Ocean Conservation & Tidalpunk

Researchers seeking the construction of a massive underwater structure to shield Antarctica’s melting ice sheets from ongoing erosion by seawater could be met with unexpected international challenges, new research reveals.

While scientists debate the logistics of installing a proposed gigantic undersea curtain to protect Antarctic glaciers against melt from warmer seawater they encounter, researchers at Kobe University are looking at a different problem: how the questions of international authority and related security and sovereignty issues might impact such efforts.

The Antarctic Treaty System

(...) In December 1959, the first twelve countries signed the treaty to protect their scientific operations around the Antarctic. Treaty meetings since then have managed to keep their eyes on science, avoiding discussion of territorial disputes and instead pushing for environmental regulations.(...)

Expert knowledge of how early sea surface temperature measurements were taken has helped to explain a cold anomaly in early 20th century climate

Research highlights impacts of military sonar devices on dolphin behaviour

Explore the discovery of a massive coral in the Solomon Islands, visible from space and teeming with marine life

After the treaty was adopted last year by the United Nations, more than 100 countries have signified their intent to ratify it, but so far only 14 countries have. Only around 8 percent of the oceans are currently considered protected.

Though most animals, including humans, are born, age, and eventually die, some species can break away from this traditional lifecycle: they seemingly defy age and revert to younger versions of themselves.

The study

On June 26, the Norwegian Ministry of Energy released a proposal for the first licensing round for mining of seabed minerals, setting out areas where companies could eventually apply for licenses. The proposal included a total of 386 blocks, constituting nearly 106,000 square kilometers (40,900 square miles), an area about the size of Iceland, that could potentially be used for mining activities.

The licensing round proposal included a three-month public consultation period, which closed Sept. 26.

Terje Aasland, Norway’s minister of energy, previously stated that he intended to begin awarding mining licenses in the “first half of 2025” with a view to starting commercial extraction in 2030.

The licenses due to be awarded will be exploitation licenses — not exploration licenses.

Newfoundland Memorial Univeristy team find white masses are likely material used to clean pipes in oil industry

Kozak conducted infrared spectroscopy and found chemical bonds consistent with polyvinyl acetate,

“It’s funny that no one thought to reach out to a chemist until very late. Everyone had their own opinions and speculation, but no one was really taking a scientific and experimental point of view,” said Kozak.

In our recent journal paper in Nature Geoscience, we show that a thin layer at the ocean surface called the “ocean skin”, a layer thinner than a human hair, increases this ocean CO₂ uptake by about 7%. That sounds like a small difference, but this additional uptake is equivalent to the CO₂ absorbed by the entire Amazon rainforest each year.

As the need to reduce emissions and meet reduction targets ramps up, insights about how the ocean skin works will help scientists understand how the ocean will respond to our emissions.

In a breakthrough study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers have shown that, contrary to most projections, coral reefs are not inevitably doomed, but have the potential to persist and adapt over time, if carbon emissions are curbed and local stressors are addressed.

Invidious link

In the deep ocean, life is concentrated at chemosynthetic oases where primary production is made possible via chemosynthesis at cold seeps and deep sea hydrothermal vents. The non-chemosynthetic regions of the deep are divided into two very different worlds. First is the midwater, where pelagic wanderers tread migratory routes that span entire oceans, and planktonic drifters and their predators take part in bioluminescent light shows. It is separated into zones based on depth, including the sunlight zone (epipelagic), twilight zone (mesopelagic), midnight zone (bathypelagic), abyssal and hadal zones. And below, lies the deep sea floor. A kingdom of mud and ooze, where sessile creatures cling to any solid outcrop and corals craft kingdoms on the seamount crusts. The worlds of the deep sea could not be more different, and yet their stories are fundamentally intertwined. In this episode, we delve into the Twilight Zone.

A new study published in Nature unveils a surprising discovery: a substantial amount of meltwater is temporarily stored within the Greenland Ice Sheet during summer months. For the first time, an international group of researchers was able to quantify meltwater with positioning data. The finding challenges current models of how ice sheets contribute to global sea level rise.

The Greenland Ice Sheet is currently the largest single contributor to global sea-level rise,

The study highlights the importance of international collaboration in addressing one of the planet's most pressing environmental challenges.