Sea

Satellites show Arctic sea ice is melting even faster than scientists realized

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A new study based on NASA and ESA satellite data shows that Arctic sea ice is thinning at a “frightening rate.” Measuring the ice via satellites each month from 2018 to 2021, polar scientists Sahra Kacimi of the California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Ron Kwok of the University of Washington’s Applied Physics … Read more

Arctic Ice Already Thinning at a ‘Frightening Rate’, Satellites Reveal

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New satellite data has revealed the Arctic is melting at a “frightening rate” due to the excess heat caused by human greenhouse gas emissions.  End-of-season Arctic multiyear sea ice – the ice that persists over several years – was roughly 50 centimeters (1.6 feet) thinner in 2021 than it was in 2019, the figures show, … Read more

A Strain of Tuberculosis Traveled Across The Pacific Thousands of Years Pre-Contact

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Centuries before first contact with Europeans, new research suggests a strain of tuberculosis was already circulating from the South American coasts to the mountains. Deadly European diseases, like tuberculosis (TB), whooping cough, and smallpox, were spread around the world with colonization, but recent evidence indicates this wasn’t the first time TB arrived in South America. … Read more

Shackleton’s Famous Antarctic Shipwreck Finally Discovered in The World’s ‘Worst Sea’

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Explorers have found one of the most famous shipwrecks in history, Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance, deep in the icy sea off Antarctica more than a century after it sank, they announced Wednesday.   Endurance was discovered at a depth of 3,008 meters (9,869 feet) in the Weddell Sea, about six kilometers (four miles) from where it … Read more

Robotic ships could inspect underwater pipelines without a crew

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Autonomous ships that can deploy uncrewed underwater vehicles could be used to inspect pipelines, cables and seabed drilling activity Technology 4 March 2022 By David Hambling Ocean Infinity’s marine robotic vessel Ocean Infinity Engineers are developing a fleet of 85-metre-long vessels that will deploy underwater vehicles for tasks like pipeline inspection while their operators remain … Read more

Easter Islanders relied on freshwater springs under the sea to survive

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Surveys of Easter Island show that ancient settlements and the sites of the island’s famous giant statues are situated close to freshwater springs that are only accessible at low tide Environment 4 March 2022 By Michael Le Page The moai statues of Ahu Tongariki, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Shutterstock/Alberto Loyo Undersea springs may have been … Read more

This 500-Year-Old Landslide Found in The Red Sea Could Trigger a Future Tsunami

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The Red Sea has been hiding powerful geological forces that could put communities on the coast of Egypt and Saudi Arabia at risk. The thought hit Sam Purkis like a wave, as he gazed out the window of a submarine 900 meters deep (3,000 feet) in Tiran Strait.   There, in the light of the … Read more

A New Study Has Found The Year When Sea Level Rise Truly Began Accelerating

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A global analysis of sea levels over the past 2,000 years has found a rapid rate of increase in line with the Industrial Revolution. By 1863, researchers found the rate of sea level rise had clearly surpassed background variability. Unsurprisingly, it’s around this time that the first hints of ocean warming and glacier melt from … Read more