Tag Archives: whoi

Climate Change Led to Collapse of Ancient Indus Civilization, Study Finds

By Guest PostJune 2, 2012Environment, Sciencearabian sea, archaeological evidence, catastrophic floods, climate change, coring, dorian fuller, drilling, eastern afghanistan, egypt, ganges, geological evidence, geologist, geoscience, ghaggar hakra, goldilocks civilization, harappan civilization, harappan settlements, harappan times, himalaya, hindu mythology, indo gangetic plain, indus, james p m syvitski, liviu giosan, mesopotamia, northwest india, Pakistan, peter d clift, remains, river floods, romania, sarasvati, sediments, srtm, stefan constantinescu, topography, university college london, whoi

A new study combining the latest archaeological evidence with state-of-the-art geoscience technologies provides evidence that climate change was a key ingredient in the collapse of the great Indus or Harappan Civilization almost 4000 years ago. The study also resolves a long-standing debate over the source and fate of the Sarasvati, the sacred river of Hindu mythology.

Once extending more than 1 million square kilometers across the plains of the Indus River from the Arabian Sea to the Ganges, over what is now Pakistan, northwest India and eastern Afghanistan, the Indus civilization was the largest—but least known—of the first great urban cultures that also included Egypt and Mesopotamia. Like their contemporaries, the Harappans, named for one of their largest cities, lived next to rivers owing their livelihoods to the fertility of annually watered lands. (more…)

New Study by WHOI Scientists Provides Baseline Measurements of Carbon in Arctic Ocean

By Guest PostMay 21, 2012Environmentalaska, arctic ocean, biogeosciences, canada basin, canadian coast guard, carbon, carbon 13, carbon atoms, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, CO2, david griffith, fiona mclaughlin, global climate, icebreaker, li xu, marine ecosystem, organic carbon, pacific, pathway, robie macdonald, sea ice melt, Siberia, temperatures, whoi

Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have conducted a new study to measure levels of carbon at various depths in the Arctic Ocean. The study, recently published in the journal Biogeosciences, provides data that will help researchers better understand the Arctic Ocean’s carbon cycle—the pathway through which carbon enters and is used by the marine ecosystem. It will also offer an important point of reference for determining how those levels of carbon change over time, and how the ecosystem responds to rising global temperatures.

“Carbon is the currency of life. Where carbon is coming from, which organisms are using it, how they’re giving off carbon themselves—these things say a lot about how an ocean ecosystem works,” says David Griffith, the lead author on the study. “If warming temperatures perturb the Arctic Ocean, the way that carbon cycles through that system may change.” (more…)

Global Warming Refuge Discovered Near At-Risk Pacific Island Nation of Kiribati

By Guest PostApril 29, 2012Environmentanne cohen, chlorophyll level, climate change, climate model, climate scientist, coral, coral reef, david garrison, eastern pacific, ecosystem, equatorial pacific, equatorial undercurrent, euc, fish, galapagos islands, gilbert islands, global ocean, global warming, islands, kiribati, kristopher karnauskas, nutrient, ocean temperature, pacific islands, pacific reefs, regional model, satellite map, scylla, sea-level rise, tropical pacific, whoi

Ocean currents may mitigate warming near handful of equatorial islands

Scientists predict ocean temperatures will rise in the equatorial Pacific by the end of the century, wreaking havoc on coral reef ecosystems.

But a new study shows that climate change could cause ocean currents to operate in a way that mitigates warming near a handful of islands right on the equator.

Those islands include some of the 33 coral atolls that form the nation of Kiribati. This low-lying country is at risk from sea-level rise caused by global warming. (more…)

Study Amplifies Understanding of Hearing in Baleen Whales

By Guest PostApril 21, 2012Nature, Science3d visualization, anatomy, auditory system, baleen whale, boston, computerized tomography, csi, ct, darlene ketten, dolphins, evolutionary origin, julie arruda, magnetic resonance imaging, massachusetts, maya yamato, minke whale, mri, scott cramer, sound wave, toothed whale, whoi, zooplankton

For decades, scientists have known that dolphins and other toothed whales have specialized fats associated with their jaws, which efficiently convey sound waves from the ocean to their ears. But until now, the hearing systems of their toothless grazing cousins, baleen whales, remained a mystery.

