In a plot reminiscent of the 2004 movie The Day After Tomorrow?, Australian scientists are warning that the Southern Ocean’s deep “overturning” circulation is slowing and headed for collapse.
Tiny pieces of plastic litter have a harmful impact on marine animals, including mussels.
Popova Tetiana/Shutterstock
Images of the 2011 tsunami did not look as I had expected, and pointed to the sublime, when experience exceeds our frameworks of understanding. My exhibit ‘Salients’ treats this theme.
A handful of wealthy states have so far monopolised the benefits of exploring the remote ocean.
If left unchecked, the complete melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet would cause a global sea level increase of 3.3 metres in the distant future.
(Shutterstock)
Over 100 shark and ray species were recently added to an international treaty, known as the CITES list, to protect them from the threat of unsustainable and illegal trade.
Pam Longobardi amid a giant heap of fishing gear that she and volunteers from the Hawaii Wildlife Fund collected in 2008.
David Rothstein
Pam Longobardi collects and documents ocean plastic waste and transforms it into public art and photography. Her work makes statements about consumption, globalism and conservation.
The Dolphin and Union Caribou is an endangered species in Canada.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Climate change is making oceans more acidic globally. Now, scientists are finding that large storms can send pulses of acidic water into bays and estuaries, further stressing fish and shellfish.
Sunset over New Zealand from the ocean sampling voyage.
Guy Shelley/Monash University
The ocean twilight zone could store vast amounts of carbon captured from the atmosphere, but first we need a 4D monitoring system to ensure ramping up carbon storage does no harm.
From a shipwreck to ancient dunes, these researchers created 3D visualisations of seafloor features around Australia – from as shallow as 22 metres to depths of over 4.8 kilometres.
Deep sea sponges and other creatures live on and among valuable manganese nodules like this one that could be mined from the seafloor.
ROV KIEL 6000/GEOMAR
Mining nodules from the deep ocean seabed could provide the metals crucial for today’s EV batteries and renewable energy technology, but little is known about the harm it could cause.
To fish the oceans sustainably, nations must reduce bycatch, or accidental catches. But fishermen often resist changing gear or techniques that kill nontargeted species.
Sea-level rise isn’t the only climate-related problem for our coasts – extreme waves that cause flooding and erosion are also changing, but exactly how is hard to predict.
Humans are expert pattern-finders. But artificial intelligence tools are better at trawling through vast data sets to find anything from waste dumps to heat-tolerant corals.