This year marks the start of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science. To reach its ambitious targets, we require new platforms to observe the ocean—such as armies of ocean robots. Emily ChuaI am a Ph.D. candidate at Boston University where I am developing an underwater instrument to study the coastal ocean. I have a […]
Everyone knows that Earth’s climate changes. With the rapid increases in human-influenced global warming and ocean acidification, we need to be able to model and predict the future. What if we could use the past? A similar time period called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) exhibited similar climate changes. Scientists have investigated the PETM and […]
You have heard about global warming due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide but did you know that it also affects oceans globally! Read on to learn more. Tejashree ModakCurrently, I am a postdoctoral research fellow in URI. Broadly, I study response of marine species to various stressors such as disease and environmental factors. My research […]
Ocean acidification has been known to cause problems for marine mollusks (like oysters and pteropods), because these animals have shells or hard parts that can weaken as acidity increases. There’s another mollusk though with eight arms and two tentacles that may have a larger bag of tricks with which to cope with acidity, but teasing […]
A recent study demonstrate the critical importance of Antarctic winds and meltwater to modeling the recent observed changes in Southern Ocean physical and biogeochemical properties. These results have implications for improving future climate projections. Channing PrendI’m a physical oceanography PhD student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. I use a combination of […]
Bach, L. T., Hernández-Hernández, N., Taucher, J., Spisla, C., Sforna, C., Riebesell, U., & Arístegui, J. (2019). Effects of elevated CO2 on a natural diatom community in the subtropical NE Atlantic. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, 75. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00075 As the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere steadily increases, oceans are taking up more […]
Nitrogen is vital for all life on the planet. One of the main global sources for nitrogen, the bacteria Trichodesmium, may stop providing nitrogen to the global cycle in an ocean affected by climate change. LeAundra JeffsI am a Master’s Candidate at University of Delaware where I study the evolution of microbes in the sediments […]
Enhanced upwelling and CO2 degassing from the North Pacific during a warm climate event 14,000 years ago may have helped keep atmospheric CO2 levels high enough to propel the Earth out of the last ice age. Zoe GentesZoe has an M.S. in Oceanography and a B.S. in Geologic Oceanography from URI, with a minor in […]
Ocean CO2 levels vary depending on the time of year. Landschützer and his colleagues are the first to show that human-emitted CO2 is making these seasonal swings more severe, potentially to the detriment of many marine organisms. Julia DohnerJulia is a PhD student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. Her focus is […]
Climate change, due to the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning, is arguably the most important issue facing our planet. One of the most detrimental changes already in progress is the shifting pH of the world’s oceans, known as ocean acidification. Although the speed with which the planet is changing does not […]
Acidification, one of the highest-visibility impacts of human activity on the ocean, was thought to be confined to its upper layers. Chen and his colleagues show that’s no longer the case. Julia DohnerJulia is a PhD student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. Her focus is on biogeochemistry, which, as the name […]
Ocean warming, acidification, sea-level-rise, and increased coastal storm intensities are just some of the stark projections highlighted in a recently-released U.S. Government climate report. Zoe GentesZoe has an M.S. in Oceanography and a B.S. in Geologic Oceanography from URI, with a minor in Writing and Rhetoric. She was recently a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow in […]
Journal source: Smith, J. N., C. Richter, K. Fabricius, and A. Cornils. 2017. Pontellid copepods affected by ocean acidification: A field study at natural CO2 seeps. PLoS ONE 12 doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0175663. Introduction Ocean acidification (OA for short) is a topic that seems to be receiving increased attention, and if you’ve scrolled through some recent Oceanbites posts, […]
Ninety-five percent of the ocean is unexplored, but there a few ocean expeditions happening this year that you can join! How? You can explore alongside scientists in real time. Read more to find out! Megan ChenI graduated with a Masters of Coastal & Marine Management from the University of Akureyri in Iceland, and am currently […]
The ocean is acidifying in response to carbon dioxide emissions, but we are just beginning to learn how this effects the ocean’s most abundant lifeforms – microbes. Michael GrawI’m a 5th year PhD student at Oregon State University researching the microbial ecology of marine sediments – why do we find microbes where they are in […]
Chemistry is important for a lot of things, but can it change the behavior of animals? Read on to find out how changes in water chemistry alter the behavior of a venomous cone snail! Erin McLeanHi and welcome to oceanbites! I recently finished my master’s degree at URI, focusing on lobsters and how they respond […]
No, a Sharkcano is not a volcano that erupts sharks. IT IS WAY COOLER THAN THAT! It is a submarine volcano that hosts a diverse macro community in water that is much warmer and more acidic that the surrounding seawater. Read more to find out about this alien-esc ecosystem in the South Pacific Ocean. Anne […]
Scientists (myself included!) have been doing a lot of work on how marine animals respond to rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, but CO2 alone isn’t the only problem. This study looks at how having a parasite affects survival in marine snails exposed to high CO2 – do they survive longer in those conditions with or […]
Coastal areas could fall silent in the next century as ocean acidification alters and affects the natural soundscapes of the oceans. Intrigued? Click here to read more! Andrea SchlunkI am a former PhD student from the University of Rhode Island, having discovered my love of teaching and informal science education in part through OceanBites! Since […]
Most studies that look at how animals respond to climate change look at species we like – oysters, corals, and whales are just a few examples. The authors of this review looked at something else – how are the species we hate going to respond to climate change, specifically ocean acidification? Read on to find […]