Old News

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2005

• Scientists solve mystery of the 'unicorn' whale -  Once the subject of mythical accounts of magical power, the helix-shaped tusk of the narwhal, or "unicorn" whale has proved to be an extraordinary sensory organ, according to a team of researchers from Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Paffenbarger Research Center of the American Dental Association Foundation at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.  (Reported 2005-12-22 | Added 2005-12-30)
• NSIDC partners with Arctic explorers to validate satellite data -  A team lead by British explorer Jim McNeil will take scientific snow and ice measurements as they make a record-breaking voyage in the Arctic.  (Reported 2005-12-20 | Added 2005-12-30)
• NCAR and NSIDC scientists show extreme thaw of near-surface permafrost by 2100 -  Recent analysis of model results by NCAR and NSIDC scientists suggests that global warming may decimate the top 100 feet (3 meters) or more of perennially frozen ground across the Northern Hemisphere, potentially altering ecosystems as well as damaging buildings and roads across Canada, Alaska, and Russia.  (Reported 2005-12-20 | Added 2005-12-30)
• Scholars point to China as source of unwanted jellyfish -  Japanese government-backed scholars have said an unusually large drift of jellyfish that has hurt Japan's ocean fishing industry this year may come from the mouth of the Yangtze River and other Chinese waters. (Reported 2005-12-20 | Added 2005-12-30)
• First images of baby squid care - Scientists have captured the first images of a mother squid caring for its young, carrying eggs in a giant sac.  (Reported 2005-12-15 | Added 2005-12-15)
• Marine life diverse but declining, finds survey mongabay.com -  A comprehensive census of all the marine life in the world's oceans is halfway complete. The 10-year international project that began in 2000 and now involves some 1700 researchers from 73 countries has uncovered new evidence of rich biodiversity in the world's oceans along with an alarming decline of many marine species.  (Reported 2005-12-14 | Added 2005-12-30)
• Study measures impact of boat noise on humpback whales -  The waters of Alaska's Inside Passage are abuzz. They hum with vessel sounds, ranging from the puttering of fishing boats to the rumble of cruise ships, in addition to the grunts, whistles and chirps of the resident pods of humpback whales.  (Reported 2005-12-14 | Added 2005-12-30)
• NSIDC scientists release Arctic textbook -  The Arctic Climate System provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of Arctic exploration, research, physical characteristics, and climate features. The text details such aspects of the Arctic system as atmospheric heat budget and circulation, surface energy budget, hydrologic cycle, and interactions among the ocean, atmosphere, and sea ice cover.  (Reported 2005-12-13 | Added 2005-12-30)
• Arctic orcas highly contaminated -  Killer whales have become the most contaminated mammals in the Arctic. Norwegian scientists have found that killer whales - or orcas, as they are sometimes known - have overtaken polar bears at the head of the toxic table.  (Reported 2005-12-12 | Added 2005-12-12)
• Fin whale returns to Sitka Sound -  A fin whale, the first of its species to be seen in Sitka Sound in decades when it was spotted last September, has returned to the area.  (Reported 2005-11-28 | Added 2005-12-30)
• Ancient air bubbles shed light on greenhouse gases -  There is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today than at any point during the past 650,000 years, says a major new study that let scientists peer back in time at “greenhouse gases” that can help fuel global warming.  (Reported 2005-11-24)
• Global warming doubles rate of ocean rise - Global ocean levels are rising twice as fast today as they were 150 years ago, and human-induced warming appears to be the culprit, say scientists at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and collaborating institutions.  (Reported 2005-11-24)
• UN urges protection for dolphins -  The United Nations says additional protection measures are needed for dolphins and small whales.  (Reported 2005-11-23 | Added 2005-12-12)
• Fish threatened as climate change warms waters: WWF -  Fish are under growing threat as climate change fuels a rise in temperatures in rivers, lakes and the world's oceans, the environmental group WWF warned.  (Reported 2005-11-17)
• Local orcas listed as endangered -  The southern resident killer whales have been listed as an endangered species under the federal Endangered Species Act. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries Service) announced the listing Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2005. The listing will require federal agencies to make sure their actions are not likely to harm the whales. NOAA Fisheries Service said its ongoing efforts to restore salmon stocks in Puget Sound should benefit the whales. Other federal agencies’ efforts are likely to focus on toxic chemicals and vessel traffic.  (Reported 2005-11-16)
• Birds hit by climate, diet shift -  Scientists used lab experiments to mimic changes observed in the diets of kittiwakes in the Bering Sea - changes probably caused by a warming ocean.  (Reported 2005-11-10)
• Huge jellyfish torment fishermen - Huge Echizen jellyfish, which can weigh up to 200 kilograms and have an umbrella measuring two meters across, have been causing serious damage to the fishing industry off Japan's east coast. Echizen jellyfish are the largest variety found in the Japan Sea, and their population has skyrocketed recently in the East China Sea. Also known as Nomura's jellyfish, they have poisonous tentacles.  (Reported 2005-11-10)
• Birds hit by climate, diet shift - A change in the diet of seabirds may be making them less intelligent and lowering their chances of survival and breeding. (Reported 2005-11-10)
• Biologists find 28 new sponge species -  Assessing fish habitat in the research submersible Delta last year off the Aleutian Islands, Bob Stone discovered a scientific treasure. The National Marine Fisheries Service biologist from the Auke Bay laboratory and his research team found 28 new species of sponges. It was almost by accident, he said. They were researching deep-sea coral and fish habitat in the remote Alaska waters when they found the sponges and began collecting samples.  (Reported 2005-11-06)
• Scientists gain new insights into "frozen" methane from beneath ocean floor - An international team of scientists supported by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) has completed a unique research expedition aimed at recovering samples of gas hydrate, an ice-like substance hidden beneath the seafloor off Canada’s western coast. Gas hydrate, a mixture of water and mostly methane, is believed to occur under the world’s oceans in great abundance, but it quickly “melts” once removed from the high pressure and cold temperatures of its natural environment, making it very challenging to recover and analyze. (Reported 2005-10-31)
• Scripps scientists participate in historic first surface vessel voyage across Canada Basin - Two ships taking part in a recently completed research voyage investigating the oceanography, marine geology, geophysics and ice cover of the Arctic Ocean have become the first surface vessels to traverse the Canada Basin , the ice-covered sea between Alaska and the North Pole. (Reported 2005-10-31)
• Arctic ice meltdown continues rapid pace - Arctic sea ice has melted back farther this year than in 25 years of satellite monitoring, marking the fourth consecutive summer with "a stunning reduction" in the polar pack north of Alaska, Asia and Europe. (Reported 2005-09-29)
• Sea ice decline intensifies -  Summer Arctic sea ice falls far below average for fourth year winter ice sees sharp decline, spring melt starts earlier.  (Reported 2005-09-28 | Added 2005-12-08)
• Secrets of the whale riders - University of Utah biologists studied the genetics of “whale lice” – small crustaceans that are parasites on endangered “right whales” – and showed the giant whales split into three species 5 million to 6 million years ago, and that all three species probably were equally abundant before whaling reduced their numbers. (Reported 2005-09-14)
• Climate change will affect carbon sequestration in oceans, model shows An Earth System model developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign indicates that the best location to store carbon dioxide in the deep ocean will change with climate change. (Reported 2005-09-07)
• New images suggest oceanic crust generated from several magma sources - Some of the highest quality images ever taken of the Earth's lower crust reveal that the upper and lower crust form in two distinctly different ways. (Reported 2005-09-07)
• Warmer oceans may be killing West Coast marine life - Scientists suspect that rising ocean temperatures and dwindling plankton populations are behind a growing number of seabird deaths, reports of fewer salmon and other anomalies along the West Coast. (Reported 2005-07-13)
• Vegetation growth may quickly raise Arctic temperatures - Warming in the Arctic is stimulating the growth of vegetation and could affect the delicate energy balance there, causing an additional climate warming of several degrees over the next few decades. A new study indicates that as the number of dark-colored shrubs in the otherwise stark Arctic tundra rises, the amount of solar energy absorbed could increase winter heating by up to 70 percent. The research will be published 7 September in the first issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, published by the American Geophysical Union. (Reported 2005-09-06)
• Japan fish catches may drop because of global warming - Japan can expect to see some of its fish catches decline by as much as 70 percent over the next century due to global warming, an official at the National Research Institute of Fisheries Engineering said Saturday. (Reported 2005-08-28)
• Researchers find Amchitka seafood safe for now - An independent consortium of university-based environmental scientists announced today the results from three 2004 expeditions to Amchitka Island in the western Aleutians to assess radionuclides in that marine environment. Three nuclear test shots were set off under Amchitka by the U.S. Government during a six-year period beginning in 1965. The study can be found at www.cresp.org. (Reported 2005-08-02)
• AGU Journal highlights - 9 August 2005 - Highlights summarize research papers in Geophysical Research Letters. The papers related to these Highlights are printed in the next paper issue of the journal following their electronic publication. (Reported 2005-08-09)
• Microbe has huge role in ocean life, carbon cycle - Researchers at Oregon State University and Diversa Corporation have discovered that the smallest free-living cell known also has the smallest genome, or genetic structure, of any independent cell - and yet it dominates life in the oceans, thrives where most other cells would die, and plays a huge role in the cycling of carbon on Earth. (Reported 2005-08-18)
• Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer within 100 years, scientists say - The current warming trends in the Arctic may shove the Arctic system into a seasonally ice-free state not seen for more than one million years, according to a new report. The melting is accelerating, and a team of researchers were unable to identify any natural processes that might slow the de-icing of the Arctic. (Reported 2005-08-23)
