PMEL in the News
500 'Champagne' Methane Seeps Discovered Off Pacific Coast
About 500 new streams of shimmering methane bubbles have been discovered off the Pacific Northwest coast. The discovery, which took place in June, will be a major topic for discussion at the 2016 National Ocean Exploration Forum, a congressionally mandated meeting about ocean exploration priorities that is taking place in New York and New Jersey on Oct. 20 and 21.
Hundreds of deep-sea vents found spewing methane off US coast
Methane is gushing forth from hundreds of newly-discovered deep-sea vents all along the US’s western seaboard. “It appears that the entire coast off Washington, Oregon and California is a giant methane seep,” says Robert Ballard, founder and director of the Ocean Exploration Trust in Connecticut. In all, 500 new seeps were discovered by submersibles operated from the trust’s ship, Nautilus (see video below). The discovery will be presented this week in New York at the National Ocean Exploration Forum.
There's an Enormous Natural Gas Seep Along the West Coast
From British Columbia to Northern California, planet Earth’s got a case of the toots. A recent deep ocean mapping survey has learned that a geologically-active strip of seafloor called the Cascadia Subduction Zone is bubbling methane like mad. It could be one of the most active methane seeps on the planet.
How much heat does the ocean trap? A robot aims to find out
A fleet of robots, trolling the oceans and measuring their heat content, has revolutionized scientists' ability to study how climate change is affecting the seas. Now the aquatic machines called Argo floats are going into the deepest ocean abyss.
Surprise! La Nina might be back after all
Buried in the news late last week amid the feverish coverage of Saturday's upcoming Disappointment Day Storm was word from NOAA that La Nina might be back. Their Climate Prediction Center reissued a La Nina Watch on Thursday, just a month after killing it off.