Ocean sciences articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    One of the main challenges in the tsunami inundation prediction is related to the real-time computational efforts done under restrictive time constraints. Here the authors show that using machine learning-based model, we can achieve comparable accuracy to the physics-based model with ~99% computational cost reduction.

    • Iyan E. Mulia
    • , Naonori Ueda
    •  & Kenji Satake

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ocean spatial scale analysis has struggled to capture the vast dynamic range at planetary scales. Here the authors employ a method to probe circulation patterns in the World Ocean, thus opening a promising new window for measuring and understanding the ocean’s role in Earth’s climate system.

    • Benjamin A. Storer
    • , Michele Buzzicotti
    •  & Hussein Aluie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study improves on limitations of the most commonly used spin-up approach for ocean-sea ice models. The authors find that, over the last 50 years, atmospheric changes over the Southern Ocean have driven almost all of the global ocean heat uptake.

    • Maurice F. Huguenin
    • , Ryan M. Holmes
    •  & Matthew H. England

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Reproduction in numerous marine organisms is timed to specific moon phases, but the mechanisms for sensing moon phases are incompletely understood. Here the authors report that an ancient, light-sensitive protein L-Cryptochrome in a marine bristle worm can discriminate between sun- and moonlight, enabling the animals to properly decode moon phases.

    • Birgit Poehn
    • , Shruthi Krishnan
    •  & Kristin Tessmar-Raible

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Our understanding of ancient organic carbon cycling in marine environments is limited. Here the authors developed a method to reconstruct upper ocean organic carbon chemistry in the geological past, which when applied, can help to create a better understanding of the evolution of the carbon cycle.

    • Babette A. A. Hoogakker
    • , Caroline Anderson
    •  & Victoria L. Peck

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Compound extreme events in two or more oceanic ecosystem stressors are increasingly considered as a major concern for marine life. Here the authors present a first global analysis on compound marine heatwave and ocean acidity extreme events, identifying hotspots, drivers, and projecting future changes.

    • Friedrich A. Burger
    • , Jens Terhaar
    •  & Thomas L. Frölicher

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fluids released from progressive breakdown of minerals at increasing pressure within a mélange may explain the trace element systematics and stable thallium isotope data of the Kamchatka arc lavas from volcanic front to back arc.

    • Yunchao Shu
    • , Sune G. Nielsen
    •  & Maureen Auro

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ocean CO2 uptake at mid-latitudes counteracts CO2 release in the tropics, but we know little about the effects of marine heatwaves that modulate this process. Here, the authors use joint analysis of satellite measurements, in situ observation, reconstructions derived from machine learning algorithms, numerical model of the global ocean, and find that areas where PMHWs most frequently occur coincide with the regions that are the most critical for the oceanic carbon cycle.

    • Alexandre Mignot
    • , Karina von Schuckmann
    •  & Tristan Amm

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanism driving past Laurentide Ice-Sheet instabilities remains elusive Here, the authors present a sediment record from the subpolar western North Atlantic and show that massive warming of the upper interior ocean was the likely trigger for repeated collapses of the Laurentide Ice-Sheet and iceberg discharge into the North Atlantic, known as Heinrich Events.

    • Lars Max
    • , Dirk Nürnberg
    •  & Stefan Mulitza

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Climate model simulations show that for 1970-2017 externally-forced sea surface temperature increases in the Gulf Stream explain up to 56% of the sea-ice decline in the Barents-Kara Sea during winter via poleward oceanic heat transport.

    • Yoko Yamagami
    • , Masahiro Watanabe
    •  & Jun Ono

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dissolved carbon concentrations in the ocean interior are computed by a deep-learning model using ocean surface data. In the Southern Ocean, they decreased in the 1990s-2000s and increased since 2010, reducing anthropogenic carbon uptake potential.

    • Varvara E. Zemskova
    • , Tai-Long He
    •  & Nicolas Grisouard

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using CRISPR-Cas9 mediated-knockout and overexpression analyses, this study shows that a trypsin in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum promotes phosphorus uptake and inhibits nitrogen uptake but its expression is downregulated under nitrogen stress and upregulated under phosphorus stress. Together, the findings suggest this trypsin is a coordinate regulator of nutrient homeostasis.

    • Yanchun You
    • , Xueqiong Sun
    •  & Senjie Lin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Over the past half century, both the Indian Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean exhibit strong warming trends like a global mean surface temperature. In this study, the authors show that not only an increase of greenhouse gases, but also atmospheric teleconnections boost the observed warming trends.

