OCEAN WARMING & ACIDIFICATION
Almost three-quarters of Earth’s surface is covered by ocean, and another 10% is covered by ice sheets and glaciers. Since the 1980s, the ocean has absorbed about 20-30% of humans’ carbon emissions, causing the ocean to become both warmer and more acidic. In addition, the ocean absorbs more than 90% of the heat that greenhouse gases trap in the atmosphere. And as the water warms, it expands: about half of the sea-level rise over the past 25 years is attributable to warmer oceans.
The consequences are far reaching, and the 2019 UN IPCC report warns that we will see “unprecedented” changes to the oceans this century. Already since 2016, half of all the coral in the Great Barrier Reef has died due to acidification, and Australia has downgraded its outlook to “very poor.” States are experiencing a host of other issues like disappearing whales, millions of dying starfish, and threats to fish species and the fishing industry.
Although the oceans are warming about 40% faster than the UN had previously predicted, another report imagines the ocean as a powerful source of solutions, including off-shore wind, if action is taken now. Another solution, championed by Bren Smith, co-founder of GreenWave, sees kelp farming as a way to both restore our oceans and feed the planet. He points out that Seaweed harvesting once was a major industry in the United States. In the early 1900s, 1,500 workers produced 52 different products from kelp on the docks of San Diego. The industry died after WWII (due to over harvesting), one recent study estimates the industry will grow to 85Bn by 2026 across a diverse range of markets.
01/12/23
2022 effectively tied for Earth’s 5th warmest year since 1880, and the last 9 consecutive years have been the warmest 9 on record. NASA looks back at how heat was expressed in different ways around…
By Lauren Leffer 01/11/23
California is in its third week of back-to-back-to-back extreme weather events. The Pacific coast has been drenched by consecutive atmospheric rivers spanning from the end of last year into the present, with precipitation totals 400%-600%…
By Christopher Flavelle 01/01/23
Climate change is contributing to electric-green algae blooms. Massachusetts wants a cleanup of the antiquated septic systems feeding the mess, but it could cost billions....
By Rachel Pannett 12/15/22
Restoring the population of whales — which are still being killed in high numbers — could help reduce carbon in the Earth’s atmosphere, according to a new study....
By Jen Schmidt 12/08/22
It’s low tide in Bodega Bay, north of San Francisco, California, and Hannah Hensel is squishing through thick mud, on the hunt for clams. The hinged mollusks are everywhere, burrowed into the sediment, filtering seawater…
By Carolyn Kormann 11/21/22
n 2018, in the Siberian Arctic, the filmmakers Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev, who are sister and brother, arrived on a strange beach. “The sand was of dark colour, full of bones, and smelled terrible,”…
11/15/22
Ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea are on pace to surpass critical thresholds for coral health by mid-century, but rapid action to significantly reduce emissions could slow warming, giving corals…
By Brady Dennis 10/19/22
The world’s oceans have been warming for generations, a trend that is accelerating and threatens to fuel more supercharged storms, devastate marine ecosystems and upend the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, according to…
By Enric Sala 10/11/22
The most astonishing and heartening coral rebirth the world has ever seen came to light recently. To understand how it happened, you have to go back to April 2009. That’s when I assembled and led…
By Alex Riley and Others 10/03/22
Wearing a navy-blue polo neck emblazoned with the Florida Aquarium logo, Keri O’Neil hugs a white cooler at Miami International Airport. “Coral babieeeeees,” she says, before letting out a short laugh. Relief. The container holds…
By Dr. Yeray Santana-Falcón and Dr. Roland Séférian 09/30/22
The world’s oceans are home to more than 240,000 known species, each with specific conditions in which they need to thrive. However, human-caused climate change is altering the marine environment through changes in temperature, oxygen…
By Zac Rosenthall and Others 09/11/22
Many tourists visiting coastal Maine may at some point purchase a lobster roll, with big chunks of lobster meat, a dash of mayo and a bag of potato chips on the side. But as summers…
10/07/22
Argo is an international program that collects information from inside the ocean using a fleet of robotic instruments that drift with the ocean currents and move up and down between the surface and a mid-water…
10/04/22
The mission of OceanSITES is to collect, deliver and promote the use of high-quality data from long-term, high-frequency observations at fixed locations in the open ocean. OceanSITES typically aim to collect multidisciplinary data worldwide from…
07/12/22
Ninety percent of global warming is occurring in the ocean, causing the water’s internal heat to increase since modern record-keeping began in 1955, as shown in the upper chart. (The shaded blue region indicates the…
06/20/22
Marine Conservation Institute is dedicated to securing permanent, strong protection for the oceans’ most important places – for us and future generations.
