Herein, we report the second known specimen of the one-jaw eel, Monognathus jesse, collected in 4200 m of water, between 1748 and 2001 m depth, in the northeastern Pacific. This specimen is the second-largest identified monognathid specimen reported, with a total length of 154 mm unpreserved. A morphological description, comparison to the much smaller holotype and similar species, a micro-computed tomography scan, and mitochondrial sequences are provided. This specimen also represents a 3200 km northeastern range extension for the species, as the holotype was recovered 1050 km southeast of Hawai'i. A phylogeny of cytochrome oxidase-I for this and related eel species recovers Monognathus as the sister to a clade comprising Cyema, Saccopharynx and Eurypharynx, contrasting previous hypotheses.

Abstract The deep ocean is widely viewed as a stable reservoir of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) that is highly resistant to microbial degradation. However, this paradigm may be oversimplified. In a cross‐latitude survey conducted in the northwestern Pacific Ocean (155°E, 28.5°N–41.5°N), bulk DOC concentrations were found to be relatively constant below 1,000 m with little variation across latitude. Despite this stability, compound‐specific analyses revealed unexpectedly high abundance of hydrolyzable amino acids, up to 1.1% of DOC, at depths of 1,000–4,000 m between 30°N and 36°N. This amino acid enrichment, doubling the typical levels observed in other deep‐sea basins and comparable to upper ocean values, reflected episodic inputs of semi‐labile DOC likely derived from actively settling fresh particles. These findings reveal hidden reservoirs of bioavailable DOC in the deep ocean, a feature not captured by bulk analysis, challenging the conventional view of deep‐sea DOC as predominantly refractory and stable.

Abstract Tropical cyclones (TCs) can be considered as Carnot heat engines, where thermodynamic efficiency depends on the sea surface temperature (SST) and TC outflow temperature ( T o ) in the upper atmosphere. This study investigates how TC efficiency in the western North Pacific (WNP) Ocean varies under different El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions: the Eastern Pacific (EP), the Central Pacific (CP), and the Mixed El Niño types, as well as La Niña. We also explore how these changes affect a TC's theoretical upper bound (potential intensity (PI)). Using a reanalysis data set from 1979 to 2024, we find that TC efficiency decreases during La Niña, due to warmer T o , and increases during CP El Niño, where upper‐level cooling dominates. EP and Mixed El Niño show more heterogeneous responses. These efficiency changes contribute to PI variability from −38 to +27%, depending on ENSO type and region.

We all know how bad plastic is for the environment. Plastics can be found almost everywhere, from the highest parts of the world, on Mount Everest, to the lowest, in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. But what makes plastic so bad? Is it the fact that it takes hundreds of years to break down, or is it the pollution made when we manufacture plastic? We can answer this question using a special method called a life cycle assessment, which measures the total effect plastic has on the environment. As you read this article, you will find out what a life cycle assessment is and how we use it to measure the impacts of plastic on our planet.

Equilibrium concepts and the expectation of compensatory density dependence remain fundamental to fisheries science, but stock collapses and an increasing appreciation of environmental factors have raised questions about their real-world applicability. To explore the demographic variability of harvested marine fishes, we have calculated metrics commonly used in conservation biology to describe the demographics for 77 assessed stocks from the North Atlantic and Northeast Pacific Oceans using life-tables. We found that median annual population growth rates ([Formula: see text]) were centered around 1, and surprisingly, they were only slightly higher when the effect of fishing was excluded. For most stocks, as abundance declined, [Formula: see text] tended to increase and become more variable as would be expected from compensatory dynamics. The population growth of several stocks was sustained by a limited number of years with exceptionally high rates. However, the ability of a stock to increase from low abundance appeared largely independent of life history characteristics and exhibited stronger geographical differences among stocks of the same species (notably Atlantic cod). Life history characteristics alone were poor predictors of annual population growth or future recovery potential, whereas regional factors appeared to be more influential. Overall, recovery potential remained relatively high, with simulations indicating that 62 of the stocks would be highly likely to double in size within 20 years in the absence of fishing. Low recovery potential was exclusively observed in stocks with a low median [Formula: see text] and low variability in [Formula: see text]. These results suggest that understanding stock-specific (rather than species-specific) demographic parameters is necessary to promote sustainable management or develop rebuilding plans for collapsed stocks.

