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A recent theory proposes that whales weren鈥檛 just predators in the ocean environment: Nutrients that whales excreted may have provided a key fertilizer to these marine ecosystems. Research led by 91爆料 oceanographers finds that whale excrement contains significant amounts of iron, a vital element that is often scarce in ocean ecosystems, and nontoxic forms of copper, another essential nutrient that in some forms can harm life.

91爆料 oceanographer Robert Morris and a collaborator at UCLA are going out with students to collect the most abundant bacteria in the oceans to understand how its relationship with marine viruses changes depending on the place or the season. They leave Dec. 16 aboard 91爆料 School of Oceanography鈥檚 small research vessel, the RV Rachel Carson.

A detailed reconstruction of climate during the most recent ice age, when a large swath of North America was covered in ice, provides information on the relationship between CO2 and global temperature. Results show that while most future warming estimates remain unchanged, the absolute worst-case scenario is unlikely.

The National Science Foundation has awarded the 91爆料 $52.4 million over five years to continue operating the Regional Cabled Array, a cabled deep-ocean observatory about 300 miles offshore from Newport, Oregon. The grant is part of a $220 million total investment that will fund the internet-connected ocean observatory, known as the Ocean Observatories Initiative, through 2028.

Twenty-five undergraduates are among the participants on a 41-day cruise off the Oregon coast aboard the 91爆料’s large research vessel, the R/V Thomas G. Thompson. Principal investigator Deborah Kelley, professor of oceanography, answers questions about the expedition to visit and maintain the cabled ocean observatory.

91爆料 oceanographers discovered warm, chemically distinct liquid shooting up from the seafloor about 50 miles off Newport. They named the unique underwater spring “Pythia鈥檚 Oasis.” Observations suggest the spring is sourced from water 2.5 miles beneath the seafloor at the plate boundary, regulating stress on the offshore subduction zone fault.

Forecasters are predicting a 鈥渢hree-peat La Ni帽a鈥 this year. This will be the third winter in a row that the Pacific Ocean has been in a La Ni帽a cycle, something that鈥檚 happened only twice before in records going back to 1950. A new study of temperature patterns in the tropical Pacific Ocean suggests that climate change is, in the short term, favoring La Ni帽as.

Eight 91爆料 subjects ranked in the top 10 and Atmospheric Sciences moved to its position as No. 1 in the world on the聽Global Ranking of Academic Subjects list for 2022. The ranking, released Tuesday, was conducted by researchers at the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, a fully independent organization dedicating to research on higher education intelligence and consultation.

If emissions from greenhouse gases continue, species losses from warming and oxygen depletion of ocean waters could eclipse all other human stressors on marine species by around 2100. Tropical waters would experience the greatest loss of biodiversity, while polar species are at the highest聽risk of extinction

The release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for almost a quarter of global warming, is being studied around the world, from Arctic wetlands to livestock feedlots. A 91爆料 team has discovered a source much closer to home: 349 plumes of methane gas bubbling up from the seafloor in Puget Sound, which holds more water than any other U.S. estuary.

Leveraging the tectonic laboratory of the Cascadia subduction zone, the 91爆料 today announced a new effort to best understand how to study and live with the threats of earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanos, landslides and other seismic hazards. Dubbed the GeoHazards Initiative, the interdisciplinary work aims to develop and promote the adoption of early detection systems both on land and at sea to help prevent the loss of human life and property.

Single-celled organisms in the open ocean use a diverse array of genetic tools to detect sunlight, even in tiny amounts, and respond. The discovery of these new genetic 鈥渓ight switches鈥 could also aid in the field of optogenetics, in which a cell鈥檚 function can be controlled with light exposure.

New research shows that a wide variety of marine animals 鈥 from vertebrates to crustaceans to mollusks 鈥 already inhabit the maximum range of breathable ocean that their physiology will allow. The findings provide a warning about climate change: Since warmer waters will harbor less oxygen, some stretches of ocean that are breathable today for a given species may not be in the future.

Historical observations collected off California since the 1950s suggest that anchovies thrive where the water is breathable 鈥 a combination of the oxygen levels in the water and the species鈥 oxygen needs, which are affected by temperature. Future projections suggest that the waters off Mexico and Southern California could be uninhabitable by 2100.

Four faculty members at the 91爆料 have been awarded early-career fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The new Sloan Fellows, announced Feb. 12, are Kyle Armour and Jacqueline Padilla-Gami帽o, both assistant professors in the College of the Environment; and Hanna Hajishirzi and Yin Tat Lee, both assistant professors in the College of Engineering.

Recent honors to 91爆料 faculty and staff members include awards for architectural education and biomaterials research, fellowships in nursing and cloud computing, a professor named among Seattle’s most influential people and a big news year for “a burgeoning band of embodied carbon busters.”

A 91爆料 team has discovered thriving communities of bacteria in Alaskan “cryopegs,” trapped layers of sediment with water so salty that it remains liquid at below-freezing temperatures. The setting may be similar to environments on Mars, Saturn’s moon Titan, or other bodies farther from the sun.