Department of Earth Ocean and Atmospheric Science

FSU welcomes Florida congresswoman to campus

Published: February 19, 2020 | 3:06 pm | Posted in: University News

Florida State University welcomed U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor to campus Tuesday to tour the brand-new Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science Building and learn about the breadth of faculty research in the department. “We are so thrilled to welcome you and give you our presentations,” said FSU Professor of Meteorology Vasu Misra, who helped organize the […]

Florida State cuts ribbon on new Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science building

Published: February 12, 2020 | 5:13 pm | Posted in: University News

Florida State University marked the official opening of its state-of-the-art Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science Building and paid tribute to one of the university’s former presidents during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday. “We would not be here today if Dr. Barron did not recognize the need for this facility and make it a priority,” President John […]

FSU marine geologist named Sloan Research Fellow

Published: February 12, 2020 | 11:13 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

For Florida State University Assistant Professor Jeremy Owens, the chemical fingerprints left behind by oxygen in the ancient ocean are the key to better understanding our current and future climate. A fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will give him the opportunity to further investigate the connections between chemical and climatic changes in […]

Rapid weather swings increase flu risk

Published: January 30, 2020 | 9:42 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

New research from a team of Florida State University scientists shows that rapid weather variability as a result of climate change could increase the risk of a flu epidemic in some highly populated regions in the late 21st century. The research was published today in the journal Environmental Research Letters. Zhaohua Wu, an associate professor […]

FSU Research: Despite less ozone pollution, not all plants benefit

Published: January 22, 2020 | 2:33 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

From left, Christopher Holmes, the Werner A. and Shirley B. Baum assistant professor of meteorology in the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science at Florida State University, and Jason Ducker, a postdoctoral researcher. Their research compared levels of atmospheric ozone to the amount of ozone plants took in through pores on their leaves at more than 30 sites over 10 years. They found that environmental factors have more impact on the ozone dose the plants received than the amount of ozone in the atmosphere. (Bruce Palmer / FSU Photography Services)

Breathe easy: Concentrations of ozone in the air have decreased over large parts of the country in the past several decades. But not too easy. Policies and new technologies have reduced emissions of precursor gases that lead to ozone air pollution, but despite those improvements, the amount of ozone that plants are taking in has […]

FSU Research: Strong storms often generate earthquake-like seismic activity

Published: October 15, 2019 | 9:15 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

A Florida State University researcher has uncovered a new geophysical phenomenon where a hurricane or other strong storm can spark seismic events in the nearby ocean as strong as a 3.5 magnitude earthquake. “We’re calling them ‘stormquakes,’” said lead author Wenyuan Fan, an assistant professor of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science. “This involves coupling of […]

Research provides new insight into the critical roles of plankton in marine carbon storage

Published: September 24, 2019 | 9:18 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

The sea is Earth’s most formidable carbon dioxide-storage machine, but mysteries still abound about the interlocking processes of that storage and the myriad organisms involved. Now, thanks to a series of papers published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, researchers at Florida State University are inching toward a clearer understanding of the ocean’s carbon […]

FSU researcher awarded early career fellowship

Published: September 19, 2019 | 2:22 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

A Florida State University faculty member has been awarded a prestigious national fellowship, recognizing early career researchers who demonstrate exceptional leadership and promise for contributions to the fields of offshore energy system safety, community health or environmental stewardship. Mariana Fuentes, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, recently received the Gulf […]

Kīlauea lava fuels phytoplankton bloom off Hawai‘i Island

Published: September 11, 2019 | 2:25 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

When Kīlauea Volcano erupted in 2018, it injected millions of cubic feet of molten lava into the nutrient-poor waters off the Big Island of Hawai‘i. The lava-impacted seawater contained high concentrations of nutrients that stimulated phytoplankton growth, resulting in an extensive plume of microbes that was detectable by satellite. A Florida State University researcher was […]

Deepwater Horizon oil buried in Gulf Coast beaches could take more than 30 years to biodegrade

Published: September 10, 2019 | 1:31 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

Golf ball-size clods of weathered crude oil originating from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon catastrophe could remain buried in sandy Gulf Coast beaches for decades, according to a new study by ecologists at Florida State University. In a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, FSU Professor of Oceanography Markus Huettel and graduate student Ioana Bociu […]

Climate change could bring short-term gain, long-term pain for loggerhead turtles

Published: September 5, 2019 | 9:11 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

An overwhelming scientific consensus affirms that for thousands of species across the globe, climate change is an immediate and existential threat. For the loggerhead turtle, whose vast range extends from the chilly shores of Newfoundland to the blistering beaches of Australia, the story isn’t so cut and dried. New research from conservation biologists at Florida […]

Oxygen depletion in ancient oceans caused major mass extinction

Published: August 30, 2019 | 2:36 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

Late in the prehistoric Silurian Period, around 420 million years ago, a devastating mass extinction event wiped 23 percent of all marine animals from the face of the planet. For years, scientists struggled to connect a mechanism to this mass extinction, one of the 10 most dramatic ever recorded in Earth’s history. Now, researchers from […]