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Scientists researching harmful algal bloom "hot spots" off southern and central California have been awarded $821,673 for the first year of an anticipated 5-year $4,076,929 project to investigate methods that could provide early warning detection of the toxic blooms, also known as red tides. The research is being conducted in partnership with two U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System partners - the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System and the Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System. The teams will combine the detection and monitoring of the toxic blooms with ocean models that can forecast ocean conditions, potentially leading to bloom predictions.

Aquarium Event Flotsametrics and the Floating World Curtis Ebbesmeyer As an oceanographer for Mobil/Standard Oil, Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer was fascinated by sea currents and eddies and began to focus on beaches and the debris deposited on them.

"Stephanie Keske does computer visualization work, and is starting a graduate program this fall at Texas A&M University. She told me, "Just living on a ship, I think … you know, I try to be outside as much as I can so just being trapped on a floating hunk of metal is maybe going to be a little difficult. I don't know: I've never been in one place with an inability to leave it for 2 months solid." At the moment, Keske's in the northeast Pacific onboard an oceanographic research vessel. She and six other educators and artists from the US and France are working with the science team to do unprecedented outreach. Have a listen."

Objective: Students will learn significance of scientific testing and how scientists get results and information. They will learn about acids and bases in relation to the environment and people.

"Penguin feathers are highly modified in form and function, but there have been no fossils to inform their evolution. A giant penguin with feathers was recovered from the late Eocene (~36 million years ago) of Peru. The fossil reveals that key feathering features, including undifferentiated primary wing feathers and broad body contour feather shafts, evolved early in the penguin lineage. Analyses of fossilized color-imparting melanosomes reveal that their dimensions were similar to those of non-penguin avian taxa and that the feathering may have been predominantly gray and reddish-brown. In contrast, the dark black-brown color of extant penguin feathers is generated by large, ellipsoidal melanosomes previously unknown for birds. The nanostructure of penguin feathers was thus modified after earlier macrostructural modifications of feather shape linked to aquatic flight. "

How does climate change affect coral reefs? The warmer air and ocean surface temperatures brought on by climate change impact corals and alter coral reef communities by prompting coral bleaching events and altering ocean chemistry. These impacts affect corals and the many organisms that use coral reefs as habitat.

Ice Sheets and Sea Level Rise By: Claire L. Parkinson, Oceans and Ice Branch, Code 971, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt MD 20771, e-mail: clairep@neptune.gsfc.nasa.gov Exercise: Determine the amount that sea level would rise, averaged around the globe, in response to the complete melting of (a) the Greenland ice sheet, (b) the Antarctic ice sheet, and (c) both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

Winds of Change Jane Qiu Antarctica does not respond to global warming uniformly like a giant ice cube. Changing wind patterns are an unsung force shaping Antarctica's future. Retreating sea ice and stronger winds have caused seawater to mix more deeply, a process that churns sunlight-dependent phytoplankton into the ocean's depths. As a result, phytoplankton biomass has declined by 12% over the past 30 years. Higher on the food chain, that means fewer krill and fish larvae. These creatures are also getting hammered by the loss of sea ice, which hides them from predators. The complex interplay between air, sea, and ice has emerged as a central theme underlying climate change in Antarctica. Shifting wind patterns and corresponding ocean changes can explain climate responses across the continent.

Harmful Algae This website from NOAA and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is meant to serve as a comprehensive resource for information about harmful algal blooms (HABs). Links include basic information about HABs, how they affect humans and ecosystems, the latest HAB news, and information about meetings and conferences.

Harmful Algae This website from NOAA and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is meant to serve as a comprehensive resource for information about harmful algal blooms (HABs). Links include basic information about HABs, how they affect humans and ecosystems, the latest HAB news, and information about meetings and conferences.

Endangered Species Day Endangered Species Day, May 21, 2010, celebrates America's wildlife legacy with a celebration of our nation's wildlife and wild places, and is an opportunity to learn about the everyday actions that people can take to help protect our nation's disappearing wildlife and last remaining wild places. Visit the website to download educational materials, register an event, and check out the toolkit.

The shallow water reefs of the Coral Triangle, which stretches across Indonesia and north through the Philippines, host the world's greatest diversity of corals, fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and marine plant species. Now preliminary results from a joint Indonesian-U.S. marine survey indicate that the biodiversity runs deep. A remotely operated vehicle has captured stunning images of massive corals, as well as unusual crustaceans and fish living at depths never before surveyed, thousands of meters below the surface. And mapping of that sea floor has turned up a huge, previously unknown volcano.

