Science

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports. Certain diseases in corals are either endemic, meaning they are consistently found at baseline levels in the environment, or epidemic, meaning there are periods with big outbreaks or then they seem to disappear. Though important to understand, it has been a challenge for researchers to study how those diseases are transmitted because of low rates of occurrence.

Researchers are suggesting a new reason why seemingly healthy gray whales get stranded sometimes on shore. An analysis published Monday in the journal Current Biology found a high correlation between these kinds of stranding and radio frequency noise associated with solar storms.

Six geology students alongside a research fellow at the University of Derby have published a new research paper into the growth rate, extinction and survival of seashells.

Mannar has recorded the highest volume of Micro-plastics compared to other parts of Sri Lanka.

At least 26 per cent of our oceans need urgent conservation attention to preserve Earth's marine biodiversity, a new study has found. Experts have said the international community needed to rapidly increase marine conservation efforts to maintain the health of the world's oceans.

Ear bones of fish revealed 'diary of selenium exposure' that was key to unraveling the mystery

A potent neurotoxin that has long been associated with mass die-offs of marine mammals during harmful algal blooms has been detected in bottlenose dolphins from the Indian River Lagoon estuary.

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss., Feb. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Tiny and frightening-looking creatures lurking throughout our world's oceans can wreak havoc on Navy tactical decision-makers' ability to sense the environment or plan and chart a navigation course.

WASHINGTON— At the time, senior scientist Jim Doyle was a little worried. Projections by his team’s tropical cyclone model were deviating from those of the other major weather models, which were predicting Hurricane Dorian would make landfall in Florida. His own team’s model showed the storm would curve northward along the coast.

In several new studies, researchers explore the importance of learning and knowledge in environmental decision-making and the different ways in which scientific knowledge can become more relevant and useful for societies.

Some people travel across oceans to seek warm, healing waters in spas or coastal resorts. It turns out that whales are likely making their annual migrations for much the same reason: to maintain healthy skin, according to a new study out today.

Leaked report for world’s major fossil fuel financier says Earth is on unsustainable trajectory

Studies of the health hazards of toxic algae blooms have focused largely on the danger of direct contact with contaminated water in lakes, rivers and the ocean. Now a new study shows that even airborne exposure to the bacteria from a toxic bloom could also pose a risk.

That hurricanes can create sudden and dramatic changes to the landscape is obvious to anyone who lives along the Gulf of Mexico's coast. They are powerful, high-energy destructive forces that can flood homes and fell trees, and can leave a lasting impression on all those affected by them; however, the mark hurricanes leave on unpopulated areas, such as Florida's Everglades National Park, have been less known until now. In a recent paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, or PNAS, researchers from different universities, including LSU, examined how Hurricanes Wilma in 2015 and Irma in 2017 fertilized the Florida Coastal Everglades, paradoxically facilitating mangrove wetlands recovery.

Scientists studying sperm whales have discovered earthquakes affect their ability to find food for at least a year. The research is among the first to examine the impact of a large earthquake on a population of marine mammals, and offers new insight into how top predators such as sperm whales react and adapt to a large-scale natural disturbance.

A 12-foot, 4-inch adult male Great White shark that weighs 1,000 pounds, was tracked swimming off of Canaveral National Seashore in Florida on Tuesday, February 18, 2020.

Flooding is the costliest natural disaster, according to environmental economist Katherine Zipp, assistant professor of environmental and resource economics and a faculty member in the Institutes of Energy and the Environment, at Penn State. She is part of a team that is studying how floodplain damages affect long-term housing development in high flood-risk areas. This includes a model that takes into consideration climate change and how that could impact flooding.

The results of a collaborative research project led by a graduate student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo have been published as a case study in the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, a website where the public can find information and tools to understand and address climate risks. The case study also has been published regionally on the Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment website.

