Search Results for: ocean

Large, nutrient-poor expanses of the open ocean are getting a substantial nitrogen influx from an abundant group of unicellular organisms that “fix,” or chemically alter, nitrogen into a form usable for biological productivity.

First identified about five years ago, these organisms – about 7 microns in diameter – are fixing nitrogen at rates up to three times higher than previously reported for the Pacific Ocean, according to research published in the Aug. 26, 2004 edition of th

IODP team succeeds in recovering sub-seafloor sample

The first 40 million years of Arctic climate history have been recovered from beneath the Arctic seafloor this week. After four days of working in hazardous conditions, the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program’s (IODP) Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX) retrieved 272 meters of core. Extreme sea ice then forced the ship to abandon its position.
Coring of the Arctic’s first scientific borehole–located roughly 145 miles (23

Dynamic ice

A technique borrowed from the surface physics community is helping chemists and atmospheric scientists understand the complex chemical reactions that occur on low-temperature ice.

Known as electron-stimulated desorption (ESD), the technique uses low-energy electrons to locally probe surfaces, differentiating their characteristics from those of the bulk material below them. Using ESD, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have demonstrated that hyd

New theory on drizzle formation says a few big drops get all the water

In research that could lead to more accurate weather forecasts and climate models, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory say a physical limit on the number of cloud droplets that grow big enough to form drizzle paradoxically makes drizzle form faster. That’s because those few droplets that cross the drizzle “barrier” readily collect enough surrounding droplets to

What do the Amazon Basin and Sahara Desert have in common? They are intricately linked by dust and climate and both belong to a family of hotspots or “Achilles’ heels” that have a profound impact on the global environment, says Professor John Schellnhuber, speaking at the EuroScience Forum in Stockholm today.

Dust from the Sahara Desert fertilises the Amazon, increasing the abundance of life there, says Professor Schellnhuber, IGBP* Science Ambassador and Director of the UK-based

The first 40 million years of Arctic climate history was recovered from beneath the Arctic sea floor on Monday 23 August.

After four days drilling in hazardous conditions the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program’s Arctic Coring Expedition retrieved a 272m core before sea ice forced the work to be abandoned.

The deepest ever Arctic borehole, just 233 kilometres from the North Pole, was interrupted late on Monday when very thick, moving ice floes meant that even the world’s most p