ocean

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Scientists Heading to One of the Last 'Unexplored Frontiers'

Nekton Mission will investigate Indian Ocean ecosystems

(Newser) - Scientists prepared Thursday to embark on an unprecedented, years-long mission to explore the Indian Ocean and document changes taking place beneath the waves that could affect billions of people in the surrounding region over the coming decades. The ambitious expedition will delve into one of the last major unexplored frontiers...

Study Shows Depressing Scope of Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Mass of floating garbage is 'increasing exponentially'

(Newser) - Already the largest floating trash island in the world, researchers have found the mass of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is "increasing exponentially," the Washington Post reports. “I’ve been doing this research for a while, but it was depressing to see,” the Guardian quotes...

Looks Like an Asteroid Once Triggered a Tsunami on Mars

And that means water, and lots of it

(Newser) - A new study suggests that ancient Mars not only had an ocean, it experienced a tsunami unlike anything we've seen on Earth, reports Cosmos . The study in the Journal of Geophysical Research—Planets identifies a 75-mile-wide crater in the north as the likely source, reports the BBC . The scientists...

Mathematician Wants to Fight Tsunamis With Sound Waves

His novel approach focuses on reducing the wave's energy

(Newser) - Tsunamis are among the deadliest forces in nature. Look no further than the one in the Indian Ocean in 2004 that killed more than 230,000 people after being triggered by a powerful earthquake, notes a post at Phys.org . But what if tsunamis could be drained of their power...

'Purple Blob' on Ocean Floor Baffles Scientists

It could be a new species of sea slug

(Newser) - Scientists exploring the seafloor around California's Channel Islands have made a strange discovery. They just aren't exactly sure what it is. While studying deep-sea coral via a remotely operated vehicle, scientists on the research vessel E/V Nautilus noticed a "dark purple blob" with a pink center on...

This $1.4B Warship Doesn't Work in Warm Water

British destroyer basically loses all power while sailing in Persian Gulf

(Newser) - Crew members in the British Royal Navy keep coming up against a pesky, possibly dangerous Achilles' heel as their $1.4 billion warships cruise through the Persian Gulf: warm waters. Water temps there can hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and that's causing the ships to lose power, CNN reports. During...

China Wants People to Live Underwater in South China Sea

Planning mysterious lab, perhaps with military capabilities

(Newser) - China's No. 2 science and technology priority out of a recently released list of 100 would take its countrymen almost 2 miles beneath the surface of the South China Sea. Bloomberg reports on China's intention to build a manned deep-sea platform from which it could hunt for minerals,...

Going Swimming This Summer? Beware Seabather's Eruption

Experts say tiny sea lice are headed straight for your swimsuit area

(Newser) - The bathing suit areas of Florida swimmers are under attack by an invisible enemy: sea lice. ABC News reports experts expect to see widespread outbreaks of sea lice this summer, especially in the Gulf of Mexico. Sea lice are incredibly tiny jellyfish larvae that are invisible in the water. They...

Eating Plastic Is Making Young Fish Stupid

Microplastics linked to smaller, slower perch

(Newser) - Fish are getting hooked on plastic that's making them "smaller, slower, and more stupid," say researchers behind a new study at Science . Scientists have long suspected that microplastics are dangerous , but "that has been very hard to determine until now, and that's why this is...

22 Teens Pulled From Rough San Diego Waters

Conditions were not good, swim team went in anyway

(Newser) - A swim team's trip to San Diego went horribly wrong Tuesday, and lifeguards ended up having to rescue almost two dozen high school students from the water at La Jolla Cove, NBC San Diego reports. The teenagers were in San Diego to compete in a long-distance swim, and 64...

Ghostlike Octopus From the Deep Shocks Scientists

It's likely the deepest finless octopus ever seen and a brand new species

(Newser) - NOAA scientists exploring the ocean depths off the coast of Hawaii may have just discovered a new species of octopus, and boy is it adorable. Gizmodo describes the tiny creature as something out of Pixar or Pokemon, while a NOAA blog post calls it ghostlike. But a scientist overheard on...

