oceanography
December 13, 2024
In the Field: UW Oceanographers and undergrads pursue tiny viral prize in Puget Sound waters
UW 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 UW School of Oceanography’s small research vessel, the RV Rachel Carson.
November 13, 2023
UW Department of Atmospheric Sciences maintains No. 1 global ranking; more than two dozen UW subjects in top 50
Six University of Washington subjects ranked in the top 10, and atmospheric sciences maintained its position as No. 1 in the world on the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects list for 2023. The ranking, released at the end of October, was conducted by researchers at the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, a fully independent organization dedicated to research on higher education intelligence and consultation.
North Atlantic’s marine productivity may not be declining, according to new study of older ice cores
To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of declining phytoplankton in the North Atlantic may have been greatly exaggerated. Analysis of a Greenland ice core going back 800 years shows that atmospheric chemistry, not dwindling phytoplankton populations, explains the recent ice core trends.
October 25, 2023
UW experts offer hot takes on El Niño, weather and ocean temperatures
Five University of Washington experts comment on the current El Niño, its effect on Pacific Northwest winter weather, as well as on regional and global ocean temperature trends.
September 21, 2023
NSF funds internet-connected ocean observatory through 2028
The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Washington $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.
September 15, 2023
Polar experiments reveal seasonal cycle in Antarctic sea ice algae
The frigid ocean surrounding Antarctica is home to much of the region’s photosynthetic life. A new University of Washington study provides the first measurements of how sea-ice algae and other single-celled life handle dramatic seasonal swings, offering clues to how this ecosystem might adapt to climate change.
August 9, 2023
In the Field: UW team to spend six weeks visiting deep-ocean observatory
Twenty-five undergraduates are among the participants on a 41-day cruise off the Oregon coast aboard the UW’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.
September 28, 2022
UW-developed wave sensors deployed to improve hurricane forecasts
Researchers dropped technology developed at the University of Washington off the coast of Florida this week to measure ocean waves in the path of Hurricane Ian. The test is one part of a broad effort to improve forecasts for these fast-moving and deadly systems.
July 20, 2022
UW atmospheric sciences achieves No. 1 global ranking; nearly three dozen UW subjects in top 50
Eight University of Washington subjects ranked in the top 10 and Atmospheric Sciences moved to its position as No. 1 in the world on the 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.
April 28, 2022
Unchecked global emissions on track to initiate mass extinction of marine life
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 risk of extinction
March 28, 2022
Solar energy explains fast yearly retreat of Antarctica’s sea ice
Sea ice around Antarctica retreats more quickly than it advances, an asymmetry that has been a puzzle. New analysis shows that the Southern Hemisphere is following simple rules of physics, as peak midsummer sun causes rapid changes. In this respect, it seems, it’s Arctic sea ice that is more mysterious.
January 20, 2022
Shift work helps marine microbes share scarce ocean resources
With a low supply of and high competition for key nutrients, scientists have puzzled over the vast diversity of microbial species found in the open ocean. A new study shows that time of day is key, with species of marine microbes specializing in different shifts throughout the day and night.
January 19, 2022
Bubbles of methane rising from seafloor in Puget Sound
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 University of Washington 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.
October 29, 2021
UW oceanographer will study how glacial particles remove CO2 from atmosphere
An oceanographer at the University of Washington is part of a new project to study how glacial dust, created as glaciers grind the rock beneath them into a powder, reacts with seawater to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
October 28, 2021
How Dungeness crabs’ complex lifecycle will be affected by climate change
Results show that by the end of this century, lower-oxygen water on the Pacific Northwest coast will pose the biggest threat to Dungeness crabs. And while these crabs start as tiny, free-floating larvae, it’s the sharp-clawed adults that will be most vulnerable.
September 29, 2021
UW oceanographer Parker MacCready elected fellow of the AGU
University of Washington oceanographer Parker MacCready is one of 59 new fellows elected this year by the American Geophysical Union.
July 8, 2021
Remotely-piloted sailboats monitor ‘cold pools’ in tropical environments
A UW-led study uses data from remotely-piloted sailboats to better understand cold air pools — pockets of cooler air that form when rain evaporates below tropical storm clouds. These fleeting weather phenomena are thought to influence tropical weather patterns.
June 9, 2021
Endangered blue whales recorded off southwest coast of India
Endangered blue whales are present and singing off the southwest coast of India. The results provide insight into a poorly studied population and suggest conservation measures should include this region.
February 24, 2021
Record-high Arctic freshwater will flow through Canadian waters, affecting marine environment and Atlantic ocean currents
The Arctic Ocean’s Beaufort Sea has increased its freshwater content by 40% over the past two decades. When conditions change this freshwater will travel to the Labrador Sea off Canada, rather than through the wider marine passageways that connect to seas in Northern Europe. This has implications for local marine environments and global ocean circulation.
February 1, 2021
Marine organisms use previously undiscovered receptors to detect, respond to light
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 “light switches” could also aid in the field of optogenetics, in which a cell’s function can be controlled with light exposure.
