The TerraMar Project

In October 2015 Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau overwhelmingly won the Canadian election for Prime Minister. In advance of the election, Premier Taptuna of the Arctic territory Nunavut wrote an open letter to the candidates. In it, he asked each to outline their vision for the future of the Arctic. The indigenous people of Canada have long endured unresolved discussions about issues such as environmental sustainability, economic and educational opportunity, access to technology and basic services, and more. Taptuna’s letter may have helped shape an election, further a debate, and generate a response toward a more sustainable Arctic. 

In a rare sighting, two 15-year-old kids recently caught an adorable seal on photo and video while exploring a barrier island in Hampstead, North Carolina — 1,000 miles south of where such animals are typically found.

On Saturday, Category 5 Cyclone Winston slammed into Fiji with sustained winds estimated at 185 mph, the strongest in the island nation’s recorded history.

The Weather Channel reports the storm killed at least 21 people in Fiji and thousands remain in shelters. The government has declared a month-long state of disaster.

The storm demolished structures all over Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu. The winds were so intense that they completely wiped away the foliage in many areas. Gusts were estimated to be as high as 225 mph near the storm’s eye.

You might expect the middle of the Pacific Ocean to be a pretty quiet place, especially a thousand feet down. But it turns out that huge parts of the ocean are humming.

Scientists have puzzled over the source of the sound for several years. Now, a marine biologist reporting Monday at a meeting of ocean scientists in New Orleans says she thinks her team may have figured it out.

The importance of the world’s oceans cannot be overstated. They supply 50% of the oxygen we breathe, feed billions of people, and provide livelihoods for millions more. They are the great biological pump of global atmospheric and thermal regulation, and the driver of the water and nutrient cycles. And they are among the most powerful tools for mitigating the effects of climate change. In short, the oceans are a critical ally, and we must do everything in our power to safeguard them.

Every few years, caravans of yellow trucks move thousands of tons of sand from the north end of San Francisco’s Ocean Beach to eroded areas at the south end. And almost immediately, the silvery tide begins carrying it back to where it came from.

The sand bucket brigade is a short-term solution to a more pressing problem: 3.5-mile Ocean Beach, which lines the city’s western edge, is suffering the ravages of a warming planet — hammered by winter storms and rising sea levels that are eroding the shoreline.

With more plastic than fish expected in our oceans by 2050, cleaning up this mess seems like an impossible task. But a team of inventors from Sussex, England have developed a novel solution. The SeaVax is a solar- and wind-powered ship that can suck up plastic waste.

The inventors at Bluebird Marine Systems LTD unveiled their proof of concept at the government-funded Innovate UK show in London in November. The inventors are entering prototype phase, the Express reported.

It was the starfish arms walking off on their own that alerted biologist Steven Fradkin that something was terribly wrong at Starfish Point at Olympic National Park.

Next he noticed white lesions pitting the skin of the usually colorful orange, purple and brick-red starfish that are the signature of Olympic tide pools. Worse, the starfish, usually so thick and clinging robustly to their rock, were melting into goo.

Given the opportunity, who wouldn’t jump into a lake packed with millions of jellyfish — if, of course, you knew they could not sting you?

For me, it was a no brainer. I was visiting the Pacific archipelago nation of Palau, writing for The New York Times Magazine about the country’s marine conservation efforts. And during a day off between sea patrols with the Palauan marine police, I saw an opportunity to visit one of the country’s crown jewels: Jellyfish Lake, a roughly 12-acre body of saltwater on an uninhabited islet in Palau’s Rock Islands.

After three years in the making, Odyssea 3D, the first 3D feature documentary directed by Jean-Michel Cousteau, is currently in post-production. The producers are now launching an Indiegogo fundraising campaign to complete the final stages of the film including editing, music, sound effects, narration and final 3D rendering in 4K.

Co-directed by Jean-Michel Cousteau and the Mantello Brothers, and produced by 3D Entertainment Films (OCEANWORLD 3D), the film is slated for worldwide release in 3D and 2D in summer 2016.

One major threat from climate change is the rising global sea level. At the coast, the rising seas will wipe out infrastructure and threaten wildlife. If ocean water moves deeper into landmasses, the salt will contaminate sources required for drinking water and agriculture.

A solid understanding of how quickly the sea level is rising, and the major contributing factors, is critical to developing practical plans to limit the problems and deal with the inevitable. Recently, a team of scientists has dived head-first into this challenge.