Search Results for: Ocean

Study suggests steps a planet must go through for complex animal life to arise

Clay made animal life possible on Earth, a UC Riverside-led study finds. A sudden increase in oxygen in the Earth’s recent geological history, widely considered necessary for the expansion of animal life, occurred just as the rate of clay formation on the Earth’s surface also increased, the researchers report.

“Our study shows for the first time that the initial soils covering the te

Radar satellites such as ESA’s Envisat and ERS-2 maintain constant watch on the Earth’s surface, their signals able to cut through clouds, rain or darkness. This surveillance extends beyond the land to the 71% of the planet covered by ocean – acquiring unique imagery of the ever-shifting face of the sea that is proving a boon to oceanographers.

Last week around 100 researchers from 20 countries met at ESRIN, ESA’s European Centre for Earth Observation in Frascati, I

Conceptual model of krill’s life history sheds light on forces that drove its evolution

Although Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are one of the best-studied organisms of the open sea, key aspects of their life cycle have remained murky. Understanding krill is important because they are vital prey for fish, birds, and marine mammals, yet they are vulnerable to fishing pressure and environmental change. In the February 2006 issue of BioScience, the monthly journal of t

The next generation of artificial bone may rely on a few secrets from the sea. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have harnessed the way seawater freezes to develop a porous, scaffolding-like material that is four times stronger than material currently used in synthetic bone.

Although still in the investigational stages, variations of this substance could also be used in a myriad of applications in which strengt

Using a fleet of NASA and other satellites as well as aircraft and other observations, scientists were able to unlock the secret of Hurricane Lili’s unexpected, rapid weakening as she churned toward a Louisiana landfall in 2002. The data from multiple satellites enabled researchers to see dry air move into the storm’s low levels, partially explaining why Lili weakened rapidly.

This study focuses on the rapid weakening of Hurricane Lili over the Gulf of Mexico beginning early on

The most powerful earthquakes – such as those that shook Indonesia in 2004, Alaska in 1964, Chile in 1960 and the Pacific Northwest in 1700 – occur in subduction zones, areas of the sea floor just offshore where two tectonic plates meet and one dives beneath the other.

But not all subduction zones are created equal, and University of Washington researchers believe they have found a key to determine which subduction zones – or which specific areas within a subduction zone – migh