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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.
Digital technologies like drones are being heavily promoted to address the threats of climate change and biodiversity loss.
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Digital technologies have the potential to yield positive results, if co-developed and used ethically with Indigenous communities.
Equinor’s Hywind Scotland became the world’s first floating wind farm in 2017.
Øyvind Gravås/Woldcam via Equinor
Some of the most powerful offshore wind is over water too deep for a standard wind turbine. Engineers found a way around the problem.
Construction in the Chinese-financed Port City complex in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Oct. 19, 2022.
Pradeep Dambarage/NurPhoto via Getty Images
China’s international lending projects have big potential impacts on oceans and coasts. By cooperating more closely with host countries, Beijing can make those projects more sustainable.
In the Sundarbans swamp, pneumatophores are upward growths of mangrove root systems that allow them to capture oxygen.
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On the border between India and Bangladesh, the Sundarbans suffer from overexploitation and rising sea levels. With a “Climate Wall” project, a virtual museum is raising awareness and increasing resiliency.
Hammerhead sharks schooling near Costa Rica’s Cocos Island.
John Voo/Flickr
A study offers evidence that marine biology’s biggest stage is broken, and suggests ways to fix it.
Deep ‘blue holes,’ like this one off Belize, can collect evidence of hurricanes.
The TerraMar Project
A look back at hurricane history suggests we may be significantly underestimating future risks.
A squadron of reef manta rays at a feeding site in Raja Ampat.
Our new, world-first research provides strong evidence of a significant increase in reef manta rays in protected areas of Raja Ampat over a decade.
Researchers discovered five new species of black corals, including this Hexapathes bikofskii growing out of a nautilus shell more than 2,500 feet (760 meters) below the surface.
Jeremy Horowitz
Black corals provide critical habitat for many creatures that live in the dark, often barren, deep sea, and researchers are learning more about these rare corals with every dive.
On 3 July 1970, France carried out the “Licorne” nuclear test on the atoll of Muroroa, French Polynesia.
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In Europe, a large-scale war could cause the Baltic Sea to freeze over and severely compromise food security – potentially for decades and even centuries to come.
Anya Waite (second from left) highlights the critical role of the ocean in regulating our climate, and the need to invest in observing oceans that store more than 90 per cent of all carbon, at COP27’s Earth Information Day event.
(The Global Ocean Observing System)
COP27’s agreement on observing the oceans sets a strong foundation for policymakers to invest in internationally linked observation that will help countries better monitor these carbon sinks.
A mangrove seed at Nxaxo estuary on South Africa’s Wild Coast.
J. Raw
Mangroves support a significant amount of biodiversity and their soils can capture a great deal of carbon.
The West African coastline is a source of livelihood for millions.
Wikimedia Commons/Paul Walter
There is only a single mooring managed by French researchers that monitors the impacts of climate change on West African Canary Current.
An olive ridley swims Into the wild blue yonder.
Gerard Soury/The Image Bank via Getty Images
Standard marine protected areas with fixed boundaries can’t effectively shelter these ocean nomads.
Debt swaps in some countries have involved commitments to protect the ocean.
Ashley Cooper/Corbis via Getty Images
Many small island nations are struggling to protect their land from rising seas while also facing paralyzing debt.
Penguins are at risk as a warming climate affects sea ice in Antarctica.
Raimund Linke/The Image Bank via Getty Images
Emperor penguins survive in a ‘Goldilocks zone’ between too much sea ice and too little. Climate change is having an impact.
Newly hatched loggerhead sea turtles (Caterra caretta ) journey from their nest toward the ocean.
Omer Kundakci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Scientists don’t know what prompts turtle hatchlings to emerge from their nests and head for the water, but vibrations appear to play a role.
We could sink more carbon in the ocean to fight climate change, but should we?
Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis via Getty Images
From planting mangroves to dumping minerals in the ocean, there are lots of ideas for ocean carbon dioxide removal – and even more questions.
Ballast water discharge from transoceanic ships introduces invasive species to the Great Lakes.
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Ballast water release from ocean vessels has been a major source of invasive species in the Great Lakes for over 60 years.
Plastic bottles and other waste are some of the contaminants destroying the oceans.
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The oceans bordering West African countries are in grave danger from pollution; checking further degradation is crucial for human survival.