Oceanography | Marine Science and Ocean Stories

Elephant seals collect data where ships rarely can. In this South Pole crossover, Dr. Clive McMahon explains how animal-borne sensors turn deep-diving southern elephant seals into partners in Southern Ocean monitoring. The tags collect temperature, salinity, depth, and ocean productivity data, especially during the Antarctic winter. The episode also explores seal behavior, population decline, Antarctic Bottom Water, climate monitoring, and how hard-to-reach observations improve oceanography and weather forecasting

If you enjoy this episode, you can find more from South Pole, a series dedicated to the science of Antarctica, on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or all major platforms.

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Episode Guest: Dr. Clive McMahon

Review the research publication discussed in the episode here

Visit Dr. McMahon’s publications on Google Scholar 

Visit the website of the Sydney Institute of Marine Sciences

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Cover art and PFM logo by Laurel Wong. 

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Solar geoengineering is also a question of power. Hassaan Sipra of the Alliance for Just Deliberation on Solar Geoengineering explains the governance and climate justice issues surrounding solar radiation modification. The conversation centers Global South and climate-vulnerable communities, meaningful participation, consent, research transparency, and the absence of robust international rules. It also makes clear that climate intervention cannot replace emissions cuts, adaptation, finance, or loss and damage.

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Episode Guests: Hassasn Sipra

Learn more about justice and SRM on the DSG website. 

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Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art by Jomiro Eming

Theme music by Nela Ruiz

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Cleaner ship fuel created a climate experiment. Meteorologist Dr. Michael Diamond explains how shipping emissions influence cloud formation above the ocean and how the IMO sulfur cap changed that signal. Combined with disruptions to major shipping routes, the policy gave researchers a rare natural experiment for studying aerosols, clouds, and climate. The results also inform current questions about marine cloud brightening without turning past pollution into an argument for deployment.

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Episode Guests: Dr. Michael Diamond

Find Dr. Diamond’s published article on the impacts of the IOM regulation and preprint on the impacts of a changed shipping route. 

Review Dr. Diamond’s publications on Google Scholar

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Episode Transcript and more information on the Pine Forest Media website

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Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art by Jomiro Eming

Theme music by Nela Ruiz

Find some more Pine Forest Media podcasts below

Listen to Plastic Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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Reflecting sunlight would also change the ocean. Dr. Kelsey Roberts explores stratospheric aerosol injection through ocean and marine ecosystem models. The conversation examines possible changes to sea surface temperature, ocean chemistry, net primary production, fisheries, and food webs under different scenarios. It also explains why modeling is useful at this early stage and why the uneven ecological, economic, and social trade-offs belong inside any discussion of solar radiation modification.

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Episode Guests: Dr. Kelsey Roberts

Find Dr Robert’s publication on the Potential Impacts of Climate Intervention on Marine Ecosystems

Review Dr. Robert’s publications on Google Scholar

Find more resources on geoengineering at GeoMIP

Learn more about Justice and Governance about SRM Technologies at DSG

Listen to COP30: Green Power for more on global climate policy

Episode Transcript and more information on the Pine Forest Media website

Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram @pineforestmedia

Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art by Jomiro Eming

Theme music by Nela Ruiz

Find some more Pine Forest Media podcasts below

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Brighter marine clouds could cool parts of the ocean. Climate scientist Dr. Jessica Wan explains marine cloud brightening, a proposed solar geoengineering method that would add sea-salt particles to low marine clouds. Learn how stratocumulus clouds reflect sunlight, what climate models suggest about regional cooling, and why scale, uncertainty, side effects, and governance matter. The episode treats marine cloud brightening as a research question, not a ready-made climate solution.

