Apex predators can have a powerful impact on coastal erosion rates by keeping grazer populations down, but their influence has been largely overlooked.
Oceans
Posted inNews
Mapping the Ocean’s Motion Energy
The ocean is a central component of Earth’s climate system. But it is in perpetual motion, and understanding the transfer of kinetic energy is key to better ocean models.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Speed of Ice Shelf Rifting Controlled by Ocean-Ice Interactions
Scientists report the fastest rate of rift extension yet observed for an Antarctic floating ice shelf and explain why it is far slower than rates expected for brittle ice deformation.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Researchers Compare Observations Versus Modeling of Coastal Carbon Cycle
While storing carbon dioxide, the coastal ocean also releases methane and nitrous oxide. New research shows that understanding the impact of coastal oceans on climate requires more research into these fluxes and how they counteract each other.
Posted inScience Updates
The Open Ocean, Aerosols, and Every Other Breath You Take
Phytoplankton and other marine plants produce half of Earth’s atmospheric oxygen and have big effects on food webs and climate. To do so, they rely on nutrients from the sky that are hard to quantify.
Posted inNews
Record-Breaking Temperatures Likely as El Niño Persists
Global surface air temperatures will likely remain high through early summer because of a continuing El Niño event.
Posted inNews
El Niño May Have Kicked Off Thwaites Glacier Retreat
Antarctica’s “Doomsday Glacier” started losing mass midcentury, around the same time as its neighboring glacier.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Step Aside, Internal Tides: Supercomputer Modeling Improves Satellite Altimetry Precision
New supercomputer models can provide valuable information about the ocean’s layers and movements, particularly slow moving features such as eddies and currents.
Posted inNews
Almost a Year in, Drought in the Amazon Is Far from Over
Strengthened by climate change, northern Brazil’s dry spell might last longer than originally fore-cast, with lingering ecological and economic consequences.
Posted inScience Updates
Monitoring Polar Ice Change in the Twilight Zone
Landsat’s new extended data collection program is mapping Arctic and Antarctic regions year-round, even in polar twilight.