Oceans

Controversial Study Says 1.5°C Warming Target Already Breached, ‘Underscores Urgent Need’ to Phase Out Fossil Fuels

Controversial Study Says 1.5°C Warming Target Already Breached, ‘Underscores Urgent Need’ to Phase Out Fossil Fuels

A new study using marine sponges collected off the coast of Puerto Rico has found that the planet has already warmed more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Researchers analyzed ocean temperature records from sea sponges going back 300 years, a press release from The University of Western Australia (UWA) said. They concluded that global heating had […]

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    Researchers Find PFAS on Ski Slopes

    Researchers Find PFAS on Ski Slopes

    Researchers from The James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland and the University of Graz in Austria have found PFAS from ski wax on the snowy slopes of ski resorts in Austria. The findings raise concern on the impact these “forever chemicals” could have on the local environment, particularly groundwater. The study, published in the journal […]

    Nigeria’s Lagos State Bans Single-Use Plastics and Styrofoam

    Nigeria’s Lagos State Bans Single-Use Plastics and Styrofoam

    Lagos State, which includes Nigeria’s most populous city of 15.4 million, has announced a ban on single-use plastics and styrofoam in order to reduce the plastic pollution that chokes the region. The ban would be immediate, according to a statement from the state government, but enforcement and implementation would not be so straightforward, environmental experts […]

    Scientists Map Largest Deep-Sea Coral Reef Off Atlantic Coast

    Scientists Map Largest Deep-Sea Coral Reef Off Atlantic Coast

    For the first time, scientists have succeeded in mapping the largest deep-sea coral reef in the world, which runs hundreds of miles off the Atlantic coast of the United States. The massive 6.4-million-acre reef is bigger than the state of Vermont, a press release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said. “It’s eye-opening […]

    Sea Otters Helped Minimize Kelp Forest Loss in California, Study Finds

    Sea Otters Helped Minimize Kelp Forest Loss in California, Study Finds

    Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California have linked sea otters to healthy kelp forests off the West Coast. According to a new study published in the journal PLOS Climate, the recovery of Southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) in central California happened at the same time that kelp forests in the same […]

    Norway’s Parliament Votes Yes on Deep-Sea Mining in Norwegian Sea

    Norway’s Parliament Votes Yes on Deep-Sea Mining in Norwegian Sea

    Norway’s parliament voted Tuesday for a bill to allow deep-sea mining in the Arctic waters of the Norwegian Sea. The government has said it plans to move forward with mining of the seabed for minerals sustainably, requiring environmental studies before approving licenses. However, environmentalists have said this practice cannot be done without harming marine life. […]

    Popular Sashimi Tuna Species in Sharp Decline in Indian Ocean

    Popular Sashimi Tuna Species in Sharp Decline in Indian Ocean

    The yellowfin tuna that is commonly used to make sashimi and other dishes like poke bowls may become scarce if overexploitation rates don’t improve, particularly in the Indian Ocean, a press release from international research initiative the Sea Around Us said. A new study by an international team of researchers has found that, since the […]