articles

We’re familiar with how climate change is impacting the ocean’s biology, from bleaching events that cause coral die-offs to algae blooms that choke coastal marine ecosystems, but it’s becoming clear that a warming planet is also impacting the physics of ocean circulation.

A new study by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and their international colleagues found that freshwater runoff from rivers and continental shelf sediments are bringing significant quantities of carbon and trace elements into parts of the Arctic Ocean via the Transpolar Drift—a major surface current that moves water from Siberia across the North Pole to the North Atlantic Ocean.

Between 2010 and 2017, the rainforest emitted more carbon than it absorbed

Tiny fragments of plastic waste are dispersed throughout the environment, including the oceans, where marine organisms can ingest them. 

Data collected, transmitted, and processed in real time can improve farming productivity and sustainability, but limited connectivity and access to digital technology are barriers still needing to be addressed