August 2024: New research on the ocean-climate nexus, extraordinary deep-sea biodiversity, and 100 ocean-related signs for deaf people.

Here’s our round-up of some of this month’s exciting ocean science news!?

New research raises the alarm on sea-level rise, ocean acidification, and aquatic deoxygenation.

In a new paper in Nature Ecology and Evolution, scientists, among whom experts from UNESCO Ocean and Ocean Decade Global Ocean Oxygen Network, emphasise the threat that deoxygenation presents to aquatic life and human society, and call for freshwater and marine oxygen concentrations to be recognised as a new planetary boundary.

The World Meteorological Organization ’s State of the Climate in the South West Pacific report demonstrates that this region faces a triple ocean crisis: rising sea level, happening faster than the global average, rising ocean temperature, and rising acidification.

A new brief by the United Nations Climate Action Team found that since the start of the 20th century, global-mean sea level has risen faster than over any prior century in at least the last 3,000 years, and the rate of increase is accelerating.?

The Nazca High Seas expedition documents extraordinary deep-sea biodiversity in the Pacific.

Many experts in marine protection and policy believe that the Nazca and Salas y Gómez Ridges in the Pacific off the coast of South America are a top priority for designation as one of the world’s first high-seas marine protected areas.

Recent expeditions supported by Ocean Decade Alliance member Schmidt Ocean Institute in this area have revealed 150 suspected new species and several new seamounts.?To expand on these expeditions’ success and contribute vital data to inform future protections of these high-seas areas, the Nazca High Seas expedition from 8 July to 9 August brought an international team of scientists to map and characterise the area's fascinating biodiversity.?Here are some of the amazing scenes documented during this expedition.

100 new signs aim to deepen the connection of deaf people with the ocean.

The?lack of specific?British Sign Language?signs for many marine species?and concepts?hinders communication, and excludes a significant portion of the population from important environmental discussions. To address this, a team of scientists at 英国爱丁堡大学 is working with partners across Europe to develop 100 new signs that will enable deaf people to get more involved with marine sciences and conservation. ?