Featured
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News & Views |
The surprising history of the Southern Ocean’s super current
Reconstructions of the strength of a powerful current that circles the South Pole reveal that it has undergone no long-term change in the past five million years, even though Earth cooled substantially over that time.
- Natalie J. Burls
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Editorial |
Deep-sea mining plans should not be rushed
Why are companies and governments determined to start commercial-scale mining for rare metals, when so little is known about its wider impacts?
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World View |
Climate models can’t explain 2023’s huge heat anomaly — we could be in uncharted territory
Taking into account all known factors, the planet warmed 0.2 °C more last year than climate scientists expected. More and better data are urgently needed.
- Gavin Schmidt
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Comment |
The world must rethink plans for ageing oil and gas platforms
Earth’s oceans are awash with ageing energy infrastructure. A change in the law is needed to ensure that these structures are decommissioned in ways that maximize environmental and societal benefits.
- Antony Knights
- , Anaëlle Lemasson
- & Paul Somerfield
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Nature Podcast |
These tiny fish combine electric pulses to probe the environment
Elephantnose fish share electric pulses to extend their senses, and the bumblebees that show a uniquely human trait.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Correspondence |
Deep-sea mining opponents: there’s no free lunch when it comes to clean energy
- Saleem H. Ali
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Correspondence |
Replace Norway as co-chair of High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy
- Diva J. Amon
- , Douglas J. McCauley
- & Henrik Österblom
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News |
The world has warmed 1.5 °C, according to 300-year-old sponges
By the time that official temperature records began, global temperatures had already risen by half a degree.
- Bianca Nogrady
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News |
How do otters protect salt marshes from erosion? Shellfishly
Sea otters inadvertently protect the vegetation that binds sandy shorelines together.
- Jude Coleman
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Research Briefing |
Greenland’s glaciers are retreating everywhere and all at once
A comprehensive analysis of satellite data finds that the Greenland ice sheet has lost more ice in the past four decades than previously thought. Moreover, the glaciers that are the most sensitive to seasonal temperature swings will probably retreat the most in response to future global warming.
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News |
Could giant underwater curtains slow ice-sheet melting?
The curtains would separate polar ice sheets from warm ocean waters — but like other geoengineering proposals, the idea divides scientists.
- Xiaoying You
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News |
Piracy at sea is waning — but hotspots remain
A greater understanding of pirate attacks can help to inform the development of countermeasures.
- Freda Kreier
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Article |
Ubiquitous acceleration in Greenland Ice Sheet calving from 1985 to 2022
Analysis of more than 236,000 observations of glacier terminus positions shows that accelerated calving reduced the ice area of Greenland by about 5,000 km2 since 1985, producing over 1,000 Gt of freshwater that could influence ocean salinity and circulation.
- Chad A. Greene
- , Alex S. Gardner
- & Joshua K. Cuzzone
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News |
Largest genetic database of marine microbes could aid drug discovery
A trove of more than 300 million gene groups from ocean bacteria, fungi and viruses has been made freely available online.
- Carissa Wong
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Editorial |
Norway’s approval of sea-bed mining undermines efforts to protect the ocean
The decision to permit exploratory deep-sea extraction of valuable minerals breaks a promise to the other nations on the Ocean Panel and to scientists.
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News |
Can foreign coral save a dying reef? Radical idea sparks debate
Devastation brought on by climate change and other threats prompts a last-resort proposal to rescue Caribbean corals.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
Oceans break heat records five years in a row
The heat stored in the world’s oceans increased by the greatest margin ever in 2023.
- Xiaoying You
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News |
First approval for controversial sea-bed mining worries scientists
Researchers say the Norwegian government ignored warnings of potential ecosystem harm.
- Natasha Gilbert
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Correspondence |
Climate policy must integrate blue energy with food security
- Yuyan Gong
- , Liuyue He
- & Jiangning Zeng
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Research Briefing |
Oceans can capture more carbon dioxide than previously thought
The strength of the biological carbon pump was estimated using direct measurements of nutrients collected over decades. The findings indicate that ocean waters can capture and store larger amounts of carbon dioxide than previously estimated. This might have implications for climate-change models.