December 9, 2020
Warm oceans helped first human migration from Asia to North America
New research reveals significant changes to the circulation of the North Pacific and its impact on the initial migration of humans from Asia to North America. It provides a new picture of the circulation and climate of the North Pacific at the end of the last ice age, with implications for early human migration.
October 29, 2020
UW awarded $23.5M to build floating robots as part of NSF project to monitor the world’s oceans
The University of Washington is among leading U.S. oceanographic institutions that have received National Science Foundation funding to build and deploy 500 robotic ocean-monitoring floats to monitor the chemistry and biology of the world’s oceans.
September 16, 2020
Marine animals live where ocean is most ‘breathable,’ but ranges could shrink with climate change
New research shows that a wide variety of marine animals — from vertebrates to crustaceans to mollusks — 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.
May 28, 2020
The most common organism in the oceans harbors a virus in its DNA
A new study in Nature Microbiology shows that the most common organism in the world’s oceans — and possibly the whole planet — harbors a virus in its DNA. This virus may have helped it survive and outcompete other organisms. The study began as a UW School of Oceanography senior thesis.
May 15, 2020
Ocean ‘breathability’ key to past, future habitat of West Coast marine species
Historical observations collected off California since the 1950s suggest that anchovies thrive where the water is breathable — a combination of the oxygen levels in the water and the species’ oxygen needs, which are affected by temperature. Future projections suggest that the waters off Mexico and Southern California could be uninhabitable by 2100.
February 27, 2020
Video: Warming Arctic means less ice, bigger waves
Throughout the month of November 2019, a team of University of Washington researchers chased storms in the Arctic Ocean. The project, Coastal Ocean Dynamics in the Arctic, or CODA, is looking at how water currents shift and waves hit the coast with more open water, to provide better forecasts and predictions for the region’s future.
January 16, 2020
Mobile protected areas needed to preserve biodiversity in the high seas
Leaders are updating the laws for international waters that apply to most of the world’s ocean environment. This provides a unique opportunity, argues a UW Bothell marine scientist, to anticipate new techniques that allow protected zones to shift as species move under climate change.
November 5, 2019
Fall storms, coastal erosion focus of northern Alaska research cruise
A University of Washington team is leaving to study how fall storms, dwindling sea ice and vulnerable coastlines might combine in a changing Arctic.
September 10, 2019
Tides don’t always flush water out to sea, study shows
Researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Strathclyde report that, in Willapa Bay in Washington state, the water washing over the tidal flats during high tides is largely the same water that washed over the flats during the previous high tide. This “old” water has not been mixed in with “new” water from deeper parts of the bay or the open Pacific Ocean, and has different chemical and biological properties, such as lower levels of food for creatures within the tide flats.
September 4, 2019
New study tracks sulfur-based metabolism in the open ocean
UW oceanographers used lab experiments and seawater samples to learn how photosynthetic microbes and ocean bacteria use sulfur, a plentiful marine nutrient.
August 6, 2019
How the Pacific Ocean influences long-term drought in the Southwestern U.S.
Analyzing the full life cycle of long-term droughts and how they relate to El Niño and La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean could eventually lead to better prediction of damaging, multiyear droughts in the Southwestern U.S.
July 11, 2019
Super salty, subzero Arctic water provides peek at possible life on other planets
A UW 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.
June 10, 2019
Mysterious holes in Antarctic sea ice explained by years of robotic data
Why did a giant hole appear in the sea ice off Antarctica in 2016 and 2017, after decades of more typical sea ice cover? Years of Southern Ocean data have explained the phenomenon, helping oceanographers to better predict these features and study their role in global ocean cycles.
May 1, 2019
Arsenic-breathing life discovered in the tropical Pacific Ocean
In oxygen-poor parts of the ocean, some microorganisms survive by breathing arsenic. This holdover from the ancient Earth was not thought to still exist in the open ocean.
March 21, 2019
Hundreds of bubble streams link biology, seismology off Washington’s coast
The first survey of methane vent sites off Washington’s coast finds 1,778 bubble columns, with most located along a north-south band that is in line with a geologic fault.
February 8, 2019
‘Underwater forecast’ predicts temperature, acidity and more in Puget Sound
A new University of Washington computer model can predict underwater conditions in Puget Sound and off the coast of Washington three days into the future.
January 23, 2019
One year into the mission, autonomous ocean robots set a record in survey of Antarctic ice shelf
A team of ocean robots developed at the UW is the first group of self-guided ocean instruments to travel under an ice sheet and come back to report long-term observations.
January 14, 2019
UW, partners reach milestone in program using robots to monitor world’s oceans
The UW is part of an international program that has revolutionized ocean measurements. This fall, the program made its 2 millionth measurement, reporting temperature and salinity in the top mile of the world’s oceans.
November 2, 2018
‘Ocean memory’ the focus of cross-disciplinary effort by UW’s Jody Deming
UW oceanographer Jody Deming is a leader of a new, interdisciplinary effort that addresses the theme of “ocean memory.”
October 12, 2018
New UW-authored children’s book offers a robot’s-eye view of the deep ocean
In a new UW-authored book, a cartoon robot takes young readers on a School of Oceanography voyage to explore the deep ocean.
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