(Phys.org) —Miles below the ocean surface, diverse ecosystems flourish at hydrothermal vents. Without sunlight, animals live off of bacteria that thrive on chemicals billowing out of the Earth's crust. ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Apr 01, 2013 4.8 / 5 (5) 4 |

Killing wildlife and occasionally sickening people, harmful algal blooms can be more than just a nuisance. But predicting these blooms is difficult—even more difficult than predicting the weather—because ...

Space & Earth - Environment

Mar 21, 2013 not rated yet 0

A surge in jellyfish blooms over the past decade has spawned similar blooms of public fascination with these sea drifters and their apparent saturation of our oceans. Images of fish nets and nuclear-plant ...

Biology - Ecology

Feb 19, 2013 5 / 5 (1) 0 |

(Phys.org)—Hidden beneath ocean waves and masked by sand and mud on the seafloor, underwater faults are notoriously difficult to see and even more difficult to study. As a result, geologists struggle to ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Jan 31, 2013 4 / 5 (1) 0

(Phys.org)—In the remote, ice-shrouded Beaufort Sea, methane (the main component of natural gas) has been bubbling out of the seafloor for thousands of years. MBARI geologist Charlie Paull and his colleagues ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Sep 24, 2012 4 / 5 (2) 2

(Phys.org)—This month MBARI researchers are conducting a two-week-long, in-depth oceanographic experiment to track the nutrients that fertilize algal blooms off the coast of Central California. This research ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Sep 18, 2012 not rated yet 0

(Phys.org) -- Over the last 150 years, human beings have released hundreds of billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the Earth's atmosphere. About one quarter of this carbon has been absorbed by the world's ...

Space & Earth - Environment

Jul 20, 2012 5 / 5 (1) 0

(Phys.org) -- Axial seamount, 480 kilometers (300 miles) off the coast of northern Oregon, is one of the best-studied underwater volcanoes in the world. For 30 years, researchers have explored this volcano ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Jun 26, 2012 not rated yet 2 |

MBARI engineer Andy Hamilton looks out his office window in Moss Landing and points at the waves crashing on the beach below. “Pretty impressive, aren’t they? You’d think there’d be a way ...

Technology - Energy & Green Tech

May 14, 2012 4.9 / 5 (12) 39 |

The first comprehensive study of the biological effects of Antarctic icebergs shows that they fertilize the Southern Ocean, enhancing the growth of algae that take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

May 11, 2011 4.5 / 5 (2) 1

Each year, an estimated 10,000 shipping containers fall off container ships at sea. Although many of these containers float at the surface for months, most eventually sink to the seafloor. No one knows what ...

Space & Earth - Environment

Mar 09, 2011 4.7 / 5 (7) 6

A team of biologists has discovered an entirely new group of algae living in a variety of marine and freshwater environments. This group of algae, which the researchers dubbed "rappemonads," have DNA that ...

Biology - Cell & Microbiology

Jan 20, 2011 5 / 5 (5) 1

Dead whales that sink down to the seafloor provide a feast for deep-sea animals that can last for years. Previous research suggested that such "whale falls" were homes for unique animals that lived nowhere ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Dec 06, 2010 5 / 5 (3) 1

Over the past decade, the undersea robots known as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have become increasingly important in oceanographic research. Today's AUVs fall into two groups: 1) propeller-driven ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Nov 02, 2010 4 / 5 (2) 0

A small fleet of ships and robotic submersibles are performing a kind of water ballet in northern Monterey Bay this month, observing and following the evolution and consequences of algal blooms as part of ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Oct 15, 2010 4 / 5 (1) 0