Like the robotic rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which wheeled tirelessly across the dusty surface of Mars, a new robot spent most of July traveling across the muddy ocean bottom, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) off the California ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 9, 2009
1
0
Animals living on the abyssal plain, miles below the ocean surface, don't usually get much to eat. Their main source of food is "marine snow"—a slow drift of mucus, fecal pellets, and body parts—that sinks down from the ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 11, 2013
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0
MBARI researchers are used to braving gusty winds and choppy seas as they test their high-tech equipment in Monterey Bay. But a recent field experiment in Yellowstone National Park saw MBARI researchers Kevan Yamahara and ...
Other
Oct 3, 2017
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77
You might think that deep-sea sponges would be about as active as the one sitting in your kitchen sink. But when it comes to motion at the bottom of the ocean, there is more than meets the eye. Time-lapse photography taken ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 21, 2020
0
122
About 65 million years ago, an asteroid or comet crashed into a shallow sea near what is now the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. The resulting firestorm and global dust cloud caused the extinction of many land plants and large ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 9, 2013
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0
Little red jellies are commonplace near the deep seafloor in Monterey Bay and around the world. Most of them are small—less than five centimeters (two inches) across—and a ruddy red color, but we know little else about ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 17, 2020
1
153
Climate change has serious, long-term, and far-reaching negative consequences for our ocean.
Environment
Sep 25, 2019
0
18
In the dark depths of the ocean, pretty much the only sources of light are the animals that live there. Whether flashing, glimmering, or emitting glowing liquids, many deep-sea animals are able to produce light (bioluminesce). ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 18, 2019
0
150
Exploring the deep sea, and especially submarine canyons, is a risky business. The floors of many submarine canyons are periodically scoured by fast-moving underwater avalanches known as "turbidity currents." In 2013, one ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 18, 2015
0
25
Off the coast of Central California, in the inky darkness of the deep sea, a bright orange metal pyramid about the size of two compact cars sits quietly on the seafloor. Nestled within the metal pyramid is the heart of the ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 17, 2008
2
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