The Atlantic Ocean is still growing physically, but humans are over-harvesting its rich fisheries. The most famous one – North Atlantic cod – has become a textbook example of harmful overfishing.
Fish can’t read maps, and their eggs and larvae drift across national boundaries. Recent research shows that local problems in one fishery can affect others across wide areas.
Great areas of rubbish – known as ‘garbage patches’ – are known to form in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, but not the southern Indian Ocean. Why is that?
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current provides a barrier to heat that keeps warm subtropical waters away from Antarctica. Yet, there are a few places where the heat gets through.
A chance discovery of some kelp that floated for 20,000km before washing up on an Antarctic beach has opened up a new chapter in our understanding of the currents that swirl around the Southern Ocean.
Sea snakes spend their lives in the water, giving birth to live young at sea, so why are they only found in some of the world’s oceans? The answer lies in a combination of climate and geography.
The dolphin population in parts of Western Australia more than halved one year, just as an El Niño event hit over in the Pacific. So what’s the connection?
Marjolaine Krug, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
The Agulhas Current is important to South Africa for a variety of reasons. Studying how it impacts the coast has been difficult using traditional methods. But gliders are changing that.
Most ocean species start out as larvae drifting with currents. Using underwater robots, scientists have found that larvae use swimming motions to affect their course and reach suitable places to grow.
Scientists are about to embark on a two month mission to find out how Australia and its reefs coped with climate change in the past, and therefore how it should cope with any future change.