All articles tagged with #north pacific
A cargo ship carrying 3,000 vehicles, including 800 electric vehicles, caught fire off Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, leading to the crew abandoning ship and being rescued by a nearby vessel; the fire's status remains uncertain, and authorities are working on salvage and safety measures.
A cargo ship carrying 3,000 vehicles, including 800 electric cars, caught fire off Alaska's Aleutian Islands, leading to the rescue of 22 crew members by nearby vessels, with ongoing efforts to control the fire and assess the situation.
A new study using artificial intelligence and thousands of photos of whales taken over a 20-year period found that a mass of warm water, known as "The Blob," contributed to the deaths of thousands of humpback whales in the North Pacific, roughly 20% of the population, between 2012 and 2021. The humpback whale population had recovered from commercial whaling, but the warm water event led to a significant decline, suggesting that the ocean suddenly couldn't support the population due to loss of prey resources. Climate change is considered a major threat to whales, with warming oceans impacting their foraging behavior, reproduction, and migration.
Paleontologists have discovered a new species of toothed whale, Olympicetus thalassodon, which lived 28 million years ago and offers insights into the evolution of modern dolphins. This species, along with two other similar odontocetes found in the same area, belong to the Simocetidae family, which forms part of the early diverging groups of toothed whales. The study, however, leaves questions about their echolocation abilities.
An uncrewed sailing ship mapping the North Pacific has discovered a strange underwater mountain off the coast of California that looks like a Bundt cake. The 3,200-foot-tall formation is an underwater mountain with steep sides rising from the seafloor and the remnant of an extinct volcano. The discovery expands the range of seamounts, which are crucial habitats for marine life. The tall doughnut shape may be the result of intense and rapid volcanic activity or a pileup of marine detritus. Whether it will officially qualify as a seamount will be up to the committee that names underwater features.