"Using data for 25,780 species categorized on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, we present an assessment of the status of the world's vertebrates. One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing: On average, 52 species of mammals, birds, and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year. However, this overall pattern conceals the impact of conservation successes, and we show that the rate of deterioration would have been at least one-fifth again as much in the absence of these. Nonetheless, current conservation efforts remain insufficient to offset the main drivers of biodiversity loss in these groups: agricultural expansion, logging, overexploitation, and invasive alien species. "

"As the amount of Carbon Dioxide continues to build up in the atmosphere it is also changing the chemistry of the ocean. Ocean surveys and modeling studies have revealed that the pH of the ocean is decreasing (which means the ocean is becoming more acidic) due to increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide. This changing oceanic environment will have severe implications for life in the ocean. COSEE NOW is pleased to present A plague in air and sea: Neutralizing the acid of progress a new audio slideshow that features Debora Inglesias-Rodriguez. In this scientist profile, Dr. Inglesias-Rodriguez, a Biological Oceanographer at the University of Southampton National Oceanography Centre, shares her story of how she grew up loving the ocean and became interested in science. She also explains how witnessing the effects of climate change has lead her to research how organisms like Sea Urchins are being affected by ocean acidification. Download A plague in air and sea: Neutralizing the acid of progress"

The term ocean acidification is used to describe the ongoing decrease in ocean pH caused by human CO2 emissions, such as the burning of fossil fuels. It is the little known consequence of living in a high CO2 world, dubbed at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) as the "evil twin of climate change". The oceans currently absorb approximately half of the CO2 produced by burning fossil fuel; put simply, climate change would be far worse if it were not for the oceans. However, there is a cost to the oceans - when CO2 dissolves in seawater it forms carbonic acid and as more CO2 is taken up by the oceans surface, the pH decreases, moving towards a less alkaline and therefore more acidic state. Already ocean pH has decreased by about 30% and if we continue emitting CO2 at the same rate by 2100 ocean acidity will increase by about 150%, a rate that has not been experienced for at least 400,000 years. Such a monumental alteration in basic ocean chemistry is likely to have wide implications for ocean life, especially for those organisms that require calcium carbonate to build shells or skeletons. Ocean acidification is a relatively new field of research, with most of the studies having been conducted over the last decade. While it is gaining some attention among policy makers, international leaders and the media, scientists find there is still a lack of understanding.

Aerosols Altered Asian Monsoons Summer monsoons provide much of the water for farming on the Indian subcontinent, but the pattern of rain shifted dramatically during the last half of the 20th century. In a study appearing online 29 September in Science, researchers pin the blame on soot and other aerosols from human activities. From 1951 to 1999, central-northern India became drier while Pakistan, northwestern India, and southern India got wetter. To determine whether these changes were due to natural variability or human interference (greenhouse gases or aerosols), climate scientists Massimo Bollasina, Yi Ming, and V. Ramaswamy of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory/NOAA in Princeton, New Jersey, compared the history of rainfall with simulations that singled out each climate "forcing" factor to observe its impact. Although greenhouse gases would have increased rainfall over north-central India, the aerosols, they found, caused the "very pronounced drying trend," Ming says. Here's why: Under normal conditions, the northern hemisphere receives more energy from the sun from June to September; that imbalance drives the ocean-atmosphere circulation that powers the monsoons. But atmospheric aerosols shaded the northern hemisphere relative to the southern hemisphere, altering the energy balance between the two-weakening the circulation and altering where the rain falls.

"This free web site presents ongoing research and recent discoveries in the fields of astrophysics, Earth sciences, biodiversity, and human biology and evolution. Videos of documentary feature stories, data visualizations, and weekly reports can be played online or downloaded to your computer. Educational resources on the site help teachers use these stories in the classroom."

"The Museum's award-winning online professional development program provides courses in the life, Earth and physical sciences. Designed for K-12 educators, each six-week course is led by an experienced classroom teacher and a research scientist. In-depth readings, assignments, and rich web-based discussions asssure a deeper understanding of both the science and the tools of scientific inquiry. Affordable graduate credit is available from leading institutions."

abstract By 50,000 years ago, it is clear that modern humans were capable of long-distance sea travel as they colonized Australia. However, evidence for advanced maritime skills, and for fishing in particular, is rare before the terminal Pleistocene/early Holocene. Here we report remains of a variety of pelagic and other fish species dating to 42,000 years before the present from Jerimalai shelter in East Timor, as well as the earliest definite evidence for fishhook manufacture in the world. Capturing pelagic fish such as tuna requires high levels of planning and complex maritime technology. The evidence implies that the inhabitants were fishing in the deep sea.

Learn about the chemistry and biology behind our world's changing oceans, how humans are affecting our oceans, and what we can do to change it. See how increased carbon dioxide levels are changing ocean chemistry, and link chemistry to biology by examining the impacts of ocean acidification on marine organisms.