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 Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Geoscience: Severe Weather Paleontology: Fossils
Published

Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in ancient 14,300-year-old tree rings      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international team of scientists have discovered a huge spike in radiocarbon levels 14,300 years ago by analyzing ancient tree-rings found in the French Alps. The radiocarbon spike was caused by a massive solar storm, the biggest ever identified.  A similar solar storm today would be catastrophic for modern technological society – potentially wiping out telecommunications and satellite systems, causing massive electricity grid blackouts, and costing us billions. The academics are warning of the importance of understanding such storms to protect our global communications and energy infrastructure for the future.

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
Published

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
Published

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.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: Water Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Mussels able to adjust heart rate to cope with marine heatwaves      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research shows that mussels are pretty crafty sea creatures: able to withstand marine heatwaves by adjusting their heart rate and other physiological functions, boding well for their survival in future decades as the world heats up.

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

Riddle of varying warm water inflow in the Arctic now solved      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In the 'weather kitchen,' the interplay between the Azores High and Icelandic Low has a substantial effect on how much warm water the Atlantic transports to the Arctic along the Norwegian coast. But this rhythm can be thrown off for years at a time. Experts finally have an explanation for why: Due to unusual atmospheric pressure conditions over the North Atlantic, low-pressure areas are diverted from their usual track, which disrupts the coupling between the Azores High, the Icelandic Low and the winds off the Norwegian coast. This finding is an important step toward refining climate models and more accurately predicting the fate of Arctic sea ice in the face of progressing climate change.

Ecology: General Environmental: Ecosystems Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Polar experiments reveal seasonal cycle in Antarctic sea ice algae      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Results provide the first measurements of how sea-ice algae and other single-celled life adjust to the dramatic seasonal rhythms in the Southern Ocean. The results provide clues to what might happen as this ecosystem shifts under climate change.

Biology: Marine Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology Ecology: General Ecology: Research Ecology: Sea Life Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

Scientists find good places to grow long-spined sea urchins, a starting point to restore 'the lawn mowers of the reefs'      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists are trying to raise as many urchins as possible because they eat algae that could otherwise smother reef ecosystems and kill corals. Researchers have identified algae on which larval sea urchins grow into juveniles in a lab setting.

Environmental: Water Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Landslides Geoscience: Oceanography
Published

100-year floods could occur yearly by end of 21st century      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Most coastal communities will encounter '100-year floods' annually by the end of the century, even under a moderate scenario where carbon dioxide emissions peak by 2040, according to a new study. And as early as 2050, regions worldwide could experience 100-year floods every nine to fifteen years on average.