ECO Magazine

05/29/2026

Monterey Bay Aquarium biologists completed an expedition to Guide Seamount aboard MBARI 's flagship research vessel David Packard. Led by Monterey Bay Aquarium Curator of Fishes and Invertebrates Megan Olhasso in partnership with MBARI Senior Education and Research Specialist George Matsumoto, the team deployed MBARI's remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Doc Ricketts to explore the seamount's rocky ridges and collect animals for the Aquarium's Into the Deep/En lo Profundo exhibition.

05/29/2026

Researchers deployed Ocean Diagnostics’ portable Surface Sampler to collect genetic material in areas too remote and extreme to obtain with existing tools. These samples, analyzed back in the laboratory, revealed Chinook salmon in a location historically believed to be beyond their migratory reach. This data supports tribal fisheries managers in understanding how human activities may be altering salmon behavior across the Pacific Northwest and introducing and activities to protect them.

05/28/2026

TouchWind has successfully installed its turbine prototype at Fieldlab Green Economy Westvoorne in the Netherlands. Following the installation, the POWER project has now entered the in-water field testing phase, marking the next step in the demonstration program.

The POWER project—‘POsitive Wake Effects of turbines with tilted Rotors’—investigates how turbines with tilted rotors can deflect wakes and draw higher-energy wind from upper air layers. Combining these effects could enable wind farms with significantly higher power density.

05/28/2026

While recent studies have reported changes in animal populations in Arctic waters, the causes were poorly understood, as there have been few in-depth analyses of the ocean’s chemical makeup.

Now, researchers from The University of Edinburgh have gained new insights into the changing nutrient levels in the Arctic Ocean by analyzing data spanning a 20-year period. The team assessed more than two decades of sampling data from the Fram Strait, the main gateway through which Arctic waters flow into the Atlantic.

05/26/2026

Woolpert ’s team of subject matter experts uses state-of-the-art technologies to create robust geospatial data products for decision-making. Advanced tools like uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) and multibeam sonar significantly enhance offshore data collection capabilities and are increasingly being used for deep-ocean missions.

Read the OpEd, "Expanding Access to Critical Ocean Data," by David Neff, C.H., Maritime Market Director, Woolpert, with the link in the comments 🔗

05/25/2026

A new international study published in Nature Climate Change has quantified how quickly the global ocean observing system can be disabled and by whom. More:

https://ecomagazine.com/news/research/new-study-shows-the-global-ocean-observing-system-is-more-fragile-than-originally-thought/

The authors argue that sustaining GOOS as a global public good requires a fundamental shift in how nations think about ocean observing: not as a discretionary scientific expenditure, but as a critical infrastructure equivalent to satellite navigation or meteorological services.

05/23/2026

UC Santa Barbara and McGill University scientists used sedimentology and geochemistry to determine where these organisms lived and what oxygen levels were like in those environments. More:

https://ecomagazine.com/news/research/early-complex-life-clung-to-oxygenated-seafloors-for-hundreds-of-millions-of-years/

The discovery overturns certain long-held assumptions about the group while corroborating others.

05/23/2026

A new study from Adelaide University has found that when ocean acidification makes reef habitat less complex, the fish living there gather in smaller shoals that offer less social protection. More:

https://ecomagazine.com/news/coastal/ocean-acidification-is-ruining-the-social-lives-of-reef-fish/

A new study from Adelaide University has found that when ocean acidification makes reef habitat less complex, the fish living there gather in smaller shoals that offer less social protection.

05/22/2026

Forecasters with NOAA’s National Weather Service are predicting a below-normal hurricane season for the Atlantic basin this year. More:

https://ecomagazine.com/news/coastal/noaa-predicts-below-normal-2026-atlantic-hurricane-season/

Forecasters with NOAA’s National Weather Service are predicting a below-normal hurricane season for the Atlantic basin this year.