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The article discusses the documentation of the spatial distribution of long-term large-scale trends in temperature, salinity, and core depth over the Antarctic continental shelf and slope. Topics include the role of ice shelf basal melt in Antarctic ice sheet mass loss, circulation of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW), hydrographic properties of the Antarctic Continental Shelf Bottom Water (ASBW) temperature, and factors contributing to warming at the seabed in the Bellingshausen and Amundsen seas.

Anaerobic microbial degradation of hydrocarbons, typically occurring at the oil-water transition zone, influences the quality of oil reservoirs. In Pitch Lake, Trinidad and Tobago--the world's largest asphalt lake--we found that microorganisms are metabolically active in minuscule water droplets (1 to 3 microliters) entrapped in oil. Pyrotag sequencing of individual droplet microbiomes revealed complex methanogenic microbial communities actively degrading the oil into a diverse range of metabolites, as shown by nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. High salinity and water-stable isotopes of the droplets indicate a deep subsurface origin. The 13.5% water content and the large surface area of the droplets represent an underestimated potential for biodegradation of oil away from the oil-water transition zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fundamental thermodynamics and climate models suggest that dry regions will become drier and wet regions will become wetter in response to warming. Efforts to detect this long-term response in sparse surface observations of rainfall and evaporation remain ambiguous. We show that ocean salinity patterns express an identifiable fingerprint of an intensifying water cycle. Our 50-year observed global surface salinity changes, combined with changes from global climate models, present robust evidence of an intensified global water cycle at a rate of 8 ± 5% per degree of surface warming. This rate is double the response projected by current-generation climate models and suggests that a substantial (16 to 24%) intensification of the global water cycle will occur in a future 2° to 3° warmer world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses efforts of Scripps Institution of Oceanography researchers including Tyler Cyronak to develop smartfin, a surfboard fin containing sensors to measure multiple ocean parameters like temperature, salinity, and potential of hydrogen (pH), and a Global Positioning System device.

The article discusses a physiological ecology study by Harvey Lillywhite of the University of Florida in Gainesville investigating whether sea snakes from the coastal waters of Costa Rica will drink fresh water. Topics include how the degree of water salinity limits the geographical distribution of sea snakes, a brief overview of sea snake evolution, and the results of Lillywhite and colleagues' fieldwork that found sea snakes drink fresh water, not salt, when dehydrated.

The article discusses the impact of global warming on the world's oceans. Topics include the effect of global warming on the water cycle, a report within the issue regarding the changing salinity in the world's oceans, and research by U.S. and Australian oceanographers surveying global ocean salinity, via the use of Argo oceanographic buoys, that found a correlation between the intensification of the global water cycle and sea surface temperature.