By Arden Dier , Newser.AI .  Excerpt: The massive marine heat wave, formed as a North Pacific hot spot merged with warming tied to a developing super El Niño along the equator, covers about 13.5% of Earth's surface, stretching from the Philippines to Peru and toward Hawaii and California...the Washington Post reports. Forecasters say the heat is already helping fuel Super Typhoon Bavi in the western Pacific and could help set up a strong heat dome over the western US in mid-July, heightening fire risks from Arizona to Colorado. As the ocean absorbs heat, the water expands, with implications for global sea levels. ...sea levels this winter could run 6 inches to 2 feet above normal—with storms pushing that surge to 2 to 3 feet higher, raising the odds of disruptive coastal flooding, the Post reports. ...Globally, marine heat waves now cover more than 37% of the ocean, triple the share seen in the late 1980s....  Full article at https://www.newser.com/story/392288/pacific-ocean...

By Paul Voosen, Science.  Excerpt: After decades of warnings, new data suggest the Atlantic’s vital circulation may withstand climate warming better than feared. ...Climate models have long warned that global warming could weaken “deep-water formation”—the density-driven sinking that is the engine of the AMOC [Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation]. The logic is straightforward: As Greenland’s ice sheets melt and sea ice formation declines, North Atlantic waters will freshen. Combined with warmer sea temperatures, the freshening makes surface waters more buoyant. The AMOC was thought to have shut down abruptly during past climate warmings, and a handful of researchers now argue such a tipping point could occur this century. ...Yet for all the alarming headlines, most climate researchers think the AMOC is more resilient than these worst case scenarios make it seem. Emerging evidence suggests the AMOC may not have actually collapsed in the warm climates following ice ages. More...

By Eric Niiler , The New York Times.  Excerpt: The $368 million network of instruments collecting data in both the Atlantic and Pacific has been critical to climate and ocean research....  Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/climate/ocean-observatories-initiative.html .  See also E.U. Steps Up Ocean Monitoring as Trump Administration Backs Away .

By Johnny Sturgeon , Inside Climate News.  Excerpt: Consumers in the U.K. are being warned to “completely avoid” all home-caught cod by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS). The nation’s cod stocks have declined over the last decade, driven by overfishing and sea temperature changes, warns the environmental charity.  ...In September, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) issued scientific  findings  to the U.K. and European Union calling for a zero catch of North Sea cod in 2026... any commercial fishing could threaten reproduction rates. The Denmark-based fishery board warned fishermen to avoid catching off the west coast of Scotland, in the North Sea and in the English Channel. ...With  97 percent  of UK households eating fish, the MCS has recommended consumers choose more sustainable alternatives such as Icelandic cod or European hake. ...However, this is not the first reckoning for British fisheries in recent months....

By Melissa A. Versteeg et al, Science.  Abstract: Vertebrate growth is generally considered to be unidirectional, but challenging environmental conditions, such as heatwaves, may disrupt normal growth patterns and affect individual survival. Here, we investigate the growth of individual clown anemonefish,  Amphiprion percula , during a marine heatwave. ...Our results show that clown anemonefish shrink in response to heat stress.... Further, shrinking is modulated by social rank and size, and individuals that shrink more often and in a coordinated fashion with their breeding partner have higher survival during the heat stress event....  Full article at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adt7079 . 

By Sebastiaan J. van de Velde et al, Science.  Excerpt: Fishers for bottom-loving species like flounder sometimes use a controversial method called bottom trawling, dragging nets along the seafloor to scoop the animals up. Critics point out that this dragging can kill sensitive animals like turtles and marine mammals, plus it causes extensive damage to the delicate habitats on the seabed. Now, they have another reason to gripe about the practice:  It worsens climate change . Researchers had already found that the act of stirring up sediment brings organic matter to the surface, where  microbes can digest it and release its carbon into the atmosphere . The team behind a new paper wanted to quantify other effects, including how stirring up sediment affects water chemistry. Sure enough, they found that messing with the seabed introduces more oxygen and acidifies the water, which in turn decreases its ability to dissolve carbon dioxide. ...trawling could be reduced with...

By Robert F. Service , Science.  Excerpt: The carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) spewing from human activities is not only changing Earth’s atmosphere, it’s also rapidly acidifying the planet’s oceans. In 50 years, that acidification could reduce the oceans’ ability to absorb CO 2  by 10% as it takes a toll on phytoplankton, microscopic single-cell organisms that feed on the gas through the process of photosynthesis, a new study suggests. Reported this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,  the effect could in turn cause atmospheric CO 2  to build up faster  and accelerate warming of the global climate....  Full article at https://www.science.org/content/article/more-carbon-dioxide-oceans-could-harm-carbon-eating-microbes-speed-climate-change .