• September-October GSA bulletin media highlights - The September-October issue of the GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA BULLETIN includes several newsworthy items. Topics include innovation in predicting extreme flooding and new chronology of major Neoproterozoic events. Two articles focus on offshore California's Monterrey Canyon, describing a trail of sand and gravel from shoreline to the canyon and offering new high-resolution images that illustrate the rapidity with which change takes place in the canyon. (Reported 2005-08-25)
• New images reveal different magma pools form the ocean's crust - For the first time, scientists have produced images of the oceanic crust and found that the upper and lower layers of the crust are likely formed from different magma pools. The images begin to answer some lingering questions about where new ocean crust comes from and whether it is all formed the same way. (Reported 2005-08-25)
• Study finds Oregon wild fish risk extinction - The first status report on wild fish in a decade suggests that nearly half the native species in the state are at risk of extinction. (Reported 2005-09-01)
• Alaska sea otters to get U.S. protection - Southwest Alaska's sea otters, which came back from the brink of extinction in the 1800s, are facing another dramatic decline and could be named a "threatened" species as early as Tuesday. (Reported 2005-08-08)
• Census of Marine Life explorers surprised by diversity, density of Arctic creatures - A historic expedition of Census of Marine Life explorers to the planet’s most northern reaches has revealed a surprising density and diversity of Arctic Ocean creatures, some believed new to science. (Reported 2005-08-02)
• Scientists unexpectedly discover new species under polar ice - An icebreaker expedition led by University of Alaska Fairbanks biologists found a stunning array of marine creatures in the Arctic Ocean, including at least four new species of jellyfish and three previously unknown worms from the sea floor two miles down. (Reported 2005-08-02)
• University of Oregon study says sunnier Oregon summers reflect global warming - Summers are getting sunnier in Oregon, according to evidence presented today by University of Oregon physicists during the 2005 Solar World Congress in Orlando. The study is a first step toward testing and refining regional climate models for the Pacific Northwest that will help track global warming. (Reported 2005-08-09)
• Nitrogen in the air feeds the ocean - A USC oceanographer's long-term study shows the marine food chain depends on atmospheric nitrogen. (Reported 2005-08)
• Volcanic blast location influences climate reaction - When a volcano erupts, it does more than just create an ash cloud that darkens and cools a region for a few days. Instead, the most dramatic effect is actually high above us, where spewed volcanic material is not quickly washed out by rain. (Reported 2005-08-11)
• Alaskan people tell of climate change - For the past 20 years climatologists and ice and atmosphere scientists have been working in Alaska studying climate change. (Reported 2005-08-07)
• Lake Washington's ecosystem in trouble -  Scientists from the University of Washington, tribes and state and federal agencies are documenting how the lake is changing in slight but potentially profound ways. The entire ecosystem is at risk: from zooplankton to prized salmon that use the lake as a summer home before heading upstream to spawn.  (Reported 2005-07-11 | Added 2005-12-30)
• Thunder, lightning increase in Anchorage - Since 1996, there's been a 60% increase in the average number of thunderstorms near Alaska's largest city, according to the National Weather Service. (Reported 2005-07-04)
• Sea life in peril -- plankton vanishing Usual seasonal influx of cold water isn't happening - Oceanic plankton have largely disappeared from the waters off Northern California, Oregon and Washington, mystifying scientists, stressing fisheries and causing widespread seabird mortality. (Reported 2005-07-12)
• Ice man monitors frozen seas for danger - A change in wind and current rammed the frozen Bering Sea into the Norton Sound coast. The collision shattered the ice attached to shore. In an hour or two, a ragged ridge of ice, with chunks as large as Zambonis, tumbled into glacial rubble on a Nome street. (Reported 2005-06-26)
• AGI becomes founding partner of the International Year of Planet Earth - As the first U.S. organization to become a founding partner of the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE) initiative, the American Geological Institute (AGI) is looking forward to enhancing the breadth of participation and perspective to the development of this important effort to enhance the global standing of the geosciences. (Reported 2005-07-14)
• Before and after images of the effects of climate change For more photos and information about changes to the world due to global warming, go to http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/ (Reported 2005-07-15)
• Birds carry pollution to Arctic - Sea birds are transporting industrial and agricultural pollutants to the Arctic, according to Canadian scientists. (Reported 2005-07-15)
• Korea to hold global Yellow Sea forum - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries said yesterday that it will host the Korea-China Yellow Sea global symposium in the port city of Incheon on Monday. (Reported 2005-06-15)
• Habitat use by North Pacific right whales, Eubalaena japonica, in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska - The small population of North Pacific right whales, found during the summer in Alaska waters, is one of the most critically endangered whale populations in the world. Commercial whaling in the 1800s has now left us with only a few dozens. Recently these whales have been recognized as a different species from right whales seen in the North Atlantic and others in the Southern Hemisphere. (Reported 2005-06-15)
• Arctic leaders sound the alarm over global warming - Arctic community leaders sounded the alarm Tuesday over the threat posed by global warming to their way of life, but also that of people in warmer climes. (Reported 2005-05-24)
• New plate discovery may force Japan to review quake plan - A Japanese geologist has discovered a new tectonic plate under the Tokyo area, a finding that may force the government to review its quake preparation plans, a report said Saturday. (Reported 2005-05-21)
• Scripps scientists find potential for catastrophic shifts in Pacific ecosystems - Opening the door to a new way of understanding ocean processes and managing and protecting marine resources, a group of researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, has developed a groundbreaking analysis of the North Pacific Ocean and how dramatic changes can unfold across its waters. (Reported 2005-05-19)
• NOAA-N spacecraft set to launch May 13 - NOAA-N, the latest polar-orbiting satellite developed by NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)- is slated for liftoff at 3:22:01 a.m. PDT from Space Launch Complex-2 West at Vandenberg Air Force Base atop a Boeing-built Delta 2 rocket. NOAA-N will collect information about Earth's atmosphere and environment to improve weather prediction and climate research across the globe. (Reported 2005-05-10)
• Scientists find unusual use of metals in the ocean - Cadmium, commonly considered a toxic metal and often used in combination with nickel in batteries, has been found to have a biological use as a nutrient in the ocean, the first known biological use of cadmium in any life form. (Reported 2005-05-09)
• Ocean climate predicts elk population in Canadian Rockies - Mark Hebblewhite can look at specific climate statistics from the north Pacific Ocean and tell you how the elk are doing in Banff National Park. The University of Alberta doctoral student is the first researcher to show a correlation between the North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) and a mammal population. (Reported 2005-05-10)
• Survey finds silver contamination in North Pacific waters The highest levels of silver contamination ever observed in the open ocean turned up in samples collected during a survey of the North Pacific in 2002. Researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz, measured silver concentrations 50 times greater than the natural background level. Though still well below levels that would be toxic to marine life, this contamination of what had been considered relatively pristine waters highlights the increasingly global impact of industrial emissions from Asia, the researchers said. (Reported 2005-03-14)
• Arctic rivers discharge more freshwater into ocean, reflecting changes to hydrologic cycle - Far northern rivers are discharging increasing amounts of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean, due to intensified precipitation caused by global warming, say researchers at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in the United Kingdom. (Reported 2005-01-19)
• International science team measures Arctic's atmosphere - An international team of scientists embarked this week on a journey to improve modeling of global-scale air quality and climate change predictions by conducting high quality measurements of the Arctic region's atmosphere. (Reported 2005-01-28)
• Oregon may lead future of wave energy - Significant advances in university research and other studies in the past two years are pointing toward Oregon as the possible epicenter of wave energy development in the United States. (Reported 2005-02-01)
• Findings by Scripps scientists cast new light on undersea volcanoes - Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, have produced new findings that may help alter commonly held beliefs about how chains of undersea mountains formed by volcanoes, or "seamounts," are created. Such mountains can rise thousands of feet off the ocean floor in chains that span thousands of miles across the ocean. (Reported 2005-02-10)
• Scripps researchers find clear evidence of human-produced warming in world's oceans - Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and their colleagues have produced the first clear evidence of human-produced warming in the world's oceans, a finding they say removes much of the uncertainty associated with debates about global warming. (Reported 2005-02-17)
• Marine seaweed can detoxify organic pollutants - Researchers have discovered that marine seaweeds have a remarkable and previously unknown capacity to detoxify serious organic pollutants such as TNT or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and they may therefore be able to play an important role in protecting the ecological health of marine life. (Reported 2005-02-18)
• Scientists discover why the North Pole is frozen - Researchers have discovered the mechanism behind the ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere. (Reported 2005-02-23)
• Growth in the sea comes down to a struggle for iron - Scientists know that injecting iron into some major regions of the oceans can stimulate the growth of diatoms and other phytoplankton, but something odd occurs as these tiny marine plants continue to grow. They begin to starve in the midst of plenty, acting as though iron, an essential nutrient, still is in short supply. Why this happens is unclear, but the answer could be that iron sets off a kind of chemical warfare in the marine ecosystem, according to University of Maine oceanographer Mark Wells. And diatoms may not always come out on top. (Reported 2005-02-25)
• Survey finds silver contamination in North Pacific waters - The highest levels of silver contamination ever observed in the open ocean turned up in samples collected during a survey of the North Pacific in 2002. Researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz, measured silver concentrations 50 times greater than the natural background level. Though still well below levels that would be toxic to marine life, this contamination of what had been considered relatively pristine waters highlights the increasingly global impact of industrial emissions from Asia, the researchers said. (Reported 2005-03-14)
