A small island nation is forcing the hand of international regulators to finalize rules for deep-sea mining, but scientists say the environmental consequences are not yet clear.
Pacific Ocean
Posted inNews
Atmospheric Rivers Spur High-Tide Floods on U.S. West Coast
Researchers analyzed 36 years of data to understand how atmospheric rivers and other factors drive chronic coastal flooding.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Atoll Seismometer Detection of Solitary Ocean Waves
Seismic recordings from the South China Sea indicate that subtle, daily tilting of shorelines due to passing internal ocean waves can be measured on land, promising new constraints on ocean dynamics.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Remote-Controlled Ocean Drones Observe Atmospheric Cold Pools
Novel uncrewed sailing vehicles measured properties of atmospheric cold pools in hard-to-reach regions of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Subduction Initiation May Depend on a Tectonic Plate’s History
New seismic imaging study of the Puysegur Trench aims to solve one of the last major questions in plate tectonics.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Magma Pockets Lie Stacked Beneath Juan de Fuca Ridge
Analysis of new imaging data suggests that vertically stacked magma chambers are short-lived and contribute to eruptions.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Raising Central American Orography Improves Climate Simulation
Elevation of Central American orography significantly reduces the pervasive tropical rainfall bias by blocking the easterlies and consequently warming the northeastern tropical Pacific.
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Climate Clues from One of the Rainiest Places on Earth
One of the world’s rainiest places lies off Colombia’s Pacific coast. New field research sheds light on the Chocó low-level jet, a phenomenon responsible for the region’s precipitation.
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What Happens When Six Sea Turtles Go Rogue
In a study of more than 200 sea turtles, researchers were surprised by six turtles that went their own way.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Probing the Age of the Oldest Ocean Crust in the Pacific
A new study extends the calibration of the Mesozoic Sequence down to the Mid Jurassic with multiscale marine magnetic anomaly data, demonstrating extraordinarily high reversal frequency.