    • Young-Min Yang
    • , Jae-Heung Park
    •  & Bin Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The causes of long-lasting behaviors of multi-year El Niño are still not fully understood. Here, the authors find that persistent two-way teleconnections between the North Pacific Oscillation and the tropical Pacific constitute a key source of multi-year El Niño.

    • Ruiqiang Ding
    • , Yu‐Heng Tseng
    •  & Feifei Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using cold-water corals, this work identifies a deep outflow of Pacific waters via the Tasman Sea during the last ice age, thus highlighting the role of this area for the interoceanic exchange of water masses on climatic time scales.

    • Torben Struve
    • , David J. Wilson
    •  & Tina van de Flierdt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Powerful avalanches were recorded for the first time in an underwater canyon that lies 100 s of km from land. This challenges a long-held view and indicates > 1000 similar canyons worldwide actively pump sediment and pollutants into the deep-sea.

    • M. S. Heijnen
    • , F. Mienis
    •  & M. A. Clare

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Dense water production in the seas around Antarctica is a key process for century-scale carbon storage, slowing global warming. Results from an advanced new model reveal the prospect of system changes that may greatly reduce the efficiency of this carbon storage by the end of this century.

    • Michael P. Meredith

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Weddell Sea dense water formation facilitates carbon sequestration on centennial time scales. The authors show that for a high-emission scenario, carbon sequestration is reduced by 2100 due to water-mass property changes on the continental shelf.

    • Cara Nissen
    • , Ralph Timmermann
    •  & Judith Hauck

  • Article
    | Open Access

    From modern seasonal to the deep time, global data show that continental hydrology has a direct and consistent effect on river and marine Li isotope compositions, highlighting a crucial role of climate on Earth’s weathering and the carbon cycle.

    • Fei Zhang
    • , Mathieu Dellinger
    •  & Zhangdong Jin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plastic pollution in seas is widespread, but some areas lack the high concentrations of plastic debris. Here the authors identified places where large amounts of plastic debris pass in the Mediterranean Sea thus helping to study plastic dispersion in regions where plastic debris does not accumulate, and a tool for mitigation strategies.

    • Alberto Baudena
    • , Enrico Ser-Giacomi
    •  & Maria Luiza Pedrotti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Advances in climate prediction mean that the state of the ocean and the drivers of shifts can be skilfully forecast up to a decade ahead. This study applies decadal-scale climate predictions to forecast shifts in the habitat and distribution of marine fish species, providing information relevant to stakeholders and a tool to foresee and adapt to the challenges of a changing climate.

    • Mark R. Payne
    • , Gokhan Danabasoglu
    •  & Stephen G. Yeager

  • Article
    | Open Access

    New experiments suggest that the Petermann Ice Shelf in northwest Greenland is unlikely to recover once a breakup occurs in the future. If this is not unique to this ice shelf, continued ocean warming may lead to high discharge from polar ice sheets.

    • Henning Åkesson
    • , Mathieu Morlighem
    •  & Martin Jakobsson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study uses multispecies modelling to show that the management of a coral predator, the crown-of-thorns starfish, could help corals recover following bleaching events. They show that management was most effective when heat stress severity for corals was low to moderate, when corals had lower heat sensitivity and when the recruitment rate of starfish was high.

    • Jacob G. D. Rogers
    •  & Éva E. Plagányi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wave breaking mechanisms relevant for modelling of ocean-atmosphere interaction and rogue waves, remain computationally challenging. The authors propose a machine learning framework for prediction of breaking and its effects on wave evolution that can be applied for forecasting of real world sea states.

    • D. Eeltink
    • , H. Branger
    •  & T. P. Sapsis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Marginal seas are surrounded by continents and respond quickly to climate change effects. Here the authors show that the rotating circulation is structured by energetic hotspots with large vorticity identifiable by the Stokes' Theorem.

    • Jianping Gan
    • , Hiusuet Kung
    •  & Junlu Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Arctic sea ice extent continues to decline at an unprecedented rate that climate projection models commonly underestimate. In this study, authors reveal a positive feedback between ocean-ice heat fluxes, sea ice cover, and upper-ocean vortices that is missing in coarse-resolution climate models.

    • Georgy E. Manucharyan
    •  & Andrew F. Thompson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    By tracing northward flowing Atlantic water, here the authors show that before this water leaves the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre and continues northwards, most of it circulates around the gyre while becoming denser through mixing.