• Climatologists discover deep-sea secret - Climate changes in the northern and southern hemispheres are linked by a phenomenon by which the oceans react to changes on either side of the planet. (Reported 2005-04-01)
• Changes in Earth's tilt control when glacial cycles end - Scientists have long debated what causes glacial/interglacial cycles, which have occurred most recently at intervals of about 100,000 years. A new study reported in the March 24 issue of Nature finds that these glacial cycles are paced by variations in the tilt of Earth's axis, and that glaciations end when Earth's tilt is large. (Reported 2005-03-29)
• Pairs of Seagliders set endurance records - Two ocean-diving gliders built at the University of Washington were retrieved late last month near the Hawaiian island of Kauai after setting a world record by traveling a quarter of the way across the Pacific Ocean. Two other UW gliders, awaiting retrieval from the Labrador Sea, have set another world endurance record with a deployment of 193 days as of early April. (Reported 2005-04-05)
• U. of Colorado study shows early Earth atmosphere hydrogen-rich, favorable to life - A new University of Colorado at Boulder study indicates Earth in its infancy probably had substantial quantities of hydrogen in its atmosphere, a surprising finding that may alter the way many scientists think about how life began on the planet. (Reported 2005-04-07)
• Study offers alternative view on how faults form in the ocean's depths - Scientists have long held the belief that the fracturing of the Earth's brittle outer shell into faults along the deep ocean's mountainous landscape occurs only during long periods when no magma has intruded. Challenging this predominant theory, findings from a completed study show how differences in mid-ocean ridge magma-induced activity produce distinctly different types of ocean floor faulting. W. Roger Buck, Doherty Senior Research Scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), is one of a trio of scientists who developed these new models for faults seen at mid-ocean ridges where the Earth's tectonic plates split apart and basaltic magma rises to form the oceanic crust that today covers two-thirds of the planet. The scientists' work has culminated in the publishing of their findings in the April 7, 2005 issue of Nature. (Reported 2005-04-08)
• Currents could disrupt ocean food chain - If increased precipitation and sea surface heating from global warming disrupts the Atlantic Conveyer current – as some scientists predict – the effect on the ocean food chain in the Atlantic and other oceans could be severe, according to a new study just published in Nature. (Reported 2005-04-12)
• New science sheds light on rebuilding fisheries - In a scientific double whammy, researchers report that fishing pressure is causing fish to evolve to smaller sizes, just as new studies show that larger fish are critical to sustaining populations. In species such as Pacific rockfish, the big, old females not only produce exponentially more eggs than younger, smaller females, but their hearty larvae have a far greater chance of survival. Keeping these big fish in the water increases the chances of strong population numbers in the next generation – which is paramount to the recovery of overfished stocks.(Reported 2005-02-19)
• Big, old fish key to restoring groundfish stocks - Recent studies have found that large, old and oily groundfish are significantly more important than their younger counterparts in maintaining healthy marine fish stocks - the larvae from their eggs better resist starvation and have a much greater chance of survival. (Reported 2005-01-18)
• Seal-bashing cull begins in Canada - Seal hunters were set to return to the ice floes off Canada's East Coast yesterday, with animal welfare activists vowing to vigorously protest the annual event that helps support the fishermen and some of the country's poorest communities along its coastlines. (Reported 2005-03-30)
• Farm sea lice plague wild salmon - Researchers looking at a salmon farm in Canada found that infection levels in wild juvenile salmon near the farm were 73 times higher than normal. (Reported 2005-03-29)
• Japan to issue tsunami alerts to six Pacific nations - Japan says it will provide tsunami warnings to China, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Russia and South Korea, starting next week. (Reported 2005-03-25)
• Some deep-sea earthquakes send out early-warning signals, seismologists say - Earthquakes along a set of fault lines in the Pacific Ocean emit small "foreshocks" that can be used to forecast the main tremor, according to research in the March 24 issue of Nature. (Reported 2005-03-24)
• UNEP GEMS/Water launches new searchable database of global water quality - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), through its GEMS/Water Programme, is contributing to World Water Day with a new scientific resource called GEMStat, dedicated to providing environmental water quality data and information of the highest integrity, accessibility and interoperability. (Reported 2005-03-24)
• No Arctic ozone hole, says Odin - Data from the Swedish Odin satellite indicate that no arctic ozone hole will appear this winter, despite fears to that effect. (Reported 2005-03-21)
• NASA researchers use imaging radar to detect coastal pollution - A NASA-funded study of marine pollution in Southern California concluded space-based synthetic aperture radar can be a vital observational tool for assessing and monitoring ocean hazards in urbanized coastal regions. (Reported 2005-03-18)
• NOAA, NASA announce new relationship to acquire advanced geostationary sats - NOAA announced Monday its acquisition management strategy for the upcoming Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (GOES-R) Program. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. (Reported 2005-03-22)
• Earthquake rattles Japan - A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7 struck northern Kyushu on Sunday morning, leaving a woman dead and more than 500 people injured in Fukuoka Prefecture. (Reported 2005-03-21)
• Melting could alter navigation - Arctic Ocean ice has shrunk during the past three summers, creating vast reaches of open water northwest of Alaska. Winter ice has thinned. Some climate models suggest that Arctic ice could disappear entirely during summer by the middle of the century. (Reported 2005-03-20)
• Climate change inevitable in 21st century - Even if all greenhouse gases had somehow been stabilized back in the year 2000, we would still be committed to a warmer Earth and greater sea level rise in the present century, according to a new study performed by a team of climate modelers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo. (Reported 2005-03-24)
• Scientists search for seafloor eruption - The most intense swarms of earthquakes detected in the last 10 to 12 years on the far edge of the Juan de Fuca plate could indicate the eruption of magma from the seafloor or an underwater volcano. Between 50 and 70 earthquakes an hour, most of them small, were occurring at the end of February at a spot some 200 miles off the Canadian coast. (Reported 2005-03-13)
• Six killer whales die, trapped by ice - The last of six killer whales trapped by thick ice in Russian waters has reportedly died. The animal had been exhausted and wounded in a desperate effort to break free (Reported 2005-03-04)
• NASA satellite sees ocean plants increase, coasts greening - A few years ago, NASA researcher Watson Gregg published a study showing that tiny free-floating ocean plants called phytoplankton had declined in abundance globally by 6 percent between the 1980s and 1990s. A new study by Gregg and his co-authors suggests that trend may not be continuing, and new patterns are taking place. (Reported 2005-03-04)
• New science sheds light on rebuilding fisheries - In a scientific double whammy, researchers report that fishing pressure is causing fish to evolve to smaller sizes, just as new studies show that larger fish are critical to sustaining populations. In species such as Pacific rockfish, the big, old females not only produce exponentially more eggs than younger, smaller females, but their hearty larvae have a far greater chance of survival. Keeping these big fish in the water increases the chances of strong population numbers in the next generation – which is paramount to the recovery of overfished stocks. (Reported 2005-03-09)
• Big fight? Not this time - Alaskans know all too well how bitter political warfare can break out when environmental concerns collide with economic interests. And that's what could have happened when researchers began discovering that fragile, ecologically significant corals and sponges in parts of Alaska's oceans were being chewed up by the bottom-fishing industry. (Reported 2005-03-01)
• Huge 2004 stratospheric ozone loss tied to solar storms, Arctic winds - A new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder indicates that two natural atmospheric processes in 2004 caused the largest decline in upper stratospheric ozone ever recorded over the far Northern Hemisphere. (Reported 2005-03-02)
• Spotting today's maritime crime: Rosenstiel School's CSTARS, private enterprise create unique surveillance system - Rosenstiel School and Vexcel Corporation, out of Boulder, Colorado, have joined forces to bring satellite surveillance to the open seas with OceanView, making it the first medium resolution, broad-range surveillance application to be tested as a way to monitor environmental offenses such as illegal fishing. (Reported 2005-03-02)
• New DNA studies verify existence of three right whale species - For the first time, two types of genetic material--both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA--have been used to verify a new species designation of great whale, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups in The Royal Society's Proceedings: Biological Sciences. According to the recent study conducted by researchers at WCS, the American Museum of Natural History, Fordham University, and University of Maryland, the North Pacific right whale has been confirmed as genetically distinct from both the North Atlantic and Southern right whale, a designation with important implications for conservation efforts. (Reported 2005-03-01)
• Unweaving the song of whales - For nearly a decade, Cornell University researcher Christopher Clark has been eavesdropping on the ocean, hoping to decipher the enigmatic songs of whales. (Reported 2005-02-28)
• Sea otter fights cat scat fever - TOXOPLASMA: Lethal disease linked to feline feces turns up in a Resurrection Bay otter. (Reported 2005-02-23)
• Scientists discover why the North Pole is frozen - Ice has been building up in the Arctic for 2.7 million years. Until now, no-one has been able to prove what mechanism brought about this accumulation of ice. (Reported 2005-02-25)
• Seafloor still about 90 percent unknown, experts say - ...even a compilation of all historical data gathered by ships, no matter how primitive, would leave much of the ocean floor uncharted. (Reported 2005-02-17)
• Jumbo squid mass "suicide" stumps California scientists - Last month thousands of large squid mysteriously beached themselves on California shores. (Reported 2005-02-23)
• Water birds survey started in middle/lower reaches of the Yangtze - The nation's second survey on aquatic birds living in wetlands along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze as well as along southern Yellow Sea was kicked off on February 13 simultaneously in five provinces (Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu) and one city (Shanghai). The survey is jointly organized by the State Forestry Administration and WWF China office. (Reported 2005-02-24)
