climate change
Digging Deep: Burrowing Animals are Just One Element of a Healthy Mudflat
Despite mudflats supporting fisheries, providing homes for birds, and serving as a buffer between land and sea, these ecosystems are still threatened by human development. Researchers looking for ways to protect mudflats found that in order for mudflats to remain healthy, 4 important roles must be filled by the animals living in them. Kristin HuizengaI […]
Threats to Cetaceans: There’s More than Meets the Eye
Researchers spent seven years specifically studying deceased, stranded cetaceans along the coastline of the Canary Islands in Spain to figure out what most likely caused their deaths. They found that while human activity accounted for a large portion, something else was responsible for a much larger percentage of cetacean death. Rishya NarayananRishya is pursuing an […]
Millennial algae are not as productive: lazy, or less sea ice opportunities?
Why aren’t Arctic phytoplankton as productive as they used to be? Is it a lazy millennial thing, or something more complex and systematic? Researchers use observations to learn more about this generation of phytoplankton, and what it could mean for Gen Z and beyond… Nyla HusainI’m a 4th year PhD student at the University of […]
Who Governs the Ocean Around Antarctica?
Antarctica is often considered an untouched wilderness. While its location is remote, the region is hardly undisturbed by human activity. Exploitation of marine species, tourism, scientific research activities, and anthropogenic climate change are all impacting Southern Ocean ecosystems. A recent policy paper examines the governance challenges for the Antarctic, particularly those due to climate change. […]
What’s happening to carbon in the warming Arctic?
The Arctic, warming at unprecedented rates, is undergoing profound changes. Using recent atmospheric CO2 measurements, Su-Jong Jeong and his colleagues investigate how the carbon cycling in the Arctic has been changing, and what it means for the future of the region. Julia DohnerJulia is a PhD student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, […]
Losing Coral Reefs Will Cost Us More Money
Coral reefs are extremely important ecosystems. Sadly, climate change, pollution, and various other threats are causing us to lose some of these critical habitats. A group of scientists estimated just how much it will cost us in the future if we lose these important corals. Ashley MarranzinoI received my Master’s degree from the University of […]
The ongoing story of Hurricane Harvey
With the start of the 2018 hurricane season, we explore what happened last year during one of the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history – and why. Nyla HusainI’m a 4th year PhD student at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography. I use models to study small-scale turbulence at the air-sea interface induced by […]
The future according to the Paris Agreement? Not so simple.
Meet the Paris Agreement goal and limit the human-caused rise in average global temperature to 1.5 ˚C? Sounds good. Do we know what the world would look like if we reached this goal? Not really. Climate scientist Sonia Seneviratne and her colleagues dig into the large uncertainty in what a 1.5 ˚C-warmed world might look […]
The Coral Dilemma: Is Hybridization the Key?
Coral: a mineral, plant, and animal all in one (oh my!) Unfortunately, coral is in danger- and the many reefs which support a wide variety of organisms (including humans) are rapidly dying. Does interspecific hybridization hold the key to our coral dilemma? Rishya NarayananRishya is pursuing an M.S. in Environmental Science Communications and Media Advocacy at […]
When life gives you global warming, make pancake ice in ocean wave models
Sea ice is retreating, the Arctic is opening up, and wave activity is increasing. What does this mean for the ocean and atmosphere? The refreezing season of autumn may have some answers. Nyla HusainI’m a 4th year PhD student at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography. I use models to study small-scale turbulence […]
Turn Up The Heat, Turn Down the Productivity
What happens if we do not curb carbon emissions? In a recent study, Moore and co-authors (2018) predict the implications of sustained carbon emissions. Ocean nutrients may be redistributed leaving much of the global ocean in a state of declining biological production! Check out this article to learn more! Melanie FeenI am a first year graduate […]
Bite or Flight: How Seaweed Can Shape Feeding Behavior in Fish
What is a forest without trees or a coral reef without coral? Neither a forest nor a coral reef. Entire ecosystems are made possible by the living flora that define them; they provide shelter and hunting grounds for the animals which live in them. But what happens when the building blocks of these ecosystems are […]
Big Momma: bigger fish are better moms
What makes a fish a good mom? Read here to see why scientists now think that big fish moms are the best fish moms. Ashley MarranzinoI received my Master’s degree from the University of Rhode Island where I studied the sensory biology of deep-sea fishes. I am now working with the South Carolina DNR at […]
Gassing Earth Out of the Ice Age: the North Pacific
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 […]
Circulation running amok? Scientists think it could be happening in the North Atlantic
Check out this oceanbites take on two recent articles that suggest Atlantic circulation is slower now than it has been for the past 1000 years (and why this matters to you!). Anna RobuckI am a third year PhD student at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography in the Lohmann Lab. My current […]
The Polar Vortex, Bomb Cyclones, and Climate
Bomb cyclones, the polar vortex, and climate – they’ve all been in the news in recent years, but how do they intersect? A new study finds a link between mid-latitude cyclones and enhanced sea ice melt in the Arctic. Nyla HusainI’m a 4th year PhD student at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of […]
The Declining Japanese Eel Population: Is Ocean Circulation to Blame?
Recent declines in Japanese eel populations have been attributed to overfishing, but that may not be the only factor at play. Chang et al. investigate whether recent changes in ocean circulation might help explain this alarming trend. Julia DohnerJulia is a PhD student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. Her focus is […]
The Many Modes of Antarctic Ice Loss
The Western Antarctic Ice Shelf has been melting rapidly in recent decades, largely due to upwelling of deep ocean water that has been gradually warming. Atmospheric systems can influence the ice-sheet height anomalies on interannual time scales. Paolo and other researchers used satellite altimetry to study which processes have the greatest effect in one region […]
More Intense Summer to Winter Swings in Oceanic Dissolved CO2
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 […]
Agricultural Stewardship Could Prevent Invasive Species Takeover Downstream
Phragmites australis, or Common Reed, is a marine grass likely introduced to North America from Eurasia in the late 1800s through the garden trade. It has since become one of the most aggressive invaders in history, replacing native grasses in wetlands and disrupting native ecosystem function. Wetlands are interesting study systems for invasive plants. […]
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