The first attempt to couple models of hydrothermal circulation and magmatic convection along fast-spreading ridges may explain the spacing of hydrothermal vent fields along the East Pacific Rise.
Pacific Ocean
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Powerful Pacific Forces Disrupt the California Current
Scientists create a 66-year data record to shed light on the role of El Niño in the California Current System’s shifting temperatures.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Auroras May Explain an Anomaly in Earth’s Ionosphere
A new study finds that the ionospheric anomaly over the Weddell Sea is likely influenced by proximity to auroral energy input, rather than by tilting magnetic fields.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Sediment Cores Reveal Ocean Current’s Past Life
East Asia’s Black Current may have rerouted in the past 10,000 years or so.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Mesmerized by Gracefully Gliding Albatrosses
Despite avian distractions and dreadful weather, a research cruise to map the seafloor off Alaska revealed new insights into the Queen Charlotte Fault.
Posted inNews
Probing the Power of Pacific Supertyphoons
Despite higher than normal surface temperatures and heat contents of ocean waters where the storms developed, evidence is lacking that global warming is revving them up.
Posted inScience Updates
New Volcanic Island Unveils Explosive Past
A recent volcanic eruption near Tonga in the southwest Pacific created a new island, giving scientists a rare opportunity to explore the volcanic record of this remote region.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Makes the Biggest Cycle in Tropical Weather Tick?
The Madden-Julian Oscillation drives storms across the Indian and Pacific oceans every 30 to 60 days. New research suggests that clouds absorbing and reemitting radiative energy play a key role.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Will Climate Change Affect the California Current Upwelling?
The results of new simulations that account for internal climate variability contrast with previous projections of how this vital West Coast current will respond to anthropogenic warming.
Posted inNews
Plastic Waste Knows No Bounds
Despite the vastness of Earth’s oceans, human plastic pollution overwhelms even remote corners.