By Veronique Greenwood , The New York Times.  Excerpt: The ocean is filled with microscopic creatures that thrive in the sunshine. These bacteria and plankton periodically clump up with detritus, like waste produced by fish, and then drift softly downward, transforming into what scientists call  marine snow . In the inky depths of the ocean that the sun can’t reach, other creatures depend on the relentless fall of marine snow for food. Those of us living on land depend on it, too: Marine snow is thought to store vast amounts of carbon in the ocean rather than letting it heat Earth’s atmosphere. Once those particles of marine snow arrive at the ocean bottom, their carbon stays down there for untold eons. ...Researchers ...found that gooey, transparent parachutes considerably slow the snow’s descent.... These findings are described in a paper published last week in the journal Science. ...The bigger the mucus gob, the scientists found, the slower the particle’s fall. ...“We alre...

By Grace van Deelen , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Just a spoonful of ocean water is home to millions of microbes—tiny, single-celled organisms that play crucial roles in the ocean’s biogeochemical processes. A new study in  Science   illuminates which organic particles these microbes prefer to munch on, aiding scientists’ understanding of how carbon moves through the ocean on a larger scale. ...The movement of carbon from the surface of the ocean to depth, known as the biological carbon pump, helps control the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Microbes are key to this system, as they degrade organic particles as they consume them. That process releases carbon. ...The study investigated how microbes break down lipids—carbon-containing molecules that make up around 20% of organic particles in the ocean. Scientists know that some lipids reach the deep ocean, whereas others are degraded along the way. The team wanted to learn what factors might influence lipids’ fate. ...T...

By Warren Cornwall , Science.  Excerpt: Geoengineering study that would disperse alkaline chemicals off Cape Cod draws environmental opposition. Adam Subhas ...has spent much of his career as a chemical oceanographer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), quietly studying how seawater can naturally offset global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Now, Subhas has been thrust into a heated public debate. Next month he and his colleagues want to dump tons of caustic chemicals off the coast of Massachusetts to see whether they can boost the ocean’s uptake of CO 2 . They’re seeking what would be the first-ever regulatory approval for such a study from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). But some nearby residents and environmental groups, worried about safety, have pressed EPA to delay or halt the study. “It’s been a new journey to interact with reporters and the public and everyone at this level and at this intensity,” Subhas says. ...The natural alkalinit...

By Yuanxu Dong  et al, Science.  Summary: It’s no secret that the ocean is  a big help when it comes to curbing climate change , absorbing carbon and locking much of it away in its deep, dark depths. And that’s  especially true of the waters around Antarctica . Now, a study  published in  Science Advances  suggests that the Southern Ocean may be pulling   25%  more  carbon dioxide from our atmosphere than previously thought . “ Accurate quantification of the Southern Ocean CO 2  sink is essential for the assessment of the Earth’s climate ,” said Yuanxu Dong, lead author on the new paper, in a statement. Unfortunately, it’s the part of the globe we’re least certain about, as conditions often make sampling difficult. ...The new data indicate far more carbon absorption than expected during summer—and suggest  previous estimates that relied on indirect methods were thrown off by temperature....  Full paper at https:/...

By Sarah Stanley , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Marine life ...depends on the right combination of water temperature, acidity, and oxygen levels, so creatures such as fish and plankton can be  hard hit  by large regional fluctuations in any of these parameters. When two, or even all three, are off-kilter, the environment can become uninhabitable for many species. Because climate change has generally been  heating the ocean ,  boosting its acidity , and  lowering its oxygen levels , concerns over these regional multithreat events—known as column-compound extremes—are growing. Now,  Wong et al.  report that since the early 1960s, column-compound extremes have been intensifying: growing larger in volume, lasting longer, and occurring more often. ...The analysis suggests that triple column-compound extremes—events involving the convergence of extreme temperatures, high acidity, and low oxygen levels—occupied 39 times more ocean volume, lasted 3 times longer, an...

By WARREN CORNWALL , Science.  Excerpt: Starting in late 2013, the first in a handful of  record-shattering heat waves  struck the north Pacific Ocean near Alaska. Temperatures in these warm “blobs,” which have occurred four times in the past decade, sometimes reach more than 2°C above normal. ...Research has implicated climate change, which can supercharge natural fluctuations in ocean heat. But now, scientists are pointing to another surprising contributor: China’s success in stemming air pollution. A steep decline in aerosols—tiny airborne particles such as sulfates—emitted by Chinese factories and power plants in the 2010s appears to have amplified a string of extreme heat waves on the other side of the Pacific,  driving up to 30% of the temperature increase during these heat waves , scientists report today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ...Aerosols can act like tiny mirrors, reflecting sunlight back into space and reducing the ...

