oceans

Homemade garbage barge about to make landfall in Hawaii

Three humans, 15,000 soda bottles, and a Cessna plane body are about to make landfall in Hawaii after an epic 2,000-mile, three-month journey from the west coast to raise awareness […]

Ocean temperture levels indicate planet has kept warming since 1998

As part of their climate myth series, New Scientist cuts through the nonsense on what’s happened globally in the last decade: In fact, the planet as a whole has warmed […]

Note to media: Enough with the multiple hedges on climate science!

In an otherwise fascinating story on the growing “icebreaker gap” in the rapidly defrosting Arctic Ocean, NYT reporter Andy Revkin writes: Even with the increasing summer retreats of sea ice, […]

Arctic sea ice declines sharply in August

The National Snow and Ice Data Center reported Monday that in the first 10 days of August, Arctic sea ice extent declined one million kilometers. Sea ice is now disappearing […]

Some big whales no longer in trouble

There’s bad news and good news from the world of marine megafauna. The bad: Almost a quarter of the 80 types of whales, dolphins, and porpoises are in trouble, with […]

Cleanup funding inadequate for Bush-designated marine monument

Remember when President Bush designated the world’s largest protected marine area in Hawaii in 2006? Environmentalists cheered, fish clapped their fins, and Bush aides crossed “burnish green reputation” off the […]

Jet Propulsion Laboratory has new climate website that shows global sea-level trends

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a very good new website on global climate change. It offers a nice summary of the relevant science in a variety of areas: key indicators, evidence, causes, effects, uncertainties, and solutions. The website is a good place to send people who are uninformed on global warming, but looking for basic information.

JPL has a very nice front-page banner with pulldown menus providing data on "Vital Signs of the Planet," including Arctic sea ice, carbon dioxide, sea level rise, global temperature, and the ozone hole. Here is the expanded chart showing the recent 70 percent jump in sea level rise:

Beads in many face scrubs harmful to marine life

Photo: Perfecto Insecto. Plastic needs a new slogan, LOLcat–style: Im in ur facewash, hurting teh fishes. Slate, YahooGreen, and now EarthFirst are reporting that the tiny exfoliating beads in many […]

Umbra on sea-level rise

Dear Umbra, I’m a bit confused about the possible rise in sea level that may be caused by global warming. I know that in general water expands when warmed, and […]