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Article
| Open Access
Biological carbon pump estimate based on multidecadal hydrographic data
By using several decades of hydrographic data and an inverse biogeochemical model that implicitly accounts for all known export pathways, a top-down estimate of the strength of the biological carbon pump is calculated.
- Wei-Lei Wang
- , Weiwei Fu
- & François W. Primeau
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News |
Deep-sea mining threatens jellyfish, suggests first-of-its-kind study
Sediment dislodged by ocean-floor mining could disrupt jellyfish metabolism, potentially causing the animals serious harm.
- Natasha Gilbert
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Comment |
‘Oceans are hugely complex’: modelling marine microbes is key to climate forecasts
Microorganisms are the engines that drive most marine processes. Ocean modelling must evolve to take their biological complexity into account.
- Alessandro Tagliabue
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Research Highlight |
A mystery source of pollution fouling the Great Barrier Reef is found at last
Nutrient-laced groundwater seeping up through the sea bed adds to an excess of nitrogen and phosphorus threatening the ecosystem.
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Nature Index |
Three scientists on the front line of climate and conservation research
By bearing firsthand witness to how the climate crisis is affecting life and livelihoods, their fieldwork directly informs policy to protect vulnerable sites.
- Sandy Ong
- & Andy Tay
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Nature Index |
Where is the strongest research focus on the environment?
The alignment of high-quality research to Sustainable Development Goals on climate and conservation varies widely between the world’s regions.
- Simon Baker
- & Bec Crew
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Research Highlight |
The ozone layer’s comeback brings a chill to Antarctica’s ocean
Ozone recovery is predicted to shift westerly winds, which will reduce the amount of warm water flowing into the Southern Ocean.
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Research Briefing |
Global warming is advancing the season for intense tropical cyclones
A data analysis shows that these destructive tropical storms are shifting earlier in the season all over the globe, owing mainly to anthropogenic climate warming. This seasonal advance could increase the likelihood of the storms overlapping with other extreme weather events, and has implications for disaster prevention.
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: Global effects of marine protected areas on food security are unknown
- Enric Sala
- , Juan Mayorga
- & Boris Worm
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Nature Careers Podcast |
This alternative way to measure research impact made judges cry with joy
Research managers, citizen scientists, librarians and technicians rarely make it onto author lists. But an initiative to assess their hidden contributions to team science moved some judging panel members to tears.
- Dom Byrne
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News |
Octopuses used in research could receive same protections as monkeys
For the first time in the United States, research with cephalopods might require approval by an ethics committee.
- Sara Reardon
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Article |
Tropical Atlantic multidecadal variability is dominated by external forcing
Anthropogenic and volcanic aerosols dominate multidecadal variability in aspects of the tropical Atlantic climate, such as sea surface temperatures, Sahel rainfall and hurricanes.
- Chengfei He
- , Amy C. Clement
- & Lisa N. Murphy
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Comment |
With the arrival of El Niño, prepare for stronger marine heatwaves
Record-high ocean temperatures, combined with a confluence of extreme climate and weather patterns, are pushing the world into uncharted waters. Researchers must help communities to plan how best to reduce the risks.
- Alistair J. Hobday
- , Michael T. Burrows
- & Thomas Wernberg
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Comment |
Four steps to curb ‘ocean roadkill’
There is increasing evidence that ship strikes are a major cause of mortality for whales, sharks and other ocean giants. With the global fleet growing, some simple actions can turn things around.
- Freya C. Womersley
- , Alexandra Loveridge
- & David W. Sims
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Editorial |
Hypocrisy is threatening the future of the world’s oceans
A few powerful nations are undermining progress towards global ocean sustainability. Scientists can help hold them to account.
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Article |
Marine heatwaves are not a dominant driver of change in demersal fishes
Of 248 marine heatwaves between 1993 and 2019 in North American and European seas, the effects on fish biomass were often minimal, and the heatwaves were not consistently associated with tropicalization or deborealization.
