Latest Chemical oceanography Stories

ESA [ Watch The Video Freshwater Plume From SMOS And Aquarius ] The saltiness of the oceans is being closely monitored from space by both ESA’s SMOS and NASA’s Aquarius missions, but in slightly different ways. By joining forces, researchers are exploiting these complementary missions to benefit climate science even further. Everyone knows that seawater is salty, but it isn’t that obvious that the concentration of salt – the salinity – of the surface waters of the world’s...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online New research claims charcoal created from wildfires does not remain in the soil as previously believed, but is instead transported into the sea by rivers, where it ultimately enters the carbon cycle. That determination was made by an international team of researchers, including Thorsten Dittmar from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology (MPI) in Bremen and Rudolf Jaffé from Florida International University's...

University of California - Santa Barbara Marine scientists have long understood the detrimental effect of fossil fuel emissions on marine ecosystems. But a group led by a UC Santa Barbara professor has found a point of resilience in a microscopic shelled plant with a massive environmental impact, which suggests the future of ocean life may not be so bleak. As fossil fuel emissions increase, so does the amount of carbon dioxide oceans absorb and dissolve, lowering their pH levels. "As pH...

AlphaGalileo Foundation To study the effects of ocean acidification, ten huge plastic containers called mesocosms are placed in the Gullmar Fjord in Sweden. The project is unique: mesocosms of this size have never been used for such a long period of time. The experiment is part of a worldwide research project, and includes researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. This is the largest and longest experiment on the impact of climate change on marine ecosystems that have been...

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution A continental-scale chemical survey in the waters of the eastern U.S. and Gulf of Mexico is helping researchers determine how distinct bodies of water will resist changes in acidity. The study, which measures varying levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other forms of carbon in the ocean, was conducted by scientists from 11 institutions across the U.S. and was published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography. “Before now, we haven't had a very...

WATCH VIDEOS: [Aquarius Measuring Salty Seas 1] - [Aquarius Measuring Salty Seas 2] Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The salinity level of the world’s rivers, lakes and oceans has been a growing topic in response to global climate change. As NASA’s Aquarius instrument has shown previously, seasonal salinity has been on the rise in oceans all around the world. This year, the picture is no less striking, with deep shades of oranges and reds, at least in the...

National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (UK) Microscopic ocean algae called coccolithophores are providing clues about the impact of climate change both now and many millions of years ago. The study found that their response to environmental change varies between species, in terms of how quickly they grow. Coccolithophores, a type of plankton, are not only widespread in the modern ocean but they are also prolific in the fossil record because their tiny calcium carbonate shells are...

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Phytoplankton (plant wanderers), organisms that exist in the sunlit layer of the world’s oceans, are important for the sustainability of the aquatic food web. However, future warming oceans could significantly alter the populations of these important organisms, further impacting climate change. Since phytoplankton play a major role in the food chain and the world’s carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous cycles, a significant decline...

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Along with negatively impacting marine life and global climate change, the acidification of the Earth’s oceans could have the unintended side effect of changing the acoustics beneath the water’s surface. New research suggests that a future, more acidic ocean would resemble the one that existed around 110 million years ago, when dinosaurs still roamed both the land and sea. Climatologists have been raising concerns in recent years...

Refueling U.S. Navy vessels, at sea and underway, is a costly endeavor in terms of logistics, time, fiscal constraints and threats to national security and sailors at sea. In Fiscal Year 2011, the U.S. Navy Military Sea Lift Command, the primary supplier of fuel and oil to the U.S. Navy fleet, delivered nearly 600 million gallons of fuel to Navy vessels underway, operating 15 fleet replenishment oilers around the globe. From Seawater to CO2 Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research...