Ocean acidification rate may be unprecedented, study says

The single-celled organism Stensioeina beccariiformis survived the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago but went extinct 9 million years later, when the oceans acidified due to a massive CO2 release. It ranged across many depths, in all oceans. (Credit: Ellen Thomas)

Ocean acidification rate may be unprecedented, study says

ScienceDaily (Mar. 1, 2012) — The world's oceans may be turning acidic faster today from human carbon emissions than they did during four major extinctions in the last 300 million years, when natural pulses of carbon sent global temperatures soaring, says a new study in Science. The study is the first of its kind to survey the geologic record for evidence of ocean acidification over this vast time period.

Global sea level rise: NASA mission takes stock of Earth's melting land ice

Global sea level rise: NASA mission takes stock of Earth's melting land ice

Changes in ice thickness (in centimeters per year) during 2003-2010 as measured by NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites, averaged over each of the world's ice caps and glacier systems outside of Greenland and Antarctica. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Colorado)

ScienceDaily (Feb. 9, 2012) — In the first comprehensive satellite study of its kind, a University of Colorado at Boulder-led team used NASA data to calculate how much Earth's melting land ice is adding to global sea level rise.

Using satellite measurements from the NASA/German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), the researchers measured ice loss in all of Earth's land ice between 2003 and 2010, with particular emphasis on glaciers and ice caps outside of Greenland and Antarctica.

The total global ice mass lost from Greenland, Antarctica and Earth's glaciers and ice caps during the study period was about 4.3 trillion tons (1,000 cubic miles), adding about 0.5 inches (12 millimeters) to global sea level. That's enough ice to cover the United States 1.5 feet (0.5 meters) deep.

"Earth is losing a huge amount of ice to the ocean annually, and these new results will help us answer important questions in terms of both sea rise and how the planet's cold regions are responding to global change," said University of Colorado Boulder physics professor John Wahr, who helped lead the study.  ( to continue read at Science daily website ... )

Global sea level rise: NASA mission takes stock of Earth's melting land ice

My Father, the Captain: Jacques-Yves Cousteau - Promo

Global experts question claims about jellyfish populations

Global experts question claims about jellyfish populations

Giant jellyfish clogging fishing nets in Japan. (Credit: Shin-ichi Uye)

ScienceDaily (Feb. 1, 2012) — Blooms, or proliferation, of jellyfish have shown a substantial, visible impact on coastal populations -- clogged nets for fishermen, stinging waters for tourists, even choked intake lines for power plants -- and recent media reports have created a perception that the world's oceans are experiencing increases in jellyfish due to human activities such as global warming and overharvesting of fish.

Carbon dioxide is 'driving fish crazy'

Rising human carbon dioxide emissions may be affecting the brains and central nervous system of sea fishes. (Credit: Image courtesy of ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies)

ScienceDaily (2012-01-20) -- Rising human carbon dioxide emissions may be affecting the brains and central nervous system of sea fishes with serious consequences for their survival, an international scientific team has found. Carbon dioxide concentrations predicted to occur in the ocean by the end of this century will interfere with fishes' ability to hear, smell, turn and evade predators, says a professor.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120120184233.htm

Unidentified pale octopus on the seafloor. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Oxford

ScienceDaily (2012-01-03) -- Communities of species previously unknown to science have been discovered on the seafloor near Antarctica, clustered in the hot, dark environment surrounding hydrothermal vents. The discoveries include new species of yeti crab, starfish, barnacles, sea anemones, and potentially an octopus.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120103185246.htm

"Um Mundo Perdido" descoberto proximo das fendas vulcânicas termais, do Continente Anatartico.

Comunidades de espécies bentônicas, previamente não conhecidas pela ciência, foram descobertas no fundo do oceano próximo da Antartida, agregadas ao ambiente quente e escuro de fendas hidrotérmicas de origem vulcânica.As descobertas incluem novas espécies de caranguejos,estrelas,cracas,anemonas e em potencial,um polvo.

Paleoclimate record points toward potential rapid climate changes

Paleoclimate record points toward potential rapid climate changes