    • Sara Berglund
    • , Kristofer Döös
    •  & Trevor J. McDougall

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The El Niño - Southern Oscillation can have global impacts, therefore assessing its future occurrence is needed. Here, the authors project that El Niño will grow at a faster rate, persist longer over the eastern and far eastern Pacific, and have stronger and distinct remote impacts in the 21st Century

    • Hosmay Lopez
    • , Sang-Ki Lee
    •  & Sang-Wook Yeh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Taking action to reduce risks of labor abuse and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the fishing sector is hindered by a lack of spatially explicit data and an understanding of different drivers of risks. Here the authors combine expert assessments with satellite information to map and quantify risks of labor abuse and IUU fishing at port, at sea and associated with transshipment globally.

    • Elizabeth R. Selig
    • , Shinnosuke Nakayama
    •  & Jessica L. Decker Sparks

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fram Strait is the major gateway connecting the Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic Ocean, where nearly 90% of the sea ice export from the Arctic Ocean takes place. Here, the authors show that in 2018, ice export showed an unprecedented decline since at least the 1990s, attributed to ongoing Arctic-wide ice thinning and regional-scale atmospheric anomalies.

    • Hiroshi Sumata
    • , Laura de Steur
    •  & Olga Pavlova

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Finding coral reefs resilient to climate warming is challenging. This study combines Great Barrier Reef remote sensing with breeding experiments that estimate coral survival under exposure to high temperatures to develop forecasting models that locate reefs with increased heat tolerance. These reefs represent targets for protection and potential sources of corals for reef restoration.

    • K. M. Quigley
    •  & M. J. H. van Oppen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here the authors show that reverse weathering reactions, such as the formation of glauconite minerals, are first-order controls on element sequestration in shallow marine sediments throughout Earth history, in particular during greenhouse periods with sea level highstand.

    • Andre Baldermann
    • , Santanu Banerjee
    •  & Thomas Zack

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The V-shaped Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the world’s oceans. Using 586 prokaryotic metagenome-assembled genomes and metatranscriptomic data, this study explores metabolic capabilities and activities of microorganisms involved in elemental cycling in hadal sediments, and reveals the different distribution of processes between its bottom-axis and slope.

    • Ying-Li Zhou
    • , Paraskevi Mara
    •  & Yong Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wildfires are expected to increase in frequency and severity. Here the authors use geochemical paleo-reconstructions to show that over decadal timescales in Earth history wildfires are positively correlated with phytoplankton production off the coast of Australia.

    • Dongyan Liu
    • , Chongran Zhou
    •  & Yan Du

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Marine microbes govern ocean productivity and biogeochemistry, regulating global climate. Here the authors describe the sophisticated feeding strategy of a mixotrophic dinoflagellate and show how its behaviour impacts the vertical flux of carbon.

    • Michaela E. Larsson
    • , Anna R. Bramucci
    •  & Martina A. Doblin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The ability of the ocean’s biota to sequester carbon is thought to be negatively affected by climate change. Here the authors use time-series data in the Sargasso Sea to show that biotic processes can buffer against these negative impacts.

    • Michael W. Lomas
    • , Nicholas R. Bates
    •  & Tatsuro Tanioka

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The intrusion of relatively warm water is causing the recent rapid thinning of the Dotson ice shelf, West Antarctica. Here, the authors analyzed two-years of mooring data from the Dotson ice shelf front and found that seasonal variability of the ocean circulation and ocean surface stress are the main causes of variability in heat transport.

    • H. W. Yang
    • , T.-W. Kim
    •  & Y.-K. Cho

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Results from a new model suggest that a deep-sea, carbonate version of galvanization, in which aragonite sacrifies itself to protect the underlying calcite, could explain the predominance of calcite over aragonite in the sediment record.

    • Olivier Sulpis
    • , Priyanka Agrawal
    •  & Jack J. Middelburg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sea-level rise is a significant indicator of climate changes and it is important to identify the time of emergence of modern rates of sea-level rise. Here the authors estimate that global sea-level rise emerged by 1863 and find spatial variability of emergence at sites within the North Atlantic.

    • Jennifer S. Walker
    • , Robert E. Kopp
    •  & Benjamin P. Horton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nitrogen depletion in the ocean provides a favourable niche for nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria, which can form symbioses with eukaryotic algae. This study reports the discovery of two distinct marine pennate diatom–diazotroph symbioses, which had previously only been observed in freshwater environments and represent an overlooked but widespread source of bioavailable nitrogen in marine habitats.

    • Christopher R. Schvarcz
    • , Samuel T. Wilson
    •  & Grieg F. Steward

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The taxonomic and functional diversity of marine microbial communities are shaped by both environmental and biotic factors. Here, the authors investigate the functional biogeography of epipelagic prokaryotic communities along a 13,000-km transect in the Southern and Atlantic Oceans, showing finely tuned genetic adaptations to regional conditions.

    • Leon Dlugosch
    • , Anja Poehlein
    •  & Meinhard Simon

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