10/31/21
Greta is known for her famous speeches before world leaders. She recently spoke at COP 26 where delegates from around the world are charged with fulfilling goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework…
07/05/21
“Mission Blue inspires action to explore and protect the ocean.”
05/18/21
In four different data analyses, the long-term trend shows that the top 700 meters of the oceans have become warmer since 1955 (see Figure 1). All three analyses in Figure 2 show additional warming when…
05/04/21
Pew’s ocean work includes efforts to create large marine reserves; end illegal fishing; protect key species such as penguins, sharks, tuna and forage fish; and establish policies that protect, maintain, and restore the health of…
10/06/20
Changes in disturbance regimes due to climate change are increasingly challenging the capacity of ecosystems to absorb recurrent shocks and reassemble afterwards, escalating the risk of widespread ecological collapse of current ecosystems and the emergence…
10/01/20
The Antarctic Ice Sheet is an important indicator of climate change and driver of sea-level rise. Here we combine satellite observations of its changing volume, flow and gravitational attraction with modelling of its surface mass…
10/01/20
Coral reefs are critical to ocean and human life because they provide food, living area, storm protection, tourism income, and more. However, human-induced stressors, such as overfishing, sediment, pollution, and habitat destruction have threatened ocean…
10/01/20
Accurate sea surface temperature (SST) data are necessary for a wide range of applications, from providing boundary conditions for numerical weather prediction, to assessing the performance of climate modeling, to understanding drivers of marine ecosystem…
02/06/20
Get the facts about our ocean and coasts.
09/24/19
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report highlights the urgency of prioritizing timely, ambitious and coordinated action to address unprecedented and enduring changes in the ocean and cryosphere.
12/16/18
The Ocean Media Institute is a global media collective that serves to create, educate, and advocate for the protection of the ocean. As a creative hub for individuals and organizations worldwide, our goal is to…
09/10/19
The ocean absorbs about 30% of the CO2 that is released in the atmosphere, and as levels of atmospheric CO2 increase, so do the levels in the ocean. When CO2 is absorbed by seawater, a…
By Catarina Demony 06/29/22
The World Wildlife Fund's chief warned on Tuesday that the potential impact of mining the deep sea could be "terrifying" and called for strict regulations to avoid yet another environmental disaster.
By Elijah Wolfson 06/23/22
Rain forests may be known as the planet’s lungs, but it’s when standing before the seas, with their crashing waves and ceaselessly cycling tides, that we feel the earth breathe. The ocean, say scientists, is…
By Julia Jacobo 06/08/22
An IPCC special report published in 2019 found that oceans -- which make up more than 70% of the world's surface -- have absorbed between 20% and 30% of human-made carbon dioxide emissions since the…
By Sam Teicher 06/06/22
Coral Vita protects threatened ecosystems by growing diverse and resilient corals and outplanting them into degraded reefs
By Angie Teo 06/06/22
Instead, it was a coral reef, teeming with life, according to a study scientists from British and Indonesian universities published last month, in which they used hundreds of such audio clips to train a computer…
By Anne Christianson 06/06/22
Nature is increasingly recognized as foundational to climate action, especially the push to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels in order to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. The climate…
By Julia Heming 06/02/22
Scientists from Stony Brook University, led by Dr. Christopher Gobler, have discovered that the growth of kelp reduces ocean acidification, an effect of climate change. “Kelp can raise the pH of seawater from acidification conditions…
05/16/22
Earth observations like those from NASA satellites are critical to understanding the threats of climate change to Earth’s ocean, according to a recent article in Oceanography led by the Ecological Forecasting program area. The article,…
By Victoria Seabrook 05/11/22
The world's largest coral reef ecosystem suffered its sixth mass bleaching on record after being hit by three marine heatwaves, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority (GBRMA) said in its snapshot report of summer 2021-22.