The population of whale sharks, one of the endangered migratory species, has declined by 63 per cent in last 75 years in the Indo-Pacific region, a nature conservation body has said while urging the government to intensify steps and train enforcement agencies to conserve the species.

Many people wonder how the excess CO2 is affecting the planet and its atmosphere. Charles Amsler, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, continues to search for these answers as he dives into the depths of the Antarctic Ocean to closely examine ocean acidification.

Cassiopea jellyfish make up for their lack of tentacles by releasing gooey clouds full of autopiloted stingers.

The destructive power of a hurricane appears to do plenty of good for mangroves in the Florida Everglades.

A top ten of record-breaking US weather events of the last decade reveals Hurricane Harvey is the most extreme of the decade, and similar others were among the costliest and deadliest on record, according to magazine Weatherwise.

Scientists from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Ocean Sciences Division are optimizing the placement of ocean gliders and the usage of glider data to improve the Navy’s ability to predict ocean conditions.

Flying somewhere over the planet, there's a plane equipped with research-grade, double-sided tape on the outside of its hull. Each time the pilot lands the plane, he removes the tape, seals it in a package, and replaces it with a new one before he takes off again. He then mails the package to Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, care of Dimitri Deheyn, Associate Researcher.

The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) has been awarded a $500,000 grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to lead a coalition of scientists from around the country to study the impact of storms, sea-level rise, and climate change on estuaries and bays.

UC San Diego - University of Haifa partnership receives $1.3M from Koret Foundation to support collaboration on marine archaeology research.

The Ohio Lake Erie Commission will hold a public meeting on its Protection and Restoration 2020 plan on Tuesday Feb. 18 in Twinsburg.

Sea Marsh Way is a short stretch of land located in and near Mattapoisett’s coastline nestled between Pine Island and Angelica Point. A small lot of land is being considered for development by owner Constance O. Pallatroni Living Trust, prompting the need to confirm the property is not, in fact, barrier beach.

The clustering of great white sharks off the Carolinas coast is growing more pronounced and mysterious, based on satellite tracking data shared Saturday on social media.

Doctors and leaders of Boston’s renowned hospitals gathered Thursday to discuss how climate change is impacting their profession.

For years, BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) CEO Larry Fink has used his annual letter to CEOs to tout the importance of social progress and challenge shortsighted businesses and governments that just focus on profitability. This year's letter made waves because he's finally putting his money where his mouth is by introducing some concrete steps in response to climate change.

Rapid advances in drone technology, together with their affordability and ease of customization, have made them an increasingly important tool for scientists studying wildlife and the environment. Rhode Island researchers are taking advantage of them for such wide-ranging uses as monitoring algae blooms, assessing forest damage following storms, and creating high-resolution maps of the landscape.

In 2014, a disease of epidemic proportions gripped the West Coast of the U.S. You may not have noticed, though, unless you were underwater.

Florida has experienced numerous harmful algal blooms in recent years, including blue-green algae and their toxins in 2016 and 2018. Despite their intensity and frequency, there is scant data on human exposure to these blooms and concentrations of the toxins they produce in tissues of exposed individuals. The most common routes of human exposure to these toxins include direct contact, ingestion and inhalation. Little is known about airborne exposure to these toxins in recreationally and occupationally exposed humans.

Marine biologists are flying a bespoke mini-submarine under the sea ice to explore environments around Davis research station that have never been seen before.

Coralline red algae (CRA) are important ecosystem engineers in the world’s oceans. They play key roles as primary food source and carbonate producers in marine habitats. CRA are also vital for modern reef systems where they act as substrate for coral growth and stabilizers of reef frameworks. However, morphotaxonomic identification of these important marine organisms is hampered by the fact that morphological concepts used for their classification do not correspond to molecular data. We present the first analysis of nanoscale features in calcified cell walls of CRA in a globally distributed sample set. We use new morphological traits based on these cell wall ultrastructures to construct an independent morphological phyletic tree that shows a promising congruency with existing CRA molecular phylogenies. Our results highlight cellular ultrastructures as a tool to define the phenotypic expression of genotypic information showing their potential to unify morphology with molecular phylogeny.

