Far from the vast, fixed bodies of water oceanographers thought they were a century ago, oceans today are known to be interconnected, highly influential agents in Earth's climate system.
Earth Sciences
May 15, 2019
1
93
In the Atlantic Ocean, a giant 'conveyor belt' carries warm waters from the tropics into the North Atlantic, where they cool and sink and then return southwards in the deep ocean. This circulation pattern is an important ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 20, 2019
143
3664
Over the last 540 million years, the Earth has weathered three major ice ages—periods during which global temperatures plummeted, producing extensive ice sheets and glaciers that have stretched beyond the polar caps.
Earth Sciences
Mar 14, 2019
11
2514
Greenland is melting faster than scientists previously thought—and will likely lead to faster sea level rise—thanks to the continued, accelerating warming of the Earth's atmosphere, a new study has found.
Earth Sciences
Jan 21, 2019
50
1213
Heat trapped by greenhouse gases is raising ocean temperatures faster than previously thought, concludes an analysis of four recent ocean heating observations. The results provide further evidence that earlier claims of a ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 10, 2019
47
1015
The largest extinction in Earth's history marked the end of the Permian period, some 252 million years ago. Long before dinosaurs, our planet was populated with plants and animals that were mostly obliterated after a series ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 6, 2018
36
2767
Scientists have documented a two-part climatic connection between the North Atlantic Ocean and Antarctica, a fast atmospheric channel and a much slower oceanic one, that caused rapid changes in climate during the last ice ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 28, 2018
1
139
A huge circulation pattern in the Atlantic Ocean took a starring role in the 2004 movie "The Day After Tomorrow." In that fictional tale the global oceanic current suddenly stops and New York City freezes over.
Earth Sciences
Jul 18, 2018
8
186
A new scenario seeking to explain how Mars' putative oceans came and went over the last 4 billion years implies that the oceans formed several hundred million years earlier and were not as deep as once thought.
Space Exploration
Mar 19, 2018
1
505
Industrial and agricultural activities produce large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Many bacteria also produce methane as a byproduct of their metabolism. Some of this naturally released ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 7, 2017
2
93
