The southern Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia is becoming less salty at an astonishing rate, largely due to ...

A new study shows that during the last two deglaciations, i.e., the transition from an ice age to the warm interglacial periods, meltwater from the Antarctic ice sheet intensified stratification in ...

Climate change is rapidly freshening one of Earth’s saltiest ocean regions in the Southern Indian Ocean, potentially disrupting circulation.

It’s part of the scenario in “The Day After Tomorrow,” but scientists differ over whether or how fast it may occur. A team ...

Each year, vast blooms of phytoplankton spread across the Southern Ocean, drawing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and fueling Antarctica’s marine food web. For decades, scientists have attributed ...

The oceans are mostly composed of warm salty water near the surface over cold, less salty water in the ocean depths. These two regions don't mix except in certain special areas, which creates a large ...

Ancient rocks once beneath the ocean hold clues of severe conditions unimaginable on today's planet. Artwork showing the Earth during the Cryogenian period. This geologic period lasted from 850 to 635 ...

In ordinary circumstances coral reefs are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth, built slowly by animals that appear to be plants. Each coral polyp houses microscopic algae that convert ...

A critical measure of the ocean’s health suggests that the world’s marine systems are in greater peril than scientists had previously realized and that parts of the ocean have already reached ...