Simon Lamb, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington and Timothy Stern, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
New research confirms that massive plumes of buoyant hot rock once rose from near the Earth’s core to the surface and triggered vast volcanic eruptions - and that New Zealand sits on top of one.
New South Wales boasts many wonderful ocean pools, thanks to a combination of climate, geology, culture and prosperity. Despite concerns about costs, economic and health benefits far outweigh these.
Fishers who hunt wild tuna use fish’s natural attraction to floating objects to lure them to known positions near GPS-equipped rafts. However, these rafts are attracting increasing concern.
The day and a half it takes to get from New York to Singapore and back offers plenty of time to ponder the economics of ultra-long-haul flights – and wonder why we’d want to make it any longer.
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.
Pacific salmon are ingrained in the culture and economy of Canada. They are also a key link between ocean and land. But what happens if a pipeline failure contaminates their habitat?
In 1850, the Micronesian island of Nahlapenlohd was the scene of Pohnpei state’s first battle involving cannons and muskets. Less than two centuries later, it has sunk beneath the waves.
Walter Munk might be the most under-appreciated man in surfing, but he is a big deal in ocean science. If you’ve ever checked a surf forecast before paddling out, you have him to thank.
After making worldwide headlines with the story of the Pacific “garbage island”, researchers were sent a photo of the same beach, white sand free of litter, as recently as 1992.
Ben Henley, The University of Melbourne and Andrew King, The University of Melbourne
If the Pacific Ocean enters an ‘El Tio’ phase, it could speed the world towards 1.5 degrees of global warming, one of the crucial benchmarks of the Paris Climate Agreement.
The category 4 cyclone - the fifth storm of this year’s season, and the strongest so far - has buffeted the Queensland coast across a wide area centred on Airlie Beach.
Since 1999, Australia has swung between drought and deluge with surprising speed, because El Niño has fallen into sync with similar patterns in the Indian and Southern Oceans.