In the News Archive

There is danger lurking on the floor of the Bering and Chukchi seas for mussels, snails, clams, worms and other cold-water invertebrates, according to a new study led by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists. Muyin Wang is part of the study. 

COOS BAY, Ore. — When the earth shakes off the Oregon coast, geologists say it's a reminder to be prepared. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, last week dozens of earthquakes rumbled near the Blanco Fracture Zone in a matter of days. Bob Dziak is quoted. 

...Not too far down the coast, piles of dead Dungeness crab washed ashore on Kalaloch Beach this summer. Meanwhile, fishers have shared stories about hoisting up dead or suffocating crabs in their pots, said Jenny Waddell, research ecologist with the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Now, scientists are working to understand how climate change is affecting Dungeness crab, which is both culturally significant and a pillar of Washington’s seafood industry. PMEL's Richard Feely is quoted. 

Gliders, saildrones, Argo floats, and self-driving submarines: meet the new generation of robots that are testing technical boundaries and changing the face of oceanography. Greg Johnson is quoted in the "Argo Innovations" side bar in Chapter 3. 

Right now, a broad plume of cool water has pooled in the Pacific Ocean, west of South America. It's the signature of La Niña.  While Australia waits to see whether La Niña will be declared, the United States has already called it, using slightly less stringent criteria. Mike McPhaden is featured. 

SEA-KIT International’s Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Maxlimer has returned from an initial survey mission inside the caldera of the Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha'apai (HT–HH) volcano carrying a plethora of data and imagery to fill important gaps in current understanding and knowledge of the seamount and water above it. Sharon Walker is quoted. 

Australia’s east coast could be hit by a rare “triple La Niña” that brings flooding rains and cooler weather for the third summer in a row, a senior US government scientist says. Experts say the prospect of a triple La Niña is real, but there is disagreement between different computer models and Australia could yet avoid a return of summer floods. Mike McPhaden is quoted. 

In the cold, choppy waters of Alaska’s Resurrection Bay, all eyes were on the gray water, looking for one thing only. It wasn’t a spout from humpback whales that power through this scenic fjord, or a sea otter lazing on its back, munching a king crab. Instead, everyone aboard the Nanuq, a University of Alaska Fairbanks research vessel, was looking where a 5-foot-long, bright pink underwater sea glider surfaced. Richard Feely is quoted.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is developing new research technology to better understand the changing ecosystems of the Arctic. It plans to debut one such piece of technology, the Oculus Coastal Glider, summer 2022 to study the Bering Sea. Phyllis Stabeno is quoted from the Strait Science seminar.

In the second episode of this two-part series, the search continues for signs of what happened on the day the dinosaurs died. Vasily Titov is featured discussing tsunami at around 10:33

To improve future tropical cyclone forecasts, researchers sent a remotely operated saildrone into the extreme winds and towering waves around the eye of a category 4 hurricane. Written by Gregory R. Foltz, Chidong Zhang, Christian Meinig, Jun A. Zhang and Dongxiao Zhang

ABOARD THE PINNACLE, Bering Sea — Through the wheelhouse window, Capt. Mark Casto spotted a white line on the horizon. The edge of an ice floe was illuminated by bow lights piercing the morning darkness of the Bering Sea. He throttled back the engines. Soon, the Seattle-based crab boat began to nose through closely packed pancake-like pieces and bigger craggy chunks, some the size of boulders, which bobbed about in the currents and clanged against the hull. Phyllis Stabeno discusses sea ice. 

Cool, moist nights are rarer than they were a few decades ago, and that’s giving wildfires an edge over crews trying to hold fire lines. Andy Chiodi is quoted. 

...Which is a way of saying: a lot of people ask what it takes to make it rain in California, and the answer relies on a bewildering variety of inputs, some of them very complex and very far away. One of the most intriguing, and least understood, is a weather phenomenon called the Madden-Julian Oscillation, or MJO. Chidong Zhang is featured. 

TheLog NewsCast Ep. 3: Katherine interviewed three experts about a recent study published on Feb. 1 by  Plos Climate and written by Kisei R. Tanaka, and Kyle S.Van Houtan found more than half of the planet’s ocean surface has regularly surpassed historical extreme heat thresholds starting in 2014. To gain a better understanding Katherine spoke with Dr. Gregory Johnson from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, Anna Marie Laura Director of International Government Relations at Ocean Conservancy, and President and CEO of Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach Dr. Peter Kareiva. Each expert brings insight to the study and an in-depth explanation of what the world can expect. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released a simulation of last month’s tsunami that triggered warnings in Humboldt County and around the Pacific. The “tsunami propagation” animation, put together by the Tsunami Research NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, shows tsunami waves and ocean disruption produced by the massive volcanic eruption on the uninhabited South Pacific island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai on January 15.