ocean news stories on Newser

Plastic in Pacific Has Grown 100-Fold Since 1970s

Kevin Spak — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:00:00 CDT

Humanity has tossed a lot of plastic into the Pacific Ocean in the last 40 years. The level of small plastic pieces in the so-called "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" has increased 100-fold over that span, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography found in a new study. "We did not expect to...

Ailing Dolphins May Be Linked to BP Spill

Dustin Lushing — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:43:51 CDT

Another sign that the catastrophic 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is taking a serious toll on the local dolphin population: Researchers conducted physicals on 32 of them last summer in a particularly hard-hit bay and discovered that many suffered from anemia, low blood sugar, low weight, and...

Global Warming's Cost on Oceans: $2T a Year by 2100

Kevin Spak — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:31:51 CDT

Unless action is taken to protect them, damage to the world's oceans could reach $1.98 trillion annually by 2100, according to a study released today by the Stockholm Environment Institute. The principle culprit: climate change, which will cause rising sea levels, ocean acidification, marine pollution, species migrations, and cause...

Scientists Create First Full Map of Titanic Wreckage

Dustin Lushing — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:34:41 CST

For the first time ever, researchers have constructed a complete map of the Titanic's underwater shipwreck site. When the Titanic sank in 1912, debris was scattered across an area measuring 3 by 5 miles. To draw a detailed map of the area, scientists dispatched robots to take more than 100,...

Big Catch in Pakistan: Giant Whale Shark

Kate Schwartz — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:00:00 CST

A photo is worth 1,000 words ... or 14,000 pounds, in the case of unbelievable images out of Pakistan. The Express Tribune reports that a 35-foot whale shark was found dead in the Arabian Sea and hauled to the Karachi harbor yesterday, where two small cranes attempted to hoist...

Giant Crustacean Found in Ocean Trench

Rob Quinn — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:10:00 CST

Scientists looking for deep-sea life off the coast of New Zealand were amazed when their traps yielded several specimens of a "supergiant" crustacean not seen for decades. The amphipods—sometimes called the "insects of the sea"—were more than 10 inches long, 20 times as big as typical amphipod species....

Fleece Jackets Polluting the World's Oceans

Neal Colgrass — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:20:00 CST

The Stuff White People Like blog has mocked people for wearing "outdoor performance clothes" everywhere they go, but who knew those fleece pullovers are also dirtying up our oceans. A recent study shows that nearly 2,000 polyester fibers can come loose from one piece of clothing in the wash....

Tourist Sucked Into Deadly Maui Blowhole

Mary Papenfuss — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 01:54:37 CDT

Horrified onlookers watched helplessly as a Northern California man was sucked into a tourist-touted "blowhole" on the shores of Maui. David Potts was clowning around close to the geyser-like phenomenon when a sneaker wave knocked him off his feet and he disappeared down the spouting hole. He bobbed to the...

Saturn Moon May Hide Underground Ocean

Kevin Spak — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:46:05 CDT

Saturn’s moon Enceladus is spewing what appears to be chunks of ice composed of salt-water vapor out of fractures in its southern pole, leading scientists to believe there may be a massive ocean lurking beneath its surface. The plumes were first discovered by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft some time ago, but...