Paleoceanography is the scientific study of past ocean states, processes, and variability on geological timescales, using physical, chemical, biological, and isotopic proxies preserved in marine sediments, microfossils, corals, and other archives. It reconstructs parameters such as sea-surface and deep-water temperatures, salinity, circulation patterns, biogeochemical cycles, ice volume, and sea level, often through analyses of stable and radiogenic isotopes, trace metals, and sedimentological characteristics. Paleoceanography is central to understanding ocean–climate feedbacks, carbon cycle dynamics, and the response of the ocean system to external forcings, and it provides critical boundary conditions and validation targets for climate and Earth system models.
When most people think about corals, they imagine a tropical reef with crystal blue water, teeming with colorful fish. But, in the depths of the cold, murky Gulf of Maine, deep-sea corals thrive, feasting on a steady supply ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 20, 2026
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New analyses of ancient ice from Antarctica and the air contained inside it are extending the history of Earth's climate records and expanding researchers' understanding of how the planet has changed over the last 3 million ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 18, 2026
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53
An international team led by the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH) has just published a paper in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews reconstructing episodes of highstands of the Black ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 18, 2026
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Navigating monolithic icebergs, massive ocean waves and sub-zero snowstorms, CSIRO research vessel (RV) Investigator is a workhorse for Antarctic science. In just over 11 years and spread across seven voyages, the vessel ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 16, 2026
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Climate change is lengthening our days because rising sea levels slow Earth's rotation. Researchers from the University of Vienna and ETH Zurich now show that the current increase in day length—1.33 milliseconds per century—is ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 12, 2026
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A new study led by researchers at the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Institute of Science Tokyo challenges a long-standing assumption about Earth's most extreme ice ages. Using numerical geochemical models, the team ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 10, 2026
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New geological data indicate that marine life is somewhat resilient to warming in the tropics. Chris Fokkema, Earth scientist at Utrecht University, discovered that tropical algae were largely unaffected by a number of periods ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 1, 2026
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174
Cyanobacteria, as they still exist today, were the first organisms to carry out photosynthesis and release oxygen. Produced in primeval oceans about 2.5 billion years ago, this oxygen accumulated in Earth's atmosphere on ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 26, 2026
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69
Eastern Canada has seen a rise in the number of hurricane- and near-hurricane strength events battering its maritime areas, with particularly violent storms in 2003 (Hurricane Juan), 2019 (Dorian) and 2022 (Fiona). While ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 24, 2026
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77
Researchers have identified a "tipping point" about 2.7 million years ago when global climate conditions switched from being relatively warm and stable to cold and chaotic, as continental ice sheets expanded in the Northern ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 19, 2026
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