During WWII, naval oceanographers discovered a reflective layer that rose and fell across their sonar screens once each day. Further research revealed that it comprised swarms of fish and tiny sea creatures called zooplankton ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 7, 2020
1
205
Besides swathes of destroyed vegetation, forest fires in Amazonia leave their imprint on the Amazon River and its tributaries. Incomplete burning of trees results in the production of black carbon, solid particles that enter ...
Environment
Nov 20, 2019
0
34
When scientists want to study Earth's very ancient geological past—typically greater than 100 million years ago—they often turn to rocks called carbonates.
Earth Sciences
Nov 11, 2019
0
58
In understanding the global carbon cycle, "black carbon"—decay-resistant carbon molecules altered by exposure to fire or combustion—has long been presumed to originate on land and work its way to the ocean via rivers ...
Environment
Nov 7, 2019
4
527
Marine sediments play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle due to the oxygen consumption and CO2 respiration of the organisms that live in and on the ocean floor. To help predict the changing contribution of this respiration ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 30, 2019
0
11
Antarctic krill are well-known for their role at the base of the Southern Ocean food web, where they're food for marine predators such as seals, penguins and whales.
Earth Sciences
Oct 18, 2019
0
1943
Clay minerals suspended in seawater binds sedimentary organic carbon to their mineral surfaces. But the quantity of carbon that is bound and the source of that carbon very much depends on the clay mineral in question. A research ...
Environment
Oct 14, 2019
0
55
The chain of causation that connects rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to the marine biota has been made clearer by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report "Special Report on ...
Environment
Oct 9, 2019
1
46
It's common knowledge that, through the process of natural selection, organisms adapt to their environments. But what happens when there are no barriers to gene flow and organisms are free-floating between extremely variable ...
Ecology
Sep 27, 2019
0
11
In early October 2016, a tropical storm named Nicole formed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It roamed for six days, reaching Category 4 hurricane status with powerful 140 mile-per hour-winds, before hitting the tiny ...
Environment
Sep 19, 2019
0
19
