OceanForUs

Overview: The Australian bushfire in late 2019 and early 2020 had created many environmental issues. The fire has released a large number of aerosol particles into the air which eventually affected the South Pacific Ocean. Researchers had done many satellite observations and surveyed the coastal deposition of these particles and their biochemical reaction to the water. Four types of aerosol particles were detected: wildfire smoke, mineral dust, background aerosols and residual smoke. In the Tasman Sea, in November 2019 it was concluded that 60% of mineral dust was made up of coarse particles.  After the wildfire, these particles had affected a large amount of the atmosphere in eastern Australia, Southern Pacific water and even South America. 98.9% of smoke was made up of fine particles. These mineral dust and smoke particles emitted from the fire changed the composition of the surface ocean. The decomposition of these mineral particles resulted in an increase in the concentration o...

Climate change is increasing the frequency and magnitude of temperature anomalies, which cause coral bleaching, which leads to a substantial loss of stony coral that is fundamentally changing the structure and function of coral reefs. A recent study has shown that excess nitrogen can increase the chances of coral bleaching. However, researchers still don't know about the extent of damage the excess nitrogen can do to corals. After several surveys of coral bleaching and nitrogen content of that area, researchers concluded that nitrogen surely affects the corals and enhance bleaching patterns. Researchers have developed a theory that nitrogen interacts with heated water and alter the frequency of bleaching. Nitrogen almost doubles the frequency of bleaching in many areas.  Global warming and the increasing temperature of ocean water are known to all. But there are many other silent factors (like acidification, calcification etc) that affect the marine ecosystem. Corals are one t...

The highest concentration of the world's lakes is found in the Arctic boreal regions, and as a result, it receives rapid warming. Yet, the natural response of Arcticboreal lakes to warming remains uncertain. Historical patterns in the colour of the lake from a distant perspective can provide insight into the natural changes of the lake. But it has not been explored on a panArctic scale. The greenery of the lake has decreased completely by 15%. These are results from the last ten decades of analysis in the study region of 6.3 million sq km. Researchers found this decrement in regions with high air temperatures and rainfall. These conclusions support the view that warming has enhanced connectivity between lakes and the land. Recent changes in the Arctic primary production linked to global climate change have been recorded in terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The evidence of unequal changes in plant growth in the tundra and in ecosystems is provided by many satellite records. Thus, t...

 Coral bleaching happens when the algae on the coral die and the coral turn white. These algae and coral live in a symbiotic relationship. The algae are responsible for about 90% of coral's energy generation. Bleached coral cannot survive for a longer time. Eventually, they will die due to starvation. The main reason for bleaching is the increasing temperature of the ocean. Many other factors like ocean acidification and heavy metal pollution are also responsible for bleaching. Corals in almost every part of the world are affected due to increasing temperature. Many bleaching events have occurred in the past few decades. But the bleaching event of El Nino from 2014 to 2017 was the deadliest bleaching event ever. Between 1980 and 1990 sixty major coral bleaching events have occurred. The longest bleaching event was recorded in 2016. Over 70% of the world's corals were affected during that time. According to a study, the oldest bleaching event was that of Frasnian time of the Lat...

  Copper plays a vital role in enzymic activities in humans and fishes. Copper in small quantity is needed for survival and growth. But if the concentration of copper increases then it acts as a poison. Generally, ocean water has very little concentration of copper, but with increasing industrialization and on-surface activities, its concentration is also increasing. This copper can also react with other gaseous molecules or organic molecules, eventually making ocean water toxic and unsuitable for the growth of marine animals. Ocean Acidification is reducing the carbonate concentration, making it an even more suitable environment for copper to react with organic ligands (L) like thiols, exopolysaccharides etc.  It is predicted that by the end of this century the concentration of free copper ions in the ocean will increase by 50%. This will greatly change the chemistry of the ocean and will affect the physiological processes of marine species. By 2100, environmental factors wi...

Man-made activities have accelerated the rate of ocean pollution. The oil spill is the quickest way to destroy our oceans. A large volume of petroleum products gets leaked into the ocean result in a spill. The oil spills mostly occur due to tankers, cargo accidents, oil platforms and wells. When an oil spill occurs in a coastal area than it also harms humans. But these spills have a greater effect on marine species than humans. Humans might stop the potential damage from the oil spills but marine species cannot. They are the ones who suffered the most due to such accidents. However, these spills also occur due to natural reasons. In fact, about 40 to 50% of the total oil released into the ocean is from the natural seeps from the seafloor rocks. This means approx. 600,000 tonnes of oil is released into the ocean due to natural reasons. However, these releases have very little damage because these are natural processes and are part of the ecosystem. It is discovered that special bacteria...

  The Greenland Ice Sheet is the world's second-largest glacier. Greenland is also the world's largest island. Greenland holds enough ice to raise sea level by 7 m. The ice sheet covers around 80% of Greenland's total area. The ice sheet has a thickness ranging from 2 km to 3 km. We all know that global warming has caused polar ice to melt. Apart from the ice of Antarctic regions and the Arctic regions, Greenland's ice is also melting at an alarming rate. The melting of polar ice caps is a natural process. The ice sheet was melting for the last 10 to 11 million years. But global warming and ozone holes accelerated the melting process. These sheets and glaciers were not made to melt at such a high rate. A recent study states that Greenland is melting at an accelerating rate. The natural melting process has almost no effect on sea level, but this accelerated melting will surely affect the sea level. Even if the sea level will rise by few inches, most of the coastal cities...

