PMEL in the News
A Century-Old Arctic Shipwreck Could Help Us Predict Extreme Weather
In 1879, the USS Jeannette and her crew left San Francisco, headed for the Bering Strait with a dream: to win the race to reach the North Pole. After months of perilous sailing, the Jeannette made it through the strait. But soon after, she got stuck in the grip of ice floes, or sheets of floating ice.
NOAA ship Ronald Brown home from Antarctica
The ship had cruised the Arctic last year, so the towering Antarctic icebergs caught the eye of Capt. Robert Kamphaus more than anything else in the seas in January. "Just the size and the numbers were impressive. Because they're calving off these massive ice sheets, they're pretty significant" after the more open Arctic Ocean, Kamphaus said.
Large area of acidified water found in western Arctic Ocean
Scientists have found the world's first large-scale area of acidified water in the open ocean in the seas of the western Arctic. "In other (oceans), you may have a small part with low pH, but the Arctic Ocean is the first one we have observed with a larger scale acidification," said Wei-Jun Cai of the University of Delaware, co-author of a paper recently published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Cook Inlet Gas Leak Remains Unmonitored as Danger to Marine Life Is Feared
As the underwater methane leak in Cook Inlet, Alaska continues well into its third month, even basic environmental monitoring has been impossible because of ice cover. The ice also prevents any repair to the pipeline or response to the leak.
It's not your imagination – winter's been colder than normal
By one measurement, winter in Washington state is the coldest in the lower 48. That measurement is based on how far below normal we are, ranging from 4 degrees Fahrenheit colder in Western Washington to as much as 8 to 10 degrees colder in the southeastern quarter of the state.