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a profound climatic and oceanographic phenomenon arising from the thermal contrast between the western and eastern Pacific Ocean, and has far-reaching influences on ocean heat distribution, monsoonal rainfall and thermal structure of the water column in the Pacific Ocean. The East China Sea (ECS) is a marginal sea in the western Pacific, significantly influenced by the Kuroshio Current (KC), which originates from the West Pacific Warm Pool. The warm and saline water transported by KC determines the surface-to-subsurface oceanographic conditions, including the thermocline structure of the ECS. Downcore variability of the thermocline-sensitive planktic foraminifera over ~400 ka at IODP Site U1429 has been considered to decipher the linkage of ENSO-like processes and the thermocline structure in the ECS. Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) analysis was applied to major thermocline planktic foraminiferal ( Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, Globoconella inflata , and Pulleniatina obliquiloculata ) abundance data to extract three modes representing three distinct palaeoclimate signals. Trend-synchronisation tests were carried out to study the linear/non-linear relationship between obtained SVD modes, KC strength, SST, Salinity, Insolation variability and paleo-ENSO Proxy. SVD Mode 1 corresponds to KC subsurface intrusion, Mode 2 represents KC-induced seasonal upwelling, and Mode 3 is found to be linked with the residual signal of ENSO-like processes in the ECS. This study reveals that stronger KC during interglacial phases (MIS 9, 7, and 5) corresponds to La Niña-like conditions, which deepens the thermocline as indicated by thermocline species P. obliquiloculata . The intensification of La Niña-like conditions in the ECS occurred during the last 150 ka, with no effect of local insolation on the thermocline depths in the ECS.

Tree-ring evidence marks year 2022 as the driest spring season in nearly four centuries in the Western Himalayas.

Abstract Tropical basin interactions have strong impacts on the evolution of sea surface temperature (SST) in the tropics, in which air–sea interactions play an important role. In this study, impacts of interbasin and air–sea interactions on interannual climate modes in the tropical Indian Ocean (IO) and Pacific Ocean (PO) are assessed with a linear inverse model (LIM) framework built based on SST and 10-m zonal wind (u10) anomalies in these basins. When stochastically forced cyclostationary LIM simulations with different interbasin coupling strengths are conducted, the amplitude of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) increases as interbasin interactions become weaker, indicating a delayed negative feedback of the IO on the ENSO. On the other hand, the IO dipole (IOD) variability is reduced as interbasin interactions are weakened, but the IOD exists even when the two basins are completely decoupled, supporting that the IOD is an inherent climate mode in the IO. In addition, the peak of the IOD shifts 2 months earlier when completely decoupled, suggesting that interbasin interactions even affect the seasonality of the IOD. By adjusting the corresponding parts in the linear operators, the influence of air–sea coupling strength is also examined. It is shown that air–sea interactions promote SST variability in both basins, which is expected from the importance of the positive Bjerknes feedback in the tropics. Significance Statement A linear inverse model framework taking account of seasonality is employed in this study to assess impacts of interbasin and air–sea interactions on interannual climate modes in the tropical Indian Ocean (IO) and Pacific Ocean (PO). The present framework is unique in the sense that the coupling strength is adjusted, which is difficult to implement in coupled models that are often used to study those interactions. It is found that the strengthened interbasin interactions not only modulate the seasonality of the sea surface temperature variability but also result in biennial periodicity of the climate modes in the PO and IO.

Bacterial community diversity associated with oil degradation from marine environment.

This study reports the discovery of four new benthic harpacticoids from Korean waters in the Pacific Ocean. The harpacticoids were collected using SCUBA or a grab sampler and sorted using a stereomicroscope for both molecular and morphological analysis. The study employed standard DNA sequencing methods (COI and 18S rRNA) and detailed morphological characterization through microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. As a result, three new species belonging to the family Orthopsyllidae and classified as a new genus were discovered. Although the new genus lacks brush setae on leg 1, a diagnostic feature of Orthopsyllidae, it shares similarities with other orthopsyllids in characters such as the large thorn-like process on the antennule, leg 5, and sexual dimorphism. This finding necessitates an expanded diagnosis of Orthopsyllidae to reflect the characters of the new genus based on the three new species. In addition, a new species belonging to the genus Orthopsyllus was discovered. This study is the first to describe a new species of Orthopsyllus from Korea, where the genus has not been previously reported at the species level. This study provides a key for classifying genera and species within the Orthopsyllidae family.