Oceans and coastal plant species such as mangroves and seagrasses cover only a small fraction of the earth, but are responsible for sequestering over half of all the carbon captured by living organisms. However, despite being some of the most efficient known carbon sinks, they are also among the ecosystems most threatened by climate change. Threats such as rising sea levels and temperatures, offshore drilling, erosion and pollution have resulted in the rapid deterioration of coastal and marine areas.

Major oil spills are catastrophic events that immensely affect the environment and society, yet determining their spatial extent is a highly complex task. During the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) blowout, ~149,000 km2 of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) was covered by oil slicks and vast areas of the Gulf were closed for fishing. Yet, the satellite footprint does not necessarily capture the entire oil spill extent. Here, we use in situ observations and oil spill transport modeling to examine the full extent of the DWH spill, focusing on toxic-to-biota (i.e., marine organisms) oil concentration ranges. We demonstrate that large areas of the GoM were exposed to invisible and toxic oil that extended beyond the boundaries of the satellite footprint and the fishery closures. With a global increase in petroleum production–related activities, a careful assessment of oil spills’ full extent is necessary to maximize environmental and public safety.

Global sea-levels are accelerating at a faster rate each year, according to researchers at the Technical University of Denmark.

The U.S. East and Gulf Coasts differ in how ocean and atmospheric circulation and sea level interact to produce storm surges, and both regions will experience greater storm surges as global warming progresses, according to new research from a University of Arizona-led team.

With their deep ties to the land and reliance on fishing, hunting, and gathering, indigenous tribes are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Now, native communities across North America are stepping up to adopt climate action plans to protect their way of life.

Ocean currents are the undersea conveyor belts that help regulate Earth's climate and influence weather systems around the world.

Retired Jacksonville doctor Harry Lee is donating his million-dollar collection of shells to the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida.

As shipping traffic increases in the Arctic, fish are racing to get out of the way

Swollen rivers could impede levee repairs, inundate homes and delay the planting of crops

How is it that colorblind squids can camouflage themselves with different colors? Researchers have turned to modern technology to reveal a surprisingly complex brain.

A series of disasters all but destroyed Jamaica’s coral reefs. But thanks to a dedicated team plants and fish are returning

Earth’s ocean currents are circulating at a rate faster than what they were over two-decades ago. What’s more, is that the scientists working on the study claim this accelerated rate of flow could be down to climate change.

Stanford and Caltech researchers make jellyfish swim faster with microchips, tiny batteries and electric pulses

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, commonly known as the Hurricane Hunters, are the cornerstone for data gathering efforts within storm environments. When they’re not flying into hurricanes they are providing aerial weather reconnaissance for atmospheric rivers over the Pacific Ocean.

From environmental challenges to a surprising new consumer market, ARABELLA RODEN explores recent developments in the pearl sector.

TAMPA, Fla. (February 5, 2020)- Hundreds of years ago, colossal oysters were commonplace across much of Florida's northern Gulf Coast. Today, those oysters have disappeared, leaving behind a new generation roughly a third smaller - a massive decline that continues to have both economic and environmental impacts on a region considered by many to be the last remaining unspoiled coastlines in the Gulf.

New research provides insight into the “dead zones” that appear in Long Island Sound in the summer. (UConn Photo/Sean Flynn)

CSU Channel Islands Researchers Asking for Observations During Upcoming King Tides

Researchers Use Novel Data Assimilation Methods to Increase Accuracy

Florida red tide is one of the major ecological threats facing Florida. Because of the seriousness of the threat, in mid-2019 Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the appointments of 11 expert researchers and leading scientists to a reconstituted task force within the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Coastal plant communities are a crucial element of global sea defences but are increasingly threatened by the human-induced effects of climate change, according to new research.