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Episode Guests: Dr. Jessica Wan

Visit Dr. Wan’s Website

Review Dr. Wan’s publications on Google Scholar

Connect with Dr. Wan on LinkedIn

Find Dr. Wan’s articles on MCB in a warmer world and MCB and El Niño

Learn more about Justice and Governance about SRM Technologies at DSG

Episode Transcript and more information on the Pine Forest Media website

Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram @pineforestmedia

Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art by Jomiro Eming

Theme music by Nela Ruiz

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Can the ocean keep carbon out of the atmosphere? Oceanographer Dr. Morgan Raven explains marine carbon dioxide removal and the search for environments that can store organic carbon for long periods. The conversation moves through mangroves, fjords, oxygen-poor waters, and deep-sea brines to examine ocean carbon sequestration. It also makes the uncertainties clear, including measurement, ecological risk, coastal differences, and what must be proven before any method can scale.

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Episode Guests: Dr. Morgan Raven

Review Dr. Raven’s publications on Google Scholar

Check out the work of the NOISE Lab

Listen to COP30: Oceans on the Rise? for more on mCDR 

10 New Insights in Climate Science for 2025 by Future Earth 

Episode Transcript and more information on the Pine Forest Media website

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Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

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Ocean conservation can begin with ancestral relationships. Conservation scientist Juan Carlos Cruz explains how the Ancestral Tides initiative supports biocultural conservation with Indigenous and local coastal communities across Latin America. The work brings Indigenous knowledge and marine science together around sea turtle conservation, mangroves, coral reefs, and nesting beaches. The episode centers community leadership, cultural continuity, and long-term coastal conservation rather than presenting one knowledge system as a substitute for another.

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Special thanks to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for sponsoring this episode.

Episode Guests: Juan Carlos Cruz

Visit the Amazon Conservation Team website

Visit the Ancestral Tidesw webpage

Review the Ancestral Tides Annual Report

Episode Transcript and more information on the Pine Forest Media website

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Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

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Every ocean trench is a world shaped by geology. Professor Alan Jamieson guides a journey into the hadal zone, beginning around 6,000 meters below the surface. Learn how tectonic plates create ocean trenches, why pressure and isolation produce distinct habitats, how life survives at full ocean depth, and what decades of deep ocean exploration have corrected about the popular image of a single empty abyss.

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Special thanks to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for sponsoring this episode.

Episode Guest: Professor Alan Jamieson

Listen to the Deep Sea Podcast!

Browse Professor Jamieson’s publications on Google Scholar

Visit the Hadal Zone Deep Sea Research Center and follow their work on Instagram

Episode Transcript and more information on the Pine Forest Media website

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Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art by Jomiro Eming

Theme music by Nela Ruiz

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Listen to Plastic Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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The deep sea is not one dark, featureless place. Deep-sea researcher Dr. Thom Linley maps the ocean below sunlight as a connected world of depth zones with changing pressure, temperature, food, and life. From the bathyal and abyssal zones to hadal trenches, the episode explains how animals adapt, why scientific boundaries are useful but imperfect, and what technology is required for deep ocean exploration.

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Special thanks to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for sponsoring this episode.

Episode Guests: Dr. Thomas Linley

Listen to the Deep Sea Podcast!

Browse Dr. Linley’s publications on Google Scholar

Episode Transcript and more information on the Pine Forest Media website

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Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art by Jomiro Eming

Theme music by Nela Ruiz

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Listen to Plastic Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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The ocean is losing oxygen, with effects across food webs. Dr. Sven Pallacks explains ocean deoxygenation, how oxygen enters and moves through seawater, and why oxygen minimum zones develop. The episode connects warming, circulation, dead zones, and marine life, then uses fish ear stones called otoliths to examine past declines in mesopelagic fish. A clear introduction to an invisible change reshaping ocean ecosystems..

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Special thanks to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for sponsoring this episode.

Episode Guests: Dr. Sven Pallacks

Find Dr. Pallacks’ publications on Google Scholar

Read Dr. Pallacks’ article,  Ocean deoxygenation linked to ancient mesopelagic fish decline. 

Visit the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute website

Visit the O'DEA Lab here

Episode Transcript and more information on the Pine Forest Media website

Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram @pineforestmedia

Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese 

Cover art by Jomiro Eming

Theme music by Nela Ruiz

Find some more Pine Forest Media podcasts below

Listen to Plastic Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Listen to South Pole on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.