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Julia Parrish, a University of Washington professor, using 20 years of data from citizens who reported on coastal conditions all along the West Coast, found that mass die-offs of sailor jellyfish correlated with “the blob,” a patch of unusually hot ocean waters in the Pacific, according to a new study.
Why this Matters: The Blob became prevalent in 2013 when surface waters off the Pacific coast began getting especially warm.
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New scientific research sheds light on a growing problem — ocean noise pollution — but the good news is that this one is solvable. The problem is that much of ocean life depends on sound for survival and when anthropogenic noise increases, it drowns out the soundscapes that guide ocean life, The New York Times reports.
Why This Matters: Impacts of noise had been documented on marine mammals like dolphins, but now it is clear it impacts a wide variety of marine life, including zooplankton and jellyfish.
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Jellyfish are often feared for their ability to deliver painful stings but it turns out that the gelatinous beauties could be serving an important purpose for the world’s oceans. As Eos explained, A new study in the AGU journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles estimates how much carbon gelatinous sea creatures store in their bodies and where […]
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As Weather.com reported, unusually warm temperatures combined with seasonal low tides have literally roasted California mussels in their shells in a mass die-off that could have larger implications on the local marine ecosystem. At the same time, this July 4th weekend a record number of sharks have been spotted off the coast of Cape Cod […]
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