• A revolution in oceanic exploration reveals an "alien" world on earth - Scientists can now visualize the ocean floor in remote areas of the Arctic, observe rockfish hideouts, and see live images of coral cities thousands of meters under the sea's surface. Soon their robots will be able to "live" on the bottom of the ocean - monitoring everything from signs of tsunamis to the effects of deep sea drilling. (Reported 2005-02-21)
• New system can measure productivity of oceans - Researchers at Oregon State University, NASA and other institutions announced today the discovery of a method to determine from outer space the productivity of marine phytoplankton – a breakthrough that may provide a new understanding of life in the world's oceans. (Reported 2005-02-14)
• Got milk? - Stealing milk from an unrelated mother is extremely rare amongst mammals, and has seldom been reported for sea lions. Historically, only one recorded case exists of a Steller sea lion pup successfully obtaining milk from an unrelated female, and the incident only lasted 30 seconds. New sightings are therefore captivating for their rarity, and the bearing they have on the poorly understood process of weaning in Steller sea lions. (Reported 2005-02-21)
• Blue planet: the fading songs of whales - Most people know the modern world is a noisy place, but they might not be aware the oceans have gotten to be considerably noisy as well - and they are getting noisier, to the detriment of whales and other marine mammals. (Report 2005-02-09)
• Findings by Scripps scientists cast new light on undersea volcanoes - Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, have produced new findings that may help alter commonly held beliefs about how chains of undersea mountains formed by volcanoes, or "seamounts," are created. (Reported 2005-02-14)
• Changes in the Arctic: Consequences for the world - Observations and computer models have long proven that the Arctic plays an important role in maintaining a stable climate on Earth. However, significant changes in the Arctic environment, especially those over the past decade, could lead to dramatic swings in weather and climate patterns across the rest of the globe, with potentially far-reaching consequences for ecosystems and human populations. (Reported 2005-02-03)
• Novel sulfide-binding mechanism found in deep-sea tubeworms - The discovery that zinc contained in the hemoglobin of deep-sea tubeworms is used to bind and transport nutrients to symbiotic bacteria will be published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science during the week of 14 February 2005. (Reported 2005-02-17)
• Tsunami simulation an inexact science - Even knowing undersea floor, it's tough developing wave-effect maps for S.F. Bay. (Reported 2005-01-10)
• Laine Welch: Trawlers aim to reduce bycatch by pooling data - A group of about 30 Kodiak-based trawlers want to take more fisheries management into their own hands. (Reported 2005-02-12)
• Oil cleanup at Aleutian shipwreck halted - Salvage and cleanup operations of a freighter that wrecked in the Aleutian Islands have been shut down until spring. (Reported 2005-02-14)
• False alarms plague Pacific tsunami system - Hawaii is among the most tsunami-ready places in the world. When an alert is issued, beachside sirens go off and urgent messages are flashed on television and broadcast on radio. Evacuation maps on telephone book covers point people to higher ground. But most of the time, no damaging tsunami hits the shore. (Reported 2005-02-13)
• Wildlife losses mount in Unalaska oil spill - The number of dead animals resulting from the wreck of a freighter in the Aleutian Islands continues to rise. The latest count shows at least 950 birds have been killed on or near Unalaska Island. (Reported 2005-02-16)
• Council restricts bottom trawling off Aleutians - A federal fishing council moved to ban bottom trawling on more than 370,000 square miles off Alaska's Aleutian Islands to try to protect coral beds and other sensitive fish habitat. (Reported 2005-02-11)
• Commission raises halibut quota - Southeast halibut fisherman will have a high catch quota for the 2005 commercial halibut season. (Reported 2005-02-01)
• Scientists say Valdez spill impacts slow to fade - Crude oil from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill still lingers in Alaska's Prince William Sound and nearby areas, with parts of the environment still far from recovery, several scientists said at a three-day conference. (Reported 2005-01-26)
• Scientists find new coral species - Scientists have discovered a new species of brushy coral that flames like a white and pink Christmas tree hundreds of feet below the Channel Islands. (Reported 2005-02-10)
• Scientists study ocean to understand global cooling - The depth in the ocean where calcium carbonate dissolves at a faster rate than it is deposited is called the calcite compensation depth (CCD). At present this depth is approximately 4,500 meters (14,700 feet) with some variation between and within ocean basins. (Reported 2005-01-07)
• Sardines may prevent toxic gas eruptions off California and African coasts - Milky, turquoise-colored "dead zones," some as large as the U.S. State of New Jersey, that are appearing repeatedly off the coast of southwest Africa, may be a sign of things to come for other areas of the coastlines of the eastern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. (Reported 2005-01-14)
• New maritime rescue base operational at Bohai Bay north China - China has established a new maritime rescue base by Bohai Bay, an accident-frequent sea area. (Reported 2005-02-07)
• Bacterial toxins can be friend or foe, study finds - What do tiny Pacific Ocean squid, whooping cough and gonorrhea have in common? According to new research, they share a toxic molecule that afflicts humans with disease but enables the squid to produce light. (Reported 2005-02-03)
• Oiled Birds Prompt Investigation of Natural Seep - Oil-coated birds turning up on southern California beaches in recent weeks have raised concern about natural seepage from undersea oil sources following a bout of severe weather. (Reported 2005-02-03)
• Marsh-dwelling Mole Sets 'Fast Food' Record - A person driving a car takes about 650 milliseconds to hit the brake after seeing a traffic light turn red. But a new study has found that a star-nosed mole, upon detecting prey such as a tiny worm, needs just half that amount of time to identify the prey and gulp it down. (Reported 2005-02-04)
• Hazy moves to the open water - Staff from the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre and the University of British Columbia (UBC) moved Hazy, a female Steller sea lion, to her new residence at Reed Point Marine near Vancouver. This award-winning project studies the way trained sea lions use oxygen while diving in a wild setting. Scientists will use this knowledge to conserve dwindling populations of wild Steller sea lions in Alaska. (Reported 2005-02-07)
• U.S. vows to beef up tsunami warning system - The government plans to quadruple the number of tsunami monitoring buoys in the Pacific Ocean and extend the warning system to the Atlantic over the next two years, officials told a Senate hearing Wednesday. (Reported 2005-02-03)
• Climatic threats loom over the Arctic - Warming air temperatures and shifts in ocean currents could trigger "dangerous climate change" in the Arctic over the next couple decades -- consuming more summer sea ice, stressing polar bears and altering the lives of Native people across Alaska, Canada, Russia and Greenland, according to new reports released this week at a climate conference in the United Kingdom. (Reported 2005-02-03)
• Inside Alaska business - Southeast halibut fisherman will have a higher catch quota for the 2005 commercial halibut season. (Reported 2005-02-01)
• U.S. tsunami warning system needs repairs - The United States needs serious repairs to its tsunami warning system, including the replacement of three warning buoys off Alaska, officials said on Wednesday. (Reported 2005-02-03)
• International science team measures Arctic's atmosphere - An international team of scientists embarked this week on a journey to improve modeling of global-scale air quality and climate change predictions by conducting high quality measurements of the Arctic region's atmosphere. (Reported 2005-01-31)
• China urged to step up ocean research - The country's research of oceans is weaker than its research of the land or the atmosphere. (Reported 2005-01-02)
• Winds, ice motion root cause of decline in sea ice, not warmer temperatures - Extreme changes in the Arctic Oscillation in the early 1990s -- and not warmer temperatures of recent years -- are largely responsible for declines in how much sea ice covers the Arctic Ocean, with near record lows having been observed during the last three years, University of Washington researchers say.  (Reported 2004-12-16)
• UC Davis experts say oil spill is world's worst for birds since 2002 - UC Davis wildlife experts leading the rescue of oiled seabirds along the Southern California coast say this oil spill has been the worst worldwide for wildlife in more than two years, harming more birds than any spill since the 2002 wreck of the tanker Prestige off Spain's coast.  (Reported 2005-01-20)
• Is Alaska really getting warmer? - Alaska's climate seems to be heating up fast, with eroding coastlines, melting glaciers, oozing permafrost and retreating sea ice. Some researchers argue that these changes can definitely be blamed on greenhouse gas emissions by people and their machines.  (Reported 2005-01-30)
• Reviewing scientists say proposed conservation measures unlikely to help whales - Ocean sanctuaries are unlikely to fully protect whales, say three independent scientists charged by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) with reviewing their sanctuary program to manage whale populations.  (Reported 2005-01-30)
• Yale study suggests chemical might cause hearing loss in whales - A toxic chemical used to prevent barnacles from clinging to ship hulls may cause deafness in marine mammals and could lead whales to beach themselves, Yale researchers say.  (Reported 2005-01-28)
• Pacific tsunami warning record illustrates challenges of wider system - Hawaii is among the most tsunami-ready places in the world. When an alert is issued, beachside sirens go off and urgent messages are flashed on television.   (2005-01-22)
• Harbor invaders could trigger 'meltdown' of coastal ecosystems - The setting is the sandy bottom of Bodega Harbor, on California's northern coast. The new arrivals, European green crabs, have accelerated the invasion of the eastern clams at the expense of native clams.   (Reported 2005-01-18)
• Transient killer whales: hunting with the strong, silent type - A research team set out to study how mammal-eating killer whales use sound to communicate - and in the process, they found a powerful tool to study killer whale hunting behavior.   (Reported 2005-01-21)
• Pollution worsens in China's sea waters - Red tides occurred 96 times last year - 19 per cent less than the previous year - and were more often found in the East China Sea and Bohai Sea. More than 20 were toxic.   (Reported 2005-01-10)
• Tsunami experience prepares Alaska town for next one - Nearly 41 years ago, Alaskan Doug McCrae was clinging to a roof with his family as huge waves of debris-choked water slammed into Seward and other coastal Alaska towns after a magnitude 9.2 earthquake shook nearby Prince William Sound.   (Reported 2005-01-04)
• Swimming with sticks - Pollock caught off Alaska travel 10,000 miles before landing on Anchorage dinner plates.   (Reported 2005-01-02)

