Submarine springs reveal how coral reefs respond to ocean acidification
(University of California - Santa Cruz) Ocean acidification due to rising carbon dioxide levels will reduce the density of coral skeletons, making coral reefs more vulnerable to disruption and erosion, according to a new study of corals growing where submarine springs naturally lower the pH of seawater. The study is the first to show that corals are not able to fully acclimate to low pH conditions in nature.
Study of oceans' past raises worries about their future
(McGill University) A McGill-led international research team has completed the first global study of changes that occurred in the nitrogen cycle, at the end of the last ice age. Their study confirm that oceans are good at balancing the nitrogen cycle on a global scale. But the data also shows that it is a slow process that may take many centuries, raising worries about the effects of current changes in the ocean.
Welcome James Cameron and DEEPSEA CHALLENGER
On Friday, June 14, filmmaker James Cameron delivered the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER, the only human-occupied vehicle currently able to access the deepest parts of the ocean, to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Dr. Susan Avery, president and director of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, along with the scientific research community, welcomed Cameron and the submersible to its new home at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Iceland's fin whales are endangered. Stop this bloody cull (opinion)
For two years Iceland's fin whale hunt has been suspended - but only because the economic market for whale meat, Japan, was suffering the after-effects of its cataclysmic earthquake. In the terrible logistics of global economics, the whale meat market is open for business again – partly, it is claimed, to provide luxury dog food snacks.
Could the world's biggest marine sanctuary be declared in the Antarctic?
An extraordinarily big thing might happen in the world of marine conservation next month at a meeting in Germany of a little known international commission. And while you probably haven't read much about it, the outcome could see the creation of the two largest areas of protected ocean on the planet that would lock out fishing from more than 1.5 million square kilometres of ocean around the Antarctic.