Ocean
Find out everything there is to know about the ocean and stay updated on the latest oceanic news with the comprehensive articles, interactive features and beautiful images of the ocean at LiveScience.com. Learn more about the Earth's oceans as scientists continue to make amazing discoveries about our largest bodies of water.
Latest about Rivers & Oceans
Deep tidal channels cut between 'pirate hotspot' islands in the Bahamas
By Harry Baker published
Earth from space This 2015 photo from the International Space Station showcases the deep tidal channels that cut through a line of cays in the Bahamas. Astronauts say it is "one of the most recognizable points on the planet."
Scientists are 'gobsmacked' by strange reversals in deep-ocean currents
By Andrew Chapman, Eos.org published
The speed and direction of deep currents off Mozambique’s coast are more subject to change than scientists expected.
Nazaré: The big-wave surfer's paradise born out of the largest underwater canyon in Europe
By Sascha Pare published
Every year, record-seeking surfers and spectators descend on the small Portuguese town of Nazaré for the "big wave" season, when water can surge up to 100 feet (30 meters) tall.
Ocean Photographer of the Year 2024: See stunning photos of hungry whale, surfing seagull, freaky fish babies, land-loving eel and adorable toxic octopus
By Harry Baker published
Check out some of the best photos from 2024's Ocean Photographer of the Year competition.
Gulf Stream collapse would throw tropical monsoons into chaos for at least 100 years, study finds
By Sascha Pare published
If Atlantic Ocean currents collapse due to melting ice sheets, researchers predict there will be huge shifts in tropical monsoon systems — and the effects could be irreversible for at least 100 years.
White Shark Café: The mysterious meeting spot for great whites in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
By Sascha Pare published
Every winter and spring, great white sharks that usually dwell off the coast of California gather in a remote section of ocean the size of Colorado — and scientists are slowly piecing together why.
Silver is being buried beneath the sea, and it's all because of climate change, study finds
By Sascha Pare published
For the first time, researchers have linked the amount of silver being buried in marine sediments to human-made climate change.
Giant underwater avalanche decimated Atlantic seafloor 60,000 years ago, 1st-of-its-kind map reveals
By Sascha Pare published
Researchers have mapped the path of a giant submarine avalanche that tore through the Agadir Canyon — a deep trench in the Atlantic seafloor off the coast of Morocco — 60,000 years ago.
Massive landslide dams Canadian river, trapping endangered fish on the wrong side
By Harry Baker published
Earth from space A recent landslide along the banks of a river in British Columbia completely dammed the waterway, leading to evacuation warnings and potentially dooming an endangered fish population trapped on the wrong side of the debris.
Picturesque plankton paint peculiar patterns in Patagonia
By Harry Baker published
Earth from space This 2014 satellite photo shows a gigantic, multicolor phytoplankton bloom swirling off the coast of Argentina. More recent research has shown that similarly massive algal outbreaks may become less likely in the future thanks to climate change.
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