Scientists are putting seals to work to gather ocean current data

A collaborative coastal network of signaling devices called StationKeepers is enabling ship operators to receive real-time whale location alerts directly on their navigation screens, resulting in significantly reduced collisions and greater protection for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

In the South Indian coast, erosion is leading to disappearing beaches. A study found that this erosion was in part due to man-made structures like a harbor that was built in the late 80s, groynes, and seawalls. These structures were interfering with the natural movement of sand. To fix it, they needed a structure that could block waves but also allow sand movement, the solution? An artificial reef. It was installed and some beaches are already seeing the results.

Hywind Scotland is the world's first commercial wind farm using floating wind turbines to generate power for about 36,000 homes a year. This approach — which is being seriously looked at by several countries seeking to reduce their carbon emissions and oil-and-gas companies wanting to expand into renewable energy — allows wind farms to work in deeper waters where there is often stronger winds.

Environmental scientists are using modern computing software to correct, orient, and analyze satellite images from the Corona spy project, launched in the 1960s and ’70s to monitor the Soviet military. The images have revealed human environmental impacts, challenged long-held assumptions, and helped predict future challenges. Within the last two years alone, the images have contributed to new information about climate change including rock glacier movements in Central Asia, shoreline changes in Saudi Arabia, and ice loss in Peru, helping scientists fill in knowledge gaps.

A new submersible machine produced by the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida allows scientists to more effectively spot phytoplankton blooms which can cause red tide. This harmful algal bloom event can wreak havoc on ecosystems and the Programmable Hyperspectral Seawater Scanner is an improvement on an older model. While the maintenance cost can be high, scientists hope the instrument will be able to detect harmful algal blooms early in order to prevent outbreaks.

The research group, Beneath the Waves, is cultivating cross-sector collaborations with nonprofits, scientists, and individual philanthropists in order to better study the movements and patterns of sharks in the Bahamas. What has typically been a challenging task has been made possible through the use of acoustic tags, which can provide researchers insight into ocean ecosystems and thus conservation. Such initiatives are part of a larger trend of bringing together private donors, nonprofits, and ocean scientists to bolster marine science and conservation efforts.

As coral reefs around the world are threatened by warming waters, mini-satellites are collecting images each day from space that put together a more comprehensive picture of the problems. This saves scientists time, energy, and money, and it means resources can be better targeted to the reefs that need the most help.

Researchers are using satellite imagery and data to create the first global, high-resolution map of all coral reefs. The project, known as the Allen Coral Atlas, will help provide a baseline for scientists to monitor bleaching events and other short-term changes, which could lead to devastating changes.

Traditionally, whales have been studied through research vessels, which are hard to maneuver, and costly to make. However, drones with the ability to capture a whale’s snot, are providing a much easier, and cheaper alternative to whale research.

In an effort to collect data about the environmental health of high traffic destinations, researchers are examining the text and images of geotagged social media posts. Tweets about the Great Barrier Reef were analyzed for relevant information about specifically where people visited, common activities, and common complaints. While people passively provided data by geotagging posts, researchers are also proposing creating hashtags that allow for people to actively communicate data to researchers through social media posts.