Category News

This summer’s Arctic sea-ice shrank to its second lowest ever extent in the era of satellite observation. The floes withdrew to just under 3.74 million sq km (1.44 million sq miles) last week, preliminary data indicates. The only time this minimum has been beaten in the 42-year spacecraft record was 2012 when the pack ice was reduced to 3.41 million sq km. Shorter autumn days and encroaching cold mean the floes are now starting to regrow.

It’s normal for Arctic sea-ice to expand through the winter each year and then melt back again in the summer, but the September minima, accounting for some variability, are getting deeper and deeper as the polar north warms.

The downward trend since satellites started routinely monitoring the floes is about 13% per decade, averaged across the month...

Transplanting coral is difficult work. “You only have 20 minutes to dive down 30 metres and transplant the coral to the correct part of the rock, where hopefully it will live for hundreds of years,” explains Serço Ekşiyan, one of a small group of volunteers who have taken on the huge task of saving the corals around the Princes’ Islands (Adalar), a picturesque archipelago in the Marmara Sea about a 40-minute boat ride from Istanbul.

The Marmara Sea, made up of water from the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, is home to 24 Alcyonacea coral species whose existence is threatened by the onslaught of nearby property development. Among those disappearing are sea whips, sea pens, sea fans and some types of red and yellow soft corals.

“Most of these corals you would never find outsid...

Scientists reached a major breakthrough recently in their efforts to restore coral off the coast of the Florida Keys. Researchers in South Florida have figured out a way to get coral to spawn more rapidly, which is notable because much of the coral in the Florida Reef Tract is dying. Over the last 40 years, nearly 90% of the live corals that once covered those reefs have died off.

Scientists are using a technique called microfragmentation or reskinning to get coral to reproduce, says Sarah Fangman, superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, which is leading a 15-year, $100 million project to restore the coral.

“The Florida Reef Tract is the only barrier reef system that we have in the United States. The only one,” Fangman says...

Fighting infections is hard. It’s even harder for corals also grappling with pollution.

Katherine Dougan, a Ph.D. student in the FIU Institute of Environment, found high levels of nutrients including nitrogen and phosphorous—caused by fertilizer, sewage and other human sources—are actually making it harder for corals to defend themselves against infections. And this is something they have to do a lot to stay healthy and survive.

A normal day on the reef usually results in corals getting roughed up. Fish slam into them while hunting. Sometimes, corals will become prey and get bitten. This is bad, because fish have pretty dirty mouths. Bacteria that’s left behind can get into the wound, causing an infection. Corals are usually capable of recovering, though...

Tropical corals are famous for their captivating colors thanks to microscopic algae inhabitants. Glowing, on the other hand, is not standard fare for tropical reefs. A 2017 documentary Chasing Coral stumbled upon glowing coral reefs by accident.

The documentary follows a team of researchers and underwater photographers intent on getting footage of coral bleaching – when corals turn bright white due to stress. An underwater heatwave was expected at New Caledonia and Australia’s Lizard Island, with coral bleaching likely to follow. 

The Chasing Coral team installed high-tech cameras on the ocean floor in the hopes of capturing the event. When the cameras failed, the team opted to manually photograph the reefs daily.

Instead of capturing the corals bleaching, however, the team...

Broken fragments of coral reef may look like nothing more than litter on the beach or seafloor, but coral rubble can support more animals than living corals, according to researchers at the University of Queensland.

Study lead author Dr. Kenny Wolfe said that reef rubble habitat, which is often overlooked as desolate, unattractive, and “dead,” is very much alive.

“When people think of coral reefs they often think of larger invertebrates that are easily found, such as sea cucumbers, starfish and giant clams,” said Dr. Wolfe. “But interestingly, dead coral rubble supports more of what we call ‘cryptic’ animals than live coral.”

“Cryptic animals are simply hidden creatures, that include tiny crabs, fishes, snails and worms – all of which hide in the nooks and crannie...

The ocean absorbs a lot more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than previously thought, suggesting certain climate models were wrong, according to a new study.

Carbon emissions from human activity does not just go straight into the atmosphere, causing the planet to heat up. While a large percentage of it does – roughly half – some of it is absorbed into the ocean. And now new research has found there has been some miscalculations on how much carbon dioxide is being absorbed by the ocean.

The cooler the ocean, the more CO2 it absorbs. However, just a few metres beneath the surface, the temperature of the ocean begins to drop drastically.

Now scientists believe previous estimates may have been as much as 10 percent off.

Professor Andrew Watson, of the University of Exeter’s Glo...

Researchers and conservationists who have been tracking turtle migration for over a decade believe a new study highlights the need for investment and conservation of vital marine habitats which play a key role in turtle’s formative years.

The study has found that sub-adult green turtles in the UK Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands will stay within a Marine Protected Area (MPA) while they are growing, but as they near maturity will migrate hundreds of miles across the Caribbean to search out adult feeding grounds.

The research, conducted by the Marine Conservation Society, the University of Exeter, the Turks and Caicos Islands Government’s Department of Environment and Coastal Resources (DECR), and other partners including the Amanyara Resort, used flipper tags and sa...

In a coordinated mission that involved air and sea-based assets, the Indian Coast Guard apprehended a fishing boat that was attempting to smuggle sea cucumber, an endangered species, into Sri Lanka.

The apprehended fishing boat was carrying 1 ton of sea cucumbers, which are valued at about $683,000 USD. The fishing boat along with three crew members have been brought to Tuticorin for further investigation. 

The interception of the boat had taken place on Saturday noon and the boat was just about 3.5 miles from the International Maritime Boundary line. The boat was intercepted off the Mandapam coast. The north western tip of the Sri Lanka is easily accessible(in terms of distance) from the areas surrounding Mandapam town in Tamil Nadu...

Sunshine has given way to wind and rain, as the motorboat chugs through a fjord in the Faroe Islands.

“Its a bit windy here,” says Olavur Gregarsen. “We’ll see how far we can get to the harvesting boat.” 

We soon reach a sheltered spot where steep mountains are looking down on hundreds of buoys bobbing in the sea. 

“They are holding up a horizontal line,” explains Mr Gregarsen, the managing director of Ocean Rainforest, a seaweed producer. “At every metre another line hangs down, and that’s where the seaweed grows.”

Breaking waves

Anchored to the sea floor, the cultivation rig consists of 50,000m (164,000ft) of underwater lattice-like ropes, designed to withstand rough sea conditions. 

“The main structure is 10m down...