Latest Ocean Stories
Several new atlases of ocean wind patterns around the globe, based on data from NASA's QuikScat satellite, are benefiting a wide range of users, from those who sail the seas to those responsible for managing their precious resources.Researchers compiled seven years of QuikScat data to create a never-before-available monthly atlas of how frequently high winds blow over the open ocean all over the world. The maps, which show where gales (winds greater than 39 knots or 45 miles per hour) are...
High winds and big waves are part of the data -- and the challengeScientists will embark this week from Punta Arenas, Chile, on the tip of South America, to spend 42 days amid the high winds and waves of the Southern Ocean. Here they hope to make groundbreaking measurements to explain how huge fluxes of climate-affecting gases move between atmosphere and sea, and vice-versa.The cruise, which departs Feb. 28, should provide important information on how the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide moves...
WASHINGTON - More than 30 scientists will embark next week on a research mission to the Southern Ocean. Researchers will battle the elements to study how gases important to climate change move between the atmosphere and the ocean under high winds and seas. NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Science Foundation are sponsoring the Southern Ocean Gas Exchange Experiment, a six-week research expedition aboard the NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown, departing...
Imagine a gigantic, inflatable, sausage-like bag capable of storing 160 million tonnes of CO2 "“ the equivalent of 2.2 days of current global emissions. Now try to picture that container, measuring up to 100 metres in radius and several kilometres long, resting benignly on the seabed more than 3 kilometres below the ocean's surface.At first blush, this might appear like science fiction, but it's an idea that gets serious attention from Dr. David Keith, one of Canada's foremost experts on...
Hydrocarbons "“ molecules critical to life "“ are being generated by the simple interaction of seawater with the rocks under the Lost City hydrothermal vent field in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. Being able to produce building blocks of life makes Lost City-like vents even stronger contenders as places where life might have originated on Earth, according to Giora Proskurowski and Deborah Kelley, two authors of a paper in the Feb. 1 Science. Researchers have ruled out carbon from the biosphere...
The tropical Pacific Ocean remains in the grips of a cool La Niña, as shown by new data of sea-level heights from mid-October of 2007, collected by the U.S-French Jason altimetric satellite. This La Niña, which has slowly strengthened for the past nine months, is indicated by the blue area in the center of the image along the equator. Blue indicates lower than normal sea level (cold water). "After eight very dry years on the Colorado River watershed and a record-breaking dry winter...
The Southern Ocean may slow the rate of global warming by absorbing significantly more heat and carbon dioxide than previously thought, according to new research.The Southern Hemisphere westerly winds have moved southward in the last 30 years. A new climate model predicts that as the winds shift south, they can do a better job of transferring heat and carbon dioxide from the surface waters surrounding Antarctica into the deeper, colder waters. The new finding surprised the scientists, said...
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent OSLO (Reuters) - South American "Red Devil" squid found off Alaska and jellyfish plaguing the Mediterranean may point to vast disruptions in the seas linked to global warming, pollution or over-fishing, experts say. Fish such as salmon and mackerel have also been spotted in the Arctic, far north of their normal ranges, in a possible vanguard of wrenching billion-dollar shifts in world fish stocks this century caused by warming oceans. "There...
By Alister Doyle, Environment CorrespondentOSLO (Reuters) - South American "Red Devil" squid found off Alaska and jellyfish plaguing the Mediterranean may point to vast disruptions in the seas linked to global warming, pollution or over-fishing, experts say.Fish such as salmon and mackerel have also been spotted in the Arctic, far north of their normal ranges, in a possible vanguard of wrenching billion-dollar shifts in world fish stocks this century caused by warming...
LONDON -- Sediment drilled from the floor beneath the Arctic Ocean holds prehistoric climate records that show Arctic temperatures reached subtropical levels about 55 million years ago, according to research reported on Wednesday.The cylindrical sediment core provides new data showing that long ago the surface water was a warm 18 degrees Celsius (64 Fahrenheit) and then Arctic temperatures reached 23C (73.40F). The mean annual Arctic temperature today is around minus 20C."Today's models...
Latest Ocean Reference Libraries
The Arctic Ocean which is located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the shallowest and smallest of the world’s five major oceanic divisions. The International Hydrographic Organization recognizes it as an ocean, although, some oceanographers consider it as the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply, the Arctic Sea, classifying it a Mediterranean sea or an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. Alternatively, the Arctic Ocean can be considered as the northernmost...
Asia is the world’s largest and most populous continent. It is located mainly in the eastern and northern hemispheres covering 8.7 percent of the Earth’s whole surface area and making up 30 percent of its land area. With about 4.3 billion people, it hosts 60 percent of the world’s current human population. This continent has a high growth rate in the modern era. For example, during the 20th century, Asia’s population almost quadrupled. This continent is defined as making up the...
Point #1: Warm finger- This region inside the area marked number 1, represents a warm finger of the ocean temperatures. What is occurring is that the warmer air is being pushed faster in this region than the surrounding locations giving us this little finger of warmer temps in that region. Point #2: Warm Eddie- This is a region of warmer temps surrounded on all sides by colder water. Eddies are a closed circulation of water in the ocean that has in this case warmer temps around it. These...
The Peru Current flows from South to North along the western side of South America. This current transports colder air from the south northward towards the equator. This current is responsible for bringing cooler waters off the coast of Peru which is a big reason that they have such high fishing success. However this current can get altered during EL-Nino when the warmer waters of the Pacific are transported west to east and start to replace these colder waters. The Peru current is...
Coastal Upwelling- this is defined as the moving of water from the deeper oceans upwards to the surface of the ocean very commonly found along our cold ocean currents, which are found along the West Coast of the United States and off the Peru coast. Coastal Sinking- this is defined as the warm waters moving in from the east and hitting the coastline and slowly filtering down towards the deeper ocean waters very slowly. This feature is common in our warm ocean currents such as the United...
