Search Results for: Ocean

Effects could extend from base of food chain to native hunters

Physical changes–including rising air and seawater temperatures and decreasing seasonal ice cover–appear to be the cause of a series of biological changes in the northern Bering Sea ecosystem that could have long-range and irreversible effects on the animals that live there and on the people who depend on them for their livelihoods.

In a paper published March 10 in the journal Science, a team of U.S. and

A major conservation effort, led by Dr Brendan Godley of the University of Exeter, has just got underway to help protect endangered leatherback turtles which nest in Gabon, West Africa. The region is thought to be the animals’ last global stronghold, as pacific populations dwindle precariously.

It’s hoped the project, to tag and track the animals, will uncover their migratory secrets and provide the basis for efforts to safeguard them. After fitting them with satelli

The Volvo Ocean Race yachts have safely rounded Cape Horn on the fourth leg of their round-the-world adventure thanks to the help of radar satellites steering them away from dangerous icebergs.

While all the legs of the race have their unique dangers, Volvo Ocean Race Meteorologist Chris Bedford said leg four is arguably the most dangerous. “The boats have to face 50-knot storms, massive seas and possible ice, and if something happens on the leg, help is many hours and, more li

Research could lead to better understanding of typhoons, oceanic flows

For decades, scientists who study hurricanes, whirlpools and other large fluid vortices have puzzled over precisely how these vast swirling masses of gas or liquid sustain themselves. How do they acquire the energy to keep moving? The most common theory sounded like it was lifted from Wall Street: The large vortices collect power as smaller vortices merge and combine their assets, in the same way that small co

Conservationists should be acting now to protect mammals such as North American reindeer which risk extinction in the future as the human population grows, according to research published today.

The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals areas with the potential to lose species that are not presently in danger. Species in these ’hotspots’ have a latent risk of extinction; that is, they are currently less threatened than thei

Shipping companies can route ships more safely and efficiently. Ocean search-and-rescue can operate more effectively. Meteorologists and climatologists now have a tool to provide long-range weather prediction more accurately. Navies too can perform more accurate anti-submarine surveillance. And environmental managers now have a mechanism to track pollution, algal blooms, or emergent situations such as oil spills. And, this is all due to a unique three-dimensional ocean model that has been developed