News Archive - Scripps Oceanography

Bizarre Bone Worms Emit Acid to Feast on Whale Skeletons

Only within the past 12 years have marine biologists come to learn about the eye-opening characteristics of mystifying sea worms that live and thrive on the bones of whale carcasses.

Unique Chemistry Reveals Eruption of Ancient Materials Once at Earth’s Surface

An international team of researchers, including Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, geochemist James Day, has found new evidence that material contained in oceanic lava flows originated in Earth’s ancient Archean crust.

As CO2 Reaches Symbolic Milestone, Scripps Launches Daily Keeling Curve Update

For the first time in human history, concentrations of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂) could rise above 400 parts per million (ppm) for sustained lengths of time throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere as soon as May 2013.

The Asian Monsoon is Getting Predictable

For much of Asia, the pace of life is tuned to rhythms of monsoons. The summer rainy season is especially important for securing the water and food supplies for more than a billion people. Its variations can mean the difference between drought and flood.

Biological Activity Alters the Ability of Particles from Sea Spray to Seed Clouds

Ocean biology alters the chemical composition of sea spray in ways that influence its ability to form clouds over the ocean. That’s the conclusion of a team of scientists using a new approach to study tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols that can influence climate by absorbing or reflecting sunlight and seeding clouds.

Navy Names New Scripps Research Vessel to Honor Legacy of Space Explorer Sally Ride

U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the nation's newest research vessel will be named R/V Sally Ride, in honor of the former UC San Diego faculty member who was the first American female astronaut and the youngest American to fly in space.

Former Scripps Director, Prominent Physicist, and Key Government Advisor: Edward A. Frieman

Edward A. Frieman, Ph.D., former director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and a prominent national advisor to the government on issues of vital importance to defense, energy, and science policy, died of a respiratory illness at UC San Diego’s Thornton Hospital in La Jolla, Calif., on April 11, 2013.

Scripps Scientists Image Deep Magma beneath Pacific Seafloor Volcano

Since the plate tectonics revolution of the 1960s, scientists have known that new seafloor is created throughout the major ocean basins at linear chains of volcanoes known as mid-ocean ridges. But where exactly does the erupted magma come from?

Predictions of Climate Impacts on Fisheries Can be a Mirage

In the early 1940s, California fishermen hauled in a historic bounty of sardine at a time that set the backdrop for John Steinbeck’s “Cannery Row” novel. But by the end of the decade the nets came up empty and the fishery collapsed. Where did they all go? According to a new study led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, the forces behind the sardine mystery are a dynamic and interconnected moving target.

Scripps Scientists Discover ‘Lubricant’ for Earth’s Tectonic Plates

Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have found a layer of liquefied molten rock in Earth’s mantle that may be acting as a lubricant for the sliding motions of the planet’s massive tectonic plates. The discovery may carry far-reaching implications, from solving basic geological functions of the planet to a better understanding of volcanism and earthquakes.