OceanGuy

NASA study solves case of Earth’s ‘missing energy’

ScienceDaily: Oceanography News — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:32:32 +0000

Two years ago, scientists released a study claiming that inconsistencies between satellite observations of Earth's heat and measurements of ocean heating amounted to evidence of "missing energy" in the planet's system. Where was it going? Or, they wondered, was something wrong with the way researchers tracked energy as it was absorbed from the sun and emitted back into space? An international team of atmospheric scientists and oceanographers set out to investigate the mystery.

What really happened prior to ‘Snowball Earth’?

ScienceDaily: Oceanography News — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:05:05 +0000

The large changes in the carbon isotopic composition of carbonates which occurred prior to the major climatic event more than 500 million years ago, known as "Snowball Earth," are unrelated to worldwide glacial events, a new study suggests.

NASA infrared satellite instrument sees tropical storm Iggy growing in strength

ScienceDaily: Oceanography News — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:45:45 +0000

The AIRS infrared instrument that flies on NASA's Aqua satellite has been providing forecasters with the cloud top temperatures in the Southern Indian Ocean's ninth tropical cyclone, which has officially been renamed Iggy. AIRS data showed that the area of strong thunderstorms around Iggy's center has expanded in area over the last day.

Ecologists capture first deep-sea fish noises

ScienceDaily: Oceanography News — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:29:29 +0000

Fish biologists conducted one of the first studies of deep-sea fish sounds in more than 50 years, 2,237 feet under the Atlantic. With recording technology more affordable, fish sounds can be studied to test the idea that fish communicate with sound, especially those in the dark of the deep ocean.

Coastal storms have long-reaching effects, study says

ScienceDaily: Oceanography News — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:23:23 +0000

Coastal storms are known to cause serious damage along the shoreline, but they also cause significant disruption of the deep-sea ecosystem as well.

Injecting sulfate particles into stratosphere won’t fully offset climate change

ScienceDaily: Oceanography News — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:22:22 +0000

New research demonstrates that one suggested method of geoengineering the atmosphere to deal with climate change, injecting sulfate particles into the stratosphere, probably would have limited success.

Underwater river of mud and sand tells tale of climate change and ocean gateways, new oil and gas exploration possibilities

ScienceDaily: Oceanography News — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:31:31 +0000

Mediterranean bottom currents and the sediment deposits they leave behind offer new insights into global climate change, the opening and closing of ocean circulation gateways and locations where hydrocarbon deposits may lie buried under the sea. A team of 35 scientists from 14 countries recently returned from an expedition off the southwest coast of Iberia and the nearby Gulf of Cadiz. There the geologists collected core samples of sediments that contain a detailed record of the Mediterranean's history. The scientists retrieved the samples by drilling into the ocean floor during an eight-week scientific expedition onboard the ship JOIDES Resolution.

What is the Sargasso Sea?

Ocean Facts — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:47:13 +0000

The Sargasso Sea, located entirely within the Atlantic Ocean, is the only sea without a land boundary

The Sargasso Sea is a vast patch of ocean is named for a genus of free-floating seaweed called Sargassum. While there are many different
types of algae found floating in the ocean all around world, the Sargasso Sea is unique in that it harbors species of sargassum that are 'holopelagic' — this means that the algae not only freely floats
around the ocean, but it reproduces vegetatively on the high seas. Other seaweeds reproduce and begin life on the floor of the ocean.

Sargassum provides a home to an amazing variety of marine species. Turtles use sargassum mats as nurseries where hatchlings have food and shelter. Sargassum also provides essential habitat for marine species,such as shrimp, crab, and fish, that have adapted specifically to this floating algae. The Sargasso Sea is a spawning site for threatened and endangered eels, as well as white marlin, porbeagle shark, and dolphinfish. Humpback whales annually migrate through the Sargasso Sea. Commercial fish, such as tuna, and birds also migrate through the Sargasso Sea and depend on it for food.

While all other seas in the world are defined at least in part by land boundaries, the Sargasso Sea is defined only by ocean currents. It lies within the Northern Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. The Gulf Stream establishes the Sargasso Sea's western boundary, while the Sea is further defined to the north by the North Atlantic Current, to the east by the Canary Current, and to the south by the North Atlantic Equatorial Current. Since this area is defined by boundary currents, it's borders are dynamic, correlating roughly with the Azores High Pressure Center for any particular season.

For more information:

What's the difference between an ocean and a sea? (Ocean Fact)

Sargassum: A Complex 'Island' Community at Sea (NOAA's Ocean Explorer)

Sampling the Sargassum Community: Dip Nets and Green-Light Lures (NOAA's Ocean Explorer)

Life discovered on dead hydrothermal vents

ScienceDaily: Oceanography News — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:42:42 +0000

Microbiologists have found that the microbes that thrive on hot fluid methane and sulfur spewed by active hydrothermal vents are supplanted, once the vents go cold, by microbes that feed on the solid iron and sulfur that make up the vents themselves.

Marine mammals on the menu in many parts of world

ScienceDaily: Oceanography News — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:19:19 +0000

The fate of the world's great whale species commands global attention as a result of heated debate between pro and anti-whaling advocates, but the fate of smaller marine mammals is less understood, specifically because the deliberate and accidental catching and killing of dolphins, porpoises, manatees, and other warm-blooded aquatic species are rarely studied or monitored.