There is more soot in remote Siberia than at the edge of densely populated Europe, even though there are hardly any people there, the first in-depth study of black carbon in the region has found. In Tiksi, a small town in an isolated region of north-eastern Siberia, the levels of black carbon emitted by traffic is at higher levels than in Sweden, according to the two-year study published in the journal PNAS. Before this study, black carbon levels in this part of Russia were a blank spot on the map.

Scientists seeking an oceanic counterpart to the tree rings that document past weather patterns on land have found one in the subtropical waters of Dry Tortugas National Park near the Florida Keys, where long-lived boulder corals contain the chemical signals of past water temperatures. By analyzing coral samples, USGS researchers and their colleagues have found evidence that an important 60- to 85-year-long cycle of ocean warming and cooling has been taking place in the region as far back as the 1730s.

On a recent stormy day, choppy waves crashed into the Scripps pier. Scenes like this are probably what most people picture when they think of waves. But surface waves aren’t the only kind. Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher Peter Franks is interested in waves beneath the surface — internal waves. “These are gigantic waves,” he said. “If you could surf them, you’d surf for days — very, very, very slowly.” Franks studies how phytoplankton interact with internal waves. Phytoplankton are the tiny single-celled organisms that form the crucial base of the ocean’s food chain. Internal waves can play a role in accumulations of plankton such as red tides, which can sometimes be toxic. But Franks said piecing together exactly how that happens isn’t easy.

Coastal ecosystems and aquifers will be greatly affected by climate change, not only from rising temperatures and more volatile weather, including changes in precipitation patterns, but also from sea level rise. In the search for methods to analyze these effects, researchers at NJIT have identified powerful statistical tools that should help coastal scientists both measure and anticipate changes in conditions such as subsurface water temperature and salinity. Results from the study, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, have been published in Scientific Reports, an online affiliate of Nature.

Global sea level rise is unfolding at a stunning pace, and a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) says the U.S. will find itself directly in the crosshairs. Over the coming decades, some parts of the nation’s coastline will be hit harder than others, the study finds. The report — co-authored with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Environmental Protection Agency, the South Florida Water Management District, and scientists from Rutgers and Columbia University — outlined six likely scenarios for sea level rise, ranging in severity from low to extreme, so that communities and the federal government can plan around those likelihoods.

One of the most talked-about consequences of climate change is ocean acidification, which particularly threatens creatures that build shells. But there’s another big problem in the ocean’s chemistry that’s beginning to get out of control: oxygen. Even though they live underwater, fish breathe oxygen just like we do. Their gills pull dissolved oxygen out of the water. But the warmer the ocean’s water gets, the less dissolved oxygen it can hold. It’s basically the underwater equivalent of a human panting in the thin air on a mountaintop.