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.
As marine-terminating glaciers melt, the resulting freshwater is released at the seafloor, which mixes with salty seawater and influences circulation patterns. As the oceans warm, it's growing increasingly important to study ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 13, 2026
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New findings about ocean processes in the Antarctic show melting ice shelves and changes to sea ice could have catastrophic implications for the global climate.
Earth Sciences
Dec 18, 2025
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Stanford researchers have uncovered evidence that deep underwater earthquakes can spur the growth of massive phytoplankton blooms at the ocean surface.
Earth Sciences
Dec 18, 2025
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Intense storms that sweep over the Southern Ocean enable the ocean to absorb more heat from the atmosphere. New research from the University of Gothenburg shows that today's climate models underestimate how storms mix the ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 16, 2025
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In the coming decades, climate change is likely to lead to a loss of sea ice in and an influx of warmer water to the Arctic Ocean, affecting the ocean's vertical circulation. Brown and colleagues recently investigated the ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 8, 2025
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Is it a gassy whale? A top secret submarine? Godzilla rising from the surfer-filled waters of Hermosa Beach?
Environment
Nov 20, 2025
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Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have identified stormlike circulation patterns beneath the Antarctic ice shelves that are causing aggressive melting, with major implications ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 18, 2025
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Melting ice in the Arctic is causing an increasing amount of freshwater to enter the North Atlantic, which is expected to result in a weakening of the Atlantic overturning circulation. However, many modeling studies make ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 11, 2025
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A study has revealed that the substantial retreat of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) approximately 9,000 years ago was driven by a self-reinforcing feedback loop between ice melt and ocean circulation.
Earth Sciences
Nov 7, 2025
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A study published in Nature Climate Change by an international team of scientists from the IBS Center for Climate Physics (ICCP) at Pusan National University in South Korea, presents new evidence that ocean turbulence and ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 5, 2025
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