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Ocean News Stories
Current Ocean News Events, Discoveries and Articles

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Scientists discover a new sensory organ in the chin of baleen whales
Lunge feeding in rorqual whales (a group that includes blue, humpback and fin whales) is unique among mammals, but details of how it works have remained elusive. (2012-05-24)

Toxic mercury, accumulating in the Arctic, springs from a hidden source
Environmental scientists at Harvard have discovered that the Arctic accumulation of mercury, a toxic element, is caused by both atmospheric forces and the flow of circumpolar rivers that carry the element north into the Arctic Ocean. (2012-05-21)

Finding fingerprints in sea level rise
It was used to help Apollo astronauts navigate in space, and has since been applied to problems as diverse as economics and weather forecasting, but Harvard scientists are now using a powerful statistical tool to not only track sea level rise over time, but to determine where the water causing the rise is coming from. (2012-05-21)

Elephant seal tracking reveals hidden lives of deep-diving animals
Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who pioneered the use of satellite tags to monitor the migrations of elephant seals have compiled one of the largest datasets available for any marine mammal species, revealing their movements and diving behavior at sea in unprecedented detail. (2012-05-16)

UMD Finding May Hold Key to Gaia Theory of Earth as Living Organism
Is Earth really a sort of giant living organism as the Gaia hypothesis predicts? (2012-05-16)

Growing risks from hatchery fish
A newly published collection of more than 20 studies by leading university scientists and government fishery researchers in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Russia and Japan provides mounting evidence that salmon raised in man-made hatcheries can harm wild salmon through competition for food and habitat. (2012-05-15)

First satellite tag study for manta rays reveals habits and hidden journeys of ocean giants
Using the latest satellite tracking technology, conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the University of Exeter (UK), and the Government of Mexico have completed a ground-breaking study on a mysterious ocean giant: the manta ray. (2012-05-14)

A Push From the Mississippi Kept Deepwater Horizon Oil Slick Off Shore, Penn Research Shows
When the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded April 20, 2010, residents feared that their Gulf of Mexico shores would be inundated with oil. (2012-05-11)

Plastic trash altering ocean habitats, Scripps study shows
A 100-fold upsurge in human-produced plastic garbage in the ocean is altering habitats in the marine environment, according to a new study led by a graduate student researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. (2012-05-09)

70 percent of beaches eroding on Hawaiian islands Kauai, Oahu, and Maui
An assessment of coastal change over the past century has found 70 percent of beaches on the islands of Kaua'i, O'ahu, and Maui are undergoing long-term erosion, according to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and University of Hawai'i (UH) report released today. (2012-05-08)