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Space Observatory Provides Clues to Creation of Earth’s Oceans

By Guest PostOctober 8, 2011Scienceasteroids, astronomers, comet hartley 2, cosmic source, dariusz lis, deuterium, earth, earth oceans, Environment, european space agency, geoffrey blake, heavy hydrogen isotope, heavy water, herschel space observatory, icy bodies, kuiper belt, oceans, oort cloud, solar system, sun, vaporized water

PASADENA, Calif. — Astronomers have found a new cosmic source for the same kind of water that appeared on Earth billions of years ago and created the oceans. The findings may help explain how Earth’s surface ended up covered in water.

New measurements from the Herschel Space Observatory show that comet Hartley 2, which comes from the distant Kuiper Belt, contains water with the same chemical signature as Earth’s oceans. This remote region of the solar system, some 30 to 50 times as far away as the distance between Earth and the sun, is home to icy, rocky bodies including Pluto, other dwarf planets and innumerable comets. (more…)

Significant Role of Oceans in Onset of Ancient Global Cooling

By Guest PostMay 28, 2011Environmentacc, american midwest, antarctic circumpolar current, antarctic intermediate water, benjamin cramer, benthic foraminifera, bridget wade, candace major, chengjie liu, deep sea drilling project, early cenozoic, environmental conditions, fossil skeletons, glaciations, global climate, global cooling pattern, global ocean circulation, global temperatures, greenhouse climate, icehouse, integrated ocean drilling program, isotopes, late eocene, marsupials, miriam katz, mixmaster of the ocean, ocean drilling program, ocean sediments, oceans, planktonic organisms, polar regions, sea floor, tropical jungles

*Evidence that early Antarctic Circumpolar Current development affected global climate*

Thirty-eight million years ago, tropical jungles thrived in what are now the cornfields of the American Midwest and furry marsupials wandered temperate forests in what is now the frozen Antarctic.

The temperature differences of that era, known as the late Eocene, between the equator and Antarctica were half what they are today. (more…)

On the Sizeable Wings of Albatrosses

By Guest PostMarch 25, 2011Nature, Scienceabove ocean wind shear, air sea friction, airborne sailboat, albatross, albatross flight, albatrosses, colin pennycuick, dynamic soaring, kinetic energy, large bird, lord rayleigh, model, nobel laureate, oceanographer, oceans, philip richardson, physicist, radio controlled gliders, scientist, south atlantic ocean, sustained soaring, wave trough, wings

An oceanographer may be offering the best explanation yet of one of the great mysteries of flight—how albatrosses fly such vast distances, even around the world, almost without flapping their wings. The answer, says Philip L. Richardson of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), lies in a concept called dynamic soaring, in which the large bird utilizes the power of above-ocean wind shear while tacking like an airborne sailboat.

“I have a simple model that explains the basic physics of what albatrosses do,” says Richardson, a scientist emeritus at WHOI, who, in addition to his primary career in studying ocean currents, has also piloted gliders. The key, he says, is the bird’s ability to balance the kinetic energy gained in soaring with the energy lost from drag. (more…)

Fossil Bird Study Describes Ripple Effect of Extinction in Animal Kingdom

By Guest PostMarch 9, 2011Scienceanimal kingdom, blackbird family, california, cowbird, david steadman, decline of panthers, domino effect, ecosystems, extinction, florida, fossil record, fossil study, grasslands, jessica oswald, mammals, mexican fossils, Mexico, negative impact, northern mexico, oceans, pandanaris convexa, rancho la brea fossil site, ripple effect, sediment, songbird species, sonora, térapa, trickle down effect, university of florida, wetlands

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A University of Florida study demonstrates extinction’s ripple effect through the animal kingdom, including how the demise of large mammals 20,000 years ago led to the disappearance of one species of cowbird.

The study shows the trickle-down effect the loss of large mammals has on other species, and researchers say it is a lesson from the past that should be remembered when making conservation, game and land-use decisions today. (more…)

Ocean Acidification Changes Nitrogen Cycling in World Seas

By Guest PostDecember 22, 20101 commentEnvironmentacidity, ammonia oxidizers, blue whales, carbon dioxide, cheryl emiliane chow, cycle, david garrison, marine ecosystems, michael beman, microbes, nitrification, nitrogen, nitrous oxide, nutrients, ocean acidification, oceanic nitrification, oceans, organisms, proteins, sea water

*New results indicate potential to reduce certain greenhouse gas emissions from oceans to atmosphere*

Increasing acidity in the sea’s waters may fundamentally change how nitrogen is cycled in them, say marine scientists who published their findings in this week’s issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients in the oceans. All organisms, from tiny microbes to blue whales, use nitrogen to make proteins and other important compounds. (more…)

New Evidence Supports Snowball Earth as Trigger for Early Animal Evolution

By Guest PostNovember 2, 20101 commentSciencebiogeochemists, enriqueta barrera, glacial events, glaciations, mid-neoproterozoic, noah planavsky, oceans, phosphorus, snowball earth, snowball earth hypothesis, tim lyons

Geologist Noah Plavansky examines rocks deposited after a "Snowball Earth" glacial event. Image credit: Lyons Lab, UC-Riverside

*Spike in ancient marine phosphorus concentrations linked to emergence of complex life*

Biogeochemists have found new evidence linking “Snowball Earth” glacial events to the rise of early animals. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Study results appear in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.

The controversial Snowball Earth hypothesis posits that, on several occasions, the Earth was covered from pole to pole by a thick sheet of ice lasting for millions of years.

These glaciations, the most severe in Earth history, occurred from 750 to 580 million years ago. (more…)

Researchers Find Widespread Floating Plastic Debris in the Western North Atlantic Ocean

By Guest PostAugust 21, 2010Environmentchris reddy, great pacific garbage patch, john bullard, kara lavender law, missing plastic, nikolai maximenko, oceans, pacific commonly, paul joyce, plankton, plastic debris, plastic pieces, plastic pollution, sea, sea education association, triggerfish, uh, university of hawaii, western north atlantic, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution, world

Despite growing awareness of the problem of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans, little solid scientific information existed to illustrate the nature and scope of the issue.

This week, a team of researchers from Sea Education Association (SEA), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and the University of Hawaii (UH) published a study of plastic marine debris based on data collected over 22 years by undergraduate students in the latest issue of the journal Science.

(more…)

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