Tag Archive for 'Ocean'

A schematic showing the processes involved in deep-sea mining for the three main types of mineral deposit. Image credit: Design Studio, University of Exeter.

Deep-Sea Mining Could Destroy Marine Ecosystems, Study Says

Jan 23, 2018 by News Staff

Mining on the ocean floor could do irreversible damage to marine ecosystems, according to a new study from the University of Exeter and Greenpeace Research...

NASA’s SeaWiFS satellite photographed this eddy field in the waters around Tasmania in November 2000. Image credit: NASA.

Scientists Find ‘Smoke Rings’ in Earth’s Oceans

Dec 17, 2017 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the United Kingdom has spotted the equivalent of smoke-rings in the Earth’s southern oceans which they think could ‘suck-up’...

The surface of Europa looms large in this newly-reprocessed color view; image scale is 1.6 km per pixel; north on Europa is at right. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SETI Institute.

Research Provides New Evidence of Plate Tectonics in Europa’s Ice Shell

Dec 5, 2017 by News Staff

A process called subduction — when a tectonic plate slides underneath another and sinks deep into a planetary body’s interior — is physically...

This graphic illustrates how water might be heated inside Enceladus. Over time, cool ocean water seeps into the moon’s porous core. Pockets of water reaching deep into the interior are warmed by contact with rock in the tidally heated interior and subsequently rise owing to the positive buoyancy, leading to further interaction with the rocks. The heat deposited at the boundary between the seafloor and ocean powers hydrothermal vents. Heat and rocky particles are transported through the ocean, triggering localized melting in the icy shell above. This leads to the formation of fissures, from which jets of water vapor and the rocky particles from the seafloor are ejected into space. In the graphic, the interior ‘slice’ is an excerpt from a new model that simulated this process. The orange glow represents the parts of the core where temperatures reach at least 194 degrees Fahrenheit. Tidal heating owing to the friction arising between particles in the porous core provides a key source of energy, but is not illustrated in this graphic. The tidal heating results primarily from the gravitational pull from Saturn. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute / LPG-CNRS / University of Nantes / University of Angers / ESA.

Enceladus’ Highly Porous Core Keeps Its Subsurface Ocean Warm, New Study Says

Nov 8, 2017 by News Staff

A new modeling study led by the University of Nantes is the first to explain several key characteristics of Saturn’s moon Enceladus observed by NASA’s...

This false-color image shows the dwarf planet Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Ceres Once Had Global Ocean, Studies Suggest

Oct 30, 2017 by News Staff

Ceres’ crust, with its mixture of ice, salts and hydrated materials, represents most of the dwarf planet’s ancient ocean, according to two new studies...

‘Rise of Algae’ in Cryogenian Oceans Led to Appearance of First Complex Organisms, Study Says

Aug 17, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

The rapid rise of marine planktonic algae 659-645 million years ago (Cryogenian period), between the Sturtian and Marinoan ‘snowball Earth’ glaciations,...

This scanning electron microscope image shows a tardigrade. Image credit: Diane Nelson, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Earth’s Most Indestructible Creature Identified: Tardigrade

Jul 14, 2017 by News Staff

Water-dwelling, eight-legged, segmented micro-animals called tardigrades will survive the risk of extinction from all astrophysical catastrophes, and be...

Carcharocles megalodon pursuing two prehistoric whales. Image credit: Karen Carr / CC BY 3.0.

Scientists Say Mass Extinction of Marine Megafauna Occurred 2-3 Million Years Ago

Jun 27, 2017 by News Staff

A previously unknown mass extinction may have killed up to a third of large marine animals 2-3 million years ago, according to an international team of...

This artist’s concept shows a simulated view from the surface of Jupiters moon Europa. Europa’s potentially rough, icy surface, tinged with reddish areas, can be seen in the foreground. The giant planet Jupiter looms over the horizon. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Radioactive Decay Could Support Life on Solar System’s Ocean Worlds

May 24, 2017 by News Staff

A new study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters examines whether radioactive decay could support life on ocean worlds like Jupiter’s moon...

According Lehmer et al, moons around migrant hot Jupiters could hold onto atmospheres for billions of years. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Melting Moons Could Hold on to Atmospheres and Surface Water Oceans for Billions of Years

May 3, 2017 by James Romero

Exomoons around migrant hot Jupiters could hold onto life-giving atmospheres and maintain surface oceans for billions and billions of years. This is the...

