Oceanography

Map showing the location of New Guinea. Map: Equal Earth Physical Map, public domain.

What is the Largest Island in the Pacific Ocean?

October 16, 2020June 20, 2020 by Caitlin Dempsey

New Guinea is the largest island in the Pacific Ocean.

Drift ice in the Sea of Okhotsk. Image: Landsat 8, NASA.

Lowest Latitude Sea Ice South of the Arctic

October 18, 2020May 3, 2020 by Caitlin Dempsey

One of the lowest latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere where sea ice forms in the Northern Hemisphere is the Sea of Okhotsk.

Map of ocean heat content in the upper ocean (from the sea surface to a depth of 700 meters, or 2,300 feet) for 2017 relative to the 1993–2017 baseline. Source: NASA.

Oceans Are Warming 40 Percent Faster Than Previously Estimated

April 18, 2020March 5, 2020 by Katarina Samurović

A review of available studies, published in Science in January 2019, has revealed that the rate of ocean warming is as much as 40% faster than that suggested by IPCC.

Geography Facts About the Pacific Ocean

October 26, 2020January 27, 2020 by Caitlin Dempsey

Learn some geography facts about the world’s largest ocean.

A polynya that has formed in an embayment where the Venable Ice Shelf meets Farwell Island in Antartica. Photo: John Sonntag/NASA, public domain.

What is a Polynya?

September 29, 2020January 23, 2020 by Caitlin Dempsey

Polynya is an oceanography term borrowed from the Russian (полынья) to refer to an open body of water surrounded by ice.

Gulf of Mexico Remains the Second-largest Low-Oxygen Dead Zone on Earth

April 4, 2020July 22, 2019 by Caitlin Dempsey

A newly released forecast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted that the Gulf of Mexico will again become the second-largest low-oxygen dead zone on after (after the Baltic Sea).

Stokes Drift Is Pushing Microplastics Towards the Arctic

June 7, 2020April 6, 2019 by Caitlin Dempsey

A recent publication in JGR Oceans took a look at how the physical processes of oceans affect the distribution of micro plastics around the world.

Warmer Oceans Will Make Hurricanes More Intense

April 18, 2020March 21, 2019 by Geo Contributor

Since hurricanes are fueled by ocean heat, warmer ocean conditions will influence their intensity and longevity.

The different sources that contribute to the magnetic field measured by Swarm. The coupling currents or field-aligned currents flow along magnetic field lines between the magnetosphere and ionosphere. Source: ESA/DTU Space

Measuring the Ocean’s Magnetic Field with Satellites

April 14, 2020October 30, 2016 by Liam Oakwood

The European Space Agency’s Swarm satellites are investigating the Earth’s magnetic field and the part that shifting ocean tides play.

The red star makes the location of Point Nemo.

Where is Point Nemo?

January 27, 2020June 21, 2016 by Caitlin Dempsey

Point Nemo is a pole of inaccessibility that marks the furthest location from the ocean to the nearest coastline.

Modeled optimal September navigation routes for hypothetical ships seeking to cross the Arctic Ocean between the North Atlantic (Rotterdam, The Netherlands and St. John’s, Newfoundland) and the Pacific (Bering Strait) during consecutive years 2006–2015 and 2040–2059. Source: Smith and Stephenson, 2013.

The Impacts of Arctic Melt Connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

April 8, 2020February 8, 2016 by Elizabeth Borneman

A team of researchers analyzes what is happening to animal migration as the Pacific and Atlantic oceans connect due to Arctic melt in an article published in Global Change Biology.