Ocean currents are large-scale, persistent movements of seawater driven primarily by wind stress, density gradients (thermohaline circulation), Earth’s rotation, and basin geometry. They form interconnected surface and deep circulatory systems that redistribute heat, salt, nutrients, and dissolved gases across ocean basins. Major surface currents, organized into gyres, are largely wind-driven and Coriolis-deflected, while deep currents follow density-controlled pathways linked to water mass formation at high latitudes. Ocean currents modulate regional and global climate, influence marine biogeochemical cycles, and are central to coupled ocean–atmosphere dynamics represented in numerical circulation and climate models.
It's official: El Niño is back. By late fall 2026, forecast models give a 2-in-3 chance of a strong-to-very-strong El Niño affecting the weather, climate and ocean temperatures across the planet.
Environment
Jun 15, 2026
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The world relies on a modest number of countries to keep watch over the ocean. That arrangement is starting to fail. Europe and Asia must now decide whether to let the system unravel, or to take it up together.
Environment
Jun 13, 2026
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During an abrupt global cold snap nearly 13,000 years ago, the Gulf Stream ocean current shifted farther north, temporarily disrupting eastern Canada's oceanic ecosystems, a process that could happen again as the climate ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 12, 2026
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Ocean currents are not just horizontal motions that flow from side to side. There are also vertical currents that act like deep-sea elevators, pushing heat and carbon down into the deep, while bringing up vital nutrients ...
A part of the Atlantic Ocean, just south of Greenland and Iceland, has been cooling off while the rest of the world gets hotter. This enigmatic patch is often referred to as the "cold blob" and scientists have been trying ...
Understanding the dynamics of how water moves is deceptively simple in concept and endlessly complex in practice. Real-world marine environments are anything but controlled: weather, seasons, and geography change constantly. ...
Earth Sciences
May 29, 2026
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A study by researchers at The University of Manchester, carried out alongside the Universities of Melbourne and Copenhagen, could hold the key to understanding the causes of long-term health problems, such as infertility ...
Soft Matter
May 27, 2026
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Increasingly, the world's oceans are telling us our climate system may be changing faster and more dramatically than expected.
Environment
May 25, 2026
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The offspring of a common coral branching species set up a new home up to 100 kilometers or more from their parents in one of the longest dispersal distances ever measured, according to new international research.
Plants & Animals
May 20, 2026
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10
For generations, the mild and temperate climate of northwestern Europe has been credited to one legendary force: the Gulf Stream. This idea is so deeply entrenched in our cultural identity that in James Joyce's Ulysses, the ...
Earth Sciences
May 5, 2026
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