Rivers & Oceans, features and articles | Educational Science

Feb 28, 2014

Ride the Rapids on Google's New Colorado River View

Anyone with an Internet connection can now raft through rivers traversing the Grand Canyon, without getting wet: Google Maps and the nonprofit group American Rivers have launched a Street View of the Colorado River. Colorado River View, as it is called, takes users through 286 miles (460 kilometers) of river....

Apr 30, 2015

Amazing Waves Discovered in Deep-Ocean Trench

Surf's up more than 2 miles under the sea, where ice-cold waves as tall as skyscrapers tumble over an underwater waterfall. Yet the ocean surface is calm, and a tropical sun bakes scientists aboard a research ship moored between South America and Africa just south of the equator. Without the...

Jan 31, 2015

Sky River to Bust Northern California Drought This Week

California forecasters are prepping the state's northern cities for a switch from extreme drought to drenching rain and damaging winds starting tomorrow (Feb. 5). An incoming atmospheric river could deliver at least 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in coastal and inland mountains, and 5 inches (13 cm) in valley...

Mar 31, 2016

Massive Coral Reef Discovered in the Amazon River

Scientists have discovered a huge coral reef system lurking beneath the muddy waters of the Amazon. The network of coral reefs, which is about 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) long and is home to a hidden ecosystem of colorful and bizarre creatures, was found at the mouth of the Amazon River,...

Feb 29, 2016

Surfers Invent Floating Trash Bin to Clean Up World's Oceans

Two Australian surfers are trying to tackle the planet's water pollution problem head-on, by developing a device that functions as an automated floating trash bin for the world's oceans. The device, called the Seabin, can be placed in the water, attached to a floating dock in a marina, and is...

May 31, 2017

Millions of 'Sea Pickles' Invade Northwest Waters

The waters off the Oregon coast are mysteriously awash with strange, jelly-like creatures that look like translucent slugs, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These bizarre organisms, called pyrosomes (Pyrosoma atlanticum), began appearing off Oregon's coast in 2015, but in recent months, their numbers have multiplied into...

May 31, 2018

Corpse of Mysterious Sea Creature Washes Ashore in Namibia

A bizarre-looking, nearly 20-foot-long (6 meters) sea creature washed ashore at Dorob National Park in Namibia last week. When scientists found the body, it was so decomposed that they didn't really know what they were looking at — it could've been a dolphin or a whale, or something else, according...

Apr 30, 2018

Massive 'Dead Zone' in the Arabian Sea Is the Biggest in the World

A massive dead zone in the Arabian Sea is the largest in the world, a new study reveals. Dead zones are oxygen-starved ocean regions where few organisms can survive. They emerge in ocean depths ranging from 650 to 2,600 feet (200 to 800 meters), when influxes of chemical nutrients —...

Nov 30, 2019

Vast Field of Mysterious, Perfectly Circular Holes Dot the Seafloor Off California's Coast

SAN FRANCISCO — On the sea bottom off the coast of central California lies a vast field of mysterious pockmarks. The field spans about 500 square miles (1,300 square kilometers), and there are approximately 5,200 of these strange pits, which on average measure about 600 feet in diameter (175 meters)...

Sep 30, 2019

The World's Largest Geode Formed When the Mediterranean Sea Disappeared, New Study Reveals

In an abandoned mine in southern Spain, there is a room of pure crystal. To get there, you'll have to descend deep into tunnels, climb a ladder into an inconspicuous hole in the rocks and squeeze through a jagged tube of gypsum crystals barely wide enough for one person. If...

Aug 31, 2019

Explorer Becomes the First to Reach Deepest Point in All 5 Oceans

Hidden beneath the Fram Strait, a passage that separates Greenland and Svalbard, lies the deepest point in the Arctic Ocean, where the seafloor plunges some 18,209 feet (5,550 meters) down. And now, explorer Victor Vescovo has become the first person to ever reach it. The diving feat also makes him...

May 31, 2019

Glowing 'Blue Tears' in China's Seas Are Incredibly Toxic — And They’re Growing

On summer nights, the waters surrounding Taiwan's Matsu Islands cast an eerie blue glow. The phenomenon, known as China's blue tears, is actually caused by a bloom of tiny, bioluminescent creatures called dinoflagellates. Tourists from all over China come to view the twinkling seascape. The bloom in the East China...

Apr 30, 2019

This Seawater Is 20,000 Years Old, and Has Remained Untouched Since the Last Ice Age

Twenty thousand years ago, life on Earth was a lot cooler. It was the tail end of a 100,000-year ice age — also called the Last Glacial Maximum — and massive sheets of ice covered much of North America, Northern Europe and Asia. (If they had been around at the...

Dec 31, 2018

Rainbow-Hued Rivers Transect Globe Like Veins in Gorgeous Maps

Rivers get the rainbow treatment in a gorgeous series of maps from a Hungarian cartographer. Available for download on Etsy, the maps are both beautiful and scientifically accurate. Their creator, Robert Szucs, has a background in geographic information systems (GIS) but was bored by standard river maps with all the...

Dec 31, 2019

Hawaiian Islands Won't Drown in the Sea for Millions of Years. Here's Why.

Just like zits, volcanic islands don't last forever. Some are oldtimers, like the more than 20-million-year-old Canary Islands in the Atlantic, while others have already drowned, like some of the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific. Why do some islands hit the longevity jackpot? The answer has to do with two...