http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. The impact of industrial fishing on coastal ecosystems has been studied for many years. But how it affects food webs in the open ocean―a vast region that covers almost half of the Earth's surface―has not been very clear. So a team of Smithsonian and Michigan State University scientists and their colleagues looked to the ancient bones of seabirds for answers, revealing some of the dramatic changes that have happened within open-ocean food webs since the onset of industrial fishing. The team's research is published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://phys.org/news287681251.html Biology Mon, 13 May 2013 16:46:57 EST news287681251 A 13-year-old dolphin was Saturday being transported to an ocean pen off a South Korean island for training to prepare it for release back into the wild after four years in a Seoul zoo, officials said. http://phys.org/news287460652.html Biology Sat, 11 May 2013 03:12:16 EST news287460652 In its final assessment, the European project Trident has submerged its I-AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle for intervention) in the Port of Sóller (Mallorca). The vehicle has been able to find and retrieve independently an object in an unknown seabed facing the adverse conditions presented by the open ocean. http://phys.org/news285581311.html Technology Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:08:43 EST news285581311 Long-life batteries and satellite tagging have been used to fill in the blanks of female white sharks' (Carcharodon carcharias) lifestyles. Research published in the launch edition of BioMed Central's open access journal Animal Biotelemetry defines a two year migratory pattern in the Pacific Ocean. Pregnant females travel between the mating area at Guadalupe Island and nursery in Baja California, putting them and their young at risk from commercial fishing. http://phys.org/news284227298.html Biology Wed, 03 Apr 2013 19:00:01 EST news284227298 Sea turtles can get accidentally caught and killed in fishing operations, and new research out Monday seeks to map this phenomenon for the first time in a bid to save the endangered creatures. http://phys.org/news284051859.html Biology Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:17:46 EST news284051859 (Phys.org) —Marine stratocumulus clouds stretched across the southern Indian Ocean in early March 2013. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite acquired this natural-color image on March 11, as a striking band of clouds ran roughly northwest to southeast over the open ocean. http://phys.org/news282990200.html Space & Earth Wed, 20 Mar 2013 09:23:27 EST news282990200 As the nations of the world prepare to vote on measures to restrict international trade in endangered sharks in early March, a team of researchers has found that one of these species – the oceanic whitetip shark – regularly crosses international boundaries. Efforts by individual nations to protect this declining apex predator within their own maritime borders may therefore need to be nested within broader international conservation measures. http://phys.org/news280598950.html Biology Wed, 20 Feb 2013 17:00:06 EST news280598950 The mystery of how salmon navigate across thousands of miles of open ocean to locate their river of origin before journeying upstream to spawn has intrigued biologists for decades, and now a new study may offer a clue to the fishes' homing strategy. http://phys.org/news279447975.html Biology Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:00:27 EST news279447975 NASA's Aqua satellite got "eyeballed" from Cyclone Claudia in the Southern Indian Ocean when two instruments captured the storm's eye in infrared and visible light. Satellite data indicates that Claudia's eye is about 10 nautical miles wide. http://phys.org/news274380202.html Space & Earth Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:43:32 EST news274380202 The highly effective optical means by which silvery fish, such as the European sardine and Atlantic herring, camouflage themselves from predators is explained this month in Nature Photonics. http://phys.org/news270018760.html Physics Sun, 21 Oct 2012 13:00:23 EST news270018760 NASA measured light-to-moderate rainfall occurring throughout Typhoon Prapiroon, with just a small area of heavy rain near the storm's center is it tracks through the western North Pacific Ocean. http://phys.org/news269280744.html Space & Earth Fri, 12 Oct 2012 17:12:33 EST news269280744 Typhoon Prapiroon is the twenty-second tropical cyclone of the western North Pacific Ocean, making for a very active season. NASA's Terra satellite passed over the storm as it was intensifying into a typhoon and noticed very tight circulation with bands of thunderstorms wrapping into the center. http://phys.org/news269021456.html Space & Earth Tue, 09 Oct 2012 17:11:30 EST news269021456 When rivers drain into oceans through narrow mouths, hydraulic forces squeeze the river water into buoyant plumes that are clearly visible in satellite images. Worldwide, river plumes not only disperse freshwater, sediments, and nutrients but also spread pollutants and organisms from estuaries into the open ocean. In the United States the Columbia River, the largest river by volume draining into the Pacific Ocean from North America, generates a plume at its mouth that transports juvenile salmon and other fish into the ocean. Clearly, the behavior and spread of river plumes, such as the Columbia River plume, affect the nation’s fishing industry as well as the global economy. http://phys.org/news263667046.html Space & Earth Wed, 08 Aug 2012 17:50:54 EST news263667046 A humpback whale and its calf were injured on Monday after apparently being hit by a ferry in Sydney Harbour, with witnesses saying the animals had ugly gashes and cuts. http://phys.org/news263468530.html Biology Mon, 06 Aug 2012 10:42:18 EST news263468530 (Phys.org) -- Batoid rays, such as stingrays and manta rays, are among nature's most elegant swimmers. They are fast, highly maneuverable, graceful, energy-efficient, can cruise, bird-like, for long distances in the deep, open ocean, and rest on the sea bottom. http://phys.org/news262339273.html Technology Tue, 24 Jul 2012 09:01:34 EST news262339273 Marine scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have linked the decline in growth of Caribbean forereef corals — due to recent warming — to long-term trends in seawater temperature experienced by these corals located on the ocean-side of the reef. The research was conducted on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System in southern Belize. http://phys.org/news261063266.html Space & Earth Mon, 09 Jul 2012 14:34:40 EST news261063266 (Phys.org) -- Competition with pink salmon in the open ocean could be an important factor in the long-term decline in abundance of sockeye salmon populations in the Fraser River, according to new research from Simon Fraser University scientists and international colleagues. http://phys.org/news256542595.html Biology Fri, 18 May 2012 06:52:26 EST news256542595 Using the latest satellite tracking technology, conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the University of Exeter (UK), and the Government of Mexico have completed a ground-breaking study on a mysterious ocean giant: the manta ray. http://phys.org/news255954917.html Biology Fri, 11 May 2012 11:35:37 EST news255954917 A 100-fold upsurge in human-produced plastic garbage in the ocean is altering habitats in the marine environment, according to a new study led by a graduate student researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. http://phys.org/news255711922.html Space & Earth Tue, 08 May 2012 19:20:02 EST news255711922 For the first time, a numerical study conducted by the University of Miami incorporates horizontal larval fish navigation skills into realistic 3D flow fields, creating a powerful tool that spells out how larvae use environmental cues to find their way back to the reef after being out on the open ocean. This model can be used for a wide variety of marine species. http://phys.org/news254399179.html Biology Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:26:28 EST news254399179 Tropical Storm Daphne has become an extra-tropical storm and is fading fast in the South Pacific Ocean, but not before making its mark on the Fuji Islands. NASA's TRMM satellite compiled rainfall data that revealed flooding rains fell in Fiji. http://phys.org/news252777905.html Space & Earth Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:05:25 EST news252777905 A large iceberg can carry a large amount of gravitational potential energy. While all icebergs float with the bulk of their mass submerged beneath the water's surface, some drift around with precarious orientations-they are temporarily stable, but an outside push would send them tumbling over. Large icebergs, like those that split from the Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier in Greenland, can release the energy equivalent to a magnitude 6 or 7 earthquake when they capsize. http://phys.org/news249900933.html Space & Earth Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:00:01 EST news249900933 Highly radioactive waste water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has leaked to the Pacific, its operator said Tuesday, promising to prevent similar incidents. http://phys.org/news242382541.html Space & Earth Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:29:16 EST news242382541 A fresh leak of radioactive water into the open ocean has been discovered at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear complex, its operator said Monday as cleanup efforts continued. http://phys.org/news242281851.html Space & Earth Mon, 05 Dec 2011 04:31:08 EST news242281851 The last of a huge pod of sperm and minke whales washed onto a southern Australian beach and nearby sandbank has died despite an extensive operation to set it free, officials said. http://phys.org/news240724458.html Biology Thu, 17 Nov 2011 03:54:26 EST news240724458 Invasive species have hitchhiked to the U.S. on cargo ships for centuries, but the method U.S. regulators most rely on to keep them out is not equally effective across coasts. Ecologists from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center have found that ports on the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico are significantly less protected than ports on the West Coast. http://phys.org/news239637511.html Space & Earth Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:30:04 EST news239637511 An international research team led by the University at Buffalo has shown that large energy fluctuations can rile even a "relaxed" system, raising questions about how energy might travel through structures ranging from the ocean to DNA. http://phys.org/news239279989.html Physics Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:40:44 EST news239279989 A US-based environmental group on Wednesday expressed concern over new photos that seem to show the killing of large numbers of "biologically vulnerable" sharks by fishermen in Taiwan. http://phys.org/news238214010.html Biology Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:33:37 EST news238214010 Three tropical systems in the eastern Pacific Ocean: Tropical Depression Irwin, Post-tropical cyclone Jova, and the remnants of Tropical Depression 12E all appeared to be fading on NASA satellite imagery today. http://phys.org/news237741315.html Space & Earth Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:15:24 EST news237741315 Viruses fill the ocean and have a significant effect on ocean biology, specifically marine microbiology, according to a professor of biology at UC Santa Barbara and his collaborators. http://phys.org/news232288185.html Biology Thu, 11 Aug 2011 13:30:09 EST news232288185