The eastern tropical Pacific Ocean is known for its large low-oxygen zones that are increasing in size, putting marine life at risk. New research shows that 15 million years ago, the opposite was true. A Michigan State University study found that oxygen-deficient waters were distributed very differently during the mid-Miocene Epoch than they are today. The Pacific Ocean’s oxygen-deficient zones were much smaller, while the Atlantic’s were much larger. Scientists had never documented this reversal before. A computer model helped explain why. By recreating ancient ocean conditions, Associate Professor Dalton Hardisty’steam learned that a channel between North and South America allowed water to move freely between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, reshaping ocean circulation and changing where low-oxygen waters formed.

ASU scientists create the first complete, high-res global map of seagrass and reveal changes over a four-year period. The invaluable data will help us protect these underwater rainforests.

A novel machine‑learning algorithm retrieves remote‑sensing reflectance (R_rs) from Himawari‑8 geostationary data at 10‑minute intervals – an unprecedented frequency for this meteorological satellite.