Dear Deeply Readers,
Welcome to the archives of Oceans Deeply. While we paused regular publication of the site on September 1, 2018, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on ocean health and economy. We hope you’ll enjoy the reporting and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors and contributors.
We continue to produce events and special projects while we explore where the on-site journalism goes next. If you’d like to reach us with feedback or ideas for collaboration you can do so at [email protected].
Erica Cirino is a freelance science writer based in New York who covers wildlife and the environment, specializing in biology, conservation and policymakers.
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For the first time scientists have shown that the smallest bits of marine plastic pollution – called nanoplastic – can move up the aquatic food chain and be absorbed by predators’ brains, affecting their ability to hunt.
The 5 Gyres Institute’s pilot program takes high school students on ocean expeditions to show them how to collect and analyze plastic trash – with the goal of inspiring careers as scientists, policymakers and advocates.
An MIT scientist’s research links past mass die-offs of marine life to the accumulation of carbon in the sea, finding that the current rapid absorption of CO2 could push the ocean to a tipping point by the end of the century.
Scientists are using satellites to identify where increasing sea levels could result in the most destructive storm surge as hurricanes grow more powerful due to climate change.
Research into the migratory habits of severely depleted Pacific bluefin tuna populations offers new information about their behavior and insights into how to prevent overfishing of the valuable species.
Trash skimmers are being deployed in harbors to collect growing amounts of garbage, but some scientists say resources would be better spent stopping the source of pollution.
New genetic technologies are enabling scientists to identify traits that may help corals survive warming ocean temperatures that threaten the survival of coral reefs critical to marine ecosystems.
An FAO study finds that more than 100 commercial seafood species ingest microplastic, which can be contaminated with toxins. More worrying are the unknown health effects of even smaller nanoplastics.
Scientists have found four times as much potentially toxic microplastic on the seabed as on the surface of the ocean – and it’s being consumed by tiny creatures essential to the marine ecosystem.
A movement to transform marine plastic pollution into athletic shoes, skateboards and other products is gaining traction, but there is a debate about how much impact ‘upcycling’ can have.
Beach cleanup programs are generating a wave of information on plastics and other marine pollution, presenting policymakers with the challenge of turning that data into action.
Abandoned fishing gear kills millions of marine animals every year. The Fishing for Energy program generates electricity from gear that’s been retrieved from the ocean.
In recent weeks, nearly 2 percent of the imperiled North Atlantic right whale population has perished, while humpback whales continue to die in unusual numbers.
The country is one of the top five ocean plastic polluters, but attitudes toward trash cleanup and inadequate waste-management systems haven’t kept pace with an explosion in plastic use.
Dr. Sherri Mason’s research reveals extensive contamination of freshwater ecosystems with microplastics, highlighting the link between freshwater and ocean plastic pollution.
The American eel plays an important role in ocean and freshwater ecosystems but populations are declining from overfishing. Now students are plunging into rivers to help the little-known fish.
Laboratory research has shown that a widely used sunscreen ingredient, oxybenzone, harms coral. The findings are now taking on a new urgency as climate change weakens the resilience of reefs worldwide.
The discovery of microplastics in deep water means scientists may have underestimated the extent to which plastic trash is contaminating the ocean – and its impact on fish, marine mammals and seabed dwellers.
Scientists are transforming data into three dimensions to investigate the effects of climate change on the ocean – and potentially help rebuild dying coral reefs.
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