Harmful algal blooms – HABs – occur when colonies of algae grow out of control and produce toxic or harmful effects on people, marine life, and birds.  HABs occur naturally but their frequency and intensity are often associated with increased nutrient loading (mainly phosphorous and nitrogen) in bodies of water that is the result of […]

Ocean waves form as wind blows over the surface of open water.  Globally, waves contain tremendous amounts of energy.  Theoretically, the energy generating potential of waves off the coasts of the U.S. would meet more than 60% of the country’s electricity needs.  There are a variety of methods and technologies for tapping into this energy […]

Sharks and rays belong to a group of cartilaginous fish called elasmobranchs, which have been swimming in the world’s oceans for 450 million years. The resilient species have survived five mass extinction events, and are older than dinosaurs, trees, and Mount Everest.  But despite their resilience, many species of sharks and rays today are threatened […]

Americans experienced unusually cold and wintery weather in January.  Places like southern Louisiana and Florida saw appreciable amounts of snow.  For those who experienced January’s Arctic blast, it was a cold January.  But despite that, January was the world’s warmest on record, extending a run of extraordinary heat in which 18 out of the last […]

Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long and typically far smaller than that.  They come from a variety of sources, often from larger plastic debris that degrades into smaller and smaller pieces.  There are also microbeads, which are tiny pieces of manufactured polyethylene plastic that are added to various health and beauty […]

Hydrogen has great potential for helping society to reach net-zero emissions.  The problem is that the most economical and established production methods for hydrogen depend heavily on fossil fuels and result in roughly a dozen kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions for every kilogram of hydrogen produced. The carbon-free way to produce hydrogen is by splitting […]

Engineers at the University of Michigan and Rice University have developed a new technology for removing boron from seawater, an important step in turning seawater into safe drinking water. Boron is a natural component of seawater that remains a toxic contaminant in drinking water after conventional filters remove salts from seawater.  The boron levels in […]

After seven months of waiting following the end of the recent El Niño condition, La Niña finally showed up in the eastern Pacific Ocean in early December. El Niño and La Niña are climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean that can affect weather worldwide.  Normally, trade winds in the Pacific blow west along the equator, […]

Naysayers about renewable energy often claim that it is unreliable.  It is true that the sun sets every night and sometimes the wind doesn’t blow.  But with the growing use of battery banks to store excess power generated by renewables, the lack of reliability of renewable energy is turning out to be a myth. A […]

A new study by Swiss and Austrian scientists has found that persistent multi-year droughts have become increasingly common since 1980 and will continue to proliferate as the climate warms. There are multiple examples in recent years in places ranging from California to Mongolia to Australia.  Fifteen years of persistent megadrought in Chile have nearly dried […]