  Ocean water is saturated with calcium carbonate. This calcium is useful for many species like corals and planktons. The calcium in the water contributes mainly to the formation of skeletons of the corals. But the increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the concentration of carbonates and the pH of ocean water is decreasing eventually decreasing the calcium carbonates. Researchers predict that if the saturation keeps on decreasing then corals will face a great problem in future. The Southern Hemisphere Oceans have shown a decrease in carbonate saturation. By 2100, there might be a chance that corals become extinct or extremely endangered in the Southern Oceans.  Ocean uptakes atmospheric CO2. This helps to moderate future climate changes. But when CO2 enters the ocean water, it undergoes hydrolysis and releases a hydrogen ion. As the concentration of H+ ions increases, the pH decreases. The pH of surface ocean water has already decreased by 0.1 units in the last few deca...

Increasing water pollution is a major problem around the globe. Not only oceans and seas face this pollution, but river and lakes are also part of this. Many fishes and other marine species are affected due to river pollution. Rivers are the major provider of freshwater, but when the level of pollution it's water becomes next to useless. Rivers played a major role in the urbanization of humanity. Many major rivers in the world, which once provided a large volume of fresh water and home for much beautiful flora and fauna, are now turning into sewages. River pollution has caused a major shift in the global ecosystem. Increasing river pollution not only affects the fishes and animals in it but its direct effect is also shown in agriculture, groundwater, drinking water and many water-based industries. W.H. Auden once said, "Thousands have lived without love, not one without water". Yet humans have used every way to pollute the water. According to a study, about 80% world'...

The Pacific Ocean is the world's largest ocean. Five out of seven continents have their boundaries touching the Pacific Ocean. 45% of the world's total water surface is the Pacific and 32% of the world's total area is also Pacific. Major port cities like Auckland, Brisbane, Lima, Hong Kong, Manila,  San Francisco, San Diego, Tokyo, Sydney, Osaka etc are located on the bank of the Pacific Ocean. Larger ports bring larger marine activities. Mining, fishing and navy activities have the highest frequency in the Pacific Ocean. Also, toxins and chemicals from industrial activities, nuclear debris, sewage etc also pollute the ocean. (1) Plastic Pollution and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch: Plastic pollution is a major problem in the Pacific Ocean. 90% of floating debris in the Pacific Ocean is plastic. It takes a couple of seconds to throw plastic waste in the ocean, but it takes thousands of years to decompose it. Most of the debris are bottles, bags, brushes and some other dail...

 Many marine species are getting harmed due to excessive ocean pollution. The rate at which humans are polluting the seas and oceans for the past few decades is very alarming. Innocent, silent marine animals will continue to suffer and some of them even might get extinct if we don't act today. Of all these animals, dolphins are the ones that will suffer the most. These beautiful creatures are the most sensitive to sound, chemicals and other pollutants. With increasing plastic pollution and sound pollution in the oceans, there is a significant decrease in the population of Dolphins. Toxins are entering the oceans directly from industries or by marine accidents. Chemicals such as DDT (dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane), PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl), PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ether) are dumped into the oceans. Apart from this, heavy metals like iron, copper, zinc etc also enter the oceans through oil spills, ship accidents, bridges and road construction through oceans and other ...

Melting glaciers is one of the most dangerous effects in the 21st century. Humans releasing dangerous pollutant like carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide etc not only create problems in cities but their effects are shown in our polar caps also. The decrease in ozone level has accelerated the melting of these polar glaciers. Some of you might think why these ice caps are so important. Yes, they are indeed very special to us.               These polar glaciers and ice caps act as a protective cover and reflects most of the excess heat of the Sun. Hence glacier plays an important role in maintaining the temperature of the Earth. Only 10% of Earth's surface is covered with glaciers. 90% of the glacier is found in Antarctica and the remaining 10% in Greenland.  Photo by Mèng Jiǎ on Unsplash What are the problems created by melting glaciers?    (1) Global warming has accelerated the melting of glaciers, as a result, a large ...

Humans are creating a lot of noise everywhere. This noise pollution also affects marine life. Most marine animals are very sensitive to sound. Soundwaves can travel to a much longer distance in the water. These noises can prevent marine animals to predict their preys, communicate with their local groups, and sometimes prevent them to mate. Sonar technologies can be called one of the main reason for decreasing marine species. Dolphins and Whales are the most affected species due to noise pollution. Whales had to leave their feeding and mating areas due to the noise, they have experienced heavy stress in the noisy water areas. Apart from these two, lobsters, crabs, tortoises and many other smaller fish species are affected due to noise pollution. Fishes communicate with each other through low-frequency sound waves which humans can't hear. Human created noises like sonar, ship horns, fishing noise, etc make it difficult to communicate with each other. Ship horns can travel hundreds of...