By WARREN CORNWALL , Science.  Excerpt: In March 2021, a grisly scene materialized on the beaches of South Africa. Giant bat-winged manta rays sprawled belly up on rocks. Hulking bull sharks lay dead in the sand. Puffer fish littered shorelines like deflated footballs. Such fish kills are usually triggered by hot water, low oxygen, or toxic algae blooms. But this time it was a surprising culprit. In the middle of the southern summer, these fish died of cold—a phenomenon that may be linked to climate change, according to  a new paper . At a time when global warming is driving ocean temperatures to record-setting highs and  marine heat waves are striking around the globe , it might seem paradoxical that climate change could be linked to the underwater equivalent of a cold snap. But researchers now say that in some parts of the world, incidents like the 2021 cold spell appear to be getting more common as currents change, with potentially lethal consequences for marine life.....

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/climate/ocean-heat-records.html By Delger Erdenesanaa , The New York Times.  Excerpt: The ocean has now broken temperature records every day for more than a year. And so far, 2024 has continued 2023’s trend of beating previous records by wide margins.... 

https://hakaimagazine.com/news/can-green-hydrogen-production-help-bring-oceanic-dead-zones-back-to-life/ By Brian Owens , Hakai Magazine.  Excerpt: Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau had met with Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, in nearby Stephenville, Newfoundland...in August 2022, the two leaders locked in Canada’s commitment to supply Germany with hydrogen gas. ...Stephenville...is the site of the proposed World Energy GH2 project, a facility that will use wind power to produce hydrogen gas ...reducing Germany’s reliance on Russian oil. ...[Douglas] Wallace, an oceanographer at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, was tracking how dissolved oxygen moves from the Atlantic Ocean through the gulf into the St. Lawrence River, and how the dearth of oxygen in some places can lead to the development of low-oxygen dead zones. ...So when he heard that Canada was set to ramp up hydrogen production—achieved by electrically splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen—he w...

https://www.science.org/content/article/startups-aim-curb-climate-change-pulling-carbon-dioxide-ocean-not-air By ROBERT F. SERVICE , Science.  Excerpt: ...one long gray barge docked at the [Port of Los Angeles] is doing its part to combat climate change. On the barge, which belongs to Captura, a Los Angeles–based startup, is a system of pipes, pumps, and containers that ingests seawater and sucks out CO 2 , which can be used to make plastics and fuels or buried. The decarbonated seawater is returned to the ocean, where it absorbs more CO 2  from the atmosphere, in a small strike against the inexorable rise of the greenhouse gas. After a yearlong experiment with the barge, which is designed to capture 100 tons of CO 2  per year, Captura is planning to open a 1000-ton-per-year facility later this year in Norway that will bury the captured CO 2  in rock formations under the North Sea. Equatic, another Los Angeles–based startup, is launching an even larger 3650-ton-per-y...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/09/atlantic-ocean-circulation-nearing-devastating-tipping-point-study-finds By Jonathan Watts , The Guardian.  Excerpt: ...researchers developed an early warning indicator for the breakdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc), a vast system of ocean currents that is a key component in global climate regulation. They found Amoc is already on track towards an abrupt shift, which has not happened for more than 10,000 years and would have dire implications for large parts of the world. Amoc, which encompasses part of the Gulf Stream and other powerful currents, is a marine conveyer belt that carries heat, carbon and nutrients from the tropics towards the Arctic Circle,  where it cools and sinks into the deep ocean . This churning helps to distribute energy around the Earth and modulates the impact of human-caused global heating. But the system is  being eroded by the faster-than-expected melt-off of Greenl...

https://eos.org/articles/more-than-half-the-worlds-ocean-surface-is-getting-greener By Meghie Rodrigues , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Tropical oceans are changing color, according to new research. Over the past 2 decades, 56% of ocean surfaces have become greener, and that means microorganisms living close to the surface are changing as well. The study, recently published in  Nature , points to climate change as a possible cause for the shift. The world’s oceans get their color from sunlight bouncing off water molecules and whatever else is floating near the surface. That includes tiny phytoplankton, which contain abundant chlorophyll—a pigment that reflects green light.... 

https://eos.org/opinions/the-science-we-need-to-assess-marine-carbon-dioxide-removal By Jaime B. Palter ,   Jessica Cross ,   Matthew C. Long ,   Patrick A. Rafter  and   Clare E. Reimers , Eos/AGU. Excerpt: As companies begin selling credits for marine carbon dioxide removal in largely unregulated marketplaces, scientists must develop standards for assessing the effectiveness of removal methods. ...Three categories of mCDR [marine CO 2  removal] approaches— ocean iron fertilization ,  artificial upwelling , and  seaweed cultivation —aim to stimulate  primary productivity  at the ocean’s surface with the expectation that some of the additional biomass produced will sink into and remain in the deep ocean. In contrast,  ocean alkalinity enhancement  (OAE) involves intentionally dispersing alkaline materials such as lime on the ocean’s surface to shift the chemical equilibrium of the seawater carbon syste...