2004

Oil contamination closes fisheries in Bering Sea near grounded freighter - State regulators have banned commercial fishing in the Bering Sea near the wreckage of a ground freighter where fuel oil has been seeping since early this month.    (Added 2004-12-29)

Japan to monitor tsunamis from northern to western Pacific - The Japan Meteorological Agency plans to set up an information center by next March to monitor tsunami tidal waves in wide areas of the Pacific and provide information on them to relevant countries.    (Added 2004-12-29)

Pollock fishermen lead charge to cut salmon by-catch - Boats targeting pollock have seen their unintentional take, or by-catch, of king salmon nearly double in recent years and the chum salmon harvest increase sixfold. No one knows why the numbers are up, though some believe it suggests there are simply more salmon in the water.    (Added 2004-12-29)

How scientists watch for killer waves - U.S. relies on high-tech network and detailed emergency plans to deal with tsunami threats.    (Added 2004-12-29)

Marked Mammals - Scientists study why sea lion population thrives in Southeast, but dives in west.    (Added 2004-12-27)

Census of Marine Life: Scientists add more than 4 million records, 13,000 species - Even in Europe and the best studied seas, the rapid ongoing discovery of new marine species shows no end in sight.    (Added 2004-11-29)

Researchers probe marine mysteries off the Alaskan coast - A summer voyage to investigate the causes of one of the most devastating tsunamis in United States history has uncovered new mysteries about biological and geological processes off Alaska.    (Added 2004-11-29)

No easy answers for otters - Born 11 or 12 years ago, the sea otter known as Pink-White is a senior citizen in Monterey Bay.    (Added 2004-11-29)

Doomed babies - Late last summer, a scientific research team reported a pitiful sight: abandoned and apparently doomed baby walruses swimming aimlessly in the open sea, apparent victims of an Arctic heat wave.    (Added 2004-11-05)

Sakhalin oil, gas mega-project seen threatening rare sea eagles - A massive oil and natural gas project under way off Sakhalin is threatening Steller's sea eagles, which breed on the island and migrate to Japan in the winter, according to ornithologists and other experts.    (Added 2004-10-29)

Up from the Bering Sea, sensor-laden balloons float sky-high - Wind rattled the garage door of the National Weather Service shed, blasting across the tundra of the largest Pribilof Island with gale force. The first "bomb" of the Bering Sea's fall season -- one of those monster storms that can quickly turn flat, calm water into boat-swamping swells -- was crossing the ocean to the northwest.    (Added 2004-10-29)

Buoys to help in event of another big oil spill in Alaska - Six oceanographic buoys will be installed in Prince William Sound this spring for use by emergency responders if there is another big oil spill.    (Added 2004-10-29)

Science salutes its ocean giant - All great careers come to an end and the deep-sea manned submersible Alvin goes into retirement after 40 years of remarkable work in the world's oceans.    (Added 2004-10-22)

Jumbo squid is captured in unfamiliar waters - A large Humboldt squid caught offshore from Sitka is among numerous sightings of a species seen for the first time in waters of the Far North, and the first of the species recovered from British Columbia waters.    (Added 2004-10-18)

Endangered Alaska sea lion population is rebounding - For the second time in four years, the number of endangered Steller sea lions counted between the Gulf of Alaska and the tip of the Aleutian Chain has increased, according to new data released by the National Marine Fisheries Service.    (Added 2004-10-18)

Researchers gather data on the whales that steal fish - In his decades of fishing in Southeast Alaska, Sitka fisherman Dennis Hicks has lost a good number of fish to giant thieves -- sperm whales that pluck black cod off his longline hooks.    (Added 2004-10-18)

