Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate
Published

Large swings in past ocean oxygen revealed      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

As the climate warms, there is major concern that Earth's ocean will lose oxygen. A study has revealed that locked in ancient deep-sea sediments is evidence for oxygen loss in the world's ocean during past glacial periods, indicating that widespread oxygen loss with current climate change may not be permanent.    

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Close connectivity within the North Atlantic Current system identified      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have compared long-term data on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation from two different latitudes and discovered a statistical correlation. Their aim was to investigate how the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation has developed over a period of 25 years, based on moored observation stations. These data will help to refine climate models in the future.

Computer Science: Encryption Physics: Optics
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New study unveils stretchable high-resolution user-interactive synesthesia displays for visual--acoustic encryption      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A research team has succeeded in developing a cutting-edge display using transfer-printing techniques, propelling the field of multifunctional displays into new realms of possibility.

Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
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Killer whales' diet more important than location for pollutant exposure      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Both elegant and fierce, killer whales are some of the oceans' top predators, but even they can be exposed to environmental pollution. Now, in the largest study to date on North Atlantic killer whales, researchers report the levels of legacy and emerging pollutants in 162 individuals' blubber. The animals' diet, rather than location, greatly impacted contaminant levels and potential health risks -- information that's helpful to conservation efforts.

Biology: Cell Biology Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Remains of artificial turf is an important source of pollution of the aquatic environment      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Every year, around 1,200 and 1,400 artificial turf sports fields are installed in the European Union. These fields are made up of synthetic fibers, mainly plastics, that mimic the appearance of natural grass. Recently, scientists conducted a study that characterizes and quantifies the presence of artificial turf fibers in samples collected from surface waters of the Catalan coast and the Guadalquivir River. The findings indicate that artificial turfs can be an important source of pollution in the aquatic environment, accounting for up to 15% of the plastics larger than 5 mm in length that are found floating in the aquatic environment. 

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Study clearly identifies nutrients as a driver of the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Under normal conditions, the floating macroalgae Sargassum spp. provide habitat for hundreds of types of organisms. However, the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt (GASB) that emerged in 2011 has since then caused unprecedented inundations of this brown seaweed on Caribbean coastlines, with harmful effects on ecosystems while posing challenges to regional economies and tourism, and concerns for respiratory and other human health issues.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Geoscience: Severe Weather Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: General
Published

Paleoclimatologists use ancient sediment to explore future climate in Africa      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

With global warming apparently here to stay, a team of paleoclimatologists are studying an ancient source to determine future rainfall and drought patterns: fossilized plants that lived on Earth millions of years ago.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: General Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Predator-prey defense mechanisms unlock key to marine biofuel production      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have unpicked the mechanism behind a marine feeding strategy that could provide a valuable renewable source of biofuel.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Geoscience: Severe Weather Paleontology: Climate
Published

The Gulf Stream is warming and shifting closer to shore      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The Gulf Stream is intrinsic to the global climate system, bringing warm waters from the Caribbean up the East Coast of the United States. As it flows along the coast and then across the Atlantic Ocean, this powerful ocean current influences weather patterns and storms, and it carries heat from the tropics to higher latitudes as part of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.  A new study now documents that over the past 20 years, the Gulf Stream has warmed faster than the global ocean as a whole and has shifted towards the coast. The study relies on over 25,000 temperature and salinity profiles collected between 2001 and 2023.  

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate
Published

Deciphering the intensity of past ocean currents      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Ocean currents determine the structure of the deep-sea ocean floor and the transport of sediments, organic carbon, nutrients and pollutants. In flume-tank experiments, researchers have simulated how currents shape the seafloor and control sediment deposition. This will help in reconstructions of past marine conditions.

Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Oceanography
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Discovery of massive undersea water reservoir could explain New Zealand's mysterious slow earthquakes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers working to image New Zealand's Hikurangi earthquake fault have uncovered a sea's worth of water buried in the Earth's crust. The water was carried down by eroding volcanic rocks and is believed to be dampening the earthquake fault, allowing it to release most of the pent-up tectonic stress through harmless slow slip earthquakes.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Sustainable protection of rapidly subsiding coastlines with mangroves      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Along the Asian coast lines there are many areas where rural communities experience alarming rates of sea level rises due to land subsidence up to 10 cm per year. This causes tremendous challenges on how to live there and protect these coasts. Scientists have now investigated the potential and limitation of mangrove restoration as a cost-effective and sustainable solution for coastal protection in rapidly subsiding areas.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Biotechnology Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Biology: Marine Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Atlantic walrus more vulnerable than ever to Arctic warming      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Past cycles of climate change, along with human exploitation, have led to only small and isolated stocks of Atlantic walrus remaining. The current population is at high risk of the same issues affecting them severely, according to a new study.

Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate
Published

Antarctica's glacial border migrates for miles with the tide      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New measurements of how boundary between onshore glacier and floating ice shelf glides back-and- forth could help predict melting.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Geoscience: Severe Weather
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New study definitively confirms Gulf Stream weakening, understanding the changes could help predict future trends in extreme events      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The Gulf Stream transport of water through the Florida Strait has slowed by 4% over the past four decades, with a 99% certainty that this weakening is more than expected from random chance, according to a new study.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Nature Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Water Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Ocean acidification makes ecologically important seaweed species fragile      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Ocean acidification will likely almost triple by the end of the century -- a drastic environmental change that could impact important marine species like fleshy seaweeds, algae that grow vertically and promote biodiversity in more than a third of the world's coastline. To get a better idea of how seaweeds might fare in a rapidly acidifying ocean, a team of marine scientists subjected a common fleshy seaweed species to the acidification levels expected by the end of the century. They report that increased acidification impacted the seaweed's chemical balance, made both its structure and its tissues weaker, and reduced its overall chances of survival.

Environmental: Water Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

New development model for the world's third-longest river      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers reveal rapid fluvial incision attributed to the growth of high topography in China's Yangtze River.

Environmental: General Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Long-lasting La Nina events more common over past century      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Multiyear La Niña events have become more common over the last 100 years, according to a new study. Five out of six La Nina events since 1998 have lasted more than one year, including an unprecedented triple-year event.