By Craig Welch 04/28/22
Near the end of the Permian Period, roughly 252 million years ago, a single supercontinent dominated the planet. The ocean around it was traversed by bony fish covered in armored plates and sea scorpions the…
By Justin L. Penn and Curtis Deutsch 04/28/22
Climate change brings with it the increasing risk of extinction across species and systems. Marine species face particular risks related to water warming and oxygen depletion. Penn and Deutsch looked at extinction risk for marine…
By Michael Wright 04/13/22
Stony Brook University researchers who have been monitoring the tidal waters and ponds around East Hampton for a decade said that the summer of 2021 saw some of the highest... more
By Bob Berwyn 04/13/22
For storm-battered residents of the Caribbean, the Southeast and the Gulf Coast, new research on hurricanes is rarely good news, with recent studies showing trends toward stronger storms that intensify suddenly near the coast and…
By Derrick Z. Jackson 02/20/22
Given the rate at which the waters in the Gulf of Maine are heating up, Mainers may need to swap out the lobsters on their license plates for squid. All of New England could issue…
By Carolyn Gramling 02/01/22
Yesterday’s scorching ocean extremes are today’s new normal. A new analysis of surface ocean temperatures over the past 150 years reveals that in 2019, 57 percent of the ocean’s surface experienced temperatures rarely seen a…
By David Abe 01/21/22
Under the close watch of federal officers on surrounding patrol vessels, Robert Sack navigated his old boat toward his clandestine traps in the cold waters that his people have fished for centuries, expecting to be…
By F. Muller- Karger & Others 01/07/22
The link between humans and life in the sea is not something most of us think about every day. However, we humans have historically built communities close to the sea, and we have studied how…
01/05/22
Scientists predict that climate change will have many effects on freshwater and marine environments. These effects, along with nutrient pollution, might cause harmful algal blooms to occur more often, in more waterbodies and to be…
By Warren Cornwall 12/15/21
In January 2009, a German research ship set out for the Southern Ocean carrying 6 tons of iron and a boatload of controversy. The iron was meant to trigger a massive phytoplankton bloom that would…
By Henry Fountain and Jeremy White 12/13/21
The immense and forbidding Southern Ocean is famous for howling gales and devilish swells that have tested mariners for centuries. But its true strength lies beneath the waves.
By Penelope Overton 12/12/21
A hard rain falls all around Johnny McCarthy, beading across the sprawling deck of his brand-new lobster boat, as he steers around the hidden threat of Folly Ledge through an ink-black night and into his…
By Sofie Bates 12/08/21
Observations from research aircraft show that the Southern Ocean absorbs much more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases, confirming it is a very strong carbon sink and an important buffer for some of the…
By Lori Rozsa 12/07/21
A record manatee die-off in Florida this year has become so dire that federal officials are taking a once unthinkable step — feeding the wild marine mammals to help them survive the winter...
By Ellen Francis 11/24/21
Divers and scientists recorded the birth of billions of coral babies in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef on Tuesday night in a colorful show of life that they hope is a signal that the world’s biggest…
By Miriam Berger 11/24/21
“It is a truth universally acknowledged,” Jane Austen wrote in the opening lines of “Pride and Prejudice,” “that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Social…
By Scarlett Buckley 11/09/21
Kelp, a species of seaweed sometimes called “the rainforest of the sea,” could be a powerful weapon in the fight against climate change. Despite this, the commercial cultivation of kelp in Long Island, New York…
By Ellen Francis 10/05/21
Climate change is wiping out coral reefs and will kill more if oceans keep getting warmer, researchers warned on Tuesday in a new study that spanned much of the globe. The world already lost 14…
By Sara LaJeunesse 09/30/21
The microbiomes of corals — which comprise bacteria, fungi and viruses — play an important role in the ability of corals to tolerate rising ocean temperatures, according to new research led by Penn State. The…
09/30/21
Warming ocean waters have caused a drop in the brightness of the Earth, according to a new study. Researchers used decades of measurements of earthshine — the light reflected from Earth that illuminates the surface…
By Roya Sabri 09/23/21
Climate Week in New York City started out with a clear message: The time for talking has passed; put your words into action. Climate action comes in many forms — policy change, investments in ecosystem restoration,…