Hubble captured additional evidence of water vapor plumes on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa; the probable plumes appear to be repeating in the same location and correspond with a relatively warm region on Europa’s surface observed by the Galileo spacecraft. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Hubble Spots Recurring Water Vapor Plume Erupting on Jupiter’s Moon Europa

Apr 14, 2017 by News Staff

Recent observations of Europa by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered a plume of material erupting from the moon’s surface at precisely...

Molecular hydrogen points to hydrothermal activity in an ocean beneath the icy surface of Enceladus. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Cassini Finds New Evidence for Hydrothermal Processes in Enceladus’ Ice-Covered Ocean

Apr 13, 2017 by News Staff

During NASA’s Cassini spacecraft’s deepest-ever dive through Enceladus’ plume of gas and ice grains, researchers discovered molecular hydrogen in...

The Banda Detachment fault beneath the Weber Deep basin. A - cross section through eastern Banda arc, cut parallel to grooves on fault surfaces and proposed direction of rollback; geometry of proto-Banda Sea slab is inferred from earthquake hypocenter locations catalogued by International Seismological Centre Online Bulletin; KSZ - Kawa shear zone. B - enlargement of Banda detachment showing schematically the configuration of over-riding continental allochthons (dark red); red triangles represent volcanoes. Image credit: Jonathan M. Pownall et al, doi: 10.1130/G38051.1.

Geologists Find Largest Exposed Fault on Earth

Nov 29, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of geologists from the Australian National University and Royal Holloway University of London has for the first time documented the...

Artist’s concept of ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Ice-Quake Echoes Could Lift Lid on Oceans within Pluto and Europa

Nov 22, 2016 by James Romero

Measuring outer solar system ice-quakes could identify if Europa’s subsurface ocean is an oxygen-rich, leading candidates for life, or uncover the origin...

This cutaway image of Pluto shows a section through the area of Sputnik Planitia, with dark blue representing a subsurface ocean and light blue for the frozen crust. Image credit: Pam Engebretson.

New Horizons Data Suggest Viscous Ocean Lies beneath Pluto’s Heart-Shaped Region

Nov 17, 2016 by News Staff

A cold, slushy ocean lying deep beneath Pluto’s bright, heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio is the best explanation for features revealed by NASA’s New Horizons...

Deposits of serpentinized rock such as this could be a previously overlooked source of free hydrogen gas. Image credit: NOAA Ocean Explorer.

Oceanic Lithosphere May Be Important, Previously Overlooked Source of Hydrogen Gas

Jul 20, 2016 by News Staff

According to a study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, rocks formed beneath the ocean floor by fast-spreading tectonic plates may...

This Pluto mosaic was made from New Horizons LORRI images taken on July 14, 2015, from a distance of 49,700 miles (80,000 km). This view is projected from a point 1,118 miles (1,800 km) above Pluto’s equator, looking northeast over the dark, cratered Cthulhu Regio toward the bright, smooth expanse of icy plains called Sputnik Planum. Pluto’s North Pole is off the image to the left. This mosaic was produced with panchromatic images from the New Horizons LORRI camera, with color overlaid from the Ralph color mapper onboard New Horizons. Image credit: S.A. Stern et al, doi: 10.1126/science.aad1815.

Pluto Likely Has a Hidden Liquid Ocean

Jun 21, 2016 by News Staff

When NASA’s New Horizons robotic spacecraft flew by Pluto in July 2015, it revealed clues that the enigmatic dwarf planet might have – or had at...

Cephalopods Thrive in World’s Oceans

May 24, 2016 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Current Biology, cephalopods’ numbers have increased in the world’s oceans over the past six decades. Giant...

This artist’s impression shows how Mars may have looked about 4 billion years ago. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Mega-Tsunamis Resurfaced Shorelines of Early Mars’ Ocean, Researchers Say

May 19, 2016 by News Staff

Massive meteorite impacts triggered two mega-tsunamis in the early Martian ocean 3.4 billion years ago, according to scientists writing in the journal...

This artist’s concept depicts a super-Earth. Image credit: NASA / Ames / JPL-Caltech.

Salt Levels of Oceans on Earth-Like Exoplanets Could Have Major Effect on Their Climates

Apr 4, 2016 by News Staff

A new study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that the circulation in fresh water or salty oceans on terrestrial...

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