Study of beluga whales elicits more questions than answers - Silty Cook Inlet holds unexpected life, mystery.    (Added 2004-10-15)

Alaska Bering Sea pollock gets eco-label - The largest fishery in the United States has received final approval for an eco-lable that tells customers the seafood they are buying is environmentally friendly.    (Added 2004-10-15)

North Pacific right whales making a comeback - Scientists have found twice as many right whales in the Bering Sea as previously spotted, giving them hope the rare whales are making a comeback.    (Added 2004-10-05)

Fin whale sighting marks a historic return to Southeast - A large baleen whale sighted in Sitka Sound last week may be the first fin whale in the area since commercial whaling in Alaska inside waters was halted more than 60 years ago, a marine biologist said.    (Added 2004-09-23)

Researchers study seabirds to help get big picture of marine ecosystem health - Rachael Orben cradled a very angry-looking tufted puffin, careful to keep its wings under control and its beak from her hands.    (Added 2004-09-23)

Deaths of seabirds in Alaska baffling to biologists - Biologists remain baffled by the death of hundreds of seabirds in early July at False Pass in the eastern Aleutian Islands.    (Added 2004-09-23)

Seals swim incredible journey - Two orphaned ringed seal pups nursed to health this summer at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward both launched remarkable migrations after their release last month near Nome, swimming hundreds of miles in opposite directions.    (Added 2004-09-23)

Arctic science mission faces cold war-style hurdles - It was dark and near freezing when U.S. scientists dropped a chain of oceanographic instruments off the stern of the Professor Khromov, a Russian research ship.    (Added 2004-09-23)

Scientists discover new marine habitat in Alaska - While researchers in Alaska this summer used high-tech submersibles and hugh ships to plumb the deep-ocean depths in search of new species, a team of scuba diving scientists working from an Alaska fishing boat has discovered an entirely new marine habitat just a stone's throw from shore.    (Added 2004-09-17)

Great while shark puts jaws on display in aquarium tank - Man-eater settles for a salmon dinner - making history and thrilling researchers.    (Added 2004-09-17)

2 rare right whales tracked by satellite - Scientists hope to learn where they feed in Bering Sea.    (Added 2004-09-17)

Seals decline on Pribilofs - For reasons scientists and Native observers can't explain, the number of fur seals returning to Pribilof beaches has been dropping.    (Added 2004-09-07)

Endangered seabird could lose protection U.S. ruling on marbled murrelet - The Bush administration, overriding opinions by the western office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Game, issued a decision Wednesday that environmentalists said would weaken protection for the marbled murrelet, an elusive seabird.    (Added 2004-09-07)

Duck breeding program makes a splash - Researchers at the Alaska SeaLife Center are poking into the private lives of the Steller's eider, a rare sea duck that is disappearing from its nesting grounds in Alaska.    (Added 2004-09-07)

Toxins accumulate in Arctic peoples, animals, study says - The team will also test walruses, sea otters, and clams in Alaska's Aleutian Islands for traces of PCBs, pesticides, and petroleum. Some scientists are concerned that a string of abandoned military sites there may be contaminating the environment.    (Added 2004-09-07)

Russians lament a time when crab is no longer king - Kamchatka, the rugged, remote peninsula of volcanoes and ice, is famous for its crab, none more than the red king crab that has long been this poor place's hard currency. The problem here today is trying to find one to eat.    (Added 2004-08-30)

The power of one: unicellular organisms contribute more nitrogen to ocean than reported earlier; may affect global atmosphere - Large, nutrient-poor expanses of the open ocean are getting a substantial nitrogen influx from an abundant group of unicellular organisms that “fix,” or chemically alter, nitrogen into a form usable for biological productivity.    (Added 2004-08-30)

Study in Science reveals recreational fishing takes big bite of ocean catch - Taking a hard look at the common belief that recreational fishing accounts for only 2-3% of total landings in the U.S., a new study published in the journal Science (August 26th) reveals that recreational catches account for nearly a quarter of the total take of over fished populations, including many of the most economically valuable species such as red snapper, red drum, lingcod, and bocaccio.    (Added 2004-08-30)

Prince William Sound fishermen make unexpected catches - Atka mackerel, fish more common to the Aleutian Islands than the Sound, are being caught regularly in Port Valdez.    (Added 2004-08-27)

Environmental groups object to 'eco-label' - Several environmental groups are objecting to Alaska's pollock fishery - the largest fishery in the United States - getting approval for an "eco-label."    (Added 2004-08-27)

Two UCSC graduate students receive grant for marine ecology research - Two UC Santa Cruz graduate students are among the winners of the 2004 Mia J. Tegner Memorial Research Grants in Marine Environmental History and Historical Marine Ecology. Seth Newsome, a Ph.D. candidate in Earth sciences, and Daniel Monson, a Ph.D. candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology, will use their $5,500 grant to investigate historical changes in the diets of killer whales during the past century.    (Added 2004-08-27)

Northern fur seals continue to decline - Commercial hunting of northern fur seals was halted 20 years ago in the Pribilof Islands, but their numbers continue to slip.    (Added 2004-08-27)

Alaska researchers try to breed rare ducks - Researchers at the Alaska Sealife Center are getting an education in the sex lives of a rare sea duck species that is disappearing from its nesting grounds in Alaska.    (Added 2004-08-20)

Gray whale faces extinction over oil development, warns IWC - The International Whaling Commission sounded a warning Tuesday over the effects of a vast oil and gas project on the "critically endangered" western gray whale in the Russian Far East, only 100 of which are known to exist.    (Added 2004-08-16)

Net-entangled whale seen, not found - Officials from SeaWorld and the Coast Guard searched in vain yesterday afternoon for a Pacific gray whale that was seen entangled in a fishing net about 20 miles southwest of Point Loma.    (Added 2004-08-16)

Alaska surimi marketed in Japan  - The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute recently completed its first promotion featuring Alaska surimi in Japanese stores. The product is called kanikama, which is artificial crab made from pollock that had been processed into surimi.    (Added 2004-08-16)

Feeling the sting  - This summer, nearly 30 years after the movie Jaws scared throngs of beachgoers out of the water, another marine menace is haunting the shallows. Considerably smaller than the great white shark that terrorized the fictional resort of Amity Island, this creature doesn't bite, but it can pack a nasty sting--and its numbers are on the rise.    (Added 2004-08-16)

Native American tribes vow to clean up Yukon River  - Stretching through some of the most pristine wilderness in North America, the 2,300-mile-long (3,700-kilometer-long) Yukon River has become increasingly polluted from raw sewage flowing into the river and decades of runoff waste from mines and military sites.    (Added 2004-08-16)

Depleted beluga whale population stable, U.S. says  - A depleted population of beluga whales has stabilized five years after Alaska Natives agreed to virtually stop hunting them, the National Marine Fisheries Service said yesterday.    (Added 2004-08-12)

Fossils may give clues to Beringia land bridge  - A retired geology professor was waiting for a boat to pick him up from a riverbank on the North Slope in July 2001 when he saw something unexpected. Bones - big bones.    (Added 2004-08-09)

Warm Pacific Water Wave Heads East, But No El Niño Yet  - Recent sea-level height data from the U.S./France Jason altimetric satellite during a 10-day cycle ending July 27, 2004, show that weaker than normal trade winds in the western and central equatorial Pacific during June have triggered an eastward moving, warm Kelvin wave.    (Added 2004-08-09)

Juneau scientists probing fisheries, marine ecosystem  - At least nine Juneau scientists received a boost this year to study Alaska's lesser-known aquatic resources from the state's fledging North Pacific Research Board.    (Added 2004-08-05)

Blue whale makes rare Alaska appearance  - Endangered mammal hasn't been seen in state for 30 years.    (Added 2004-08-05)

OSU scientists able to harness "plankton power"  - During the past two years, scientists have successfully tapped the chemical reactions from decomposing organic matter on the ocean floor to create fuel cells that can provide low levels of electrical power for many months.    (Added 2004-08-04)

Sea engulfing Alaska village  - It is thought to be the most extreme example of global warming on the planet. The village of Shishmaref lies on a tiny island on the edge of the arctic circle - and it is literally being swallowed by the sea.    (Added 2004-08-24)

Retreating glaciers spur Alaskan earthquakes  - In a new study, NASA and United States Geological Survey (USGS) scientists found that retreating glaciers in southern Alaska may be opening the way for future earthquakes.    (Added 2004-08-03)

