Oceanography
Researchers have identified a mysterious golden orb discovered more than two miles underwater in the Gulf of Alaska as the remains of a giant deep-sea anemone. The object, collected during a 2023 NOAA expedition, puzzled experts for over two years until advanced DNA analysis provided the answer. The finding highlights the ongoing mysteries of deep-ocean life.
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Researchers led by UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography have developed GOFLOW, a deep learning technique that converts thermal images from geostationary weather satellites into high-resolution maps of ocean surface currents. It reveals fast-changing, sub-10-kilometer features vital for climate, heat/carbon uptake, and marine ecosystems, with results published in Nature Geoscience (DOI: 10.1038/s41561-026-01943-0).
A new study reveals that sediment plumes from deep-sea mining could starve vital marine life in the ocean's twilight zone by replacing nutritious particles with nutrient-poor waste. Researchers from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa found that this 'junk food' effect threatens zooplankton and micronekton, potentially rippling through the entire ocean food chain. The findings, based on a 2022 mining test in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, highlight risks to ecosystems supporting global fisheries and carbon cycles.
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Freshwater from melting ice and increased precipitation is temporarily trapping carbon dioxide in the deep Southern Ocean, countering predictions of a weakening carbon sink. Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute explain this stabilizing effect in a new study. However, intensifying winds may soon reverse this protection, potentially releasing stored CO2 into the atmosphere.