ocean sciences

Top ten tourist beaches threatened by tsunamis

Olivia Trani May 23, 2018

A street in Phuket, Thailand after the 2004 tsunami. Six months after the tsunami, a quarter of the islands's hotels closed. (Image Credit: Alonso de Mendoza / Wikimedia Commons)

December 2004 saw one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. 228,000 people were killed when an earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered tsunami waves up to 30 m high. The destruction was extreme as the waves hit 14 different countries around the Indian Ocean. Economic losses totalled over 10 billion US dollars. The tourism industry in particular suff ...[Read More]

Underwater robot shares ocean secrets

Sara Mynott April 20, 2018

A seaglider being launched. Credit: University of East Anglia.

Buoyancy-driven drones are helping scientists paint a picture of the ocean with sound. Around the world, silent marine robots are eavesdropping on the ocean and its inhabitants. The robots can travel 1000 metres beneath the surface and cover thousands of kilometres in a single trip, listening in on the ocean as they go. These bright yellow bots, known as Seagliders, are about the size of a diver, ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Iceberg viewing in Cape Spear, Newfoundland, Canada

Simon Massé April 2, 2018

Iceberg viewing in Cape Spear, Newfoundland, Canada. Credit: Simon Massé (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Cape Spear in Newfoundland, Canada is the easternmost location in North America and one of the few places in the world where you can contemplate icebergs from the shore. Every year, about 400 to 800 bergs journey down to this particular point. These 10,000-year-old ice giants drift along the northern shore of Newfoundland with the Labrador Current. About 90 percent of these icebergs come from west ...[Read More]

GeoSciences Column: Catch of the day – what seabirds can tell us about the marine environment

Laura Roberts-Artal September 22, 2017

An adult northern gannet mid-flight . Credit: Andreas Trepte , distributed via Wikimedia Commons .

Off the coast of Germany, a male northern gannet (for ease, we’ll call him Pete) soars above the cold waters of the North Sea. He’s on the hunt for a shoal of fish. Some 40km due south east, Pete’s mate and chick await, patiently, for him to return to the nest with a belly full of food. Glints of silver just below the waves; the fish have arrived. Pete readies himself. Body rigid, wings tucked in ...[Read More]