Oceanic

"Kayaktivists" demonstrate in Seattle's Elliot Bay against the arrival last month of the Shell's massive Polar Pioneer oil rig, rising behind them above the city's waterfront. Shell is using Seattle as a staging area for its new offshore drilling operatio

The road to Arctic oil drilling runs through Seattle. People there are trying to block it.

Environment

President Obama has given Shell the green light to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean, but activists and politicians in Seattle are throwing up as many stop signs as they can as the drilling rig preps there for its journey north. It’s the latest flashpoint in the growing international anti-fossil fuel movement.

A sea surface temperature anomaly in the tropical Pacific Ocean during the peak of the 2009-10 El Niño.

El Niño is back, and global temperature records are in danger

Environment
Ice scientists Ken Golden and Chris Polashenski drill a plastic tube into the Arctic ice cap north of Alaska as part of their research into melt ponds that form on the ice every spring. The ponds play a key role in the accellerated warming of the Arctic,

A scientist unlocks one of the mysteries of Arctic ice melt

Environment
Populations of marlin and other big game fish in the waters between Florida and Cuba are under growing pressure from overfishing and habitat destruction.

Can Hemingway help break down the barriers between the US and Cuba?

Environment
The World

Google is teaming up with environmental groups to help fight illegal fishing

Environment
Blue whales are the largest creatures that have ever lived. They were hunted to near extinction in the 20th century and have only recovered since to perhaps 10% of their pre-whaling numbers, but new research has found that the Northeastern Pacific populat

Here’s the green success story of the California blue whale

Environment

A new study of blue whales in the eastern Pacific has found that the population of the behemoths there has bounced back to near pre-whaling levels. But other populations of blues elsewhere are not doing nearly as well.

Healthy corals use chemical signals, or smells, to attract fish. New research has found that corals also send out "distress" signals when they're in trouble.

Coral reefs can communicate with fish, and many of them are crying for help

Environment

With corals in trouble around the world, researchers are examining the role of smell in telling fish to come to a healthy reef or stay away. That may help scientists find ways to manipulate the smells to help damaged reefs recover.

Conservationists are trying to protect the ocean waters around Palau, a small island nation in the South Pacific due east of the Philippines. The waters are recognized as one of the seven underwater wonders of the world, with more than 1,300 species of fi

Conservationists are working to create more national parks at sea

Environment

Here’s some positive environmental news. In fact, it’s a positive environmental trend: nations across the world are protecting huge swaths of ocean waters. And the trend may just be getting started. Here’s some positive environmental news. In fact, it’s a positive environmental trend: nations across the world are protecting huge swaths of ocean waters. And the trend may just be getting started.

Scientists say the retreat of west Antarctica’s ice sheet is unstoppable

Environment

Scientists say a massive ice sheet in Antarctica is starting to collapse. It’s not going to slide into the ocean over night, but rather over centuries. Still, it will fall, scientists say. It’s gotten to the point it can’t be stopped — and that means rising sea levels.Scientists say a massive ice sheet in Antarctica is starting to collapse. It’s not going to slide into the ocean over night, but rather over centuries. Still, it will fall, scientists say. It’s gotten to the point it can’t be stopped — and that means rising sea levels.

2014. Britain's Inmarsat used a wave phenomenon discovered in the nineteenth century to analyse the seven pings its satellite picked up from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 to determine its final destination.The new findings led Malaysian Prime Minister Na

An oceanographer tells why it will be so tough to find missing Flight 370 in the Indian Ocean

Environment

It took two years to find the flight data and cockpit voice recorders for an Air France jet that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean in 2009. In that tragedy, the crash site was found within two days of the accident. With Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the search may be much harder.It took two years to find the flight data and cockpit voice recorders for an Air France jet that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean in 2009. In that tragedy, the crash site was found within two days of the accident. With Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the search may be much harder.