UK NOC's Study Challenges Role of Plankton in Ocean Carbon Storage Process
A new UK National Oceanography Centre (NOC)-led study has put a major question mark over the role a unique group of tiny microscopic plants plays in driving ocean carbon storage.Diatoms, a type of plankton or marine algae, have a significant role in drawing carbon down into the deep, especially in the Southern Ocean, which takes up about a third of organic carbon stored in the ocean.Uniquely, diatoms have dense, silica-based exoskeletons – like miniature glass houses – which were thought to provide ballast, making them prone to sinking and, therefore, a key way carbon is transported to the
MBARI Names Antje Boetius President and CEO
and facilitating responsible stewardship of the ocean and its resources. With a focus on complex multi-scale processes and society’s interactions with the ocean, I don’t know of a better place than MBARI to advance ocean research,” Boetius said. “As a hub of cutting-edge marine science and engineering, MBARI is a dream opportunity for me to build on my work to date and engage in new methods and collaborations to understand and protect the ocean.”Scholin, who has been with MBARI since 1992 and served as president and CEO since 2009, will assist in the transition and continue
New Discoveries: Three Tiny Species Added to South Africa’s Spectacular Marine Life
South Africa’s marine realm is globally unique because of the two major ocean currents that meet here. The cold, slow-moving Benguela and the warm, fast-flowing Agulhas currents create a special environment that supports high levels of biodiversity. Over 13,000 marine species are currently known to live in these waters. About 30% of these are endemic, meaning they occur nowhere else.Biodiversity metrics (the number or abundance of species) are dominated by invertebrates such as sponges, bivalves and crustaceans. These are usually small, which makes them adaptable and versatile. In terms of
Whale Sharks Beware!
in Nature Climate Change, was led by the Marine Biological Association and co-authored by Associate Professor Ana Sequeira and Dr Mark Meekan, from The University of Western Australia’s Oceans Institute, and Dr Luciana Cerqueira Ferreira and Dr Michele Thums from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and adjuncts at UWA’s Oceans Institute.“Moving to cooler regions may protect whale sharks from climate change, but we found it can also expose them to risks such as fishing exploitation, increased danger from predators and collisions with ships,” Meekan said.“This
WHOI’s Benjamin Van Mooy Awarded 'Genius Grant'
research delves into the critical role of microbial organisms, particularly plankton, in regulating ocean health and influencing climate dynamics. His studies on planktonic lipid dynamics reveal how these tiny organisms contribute to essential processes such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon cycling in marine environments. This research is pivotal in understanding how shifts in marine ecosystems affect food webs, carbon sequestration, and broader climate regulation.One notable finding from Van Mooy’s early work involved phytoplankton in the phosphorus-scarce Sargasso Sea. He discovered that these
Oceans Have Seasons Too – And Climate Change Could be Messing with Them
Britain’s seas are rich in wildlife, but many of its species can only be seen with a microscope. These are the plankton – tiny algae and animals found throughout the ocean that are the foundation of the entire marine food web.As UK seas warm and cool with the seasons, the composition and abundance of these plankton communities naturally change. Like plants and animals on land, marine plankton undergo annual cycles that are dictated by seasonal patterns of light, temperature, and settled or unsettled weather. But unlike seasonal patterns on land, the ways plankton shift with the seasons
Italy Oyster Farmers Dream of Pearls from Warming Mediterranean
Pearls may soon be cultivated in European seas for the first time ever, as Italian oyster farmers seek to exploit an unexpected opportunity offered by the rapidly warming Mediterranean.In late 2023, the first specimens of Pinctada radiata, a pearl oyster native to the Red Sea, were spotted in the Gulf of Poets, a popular tourist area around 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Genoa on Italy's north-western coast.Less than a year later, they are proliferating in what have always been some of the Mediterranean's coldest waters, more normally associated with other types of oyster used for food rather
Where Are the Hurricanes? Quiet Atlantic Bucks Forecast for 'Super' Season
Forecasters earlier this year predicted that hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean could be supercharged in 2024. But the tropics have been abnormally quiet in recent weeks, often the busiest ones of the year.The Atlantic hurricane season, which officially spans June 1 to Nov. 30, started on a strong note. In early July, Hurricane Beryl became the earliest observed Category 5 storm, the strongest rating, breaking the record by more than two weeks.Next week marks the traditional peak of Atlantic hurricane season, but there has been no action of note in more than two weeks, leaving some scientists
NOAA Awards $2.1 Million for Ocean Exploration Projects
coral ecosystems off the western coast of Puerto Rico, study the biodiversity of deep-pelagic crustaceans from the waters off Southern California, explore and document a collection of nationally significant shipwrecks in the deep waters of Lake Michigan’s Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, and more.NOAA Ocean Exploration explores the ocean to help us as a society better understand what lives and lies in its great depths and how it supports and affects life on Earth. One of the tools used to do this is an annual competitive grant program.For the FY24 competition, NOAA invited
December 2024