Ocean absorbing excess carbon dioxide  - Nearly half the excess carbon dioxide spilled into the air by humans over the past two centuries has been taken up by the ocean, a study says. If that continues, it could damage the ability of many ocean creatures to make their shells, says an accompanying report.    (Added 2004-07-20)

California pelican deaths puzzle wildlife officials  - California's endangered brown pelicans are mysteriously starving to death during a bumper year for anchovies, their preferred prey, wildlife officials said.    (Added 2004-07-20)

Sea floor survey reveals deep hole  - Scientists have identified a region of the sea floor with a depth that rivals the Challenger Deep which, at about 11,000 metres (36,000 feet), is the lowest spot on Earth.    (Added 2004-10-22)

Anti-plume found off Pacific Coast  - Now a North American team of scientists has documented for the first time a new phenomenon the creation of a void in the seafloor that draws in - rather than expels - surrounding seawater.    (Added 2004-07-14)

First cod fishery in the world seeks environmental certification - The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is pleased to announce that the Bering Sea/Aleutian Island Pacific cod freezer longline fishery has become the first cod fishery in the world to seek MSC certification as a sustainable and well-managed fishery. The fishery will begin a full assessment under the MSC's certification and eco-labeling program for sustainable and well-managed fisheries next month. Seattle-based Bering Select Seafoods Company has contracted with Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) in Emeryville, California which will lead the scientific review of the fishery against the MSC's strict environmental standard.    (Added 2004-07-14)

Scientists find source of cooler summers - The Okhotsk high-pressure system phenomenon, which sometimes causes unusually cold summers and prolonged rainy seasons in Japan, originates from atmospheric movements over northern Europe and reaches Japan via Siberia, researchers have found.    (Added 2004-07-14)

When sun's too strong, plankton make clouds - People say size doesn't matter, and that may be true for tiny plankton, those free-floating ocean plants that make up the bottom of the marine food-chain. Little plankton may be able to change the weather, and longer term climate, in ways that serve them better.    (Added 2004-07-14)

Scientists find source of cooler summers - The Okhotsk high-pressure system phenomenon, which sometimes causes unusually cold summers and prolonged rainy seasons in Japan, originates from atmospheric movements over northern Europe and reaches Japan via Siberia, researchers have found.    (Added 2004-07-14)

Y-K salmon runs finally rebounding - Strong returns of kings, chums ease local tensions.   (Added 2004-06-22)

Mammoths stranded on Bering Sea Island delayed extinction - St. Paul, one of the five islands in the Bering Sea Pribilofs, was home to mammoths that survived the extinctions that wiped out mainland and other Bering Sea island mammoth populations.    (Added 2004-06-22)

Ancient life on cold-water corals - The world's oceans contain far more cold-water coral reefs than experts had realised, the United Nations says.    (Added 2004-06-09)

NASA and USGS magnetic database "rocks" the world - NASA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) are teaming up to create one of the most complete databases of magnetic properties of Earth’s rocks ever assembled.     (Added 2004-05-25)

Scientists find more keys to the North Pacific Ocean's climate - Using satellite and other data, scientists have discovered that sea surface temperatures and sea level pressure in the North Pacific have undergone unusual changes over the last five years.   (Added 2004-05-25)

Moody Pacific unleashes another climate mystery While listening to your local weatherman during the past several years, you've probably heard the terms "El Nino" and "La Nina" hundreds of times, both major players in our weather.   (Added 2004-04-22)

Rock art hints at whaling origins - Stone Age people may have started hunting whales as early as 6,000 BC, new evidence from South Korea suggests.    (Added 2004-04-22)

Scientist says whalers shifted ocean ecosystems - The lack of large meals in the form of giant whales may have let killer whales to feed on other, perhaps less desirable, food sources.   (Added 2004-04-20)

Pacific sea lion collapse probed - Scientists believe they are closer to understanding why the populations of Steller sea lions and other mammals have collapsed in the north Pacific.   (Added 2004-02-25)

Exploited oceans in peril - Even on the sandy-bottomed Bering Sea, largely considered one of the best-managed fisheries in the world, scientists recently noted minute changes in sea life as a result of commercial fishing.   (Added 2004-02-25)

Deep-sea corals protection call - More than 1,100 marine scientists have signed a statement calling on the UN and world governments to stop the destruction of deep-sea corals.   (Added 2004-02-16)

Cause for sea otters' scarcity a mystery - Sea otters are vanishing from Alaska's Aleutian chain and other parts of southwestern Alaska with no obvious explanation.   (Added 2004-01-23)

Pesticides restricted to protect salmon; West Coast ruling is sweeping - 38 pesticides along Northwest salmon streams banned.   (Added 2004-01-23)

Research ship puts scientists in the field and on the sea - By the end of the 17-day excursion from Kodiak to the eastern Aleutian Islands, researchers tagged 13 young sea lions, believed to be the most vulnerable age group of an endangered species off Alaska's coast.   (Added 2004-01-23)

China protecting harbor seals online - China has opened a website to spread knowledge on harbor seals and call on general public to protect the endangered species migrating each winter to water off Miaodao islets, the gate to Bohai Bay in Changdao county in east China.    (Added 2004-01-07)

Research ship puts scientists in the field and on the sea - By the end of the 17-day excursion from Kodiak to the eastern Aleutian Islands, researchers tagged 13 young sea lions, believed to be the most vulnerable age group of an endangered species off Alaska's coast. In service for 16 years, the Tiglax has emerged as a major player in managing the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, which extends from the state's southeastern arm to the Aleutian Islands to the Arctic Slope.   (Added 2004-01-07)

Alaska's corals: A deep treasure - As vibrant and colorful as the coral in the Caribbean and the waters off Australia, Alaska's newly discovered abundance of deep-sea cold water coral is another example of the rich natural wonders the Last Frontier has to offer.   (Added 2004-01-07)

Cold water coral war - A battle heats up between trawlers, environmentalists.   (Added 2004-01-07)

2003

Exxon Valdez spill still a danger  Scientists in North America have concluded that the environmental impact of the Exxon Valdez spill was more serious than previously believed. (Added 12/30/2003)

Japanese papers reveal huge quake  Scientists say old Japanese papers show a huge magnitude nine earthquake struck north-western America 3000 years ago. (Added 12/02/2003)

Plankton may protect Earth from icy fate  The evolution of tiny, shelled sea creatures ended a 200 million year era of extreme ice ages and has protected the Earth from any repeat ever since, suggest the results of a new modeling study. (Added 11/06/2003)

Ocean census discovers new fish  More than 600 new species of fish have been discovered by a major ocean census and thousands more may be lurking undetected. (Added 10/23/2003)

Coalition seeks to protect Bering Sea  Alarmed about overfishing, poaching, pollution and ecosystem shifts in the Bering Sea, an international coalition of scientists, managers and community leaders has formed to push the United States and Russia to work together managing what may be the most productive marine area on Earth. (Added 08/14/2003)

Bering Climate is a website that serves data that measure the Bering Sea climate/ecosystem status including weather, oceanographic and climate data, sea ice data, and fisheries and other biological data.  (Added 07/10/2003)

Earthquake Rocks Ocean South of Aleutians (Added 06/25/2003)

Still Waiting the Cause of Death of 10 Porpoises in the San Juans (Added 06/24/2003)

Gray Whale Swims Into Samish River (Added 06/19/2003)

Japanese Bid To Resume Commercial Whaling Blocked (Added 06/19/2003)

Food Shortages? (Added 05/23/2003)

Fishers Fishing Too Much, Researchers Say (Added 05/14/2003)

2003 Eastern Pacific Ocean Conference (EPOC) will be held at the Wrigley Marine Science Center, Catalina Island, California from September 24-27, 2003. EPOC is a multidisciplinary meeting concerning research results from the eastern Pacific Ocean, including the equatorial region. (Added 01/21/2003)

Postglacial Flooding of the Bering Land: A Geospatial Animation Postglacial Flooding of the Bering Land Bridge:
A Geospatial Animation is a land bridge animation based on digital information, and reveals large-scale patterns of shifting coastlines and environments as the land bridge evolved. (Added 01/21/2003)

2002

Russian Federation and Alaska dialogue about forming an international board of governors for the Bering Sea. (Added 10/4/2002)

BeringSea.com This site is the result of an ambitious new effort, inspired, funded, and organized by the Tanadgusix (Alaskan Native Village) People and their friends. We are a small organization of real Alaskan citizens-not some giant commercial conglomerate. Yet, with modern tools and sincere efforts we can grow this site to serve each other. (Added 4/24/2002)

Adventurers Quit Bering Strait Trip ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Two British adventurers have abandoned their attempt to drive a customized amphibious vehicle across the ice and open water of the Bering Strait to Russia, a spokeswoman says. (Added 4/10/2002)

Illegal fisheries and mismanagement rampant in the Western Bering Sea A recently released TRAFFIC report documents how the Russian Federation's management of its fisheries resource of the western Bering Sea has broken down, and the Russian mafias seem to have seized the opportunity for exploitation. The whole report (90 pages) can be downloaded in pdf format by clicking on the download button on the left side of page here.

