Greece to Spend 780 Million Euros to Protect Marine Biodiversity
Greece is pushing ahead with 21 initiatives worth 780 million euros ($830.9 million) to protect marine biodiversity and tackle coastal pollution, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday ahead of an international conference.Greece, which includes thousands of islands and which has the longest Mediterranean coastline of any littoral state, said last week it plans to create two marine parks, one in the Ionian Sea and one in the Aegean Sea, as part of the initiatives."Quietly but methodically, Greece is playing a leading role in the defence against dramatic climate changes, which are proven
MBARI Names Kaya Johnson Director of Marine Operations
MBARI recently welcomed Kaya Johnson as its new director of marine operations, tasked with overseeing the institute’s seagoing assets, including three research vessels, a deep-sea cabled observatory and fleet of advanced underwater robots.Johnson comes to MBARI from Oregon State University (OSU), where he worked for the past six years. Johnson was port captain at OSU, then served as marine superintendent of ship operations. He managed operations for OSU’s fleet of three research vessels—Elakha, Oceanus (retired in November 2021) and Pacific Storm.Prior to his tenure at OSU, Johnson
Coral Reefs Suffer Fourth Global Bleaching Event
in March, tropical reefs in the Pacific and Indian oceans also began to suffer.A record-breaking number of individual reefs within the Great Barrier have suffered from heat stress in recent months, and many are now draining of color, said coral biologist Neal Cantin at the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences. Cantin noted that marine heatwaves were registering some 2.5 C (4.5 F) above the normal summertime maximum.Recent aerial surveys have shown "very high" or "extreme" levels of bleaching in nearly half of surveyed reefs in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park area.That makes
Partners Secure DEFRA Backing to Improve Marine Biodiversity Monitoring
data processing and extract sea grass height estimates in real-time. Survey and water quality systems will be deployed from a carbon neutral USV to further reduce environmental impact and operating costs.“Defra is proud to announce its investment in UK SMEs that are advancing next-generation marine monitoring technologies as components of complete end-to-end monitoring systems. These innovative systems are pivotal to advancing our biodiversity observation capabilities in UK waters and will contribute to strengthening our evidence base as we progress towards the UK’s vision for clean,
New Electrochemical Technology Could De-acidify the Oceans
this acidity, in a process called geological weathering, but the extreme increase in the rate and volume of CO2 emissions, especially over the last 60 years, has far exceeded the rate of geological weathering, leading to a 30 per cent increase in ocean acidity.As the oceans acidify, millions of marine species and whole ecosystems — especially coral reefs — will be unable to adapt.We are overwhelming the Earth’s natural re-balancing systems and harming its ecosystems in the process. Our recent work at McMaster University and the University of Toronto, supported by the Carbon to
Why There May Be Oceans Inside Dwarf Planets Beyond Pluto
could even be oceans inside bodies beyond Pluto. That is surprising, as these bodies have surface temperatures way below -200°C.Seventy years ago, it seemed plausible that Venus’s steamy atmosphere was hiding a global ocean from our view. This idea was scuppered in 1962 when the spacecraft Mariner 2 flew past Venus and found that its surface is too hot for liquid water.It wasn’t long before we realised that any oceans that may once have been on Venus and also Mars vanished billions of years ago due to major changes in their climates.Tidal heatingThe revolution in thinking that paved
Teledyne Integrating the Kongsberg EK80 WBT Mini Into Its Slocum Gliders
scientists are excited to have their Slocum G3 rigged with the echo sounder together with the underwater vision profiler (UVP6) with the particular aim to study the 'super swarm' of Calanus finmarchicus inhabiting the Norwegian Sea. Further, this new feature will open new applications in marine sciences,".“I think the integration of this technology is going to significantly enhance the ability of Slocum Gliders to do cutting edge research,” added Dr. Matt Oliver, Professor of Marine Science and Policy at University of Delaware.“Kongsberg Discovery is excited to announce
Fugro and PlanBlue Partner to Advance Habitat Mapping Technology
such as advanced imaging and AI-based processing and deploying it across different platforms like remote and autonomous underwater vehicles. This collaboration targets the improvement of habitat mapping solutions, systematically studying and documenting the characteristics and distribution of critical marine ecosystems such as seagrass and corals. Habitat mapping helps in understanding their ecological importance, assessing their condition, monitoring changes over time, and informing conservation and management efforts.Roughly 75% of the ocean floor remains unexplored, and even parts that have been explored
Rice’s Whales Heard in the Western Gulf of Mexico
on 15% of days recorded offshore of Mexico, at sporadic intervals throughout the year. This provides the first evidence that Rice’s whales occur in Mexican waters.The paper, "Rice's whale occurrence in the western Gulf of Mexico from passive acoustic recordings", was published in the Marine Mammal Science journal on February 13, 2024.What this means for Rice’s whalesThis discovery has many implications for the management and conservation of Rice’s whales. The results of this research will be used to inform management decisions for this endangered species.Three locations
February 2024