- Alexa L. Fredston
- , William W. L. Cheung
- & Malin L. Pinsky
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Article
| Open Access
Widespread retreat of coastal habitat is likely at warming levels above 1.5 °C
Without mitigation, relative sea-level rises under current climate change projections will exceed the capacity of coastal habitats such as mangroves and tidal marshes to adjust, leading to instability and profound changes to coastal ecosystems.
- Neil Saintilan
- , Benjamin Horton
- & Glenn Guntenspergen
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Correspondence |
Shark culling at a World Heritage site
- Philippe Borsa
- , Martine Cornaille
- & Bertrand Richer de Forges
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Article
| Open Access
Reef-building corals farm and feed on their photosynthetic symbionts
Long-term experiments show that corals acquire dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus by feeding on symbiont cells, which provide essential nutrients enabling their success in nutrient-poor waters.
- Jörg Wiedenmann
- , Cecilia D’Angelo
- & Amatzia Genin
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Article
| Open Access
Persistent equatorial Pacific iron limitation under ENSO forcing
An assessment of variations in phytoplankton nutrient limitation in the tropical Pacific over the past two decades finds that phytoplankton iron limitation is more stable in response to ENSO dynamics than models predict.
- Thomas J. Browning
- , Mak A. Saito
- & Alessandro Tagliabue
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News |
Australia’s Antarctic budget cuts a ‘terrible blow for science’
Scientists around the globe have expressed concern at reports that the Australian Antarctic Division will have its budget slashed by the government.
- Gemma Conroy
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Nature Index |
How China is capturing attention with landmark research
From ancient sea species to clues on comets, papers by the country’s talented scientists are regularly making headlines.
- Gemma Conroy
- , Pratik Pawar
- & Sian Powell
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Research Briefing |
A coupled land–sea approach to coral-reef conservation in a warming ocean
Local human-derived stressors combine with global ocean warming to threaten coral-reef persistence. Simultaneous reduction of human-derived stressors that originate on land, such as coastal run-off, and sea-based stressors, such as fishing pressure, resulted in greater coral-reef persistence before, during and after severe heat stress than did reduction of either alone.
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News |
Controlling pollution and overfishing can help protect coral reefs — but it’s not enough
Local management of runoff and fishing intensity bolsters reef health but is no match for climate-induced heatwaves.
- Bianca Nogrady
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News & Views |
Improved theory of ocean iron cycle resolves modelling issues
A revised conceptual model of the chemical and physical forms of iron in the ocean reconciles the mismatch between observations and simulations of the amount of dissolved iron in seawater — and might aid climate predictions.
- Brandy M. Toner
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Article |
Authigenic mineral phases as a driver of the upper-ocean iron cycle
Analysis of a new dissolved iron, ligand and particulate iron seasonal dataset shows that authigenic iron phases help control ocean dissolved iron distributions and the coupling between dissolved and particulate iron pools.
- Alessandro Tagliabue
- , Kristen N. Buck
- & Peter Sedwick
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Article
| Open Access
Long-term organic carbon preservation enhanced by iron and manganese
Catalysis of simple organic carbon molecules into complex macromolecules by Fe and Mn may play a fundamental role in organic carbon preservation, to a degree that could substantially affect the Earth’s carbon and oxygen cycles.
- Oliver W. Moore
- , Lisa Curti
- & Caroline L. Peacock
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Where I Work |
Plastic rocks are threatening wildlife on Brazil’s easternmost island — I’m studying how
Geologist Fernanda Avelar Santos finds that fishing gear and packaging are creating a new type of pollution.
- Virginia Gewin
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Article
| Open Access
Increased occurrences of consecutive La Niña events under global warming
Analysis of climate models under future greenhouse-gas forcings shows that the frequency of consecutive La Niña events will increase, driven by ocean–atmosphere feedbacks that slow the heat recharge of the equatorial Pacific.
- Tao Geng
- , Fan Jia
- & Michael J. McPhaden
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is ‘transforming’ because of repeated coral bleaching