Ocean mixing is a physical oceanographic phenomenon encompassing the turbulent and wave-driven processes that irreversibly redistribute heat, salt, momentum, and biogeochemical tracers within the ocean interior and boundary layers. It is mediated by shear instability, double-diffusive convection, internal waves (including internal tides), and boundary-generated turbulence, and is quantified using parameters such as diapycnal and isopycnal diffusivities. Ocean mixing regulates the vertical exchange between the surface and deep ocean, controls stratification and overturning circulation, influences climate-relevant heat and carbon storage, and sets nutrient supply to the euphotic zone, thereby coupling physical dynamics with marine biogeochemistry.
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 new study combining NASA satellite observations, ocean surveys and genetic testing of marine microorganisms found evidence that warming ocean waters may be limiting nutrient availability across much of the global ocean. ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 8, 2026
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Freshwater from melting Antarctic glaciers may be influencing the Southern Ocean in ways scientists have largely overlooked. New research, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, has found that glacial meltwater is not ...
For years, scientists have warned that melting Antarctic ice could push sea levels dangerously higher by the end of this century. But a new study led by University of Maryland scientist Madeleine Youngs suggests those warnings ...
Earth Sciences
May 15, 2026
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As climate change and human activities continually ramp up, fish are forced to find ways to adapt. As fish move around to find more suitable habitats as ocean conditions shift, regional fish distributions change—which can ...
Ecology
May 14, 2026
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You're an anaerobic microbe sunbathing on a Martian beach billions of years ago listening to the small waves hit the shoreline as you take in the perchlorates in the Martian regolith. This is because while Mars is warm and ...
Planetary Sciences
May 13, 2026
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The world's oceans are losing oxygen—and rapidly. The principal cause is the increasing warming of the oceans, which reduces the solubility of oxygen in water and increases respiratory activity. In addition, it strengthens ...
Environment
May 12, 2026
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Earth's ice is melting. As icebergs break away from glaciers and melt away, the fresh meltwater mixes into its saltwater surroundings. However, icebergs do not exist in isolation. In Greenland, for example, jammed collections ...
Earth Sciences
May 5, 2026
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A rare dataset collected by instruments at the point where Antarctica's largest ice shelf begins to float reveals ocean processes that drive melting at this critical part of the continent.
Earth Sciences
Apr 28, 2026
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Plankton are tiny, microscopic marine organisms that represent the very bottom of the food chain. Some are photosynthetic and others graze on bacteria and other plankton, but no plankton species can move against ocean currents.
Ecology
Apr 13, 2026
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