At Ocean's Deepest Point, You Might Expect Silence. Not So

Researchers surprised by 'almost constant noise'

(Newser) - "You would think that the deepest part of the ocean would be one of the quietest places on Earth," says NOAA research oceanographer Robert Dziak, but it's not so. NOAA, with the help of partner scientists, recently listened in on the deepest point of the ocean and...

Plastic-Laden Plankton Poop Polluting the Ocean Depths
Plankton Poop Could Now
Do Harm Instead of Good
NEW STUDY
Mar 1, 2016 7:00 AM CST

Plankton Poop Could Now Do Harm Instead of Good

Plastic is moving around ocean waters via feces

(Newser) - The amount of plastic in our oceans is now popping up as gigantic islands and set to outpace the global fish population by 2050. But it's also settling ever so slowly on the ocean floor in the form of plankton poop. And because plastic-laden poop is lighter and falls...

Our Discarded Plastic May Doom Oysters
 Our Discarded Plastic  
 May Doom Oysters 
study says
Feb 2, 2016 12:32 PM CST

Our Discarded Plastic May Doom Oysters

Ingested particles quickly damage their ability to produce, says study

(Newser) - Oysters may have a new No. 1 menace in the sea: plastic. A troubling new study finds that oysters feeding on microplastics quickly develop serious reproduction problems, scientists report at Phys.org . In their study, researchers grew Pacific oysters in a lab and exposed them to the type of microplastic...

By 2050, Our Oceans Will Hold More Plastic Than Fish

Plastic production set to double in next 20 years

(Newser) - Use of plastic has increased 20-fold in the past half-century; production of the ubiquitous material is expected to double again in the next 20 years (and nearly quadruple over the next 50). And, CNN Money reports, nearly a third of all plastic packaging "escapes collection systems." As for...

X Prize: $7M to Map the Ocean Floor

Foundation will offer big bucks to teams who explore the 'unexplored'

(Newser) - Have a great idea about how to map the ocean floor? It could be worth millions. The X Prize Foundation, which two years ago asked for a way to gauge ocean acidification , is offering $7 million to teams able to develop high-resolution maps of the seafloor over the next three...

US Names 1st Marine Sanctuaries in 15 Years

And Chile creates the 3rd-largest ocean reserve in the world

(Newser) - President Obama declared new marine sanctuaries in Lake Michigan and the tidal waters of Maryland on Monday, while Chile blocked off more than 200,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean—what it said is the third-largest marine reserve in the world—near the world-famous Easter Island from commercial fishing...

New Zealand Plans Ocean Sanctuary Twice Its Size

Kermadec ocean sanctuary would cover 240K square miles

(Newser) - A marine reserve about 600 miles northeast of New Zealand will get much, much bigger if Prime Minister John Key has his way. Just how big? Well, the Kermadec ocean sanctuary will stretch for 240,000 square miles—an area twice the size of New Zealand's landmass—if government...

The Way the Titanic Is Treated May Be About to Change

30 years after it was found, Canada is poised to claim ownership

(Newser) - It's been more than 100 years since the Titanic sank in 1912. Yet it wasn't until Sept. 1, 1985—30 years ago yesterday—that Robert Ballard famously found it, submerged more than two miles deep and 380 miles southeast of Newfoundland. In a special interview with National Geographic...

A Schooner Sails the World, Makes Amazing Discoveries

Evidence for 10 times more plankton species than known

(Newser) - From 2009 to 2013, the 110-foot schooner Tara sailed around the world, collecting plankton samples from more than 200 sites, some as deep as 6,500 feet down in the ocean, Science magazine reports. Fighting volatile weather, funding issues, and even the threat of pirates, the Tara expedition team still...

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