Rivers & Oceans, features and articles | Educational Science

Jan 31, 2009

Same Species Found at Both Ends of Earth

Scientists have determined that at least 235 species live in both polar seas despite the 8,000 miles (13,000 km) between the ends of the Earth. How some of the creatures wound up at the top and bottom of the planet is a mystery. Distance and habitat divisions — such as...

Dec 31, 2008

Bush to Create Large Ocean Sanctuaries

On Tuesday, President George W. Bush will create three ocean sanctuaries with a total area bigger than California. The national monuments, as they will be called, will be protected from mining and virtually all fishing. One of the marine monuments includes the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot on Earth at...

Nov 30, 2010

Braided Rivers Flow Through Northern Italy

Three of northeastern Italy's rivers, the Cellina, Meduna and Tagliamento can be seen in this image taken on Sept. 21 by NASA's Landsat 5 satellite, as they flow toward the Adriatic Sea. The gravel-coated riverbeds contrast sharply with the surrounding landscape, highlighting the river contours. The rivers are fed by...

Nov 30, 2010

Upgraded Sub Could Reach 98 Percent of Ocean Deep

SAN FRANCISCO A U.S. Navy-owned submarine that located a lost hydrogen bomb and scouted the wreck of the Titanic is getting a $40 million makeover to go deeper than ever before. But first things first: Some interior redecorating will allow the submarine's occupants to observe deep sea life without holding...

Oct 31, 2010

The Heart of the Shrinking Aral Sea

This satellite image, from July 24 features the heart-shaped Small Aral Sea, also known as the North Aral Sea. The Aral Sea was once the world's fourth-largest inland body of water, but since the rivers that fed it were diverted for irrigation projects 50 years ago, it has been steadily...

Sep 30, 2010

Hurricane Season Not Over Yet: Subtropical Storm Otto Forms

Earlier this afternoon (Oct. 6), a subtropical depression that had been lurking to the east of the Caribbean developed into a subtropical storm now dubbed Otto. Otto makes the 15th named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. Named storms include tropical storms and hurricanes. Otto is a little different...

Sep 30, 2010

New Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents Discovered in Middle of Atlantic

An area of hydrothermal vents has been discovered deep below the sea in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The discovery of the vents, which lie nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) below the ocean surface, was a surprise to scientists as the area in which they were found, about 300...

Sep 30, 2010

Fish Discovered 4.5 Miles Deep in Ocean

A new fish species has been discovered in a deep area of the ocean previously thought to be devoid of fish. Researchers uncovered the new species of snailfish a bizarre, transparent-looking creature with tiny dots in place of eyes and wide, fan-like fins an astonishing 23,000 feet (7,000 meters) below...

Sep 30, 2010

Dust Blows Over Egypt, Libya and the Mediterranean Sea

A few days after dust plumes blew off the coast of Libya, another dust storm spreads over Egypt, Libya and the Mediterranean Sea. NASA's Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image of the dust storm on Oct. 1, 2010. The dust is thickest over central Libya, and thinner, but still discernible...

Aug 31, 2010

Network of Mics Helps Track Sea Creatures on the Move

Microphones deployed along hundreds of miles of coastline are now tracking thousands of marine animals during their journeys through rivers and in the ocean. For the past eight years, scientists have been tagging nearly 16,000 animals with acoustic transmitters that each broadcast a unique identifier. At the same time, researchers...

Aug 31, 2010

Ocean Cruises Sample Marine Life Near San Francisco

A research cruise left San Francisco Bay this week to collect data on its ocean creatures in an effort to piece together a better picture of how conservation efforts there are working. These cruises help us gather information, which will help better the marine sanctuaries in the area, and better...

Aug 31, 2010

New Sea Slug Species Discovered in California

A new species of sea slug, discovered in the tide pools of Carpinteria Reef in California, has just been named for its discoverer. Jeff Goddard, project scientist with the Marine Science Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara was working in the tide pools in 2008 when he discovered...

Jul 31, 2010

Deep Ocean Diving Just a Click Away

With the click of a mouse, anyone can follow oceanographers as they journey hundreds of miles off the Washington and Oregon coasts and dive with robots nearly a mile under the ocean's surface to explore some of the most extreme environments on Earth. The expedition, called Enlighten '10, will explore...

Jul 31, 2010

What's Sea Ice?

The term sea ice has been sending shivers down many spines with the growing threat of global warming, but many non-scientists still misunderstand what sea ice really is. Sea ice is a thin, fragile, solid layer of frozen ocean water that forms in the Arctic and Antarctic oceans. Not to...

Jun 30, 2010

Icebreaker Ships to Map Arctic Seafloor

The U.S. icebreaker ship Healy is about to set sail on its way to the Arctic, where it will burst through the sea ice in order to map the seafloor below. The map will help set the record straight on how much of the seafloor a country can claim as...