News from MBARI — 2010
This page summarizes recent discoveries, achievements, publications, and events at MBARI. Some of these are documented in news releases or full-length feature stories. Others are simply short news briefs that appeared on the MBARI home page.
To see news items from a specific year, please select a year from the list below:| View MBARI news from: | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
View MBARI research stories and researcher web pages grouped by topic.
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News Release—23 June 2010: Researchers discover source of essential nutrients for mid-ocean algae For almost three decades, oceanographers have been puzzled by the ability of microscopic algae to grow in mid-ocean areas where there is very little nitrate, an essential algal nutrient. In this week's issue of Nature, MBARI chemical oceanographer Ken Johnson, along with coauthors Stephen Riser at the University of Washington and David Karl at the University of Hawaii, show that mid-ocean algae obtain nitrate from deep water, as much as 250 meters below the surface. This finding will help scientists predict how open-ocean ecosystems could respond to global warming. |
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^A researcher prepares to release the Apex float with its integrated ISUS nitrate sensor into the clear, mid-ocean waters northeast of Oahu.
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News Release—28 May 2010: MBARI sends underwater robot to study Deepwater Horizon spill MBARI's Division of Marine Operations, under an agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), sent a high-tech robotic submersible to the oily waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The goal is to collect information about the oil plume from the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig accident for NOAA. |
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^MBARI's water-sampling AUV is lowered into the Gulf of Mexico from NOAA's research Vessel Gordon Gunter.
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News Brief — 25 May 2010: MBARI's 2009 Annual Report highlights past, present, and future MBARI's 2009 Annual Report highlights not only the institution's accomplishments during 2009, but also some of the cutting-edge projects planned or in progress during 2010. The report was released this week and is available online as a PDF file. | |
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News Brief — 28 April 2010: Fascinating new video shows how animals move underwater Deep-sea animals have evolved a variety of ways of moving through the water. Some are graceful. Some are improbable. But all are fascinating. This new video prepared by MBARI's Video Lab staff shows just a few of these approaches to underwater locomotion. | |
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^A feather star swims across the screen in MBARI's latest YouTube video
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News Brief — 16 April 2010: In memory of Steve Fitzwater MBARI Senior Research Technician Steve Fitzwater passed away on April 5, 2010. Steve worked in MBARI's Chemical Sensors Group, developing new instruments and analytical techniques and organizing many important field experiments. He also helped author over 50 peer-reviewed publications during his three decades of marine research. | |
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^MBARI Senior Research Technician Steve Fitzwater
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News Release—23 March 2010: New website tracks jellyfish strandings around the world Suppose you're walking along the beach and you see a jellyfish washed up on the sand. Then you see another and then another. It's a jellyfish invasion! What do you do? Who do you call? If MBARI researcher Steve Haddock has his way, you'll take some photos and maybe a few notes, and send them in to his new Jellywatch web site, to share your discovery with the world. |
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^This photograph of a Portuguese man-of-war was posted on the Jellywatch web site by Otto Oliveira, a contributor from Brazil.
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News Brief — 5 March 2010: Submarine canyons provide mixed blessing for seafloor life With dimensions comparable to the Grand Canyon, it's no surprise that Monterey Canyon harbors a variety of different seafloor habitats. But even on the flat, muddy floor of the canyon, animal communities vary considerably, according to a new paper by marine biologists Craig McClain and James Barry. | |
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^Some of the tiny marine animals that live and feed in the muddy bottom of Monterey Canyon.
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News Brief — 3 March 2010: Undersea mountains exposed in Oceanography magazine. A new, special edition of Oceanography magazine summarizes fascinating new research on seamounts, and includes several articles authored or coauthored by MBARI scientists. | |
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^Sonar image of one of the Taney Seamounts, off the Central California coast.
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News Brief — 12 February 2010: MBARI-documented wreck added to National Register of Historic Places. On February 11, 2010, seventy five years after the dirigible USS Macon crashed into the Pacific Ocean, its crash site was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This underwater wreck was extensively documented using MBARI submersibles. | |
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^This photomontage shows the remains of two of the USS Macon's four Sparrowhawk biplanes.
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News Release—26 January 2010: Understanding human threats to the Earth's largest habitat—the deep sea The majority of deep-sea animals, and perhaps the majority of all animals on Earth, live in the "deep pelagic zone"--the dark waters between the ocean surface and the seafloor. An important research paper by MBARI marine biologist Bruce Robison points out that this seemingly remote habitat is increasingly being affected by human activities. |
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^Deep pelagic animals such as this fangtooth have body shapes and lifestyles that are uniquely adapted to life in the deep sea.
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13 January 2010: Sea spiders and pom-pom anemones Creeping slowly across the deep seafloor on long, spindly legs, giant sea spiders are found in many deep-sea areas. But, as with many deep-sea animals, we know very little about how sea spiders live. A recent paper by MBARI-affiliated researchers shows that sea spiders suck the juices out of deep-sea anemones. The researchers also discovered several locations where both anemones and sea spiders congregate in the dark depths of Monterey Canyon. |
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^A deep-sea pycnogonid hunches over a pom-pom anemone, its proboscis inserted into one the anemone's tentacles.
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