The Central Coast is the location for the official gray whale population count. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sends dozens of scientists from around the West Coast to Big Sur in December, January and February to count the animals as they make there way south.

Following the latest mass coral bleaching event in Hawaiian waters last fall, the Department of Land and Natural Resources is now using an equipment rich, aerial platform to map and access the health of reefs along the more than 700 miles of shoreline in the Main Hawaiian Islands.

Alexandrium catenella is a toxic species of microscopic, single-celled marine algae that produces saxitoxins, a group of potent neurotoxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning along the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines of the United States and Canada.

Many business interests are cheering President Trump's recent rollback of water regulations put in place by the Obama administration. But companies that make money protecting clean water could take a big hit.

Shedding new light on the previously unknown sources of ocean pollution, a study released on Monday by the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment concluded that 90% of such contamination results from messages in bottles en route to a transatlantic lover.

Much more oxygen than previously thought is transported deep into the ocean interior through a 'trap door" in the Labrador Sea that some researchers say could be closing as a result of climate change.

Marine mammals like whales and seals usually communicate vocally using calls and whistles.

It’s been some kind of couple weeks for North Atlantic right whales.

Antarctic shallow coastal marine communities were long thought to be isolated from their nearest neighbours by hundreds of kilometres of deep ocean and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The discovery of non–native kelp washed up on Antarctic beaches led us to question the permeability of these barriers to species dispersal.

CAPE CANAVERAL and COCOA BEACH, Florida – Endangered right whales are migrating south along Florida’s east coast and were spotted off of Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral, Florida on Friday, January 31, 2020.

Plunging into the deep, dark abyss of the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench, U.S. Navy Lt. Don Walsh and Swiss engineer Jacques Piccard heard a loud cracking sound in their vessel—the bathyscaphe Trieste, which the Office of Naval Research (ONR) purchased for scientific observations.

CAMBRIDGE, MD -- The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) has been awarded a $500,000 grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to lead a coalition of scientists from around the country to study the impact of storms, sea-level rise, and climate change on estuaries and bays.

MONSTER, THE NETHERLANDS—On a clear, windy autumn afternoon last October, Willy van Wingerden spent a few free hours before work walking by the sea not far from the Dutch town of Monster. Here, in 2013, the cheerful nurse found her first woolly mammoth tooth. She has since plucked more than 500 ancient artifacts from the broad, windswept beach known as the Zandmotor, or “sand engine.”

Team is monitoring the whale, awaiting opportunity to disentangle...

Today, NOAA Fisheries released its biennial abundance estimate for endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales. Scientists estimated that the population size is between 250 and 317, with a median estimate of 279. The population is estimated to be smaller and declining more quickly than previously thought.

During a trip to Mammoth Cave National Park in November, paleontologist John-Paul Hodnett was stunned.

Ensuring a vibrant and thriving coastal zone is one of the most pressing issues of our time.

It may sound more like science fiction than science fact, but researchers have created bionic jellyfish by embedding microelectronics into these ubiquitous marine invertebrates with hopes to deploy them to monitor and explore the world’s oceans.

The SS Cotopaxi steamed out of the Charleston harbor bound for Cuba on Nov. 29, 1925, but it ship never made it to Havana. “It has become one of the most famous stories associated with the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle,” according to the Science Channel.

Scientists, economists, and artisans in Venice have joined forces to quantify the economic value of protecting its lagoon as a carbon sink, hoping their data can drive policy decisions as climate change threatens the iconic Italian city.

Archaeologists are planning an ambitious survey of part of the seabed off Jersey where Neanderthals once lived.

Coastal habitats with the steepest ocean acidification gradients are most detrimental for larval Dungeness crabs. Severe carapace dissolution was observed in larval Dungeness crabs along the US west coast. Mechanoreceptors with important sensory and behavioral functions were destabilized.

The wreck of RMS Titanic was hit by a submarine last year but the crash was kept secret by the US government, a court has been told.

