PMEL in the News
As oceans acidify, shellfish farmers respond
Taylor Shellfish Farm’s Quilcene hatchery perches on a narrow peninsula that juts into the sinuous waterways of Washington’s Puget Sound. On the July day I visited, the hatchery and everything surrounding it seemed to drip with fecundity. Clouds banked over darkly forested hills on the opposite shore, and a tangy breeze blew in from across the bay. But the lushness hid an ecosystem’s unraveling.
Alaska ferry to host long-distance ocean acidification study
The Alaska Marine Highway System ferry Columbia will be part of an international science experiment starting this fall when it resumes its weekly run between Bellingham, Wash., and Southeast Alaska.
Majority of Washington falls into drought
Washington’s hottest August on record worsened precipitation deficits, leading to more than half the state being classified Thursday as in “moderate drought,” according to climatologists.
Billionaire’s gift pushes ocean sensors deeper in search of global warming’s hidden heat
Every day, thousands of robotic floats bob up and down, tracking temperatures in the world's oceans, which sop up an estimated 90% of the heat from global warming. In the course of a decade, the international Argo array has provided one of the steadiest signatures of the effect of greenhouse gas emissions. But Argo has its limits. The floats go no deeper than 2000 meters, warded off by the crushing pressures at greater depths.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen partners with NOAA to explore climate changes in deep ocean water
As we’re breaking records for high temperatures around the globe and watching forest fires blaze across the Northwest, you can thank the planet’s oceans for saving us from even hotter temps. Because as humans have pumped carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, most of that additional energy has gone into the oceans, warming the water instead of the air.