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Close-up shot of sea surface with small waves
The Constellation of Creatures Inhabiting the Ocean Surface
The myriad species floating atop the world’s seas, called neuston, are mysterious and understudied, complicating efforts to clean up plastic pollution.
The Constellation of Creatures Inhabiting the Ocean Surface
The Constellation of Creatures Inhabiting the Ocean Surface

The myriad species floating atop the world’s seas, called neuston, are mysterious and understudied, complicating efforts to clean up plastic pollution.

The myriad species floating atop the world’s seas, called neuston, are mysterious and understudied, complicating efforts to clean up plastic pollution.

oceanography

Neuston
Slideshow: Meet the Neuston, the Diverse Organisms Living at the Ocean’s Surface
Amanda Heidt | Jan 2, 2023 | 2 min read
The ocean’s surface harbors an ecosystem of colorful, understudied life, ranging from protists and cnidarians to insects.
Illustration showing where neuston reside
Infographic: Neuston Drift Atop the World’s Oceans
Amanda Heidt | Jan 2, 2023 | 1 min read
The sea surface is home to a diverse group of animals adapted to life in the open ocean, but increasingly, they’re sharing that space with plastic debris.
dead fish piled in boxes along a pier, with a boat and snowy mountains in the background
Fish Poop a Big Player in Ocean Carbon Sequestration
Katarina Zimmer | Oct 8, 2021 | 5 min read
A modeling study estimates that by drastically reducing fish biomass over the past century, industrial fishing may be affecting ocean chemistry, nutrient fluxes, and carbon cycling as much as climate change.
a map of the world with red and blue lines indicating the movement of masses of ocean water
Atlantic Circulation Weakest in More Than a Millennium: Study
Shawna Williams | Feb 26, 2021 | 3 min read
Researchers use proxy indicators to confirm long-term changes to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, which have profound implications for future climate in North America and Europe.
sharks, blue shark, Prionace glauca, overfishing, ocean deoxygenation, climate change
Climate Change Could Drive Sharks to Fishing Grounds: Study
Asher Jones | Jan 28, 2021 | 5 min read
Blue sharks don't dive as deeply in low-oxygen waters—which become more prevalent as oceans warm—effectively pushing them into areas of high fishing pressure.
a bay in the Antarctic
Nitrogen-Fixing Microbes Found in Antarctic Sea
Shawna Williams | Oct 28, 2020 | 4 min read
The discovery puts a nail in the coffin of a long-held assumption about the limits of where the essential process can occur.
Antarctica, climate change, food web, ecosystem, ice shelf, glacier, Q&A, Jeroen Ingels, melting, global warming, collapse, ecology
How Ice Shelf Loss Will Change the Antarctic Ecosystem
Amanda Heidt | Oct 6, 2020 | 4 min read
Marine ecologist Jeroen Ingels discusses what is known about ice shelf loss at the southern pole and how those changes are affecting local ecosystems.
How the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Affected Field Research
Ashley Yeager | Aug 20, 2020 | 6 min read
Unable to travel to international or remote sites, some researchers are losing critical data.
Image of the Day: Jetpack Jellyfish
Amy Schleunes | Feb 10, 2020 | 1 min read
Jellyfish fitted with energy efficient controllers could one day find a job on ocean explorations.
Global Ocean Circulation Is Speeding Up
Ruth Williams | Feb 5, 2020 | 3 min read
The movements of water within the ocean basins has been increasing in speed over the last 20 years, a new study shows, conflicting with prior models of climate change.
Blue-Green Algae Produce Methane
Ruth Williams | Jan 15, 2020 | 3 min read
Biological production of this greenhouse gas, once thought to be the reserve of anaerobic microbes, occurs in these widespread, photosynthesizing cyanobacteria.
Oceanic Bacteria Trap Vast Amounts of Light Without Chlorophyll
Abby Olena, PhD | Aug 8, 2019 | 3 min read
Microbes that dwell in nutrient-poor waters use a photopigment called retinal to harvest energy from sunshine at levels at least equal to those stored by chlorophyll-based systems.
drifting seabirds the scientist
GPS-Tagged Seabirds Track the Tides
Jef Akst | Mar 1, 2019 | 3 min read
Birds drifting on the surface of the sea could provide valuable data for oceanographers.
Maiden Voyage, 1872–1876
Ashley Yeager | Jul 1, 2018 | 2 min read
The Challenger expedition's data on ocean temperatures and currents, seawater chemistry, life in the deep sea, and the geology of the seafloor spurred the rise of modern oceanography.
Nine Decades of Environmental Change Resurrected From Swedish Seas
Claire Asher | Jul 16, 2017 | 4 min read
Scientists bring marine plankton back to life to study past climate change.
Lubchenco on Conservation
The Scientist Staff | Jul 16, 2017 | 1 min read
Former NOAA administrator and environmental scientist Jane Lunchenco discusses the importance of science in the face of climate change.
Seals Help Oceanographers Explore Underwater
Catherine Offord | Nov 1, 2016 | 4 min read
Data collected by elephant seals in Antarctic waters provide a closer look at the processes driving ocean circulation.
Sealing the Deal
The Scientist Staff | Oct 31, 2016 | 1 min read
Irish researchers convert seals into remote oceanographic sensors by attaching tags containing temperature probes and other technologies to their heads.
Ocean Sentinels
Elizabeth Fiedler | Oct 1, 2015 | 4 min read
Researchers are struggling to understand shifts in the migratory patterns of penguins in the Southwest Atlantic.
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