Tidewater glaciers, the massive rivers of ice that end in the ocean, may be melting underwater much faster than previously thought, according to a new study that used robotic kayaks. The findings, which challenge current frameworks for analyzing ocean-glacier interactions, have implications for the rest of the world's tidewater glaciers, whose rapid retreat is contributing to sea-level rise.

Microplastic pollution in the world's oceans is a growing problem, and most studies of the issue have focused on land-based sources, such as discarded plastic bags or water bottles. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology have linked microplastics in China's Beibu Gulf with heavy fishing activities. Surprisingly, many of the particles were hidden in deep sediments on the ocean floor, which could have led scientists to underestimate the extent of the contamination.

Rare snubfin dolphins in Queensland's Fitzroy River and humpback dolphins in Port Curtis are under threat from exposure to increasing amounts of water contamination.

Renowned scholars Orrin Pilkey and Gilbert M. Gaul will lead a discussion on the threat of sea level rise for coastal North Carolina during the fourth installment of UNCW’s Coastal Community Resiliency Seminar Series. “The Coming Storm: Rising Water, Reckless Development, and the Future of the Coasts” will be held Jan. 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the Center for Marine Science Auditorium.

If you care about stopping climate change, it’s time to get out your wallet, head to the beach, find the nearest whale, and cut her a check for $2 million. It’s the least you could do.

With a love for the ocean, Augustus Pendleton travelled to study seaweed at NUI Galway with an Irish-English dictionary in hand.

Two uninhabited islands in South Sumatra have vanished, and four are on the brink, thanks to rising sea levels.

Despite scientific evidence that rising sea levels due to climate change are a threat to property and lives, science plays second fiddle to politics in public attitudes about climate change and mitigation policies among coastal area residents most likely to be affected, according to urban geographer Risa Palm and political scientist Toby Bolsen of Georgia State University.

Not that there’s much skill this early, but ‘normal’ looks likely

Anjali Narasimhan, VG19, shares a first-person account of studying humpback whales in the remote wilderness of southeast Alaska

Ask people to name the world’s largest river, and most will probably guess that it’s the Amazon, the Nile or the Mississippi. In fact, some of Earth’s largest rivers are in the sky – and they can produce powerful storms, like those currently soaking the Pacific Northwest.

Rising sea levels, a direct impact of the Earth’s warming climate, is intensifying coastal flooding. The findings of a new study show that the projected negative economy-wide effects of coastal flooding are already significant until 2050, but are then predicted to increase substantially towards the end of the century if no further climate action on mitigation and adaptation is taken

Karin Forney still remembers when an unusual number of humpback whales started showing up in Monterey Bay a few winters ago. She could see them out her window — so close to the surf that kayakers could literally paddle up to them.

Australian scientists were left in awe after the discovery of a field of floating "translucent pom-poms" made up of hundreds of rare marine creatures never before seen in WA waters.

TACOMA, WASH. — Alexandrium catenella is a toxic species of microscopic, single-celled marine algae that produces saxitoxins, a group of potent neurotoxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning along the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines of the U.S. and Canada. Paralytic shellfish poisoning, or PSP, is a potentially fatal illness resulting from eating shellfish that have ingested Alexandrium cells and concentrated the saxitoxins in their tissue.

More than a dozen years have passed since Ohio convened a task force to figure out how to tackle its Lake Erie algal bloom problem. Since 2011, the state has spent more than $3 billion on it, largely to upgrade sewage and drinking water plants. But Ohio’s agriculture nutrient-reduction strategy has yet to show results.

The discovery of a legendary wreck raises questions about who should control sunken riches

A day at the beach for some 4th year Brock University Geography students tasked with assessing plastic waste have come back with some alarming results.

Did you know that there’s a natural carbon sink—even bigger than the Amazon rainforest—that helps regulate Earth’s climate by sucking up to six billion tons of carbon from the air each year?