The BBC did a story on this, strongly relying on the TRAFFIC press release. It can be found here.

Similarly for CNN. (Added 2/27/2002)

2001

Coastal Impact Assistance Program - Competitive Grant Program The Division of Governmental Coordination is soliciting grant applications under the Coastal Impact Assistance Program - Competitive Grant Program. Applications are due February 8, 2002. (Added 12/17/2001)

Endangered Right Whales on the Southeastern Bering Sea Shelf by Cynthia Tynan.
Science, vol. 294, No. 5548, p. 1894. - (Added 12/05/2001)

Related Media Coverage - (Added 12/05/2001)

A CSCOR/COP announcement for proposals in synthesis and ecological forecasting, and new cumulative coastal impacts studies. (Added 12/05/2001)

NPS Shared Beringian Heritage Program Funding Announcement The National Park Service (NPS) is seeking project ideas for funding under its Shared Beringian Heritage Program. Projects should study or report on the cultural and natural landscape of the central Beringia region of western Alaska and eastern Chukotka. (Added 11/27/2001)

NOTE: Funding is directly available only for USA organizations, excluding other federal agencies.

Search, storm part of the mission for Seattle-based icebreaker (Added 4/17/2001)

Mystery: Why is the Aleutian ecosystem collapsing (Added 2/20/2001)

New Announcement of Opportunity on Steller's Sea Lion Research (Added 2/20/2001)

A Decade of Variability in the Physical and Biological Components of the Bering Sea Ecosystem: 1991-2001.

Scientists study impact of new phytoplankton species in the Bering Sea (Added 1/8/2001)

2000

The Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET)

The University of New Hampshire released its FY 2001 CICEET Funding Announcement on November 15, 2000.

The NOAA/UNH Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET), located at the University of New Hampshire, is inviting preliminary proposals for project funding consideration. This request for preliminary proposals solicits projects that support the mission, goals and objectives of the CICEET, including the use of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) in developing and applying innovative environmental technologies that address anthropogenic contamination and degradation of estuarine and coastal ecosystems. The deadline for receipt of preliminary proposal submissions is Wednesday, January 10, 2001. Information on priority project focus areas, criteria for proposal evaluation, and guidelines for preparing preliminary proposals can be obtained by logging on to the CICEET website at: (http://ciceet.unh.edu) then selecting funding opportunities from the side bar menu. Members of the UNH research community should select the links under FY 2001 UNH Internal Request for Preliminary Proposals. Investigators from all other institutions should select the links under FY 2001 National Request. Contact Richard Langan, Ph.D. at rlangan@cisunix.unh.edu or Dwight Trueblood, Ph.D. at Dwight.Trueblood@noaa.gov to obtain additional information

Status of king crab stocks in the Eastern Bering Sea in 2000. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) announces the availability of the following report:

Zheng, J., and G.H. Kruse. 2000. Status of king crab stocks in the Eastern Bering Sea in 2000. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Commercial Fisheries, Regional Information Report 5J00-09, Juneau.

Alternatively, links to the file can be found on the ADF&G home page (link to Publications Home page bookmark location), on the Publication Home itself. and on the Shellfish Home Page

If anyone prefers to receive a paper copy of the report by mail, contact Gordon Kruse at Gordon_Kruse@fishgame.state.ak.us with your request and include your mailing address. (Added 9/15/2000)

Pacific Ocean mood swings pack one-two punch by Rosemary Sullivant, Environmental News Network. (Added 8/18/2000)

Fishing ban to protect sea lion stuns North Pacific trawl fleet by Hal Berntonand Mike Carter Seattle Times(Added 7/25/2000)

The mystery of Steller's Curse by Chris Carrel and Lance Morgan Seattle Times (Added 6/4/2000)

Announcement of Opportunity for SEBSCC Phase III Research: 1- and 2-year proposals for synthesis and limited monitoring in southeastern Bering Sea; proposals due July 11, 2000  (Added 5/2000)

Crab season decision mandated: Bering Sea fisheries 'resource disasters' by Sam Skolnik Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Added 5/2000)

Beringia Days 2000 October 11-12, 2000, Anchorage, Alaska (Added 5/2000)

Evidence for a substantial increase in gelatinous zooplankton in the Bering Sea, with possible links to climate change by Richard D. Brodeur et al. Fisheries Oceanography 8:4, p 296, 1999 (in PDF format) (Added 4/2000)

Regime shift theory: A review of changing environmental conditions in the Bering Sea and Eastern North Pacific Ocean by James D. Schumacher (in PDF format) (Added 3/2000)

DRAFT Announcement of Opportunity for SEBSCC Phase III Research (draft no longer available, this link will access the final announcement as of 5/15/00) (Added 2/2000)

A peek at rarely seen subarctic marine life! results from mesopelagic sampling carried out during spring 1999 in the eastern Bering Sea (Added 1/2000)

Climate change in the southeastern Bering Sea and some consequences for biota by James D. Schumacher et al. (in PDF format) (Added 1/2000)

1999

North Pacific Conference: "Seafood Sustainability in a Changing Climate" (Victoria, BC, Canada; May 25-26, 2000) (Added 12/99)

More study needed of Bering Sea ecosystem, experts say Nando.net May 1998   (Added 10/99)

The Bering Sea Alaska Geographic Vol. 26 No. 3   (Added 10/99)

Changing Currents Color the Bering Sea a New Shade of Blue Earth Observatory (3-30-99)   (Added 8/99)

Salmon run predictions improve ENN Daily News (8-23-99)   (Added 8/99)

Sightings Of Right Whales Stir Hope For Rare Species Seattle Times (8-19-99)   (Added 8/99)

Research Opportunities, Joint Announcement of Opportunity International Arctic Research Center and Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research (Added 8/99)

The Final Report of Southeast Bering Sea Carrying Capacity (SEBSCC) Phase I Research (1996-1998) (Added 8/99) (pdf version)

Report says "continuous El Niño" is killing salmon  (Added 6/99)

Availability of funds to support Research in the Northeast Pacific Ocean (Added 2/99)

Dinkum Sands Update (Added 2/99)

Trouble brewing in the Bering Sea By Hillary Mayell Year of the Ocean: Ocean News (Added 1/99)

1998

FOCI International Workshop on Recent Changes in the Bering Sea (Added 11/19/98)

SEBSCC 1998  Annual Reports - Fiscal Year 1998 (Added 11/19/98)

Bering Sea Ecosystem Workshop: Executive Summary of Bering Sea Ecosystem Workshop, Anchorage, AK; 12/4-5/1997. (Added 3/4/98)

SEBSCC Phase II funding:  Southeast Bering Sea Carrying Capacity announces opportunity for Phase II research. (Added 2/25/98)

1997

ARI - Causes of Variability in the Aleutian Low: (Added 11/20/97)

New Bering Sea Ecosystem Project: Co-sponsored by the St. Paul Coastal District, the Division of Governmental Coordination, and NOAA's Coastal Resource Management group (Added 11/12/97)

New Research Added to the Southeast Bering Sea Carrying Capacity Page:  (Added 9/22/97)

The Bering Sea Ecosystem:  A Report by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (Added 9/17/97)

Low Temperature Incubation of Pollock Eggs from the Bering Sea

Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS) Malfunction -- Press Release

TASK TEAM Established for ADEOS -- Press Release

Summary of ADEOS Spacecraft Status as of 8:00am EDT June 30,1997

Prolonged Biological Production in the Southeastern Bering Sea

Detecting Bering Sea Eddies

Multispecies Virtual Population Analysis Model of the Eastern Bering Sea

Recent NOAA/University of Alaska Research on the Green Belt in the Eastern Bering Sea

Conceptual Model of Relationships Between Pollock Recruitment and Biophysical Correlates in the Southeast Bering Sea

Visualization of Marine Habitats Affected by Wind and Tidal Mixing near the Pribilof Islands

NOAA WP-3D Research Aircraft Investigates the Bio-Physical Environment of the Bering Sea