Ocean Sciences

When the atmosphere moves the sea: Meteotsunami waves

Clare Lewis August 10, 2026

Figure 1: The generation and evolution of a meteotsunami, adapted from Monserrat 2006. A wave is generated by a pressure jump or wind stress and is amplified by processes such as Proudman resonance; shelf amplification; and harbour resonance as shown (NOAA, 2014).

Meteotsunamis or meteorological tsunamis are globally occurring progressive shallow water waves with a period of between 2 to 120 minutes which results from an air-sea interaction. They tend to be initiated by sudden pressure changes and wind stress from moving atmospheric systems with sources ranging from convective clouds, cyclones, squalls, thunderstorms, atmospheric gravity waves and strong mi ...[Read More]

More Than a Rain Gauge: When Salt Starts Steering the Sea

Lisan Yu July 30, 2026

Simplified representation; see Figure 1.

Posted in: Ocean Sciences | Reviews & Perspectives | Ocean Science Jubilee Special Issue We usually think of ocean salinity as the ocean’s rain gauge. Rain, rivers, and melting ice freshen the surface; evaporation leaves it saltier. Seen from space, these changing patterns reveal how Earth’s water cycle is evolving, with wet regions generally becoming fresher and dry regions saltier as the cli ...[Read More]

Fifty years of ocean chemistry in one place: GLODAPv3 is here!

David Curbelo-Hernández July 20, 2026

Figure 1. Stations included in GLODAPv3. The synthesis brings together surface-to-seafloor observations collected throughout the global ocean between 1972 and 2023. Credit: GLODAPv3 team, adapted from the GLODAPv3 release poster.

Working with marine carbonate-system observations has taught me how much effort lies behind every row of an oceanographic dataset: long hours at sea, careful sampling, laboratory analyses, calibration and quality control. A single bottle of seawater may represent only one place, one depth and one moment, but when many such samples are brought together, they can reveal how the ocean is changing. On ...[Read More]

Can the Ocean Explain Why Climate Models Struggle with the Indian Monsoon?

Sankar Prasad Lahiri July 9, 2026

Figure 1 Schematic illustration of the Indian Summer Monsoon circulation. During boreal summer, southwesterly winds (blue arrows) originating near the Mascarene High in the southern Indian Ocean travel across the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal toward the Indian subcontinent. Along their path, the winds acquire moisture from the ocean before producing widespread rainfall over South Asia. Image created with the assistance of ChatGPT-5.

Few climate phenomena affect as many people as the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM). Between June and September, it delivers most of the annual rainfall over the Indian subcontinent, supporting agriculture, water resources, and livelihoods for more than a billion people. Yet predicting how the monsoon will respond to climate change remains a major scientific challenge because it is shaped by complex in ...[Read More]