Abstract A tidal model based on altimeter observations reveals that first‐mode diurnal internal tides (DITs) propagate approximately 2,100 km eastward from the Luzon Strait (LS) into the Pacific Ocean. As they radiate over long distances, the DITs refract equatorward due to the beta effect. In this study, we utilize in situ round‐trip acoustic echo time measurements between the seafloor and the sea surface, obtained from an array of 10 pressure‐recording inverted echo sounders (PIES), to investigate the variability of DITs in the eastern Philippine Sea (EPS). The observations conducted over 1‐year and 1.5‐year periods during 2020–2021 reveal a clear weakening of DIT amplitudes in summer, in contrast to the barotropic diurnal tides, which show maximum spring tide amplitudes at the solstices and minimum amplitudes at the equinoxes. The observed seasonal variation in DIT energy flux shows a significant correlation with the relative vorticity averaged over regions of energetic warm eddies. Ray‐tracing using HYCOM ocean model outputs indicates that the warm eddies in the upstream region of the ray path during summer (July to September) enhance the equatorward refraction of DITs. This study suggests that the superposition of the K 1 and P 1 constituents induces a pronounced semi‐annual cycle in the DITs, even over considerable propagation distances. In addition, warm eddies exert a substantial influence on the DIT propagation path. Our results imply that the pronounced temporal variability of DITs should be considered to improve the parameterization of internal‐wave‐induced ocean mixing in oceanic and climate models.

Tidal and wave driven hydrokinetic power in atolls of an amphidromic region in the Pacific Ocean

Assessment of mercury (Hg) contamination in tropical areas of the Eastern Pacific and Southwestern Atlantic oceans using two species of sea turtles.

The Otsuchi Coastal Research Center (OCRC), a field station belonging to the Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute at the University of Tokyo, was established in 1973 in Otsuchi, a coastal town on the Sanriku coast of Honshu, Japan. Located near a site where warm and cold ocean currents converge, OCRC facilitates research in biology, chemistry, physics and geoscience within a unique marine environment shaped by a complex rocky coastline and river-fed bays. The centre is staffed by resident researchers and technicians, provides research vessels and a dormitory, and supports around 2000 person-days of visiting scientists annually for field observations, aquarium-based experimentation and instrumental analyses. Since 2004, we have pursued biologging studies at OCRC with graduate students and collaborators from Japan and abroad. This research has focused on loggerhead and green turtles, streaked shearwaters, chum salmon and ocean sunfish, producing insights into physiology, behaviour, ecology and environmental science. In 2011, the original research building and dormitory were severely damaged by an earthquake and tsunami, resulting in the loss of field notes, materials and some data. Fortunately, there were no casualties, and a new research building and dormitory were rebuilt on higher ground in 2018. To enhance data preservation, the biologging intelligent platform (BiP) was established to archive biologging datasets with their associated metadata. To better understand how marine animals respond to ongoing environmental changes, continued long-term field research and historical data comparison are essential. With access to diverse ecosystems and robust technical infrastructure, and its collaborative research culture, OCRC is uniquely positioned to potentially meet that demand.

Disparities in bioaccumulation of chlorinated organic pollutants in O. bartramii and seawater from the Northwest Pacific Ocean: Compound - specific mechanisms and health risks.

Across the North Pacific Ocean, the mid-latitude storm track accounts for most of the heat and moisture transport into the Arctic and western North America, considerably influencing regional precipitation and temperature patterns1,2. By the end of this century, the winter North Pacific storm track is projected to shift polewards3-6, with substantial implications for oceanic ecosystems and land-based water availability1,7. Although atmospheric reanalyses suggest a polewards shift of the storm track7-12, the lack of an observed wind record has left it uncertain whether the storm-track shift has occurred in recent decades, and what role climate change plays in determining the storm-track position. Here we derive an observational constraint for mid-latitude storm tracks and show that the winter North Pacific storm track has shifted substantially polewards, emerging from natural variability. A polewards shift of stormtrack-induced heat and moisture flux is also evident over western North America, implying regional impacts on precipitation and temperature patterns. Our analysis further reveals that climate models underestimate the polewards shift of the storm track in recent decades, suggesting that the future human-induced impacts on both the North Pacific ecosystem and western North America might be larger than in current predictions.

Dynamic modeling of the pelagic ecosystem in the western and central Pacific Ocean based on a multispecies size-spectrum model

Response of tropical cyclones to global warming: Super Typhoon Usagi in the Western Pacific Ocean

Spatial richness patterns of large pelagic fishes in the Eastern Pacific Ocean

An archaeomalacological synthesis of people-mollusc engagement across the Coral Sea Cultural Interaction Sphere, Southwestern Pacific Ocean