Rivers & Oceans, features and articles | Educational Science

Feb 8, 2024

Colossal underwater canyon discovered near seamount deep in the Mediterranean Sea

Scientists have discovered a giant underwater canyon in the eastern Mediterranean Sea that likely formed just before the sea transformed to a mile-high salt field. The canyon formed around 6 million years ago, at the onset of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC), when the Gibraltar gateway between the Atlantic Ocean...

Feb 9, 2024

'We are approaching the tipping point': Marker for the collapse of key Atlantic current discovered

Scientists have discovered a key warning sign before a crucial Atlantic current collapses and plunges the Northern Hemisphere into climate chaos. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) carries warm water north from the Southern Hemisphere, where it releases heat and freezes. The freezing process concentrates salt in the non-frozen portion...

Feb 19, 2024

'More unzipping of the landscape': Arctic permafrost could crumble into rivers, unleashing devastating feedback loop

Permafrost isn't just a feature of Arctic landscapes — it actually shapes those landscapes by directing the flow of water. And as global temperatures increase, this permanently frozen ground could give way to create new rivers and expand existing ones, which would release huge quantities of carbon into the atmosphere,...

Mar 12, 2024

Every 2.4 million years, Mars tugs on Earth so hard it changes the ocean floor

Mars' gravitational pull on Earth may be influencing the climate on our planet, new research hints. Geological evidence tracing back more than 65 million years and taken from hundreds of sites across the world suggests that deep-sea currents have repeatedly gone through periods of being either stronger or weaker. This...

Mar 15, 2024

Sleeping subduction zone could awaken and form a new 'Ring of Fire' that swallows the Atlantic Ocean

A subduction zone below the Gibraltar Strait is creeping westward and could one day invade the Atlantic Ocean, causing the ocean to slowly close up, new research suggests. The subduction zone, also known as the Gibraltar arc or trench, currently sits in a narrow ocean corridor between Portugal and Morocco....