Oceans

Animals

Young emperor penguins brave icy, winter waters in their first year

Young emperor penguins learn survival skills on their own, including how to navigate Antarctica’s icy winter ocean.

Tech

Desalination pours more toxic brine into the ocean than previously thought

Desalination plants help offset the world’s growing water needs, but they also produce much more supersalty water than scientists realized.

Oceans

Floating seabirds provide a novel way to trace ocean currents

Seabirds idly drifting with ocean currents provide a novel way to track and understand how these flows change with time and location.

Animals

Nearly 200 Great Barrier Reef coral species also live in the deep sea

There are more coral species lurking in the deep ocean that previously thought. That could be good news for their shallow water counterparts.

Oceans

Volcanic eruptions that depleted ocean oxygen may have set off the Great Dying

Massive eruptions from volcanoes spewing greenhouse gases 252 million years ago may have triggered Earth’s biggest mass extinction.

Climate

Warm tropical Atlantic waters juiced the 2017 hurricane season

Anomalously warm ocean waters in the tropical Atlantic Ocean drove 2017’s hurricane powerhouses.

Oceans

A massive net is being deployed to pick up plastic in the Pacific

As the Ocean Cleanup project embarks, critics remain unconvinced that scooping up debris is the best way to solve the ocean’s plastic problem.

Animals

A gentoo penguin’s dinner knows how to fight back

Cameras attached to gentoo penguins off the Falkland Islands revealed that, despite the birds’ small size, their lobster krill prey can sometimes win in a fight.

Climate

Chances of an Atlantic hurricane season busier than 2005’s are slim — for now

The 28 named tropical storms that swirled through the Atlantic Ocean in 2005 is about as many as the region can produce in a year.

Oceans

Beaked whales may frequent a seabed spot marked for mining

Grooves in the seafloor may signal that whales visit a region that is a prime target for future seabed mining.

Oceans

Viruses may help phytoplankton make clouds — by tearing the algae apart

Sick phytoplankton shed their calcium carbonate plates more easily than their healthy counterparts, which could play a role in forming clouds.

Earth

Why sea level rise varies from place to place

The impact of global sea level rise varies regionally, thanks to these factors.