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Some Things New Under the Sea

Some Things New Under the Sea

New microbe species discovered In the quest to explore the remarkable diversity of microbial life on Earth, a German-American team of scientists has discovered seafloor bacteria that can “eat” natural…

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To Fertilize, or Not to Fertilize

To Fertilize, or Not to Fertilize

Global warming is “unequivocal,” the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported in November 2007. Human actions—particularly the burning of fossil fuels—have dramatically raised carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases…

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Dumping Iron and Trading Carbon

Dumping Iron and Trading Carbon

Debating the idea of fertilizing the ocean with iron can feel a little like riding a seesaw. On the up side is iron’s eye-catching potential to set off enormous plankton…

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Lessons from Nature, Models, and the Past

Lessons from Nature, Models, and the Past

The first part of biogeochemist John Martin’s famous prediction—“Give me half a tanker of iron, and I’ll give you an ice age”—has been proved partly right: Iron is the only…

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Will Ocean Iron Fertilization Work?

Will Ocean Iron Fertilization Work?

In this age of satellites, it’s fairly easy to answer the basic question of whether adding iron to the ocean can stimulate a plankton bloom. When storms over land blow…

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Robot Paints Stunning Map of Deep-sea Volcano

Robot Paints Stunning Map of Deep-sea Volcano

Painting with sonar, each brushstroke a “ping” of sound reflected off the seafloor, the robotic underwater vehicle called ABE created a masterpiece of a landscape—one that is submerged about a…

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Going for the GUSTO (Mooring)

Going for the GUSTO (Mooring)

It was the oceanographic equivalent of stopping for milk on the way home. Two years ago, Mike McCartney had left a mooring in the Gulf Stream, rigged with sensors to…

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OceanInsights for the Blind

OceanInsights for the Blind

WHOI physical oceanographer Amy Bower brought along a few extraordinary passengers when she set out to the Labrador Sea aboard the research vessel Knorr in September: Kate Fraser, a science…

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Submerged Autonomous Launch Platforms

Submerged Autonomous Launch Platforms

Amy Bower wanted to investigate an elusive and unpredictable phenomenon in a remote ocean. Off the west coast of Greenland, large, spinning rings of warm water, called eddies, occasionally form…

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Plumbing the Plume That Created Samoa

Plumbing the Plume That Created Samoa

Matthew Jackson began his journey to the center of the Earth on lonely gravel roads in Montana. Uninterested in motorcycles and horses, and miles from neighbors and friends, Jackson roamed…

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Publication Schedule

Volume 49 No. 1 — December 2011 No. 2 —  May 2012 No. 3 —  October 2012 Volume 50 No. 1 March 2013 No. 2 October 20123

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Fertilizing the Ocean with Iron

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  “Give me half a tanker of iron, and I’ll give you an ice age” may rank as the catchiest line ever uttered by a biogeochemist. The man responsible was…

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Will the Ocean Circulation Be Unbroken?

Will the Ocean Circulation Be Unbroken?

If the world’s climate is going to change, we will see signs in the ocean. The atmosphere and oceans are intricately linked; nowhere is that better demonstrated than in the…

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A New Way to Monitor Changes in the Arctic

A New Way to Monitor Changes in the Arctic

The Arctic is changing in response to Earth’s changing climate. Arctic ecosystems that have evolved over millions of years face changes occurring over 25 to 30 years, the average lifetime…

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