through oxygen loss to produce metal deposits repeatedly during the planet’s deepest ice ages. The findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest that ocean deoxygenation is not exclusively a consequence of warmer climate periods but has occurred under dramatically different climate conditions.

At the end of the last ice age, about 18,000 years ago, the Atlantic overturning circulation weakened significantly for several thousand years. Researchers from Bremen and Brazil have now analyzed a high-temporal-resolution sediment core that allows for a more precise reconstruction of this so-called Heinrich event at a temporal resolution of centuries. The study, published in Nature Communications, shows that during this prolonged period of weakness, short-term intensifications of the circulation lasting several centuries occurred.

New research by experts from the University of Plymouth's International Marine Litter Research Unit has estimated that legacy plastics from oil and gas infrastructure could contribute tonnes of microplastics to the ocean each year.

Ocean University of China (Qingdao, China) announced that a research team led by Professor Guoqiang Li and Dr. Xiao Han of the Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs, Chinese Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, has discovered fourteen previously unknown diterpenoid derivatives — named clavukellines A–N — from the soft coral *Clavularia koellikeri* collected from the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea. Preliminary pharmacological evaluation revealed that all fourteen compounds exhibit antithrombotic activity, and two additionally show anti-inflammatory effects, opening a promising new avenue for marine-derived drug development.