Rivers & Oceans, features and articles | Educational Science

May 31, 2010

The World's Biggest Oceans and Seas

Intro Marit Jentoft-Nilsen/NASA Water covers more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface, with the largest body of water, the Pacific Ocean, taking up more than one-third of the planet's surface. All of the oceans on Earth are estimated to have a volume of 0.3 billion cubic miles (1.332 billion...

Mar 31, 2010

World's Deepest Undersea Vents Discovered

Beneath the Caribbean Sea a remotely controlled vehicle came upon the world's deepest hydrothermal vents, where super-heated mineral-rich water gushes from chimney structures onto the ocean floor. The black smokers, named for how they spew out an iron sulfide compound that's black, sit 3.1 miles (5 kilometers) deep in the...

Sep 30, 2011

Giant Amoebas Discovered in Deepest Ocean Trench

Gigantic amoebas have been found in the Mariana Trench, the deepest region on Earth. During a July 2011 voyage to the Pacific Ocean chasm, researchers with Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and National Geographic engineers deployed untethered landers, called dropcams, equipped with digital video and lights to...

Aug 31, 2011

The Serene Splendor of the Salty Salton Sea

Salton Sea The Salton Sea is one of the world's largest inland seas as well as being one of the lowest spots on Earth, sitting at 227 feet (69 meters) below sea level. It is located in southeastern California just north of the rich agricultural lands of the Imperial Valley....

Aug 31, 2011

Arctic Sea Ice Hits Record Low, According to One Measure

One of the harbingers of global climate change — the extent of the Arctic sea ice — has passed a new threshold. German researchers announced on Sept. 8 that the sea-ice cover had shrunk below its record minimum, set in 2007. Or has it? Elsewhere, researchers said the race remained...

Jun 30, 2011

Season for Mysterious 'Night-Shining' Clouds Is Here

Every summer since the late 19th century, Earth's polar skies have lit up with eerie blue-white glowing clouds, slowly twisting and undulating in the twilight sky. These mystifying clouds are referred to as night-shining clouds, or noctilucent clouds. Such clouds form in an upper layer of the Earth's atmosphere called...

May 31, 2011

Sea Level Is Rising Faster Than Ever Seen

Sea levels are rising faster than they have been in the last two millennia, new research shows. The swelling seas match up well with historical temperature data, suggesting the warmer it is, the more the sea level rises. Sea-level rise is a potentially disastrous outcome of climate change, study researcher...

May 31, 2011

Melting Arctic Ice Marks Possible Sea Change in Marine Ecosystems

A single-celled alga that went extinct in the North Atlantic Ocean about 800,000 years ago has returned after drifting from the Pacific through the Arctic thanks to melting polar ice. And while its appearance marks the first trans-Arctic migration in modern times, scientists say it signals something potentially bigger. It...

Mar 31, 2011

Surprise: Wind Above Affects Seafloor a Mile Below

The waters in the deepest depths of the oceans have long been considered to be a place apart from the surface waters of the sea. But new research suggests these two levels of the ocean are more connected than previously thought. Swirling currents generated by winds at the sea's surface...

Sep 30, 2012

Film Festival Highlights Plight of the Oceans

MONTEREY, Calif. — James Cameron, Richard Branson and the His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco were just a few of the stars who came here in support of the world's oceans at last week's biennial Blue Ocean Film Festival, which showed more than 100 films over the course...

Sep 30, 2012

Deep-Sea Vehicle Alvin Gets Splashy Makeover

Humans have explored only a tiny fraction of the deep-sea floor, but the deep-diving submersible vehicle Alvin gets credit for a considerable share of what humanity has seen in the water's dark, alien depths. Alvin, which can ferry three people into the deep sea, has made 4,664 dives since its...

May 31, 2012

Rescuing Marine Animals Brings Disease Risk, CDC Says

A dead harbor porpoise that washed up in Maine in January turned out to be carrying a disease-causing bacteria that could have sickened the people who handled the animal, according to a report today (June 28) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The case serves as a reminder...

Mar 31, 2012

Animation Captures Artful Swirl of Ocean Currents

A NASA animation shows how ocean currents silently snake and swirl around the planet over the course of two and a half years, and in doing so reveals how science makes art and vice versa. Fluid white lines represent currents, while the blue background is shaded to represent depth; the...

Jan 31, 2013

Hundreds of Slime-Covered Seabirds Wash Ashore, Puzzle Scientists

A mysterious greasy substance has been found on hundreds of seabirds — some dead, others injured — that have been washing up along England's south coast. The birds, mostly guillemots, have been discovered along beaches from Weymouth to Torquay covered in the waxy film; many have very sore legs, according...

Jan 31, 2013

New Source Found For Cold, Deep Antarctic Currents

With help from seals, scientists have discovered a new source for the coldest, deepest water in the ocean. Instruments glued to seals' heads tracked Antarctic Bottom Water flowing down deep canyons off Cape Darnley in East Antarctica. The spot was an unexpected font of the bottom water — cold, dense,...