Ocean

Find out everything there is to know about the ocean and stay updated on the latest oceanic news with the comprehensive articles, interactive features and beautiful images of the ocean at LiveScience.com. Learn more about the Earth's oceans as scientists continue to make amazing discoveries about our largest bodies of water.
Latest about Rivers & Oceans

How many oceans are there?
By Kiley Price published
One, four or five? Not all experts agree on the number of oceans on our planet.

More than 5,000 new species found in 'pristine' deep-sea wilderness. But they could soon be wiped out.
By Harry Baker published
A new study cataloged all the species uncovered by research expeditions in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, which has become a potential hotspot for deep-sea mining.

NASA spots sign of El Niño from space: 'If it's a big one, the globe will see record warming'
By Hannah Osborne published
The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite recorded Kelvin waves moving eastward across the Pacific — a phenomenon often considered a precursor to El Niño.

Super salty water leaking from the Indian Ocean may have helped end the last ice age
By Sascha Pare published
A huge drop in sea levels trapped extremely salty water in the Indian Ocean, which then gushed into the Atlantic when currents changed 15,000 years ago.

Significant El Niño event is almost guaranteed this year, experts warn. And it could be a big one.
By Harry Baker published
NOAA researchers have predicted that an ocean-heating event known as El Niño is probably going to arrive in the next few months and persist into 2024.

Mysterious 'sea swirls' off Poland's coast have a surprising explanation
By Harry Baker published
Researchers have discovered that unusual swirling "slicks" that occasionally appear on the Baltic Sea are actually made from floating tree pollen.

'Mind boggling' array of 19,000 undersea volcanoes discovered with high-resolution radar satellites
By Jennifer Nalewicki published
Scientists used high-resolution radar satellites and discovered a ‘mind boggling’ 19,000 volcanoes.

Heat waves are hitting the deep ocean floor, with potentially catastrophic results
By Jennifer Nalewicki published
Heat waves are reaching the bottoms of Earth's oceans, and that could be a big problem for the creatures that live there.
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