Unlike toothed whales, baleen whales do not have enlarged canals in their jaws where specialized fats sit. While toothed whales use echolocation to find prey, baleen whales generally graze on zooplankton, and so some scientists have speculated that baleen whales may not need such a sophisticated auditory system. But a new study by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), published April 10, 2012, in The Anatomical Record, has shown that some baleen whales also have fats leading to their ears. (more…)

Sampling the Pacific for Signs of Fukushima

By Guest PostApril 6, 2012Environmentcesium 134, chiba peninsula, coast of japan, earthquake, fukushima, fukushima dai ichi, gulf stream, hawaii, irina rypina, Japan, ken buesseler, kuroshio, marine ecosystem, marine environment, marine organism, nicholas fisher, nuclear power plant, ocean, ocean current, oyashio, plankton, potassium 40, radiation, radioactive isotope, radioactive substance, radioactivity, radionuclides, reactor, seafloor sediment, steven jayne, tsunami, whoi

An international research team is reporting the results of a research cruise they organized to study the amount, spread, and impacts of radiation released into the ocean from the tsunami-crippled reactors in Fukushima, Japan. The group of 17 researchers and technicians from eight institutions spent 15 days at sea in June 2011 studying ocean currents, and sampling water and marine organisms up to the edge of the exclusion zone around the reactors.

Led by Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist and marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the team found that the concentration of several key radioactive substances, or radionuclides, were elevated but varied widely across the study area, reflecting the complex nature of the marine environment. In addition, although levels of radioactivity in marine life sampled during the cruise were well below levels of concern for humans and the organisms themselves, the researchers leave open the question of whether radioactive materials are accumulating on the seafloor sediments and, if so, whether these might pose a long-term threat to the marine ecosystem. The results appear in the April 2 online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). (more…)

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill’s Effects on Deep-Water Corals

By Guest PostMarch 27, 2012Environmentalvin, charles fisher, christopher german, corals, deep sea, deep water coral, deepwater horizon, ecosystem, erik cordes, gas chromatography, gulf of mexico, haverford college, helen white, jason, macondo spill, national science foundation, ocean, oil, oil spill, pen yuan hsing, penn state university, Pennsylvania, petroleum analysis, petroleum hydrocarbon, psu, rapid grant, rodey batiza, rov, submarine, temple university, timothy shank, two dimensional, U.S. Geological Survey, whoi

*Damaged deep-sea corals discovered months after Deepwater Horizon spill*

Scientists are reporting new evidence that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has affected marine life in the Gulf of Mexico, this time species that live in dark ocean depths–deepwater corals.

The research used a range of underwater vehicles, including the submarine Alvin, to investigate the corals. The findings are published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). (more…)

Study of Patagonian Glacier’s Rise and Fall Adds to Understanding of Global Climate Change

By Guest PostMarch 24, 2012Environment17th century, andes, antonio de vea, chilean glacier, climate, climate change, climate system, earth, fernando torrejon, fluctuation, glacial environment, glacial melt, glacier, glacier fluctuation, glaciomarine sediment, global temperature, golfo elefantes, gualas glacier, holocene glacier, icebreaker, marine environment, nathaniel b palmer, neoglacial fluctuation, northern patagonian icefield, past temperature, patagonia, patagonias fjords, rainfall data, san rafael, sebastien bertrand, sediment record, spanish explorers, university of ghent, voyages, whoi

Glaciers play a vital role in Earth’s climate system, and it’s critical to understand what contributes to their fluctuation.

Increased global temperatures are frequently viewed as the cause of glacial melt, but a new study of Patagonia’s Gualas Glacier highlights the role of precipitation in the glacier’s fluctuation. The study, conducted by Sébastien Bertrand of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and his colleagues, reconstructs a 5,400 year-record of the region’s glacial environment and climate, comparing past temperature and rainfall data with sediment records of glacier fluctuations and the historical observations of early Spanish explorers. (more…)

Study Links Past Changes in Monsoon to Major Shifts in Indian Civilizations

By Guest PostMarch 15, 2012Environmentasia, band of heavy rain, bay of bengal, camilo ponton, civilizations, climate change, cmz, core monsoon zone, dorian fuller, drilling vessel, drought, equator, eth, global warming, godavari river, harappan civilization, humid monsoon, India, indian monsoon, indian peninsula, insolation, inter tropical convergence zone, itcz, joides resolution, liviu giosan, modern agriculture, monsoon, northern hemisphere, ocean, paleo climatic information, plankton fossil, sahara desert, sediment core, solar radiation, tim eglinton, tropical forest, vegetation, whoi, zurich

A fundamental shift in the Indian monsoon has occurred over the last few millennia, from a steady humid monsoon that favored lush vegetation to extended periods of drought, reports a new study led by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The study has implications for our understanding of the monsoon’s response to climate change.

The Indian peninsula sustains over a billion people, yet it lies at the same latitude as the Sahara Desert. Without a monsoon, most of India would be dry and uninhabitable. The ability to predict the timing and amount of the next year’s monsoon is vital, yet even our knowledge of the monsoon’s past variability remains incomplete. (more…)