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

September 20, 2021January 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.

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