Oceanography
Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Missions & Hardware, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Tricorders & Sensors

Expedition To The Atacama Trench: Thinking Ahead To Enceladus and Europa

by Keith Cowing

The Atacama in northern Chile is the oldest and driest desert on Earth. While tectonic activity reconfigured the shape and arrangement of land masses over the last 150 million years, […]

Posted inAnalog Studies, Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Offworld Away Team Analog: New Opportunities and Untapped Scientific Potential in Earth’s Abyssal Ocean

by Keith Cowing

The abyssal ocean covers more than half of the Earth’s surface, yet remains understudied and underappreciated. In this Perspectives article, we mark the occasion of the Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin’s […]

Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

New Technologies Revise Our Understanding Of Oxygen Minimum Zones

by Keith Cowing

A new technology detects trace amounts of oxygen in an environment where previously these life-supporting molecules were below the limit of detection.

Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extinction events, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Seafloor Life Devastated Near Explosive Volcanic Eruption In Pacific

by Keith Cowing

A University of Rhode Island oceanographer leading her first research cruise in the southern Pacific uncovered a surprise when her vessel looked below the waters in the Polynesian nation of […]

Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Water World Dynamics: Earth’s Ocean Currents Act As An Expressway To Deeper Depths For Microorganisms

by Keith Cowing

Editor’s note: as we begin to explore ocean worlds – which may be inhabited – we’ll need to understand how currents and other activities within these seas – seas that […]

Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ocean Planet Mapping: On The Way To A Complete Seafloor Map For Our Homeworld

by Keith Cowing

At least twice in the last 20 years, nuclear submarines have collided with previously unknown underwater mountains called seamounts. The reason: they were not on any nautical charts. Just last […]

Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

A Global Atlas Of Subsurface Microbiomes Reveals Phylogenetic Novelty, Large Scale Biodiversity Gradients, And A Marine-terrestrial Divide

by Keith Cowing

Subsurface environments constitute one of Earth’s largest habitats for microbial life, yet differences between surface and subsurface microbiomes and between marine and terrestrial microbiomes remain unclear.

Posted inAI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Analog Studies, Apps - Games, Away Teams & Field Reports, Enceladus, Europa, Exploration Gear & Tech, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Video, Audio, Webcasts, Podcasts, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

FathomVerse Mobile Game Inspires A New Wave Of Ocean Exploration

by Keith Cowing

Editor’s note: What would be interesting to see is an add-on to this cool MBARI app that allows you to imagine biota in the seas of Europa and Enceladus and […]

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