The Fate of Macroalgae and Why it Matters
that globally, 4–44 teragrams (1Tg = one million metric tons) per year of macroalgal-derived carbon may reach depths of 200m, where it may be sequestered for at least 100 years.TheFebruary issue of Marine Technology Reporter magazine includes a feature on the fate of macroalgae in southwest Greenland. The study team, co-led by the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde and Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon in Germany, used a combination of satellite imagery, ocean drifter tracking, numerical modelling and advanced turbulence analyses to demonstrate that extensive mats of macroalgae
Teledyne Demonstrates Autonomous Systems for Anti-Submarine Warfare in the North Atlantic
were in attendance to witness the trials which were conducted from the Teledyne Gavia facility located in Kópavogur, Iceland. With assistance from the Icelandic Coast Guard, the Teledyne team was able to deploy the autonomous underwater gliders into the North Atlantic in the strategic Greenland – Iceland gap from the Coast Guard Ship ICGV Þór. The Sentinel Glider towed a passive acoustic thin-line hydrophone array specifically designed to identify surface and subsurface vehicle noise in the water. The silent autonomous gliders, transversing the water column to 1,000
New Study Reveals How Greenland’s Seaweed Stores Carbon in the Deep Ocean
An interdisciplinary study confirms, for the first time, the oceanographic pathways that transport floating macroalgae from the coastal waters of Southwest Greenland to deep-sea carbon reservoirs, potentially playing a previously underappreciated role in global carbon storage. Macroalgae, or seaweeds (including kelp), are highly productive coastal habitats capable of absorbing significant quantities of atmospheric carbon (CO₂). Previous studies have estimated that globally, 4–44 teragrams (1Tg = one million metric tons) per year of macroalgal-derived carbon may reach depths of 200m, where
New Map Reveals Terrain Below Antarctic Ice Sheet
bearing various topographical features."Possibly the type of landscape that many people might know less is 'plateaus dissected by deep-carved glacier valleys.' I can tell you this is very familiar for Scots, but also a landscape that is common across Scandinavia, northern Canada and Greenland. In fact, the very fact that the landscape our technique has uncovered across Antarctica matches these landscapes so well gives us great confidence in our new map," Bingham said.The researchers noted that until now the surface of Mars was better mapped than the subglacial terrain of Antarctica
Schmidt Ocean Institute Advances R/V Falkor (too)’s Mapping Capabilities
Schmidt Ocean Institute announced it has mapped two million square kilometers of seafloor — about the size of Greenland — and this year, has made two significant changes to advance the seafloor mapping capabilities of R/V Falkor (too): it changed the shape of the ship’s bow and added an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to its technology suite.Over a two-month dry dock period (April 28–June 28) in Talcahuano, Chile, the team reconstructed the bow of R/V Falkor (too), transforming it from a bulbous bow more common on offshore commercial vessels into a streamlined, V-shaped bow
Global Efforts Underway to Document Plastic Pollution
This week, Greenland launched two “Plastic in a Bottle” capsules to track how plastic pollution travels in the Arctic marine environment.The effort is the latest from the Plastic in a Bottle project by the Arctic Council’s Working Group on the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME). To date, 10 GPS-equipped capsules have been launched.The initiative is just one of many around the world sparked by concern about marine plastic pollution, because by 2050, it is estimated that the amount of plastic in the world’s oceans will outweigh the fish.Nearly all seas and oceans
Iceland Identifies Atlantic Ocean Current's Possible Collapse as a Security Threat
minister told Reuters.The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, current brings warm water from the tropics northward toward the Arctic, and the flow of warm water helps keep Europe’s winters mild.But as warming temperatures speed the thaw of Arctic ice and cause meltwater from Greenland’s ice sheet to pour into the ocean, scientists warn the coldfreshwater could disrupt the current’s flow.A potential collapse of AMOC could trigger a modern-day ice age, with winter temperatures across Northern Europe plummeting to new cold extremes, bringing far more snow and ice.
Trapped Wave Mystery Solved
Using a new type of satellite altimetry, a study led by Oxford University has finally confirmed the theory that the cause of extraordinary global tremors in September - October 2023 was indeed two mega tsunamis in Greenland that became trapped standing waves.In September 2023, a bizarre global seismic signal was observed which appeared every 90 seconds over nine days – and was then repeated a month afterwards. Almost a year later, two scientific studies proposed that the cause of these seismic anomalies were two mega tsunamis which were triggered in the remote Dickson fjord in East Greenland by
Ocean Robots Explore the Role of ‘Marine Snow’ in Carbon Storage
in the project is the FluxCAM, a marine snow camera system designed to measure the sinking speeds of different-sized particles to reduce uncertainties in how much carbon the ocean absorbs from the atmosphere.Two FluxCAMs were installed on a deep-sea mooring in the Labrador Sea, between Newfoundland and Greenland, last year, along with a specially programmed drifting profiling float.Now, they have been joined by autonomous underwater gliders, which will measure ocean properties and carbon flux for five to six months.“However, the rate at which these particles sink and how much carbon is ultimately
February 2026