By Aryn Baker 09/07/21
Scattered three miles deep along the floor of the central Pacific are trillions of black, misshapen nuggets that may just be the solution to an impending energy crisis. Similar in size and appearance to partially…
By Sarah Lozanova 08/30/21
As consumer demand for more sustainable packaging increases, DS Smith is researching the use of seaweed in paper and packaging products. In particular, the British multinational packaging company is exploring seaweed as an alternative fiber…
By Katherine Gallagher 08/09/21
China has been cultivating seaweed for about 1,700 years. Coastal populations harvested a wide variety of the algae first as a source of food and animal feed, but later for industrial purposes and nutritional supplements…
By Sarah Kaplan 08/05/21
Human-caused warming has led to an “almost complete loss of stability” in the system that drives Atlantic Ocean currents, a new study has found — raising the worrying prospect that this critical aquatic “conveyor belt”…
By YCC Team 08/04/21
When a whale dies, it sinks to the bottom of the ocean. As it decomposes, much of the carbon that makes up its body stays on the sea floor. The same thing happens when other…
By Kelsey Kane-Ritsch & Valerie Cleland 08/03/21
President Biden’s first year in office is gearing up to be an important year for climate action in the United States and globally—this includes ocean climate action. The benefit of taking comprehensive climate action isn’t…
By Elizabeth Waddington 07/29/21
Scientists had a dire warning at the International Coral Reef Symposium: this decade is a make or break for coral reefs. According to the paper presented at the symposium, this decade is the last chance…
By Rob Moir 07/25/21
o meet the ravages of climate change, Congress has introduced the Ocean Based Climate Solutions Act (HR.8632). The ocean covers nearly three-quarters of the planet. Nothing has more of an impact on the climate than…
By Lucy Sherriff 07/05/21
Frank Hurd gently parted the curtains of giant kelp that reached upward through the cold waters of the North Pacific, looking for signs of life. Kelp forests cover a quarter of the world’s coastlines, stretching…
By Jena Brooker 06/28/21
As temperatures rise and oceans acidify, coral around the globe is being increasingly threatened by the effects of climate change. But for most coral ecosystems, there may be some respite — scientists say that many…
By Manoush Zomorodi and others 06/25/21
Legendary oceanographer Sylvia Earle has been exploring and working to protect our oceans for more than half a century. Her message has stayed the same: we're taking our oceans for granted.
By The Editorial Board 06/20/21
TOUGH, FLEXIBLE and cheap, plastic is essential to modern living. But, much like fossil fuels, the material’s convenience comes at a price. Humans make lots of the stuff, then throw it into the ocean. This…
By Thomas Moore 06/08/21
The oceans are in a "death spiral" from climate change and destructive fishing, with world leaders doing little to stop it, an environmental pressure group has warned. Greenpeace says the chemistry of the water is…
By Roya Sabri 06/08/21
Here’s a grim reminder for today, World Oceans Day: A study just published this month should give a renewed urgency to the importance of corporate plastics promises. While public focus had been drawn toward gyres…
By Robert Kunzig 06/08/21
One of the most strangely exhilarating experiences I’ve had as a journalist happened in the spring of 2000, inside a shipping container on the deck of a ship in the Indian Ocean. The ship was…
06/02/21
Today, the United States, United Kingdom, Chile, Costa Rica, and France announced a new global partnership to advance the role of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as a nature-based solution in the fight against climate change.…
By Emily Owen 06/01/21
Coral reefs, among the ocean’s most vibrant and productive ecosystems, support tremendous biodiversity and provide important ecosystem services and other benefits for more than 500 million people around the world. Despite covering less than 1%…
By Harry Saltzgaver Grunion/SCNG 05/31/21
An exhibit on coral reefs and how global climate change threatens them will be the focus of the Aquarium of the Pacific this summer — as it was supposed to be last year. “Coral Reefs:…
By Douglas Broom 05/24/21
The ocean covers more than 70% of our planet’s surface. It is the last and largest unexplored area on Earth. Yet too few of us really understand how it is inextricably connected to all aspects…
By Karina Shah 05/17/21
Cheryl Logan at California State University in Monterey Bay and her colleagues have developed a model to simulate how these corals – and other coral species – will respond to global warming and ocean acidification.…
