Food for Thought: Global Patterns of Primary Productivity
Phytoplankton tend to concentrate in areas where the conditions for their growth and reproduction are optimal. Some of the most productive waters include the Antarctic and the North Atlantic during the springtime.
Due West: Ventura, California Marina
The Ventura, California marina was built in the 1950s with little or no understanding of the dredging that would be necessary to counteract the accumulation of sediment underwater. As a result the harbor has not functioned effectively for much of th...
On the Coast: Living with Erosion and Sea Level Rise
While the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are considered to be relatively gentle coastlines, erosional problems can pose problems in these areas, just as they do on the west coast. In Massachusetts, for example, the combination of erosion and sea level ris...
The Water Planet: Origin of the Solar System
Several billion years following the "Big Bang," a cloud of dust and gas began to condense and rotate, taking on a spherical shape. Eventually, the dust grains within this rotating cloud would coalesce and become the sun and planets of the solar syst...
Food for Thought: Primary Productivity, Carbon Dioxide and the Role of Humans
Excessive amounts of nutrients applied to lawns, agricultural fields and farms can lead to what scientists call nuisance blooms of algae. When that matter decomposes and sinks into the deeper layers of the coastal ocean, it uses up the available oxy...
Isostasy
Geophysicist and geologist Tanya Atwater discusses isostasy, which allows objects at the surface of Earth to float in equilibrium, and talks about how it helps define Earth's topography.
Survivors: The Oxygen Revolution
At one time, Earth's atmosphere had a far smaller percentage of oxygen than it does today. Only when that percentage began to rise, thanks to the oxygen production of photosynthetic plants and organisms, was it possible for animals to come into bein...
Differences Between Oceans and Continents (Part 2)
Geophysicist and geologist Tanya Atwater compares the relatively neat sea floor with continents, which she terms a "mess." She attributes these differences to the predictable and "tidy" process of seafloor spreading, as compared to the crashing toge...
Coasts Are Arbitrary
Geophysicist and geologist Tanya Atwater notes that the line between oceans and continents, commonly known as the coast, is actually very arbitrary and subject to change over time. She also talks about implications of global warming for coastal regi...
The Ocean as a Sound Channel
Renowned oceanographer and geophysicist Walter Munk talks about differences in the ways sound travels in the ocean as compared to through the air. He observes that the ocean is an ideal medium through which sound can travel.