Department of Earth Ocean and Atmospheric Science

Study: Humans responsible for over 90% of world’s oil slicks

Published: June 16, 2022 | 2:41 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

The Taylor Energy platform, about 10 miles off the coast of Louisiana, was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and started leaking oil immediately. Oil slicks, like this picture from 2013, were commonly seen over the site until a containment system was installed in 2019. (Courtesy of Ian MacDonald)

A team of U.S. and Chinese scientists mapping oil pollution across the Earth’s oceans has found that more than 90% of chronic oil slicks come from human sources, a much higher proportion than previously estimated. Their research, published in Science, is a major update from previous investigations into marine oil pollution, which estimated that about […]

Five questions: FSU sea turtle research informs environmental policies

Published: June 13, 2022 | 12:28 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

June 16 is World Sea Turtle Day, an occasion to consider the role these creatures play in the marine ecosystem. Florida State University Associate Professor Mariana Fuentes researches sea turtles and looks for ways to help turtles and humans coexist. She answered five questions about her work and how science can help inform public policy. […]

World Oceans Day: FSU researcher shares insight into importance of the ocean

Published: June 6, 2022 | 12:19 pm | Posted in: Expert Pitches

The United Nations marks June 8 as World Oceans Day, an opportunity to celebrate the ocean and how it supports life on Earth. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The United Nations marks June 8 as World Oceans Day, an opportunity to celebrate the ocean and how it supports life on Earth. As director of Florida State University’s Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS), Eric Chassignet leads investigations into the physical processes that govern the ocean and its interactions with the atmosphere. He spoke […]

European Geosciences Union names FSU assistant professor Outstanding Early Career Scientist

Published: May 12, 2022 | 9:53 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

Richard Bono, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science.

A Florida State University faculty member has been named a 2022 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist by the European Geosciences Union (EGU). Richard Bono, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, received the award in the EGU’s Earth magnetism and rock physics division. “Richard is a fantastic example of a […]

FSU-led research team receives $9M from National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to improve forecasts of ocean currents

Published: April 4, 2022 | 11:15 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

Florida State University researchers have received nearly $9 million from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Gulf Research Program to improve predictions of water currents in the Gulf of Mexico that impact critical oil and gas infrastructure, fisheries management, and extreme weather events as well as the spread of ocean pollution. The five-year […]

Researchers find low oxygen and sulfide in the oceans played greater role in ancient mass extinction

Published: January 11, 2022 | 11:08 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

Seth Young’s research group collecting and describing limestone samples from a field site in the Roberts Mountains, Nevada. (Anders Lindskog/Florida State University)

Florida State University researchers have new insight into the complicated puzzle of environmental conditions that characterized the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction (LOME), which killed about 85% of the species in the ocean. Their work on the 445-million-year-old mass extinction event was published online in the journal AGU Advances on Monday. “We found that reducing conditions […]

FSU experts available to comment on science behind 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics

Published: October 5, 2021 | 3:15 pm | Posted in: Expert Pitches

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three scientists for their work to understand complex physical systems and applying that knowledge to model the Earth’s climate. Syukuro Manabe of Princeton University, Klaus Hasselmann of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and Giorgio Parisi of Sapienza University of Rome shared the prestigious award. Meteorologists […]

FSU researchers find endangered species remain vulnerable in some marine-protected areas

Published: September 30, 2021 | 10:36 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

Florida State University researchers have found that some marine-protected areas may not work as predicted in safeguarding and conserving endangered species. A team of international researchers found that hawksbill turtles in Brazil are most often searching for food and breeding outside the boundaries of marine-protected areas, which are designated regions of seas, oceans, the Great […]

FSU climate scientist named to Popular Science’s Brilliant 10 list of groundbreaking early career researchers

Published: September 20, 2021 | 12:00 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

A Florida State University researcher has been named to Popular Science’s Brilliant 10 list of early career scientists conducting groundbreaking research in their fields. Allison Wing, an assistant professor of meteorology in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, part of the College of Arts and Sciences, has been named to the list in […]

Wave wash-over poses threat to endangered sea turtle nests and hatchlings

Published: August 23, 2021 | 9:18 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

Waves breaking and hitting the shore are a familiar sight to any beachgoer, but these powerful acts of nature play a big role in whether sea turtle nests thrive in their coastal surroundings. Researchers from the Florida State University Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science have found that powerful ocean waves pose a significant threat to sea turtle nests, […]

FSU researchers refine estimate of amount of carbon in Earth’s outer core

Published: August 19, 2021 | 11:20 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

An image of the interior of the Earth illustrating a simulation by Florida State University and Rice University researchers to investigate the composition of the planet's outer core. Dark circles in the core represent iron and tan circles represent carbon atoms. The paths taken by carbon atoms during the simulation are shown by the tan lines. (Illustration by Suraj Bajgain)

New research from Florida State University and Rice University is providing a better estimate of the amount of carbon in the Earth’s outer core, and the work suggests the core could be the planet’s largest reservoir of that element. The research, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, estimates that 0.3 to 2.0 percent […]

FSU researchers find oxygen spike coincided with ancient global extinction

Published: August 2, 2021 | 12:32 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

Rock samples are purified to test for thallium isotopes at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. (Stephen Bilenky / National High Magnetic Field Laboratory)

Two hundred fifty-two million years ago, much of life on planet Earth was dying. In an event that marked the end of the Permian period, more than 96 percent of the planet’s marine species and 70 percent of its terrestrial life suddenly went extinct. It was the largest extinction in Earth’s history. Now Florida State […]

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