Global increase from melting ice and warming oceans is most significant change since 1800 The rate of sea-level rise in the 20th century along much of the U.S. Atlantic coast was the fastest in 2,000 years, and southern New Jersey had the fastest rates, according to a Rutgers-led study. The global rise in sea level from […]
Marine and Coastal Sciences
Microplastic Sizes in Hudson-Raritan Estuary and Coastal Ocean Revealed
Rutgers scientists for the first time have pinpointed the sizes of microplastics from a highly urbanized estuarine and coastal system with numerous sources of fresh water, including the Hudson River and Raritan River. Their study of tiny pieces of plastic in the Hudson-Raritan Estuary in New Jersey and New York indicates that stormwater could be an important source of the plastic […]
A Conversation with Polar Oceanographer Rebecca Jackson
By John Dos Passos Coggin This article continues Climate.gov’s series of interviews with current and former fellows in the NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Program about the nature of their research funded by NOAA and what career and education highlights preceded and followed it. Over the past 30 years, the Postdoctoral Program, funded by NOAA Climate Program […]
Fishes Contribute Roughly 1.65 Billion Tons of Carbon in Feces and Other Matter Annually
Study estimates fishes contribute about 16 percent of the sinking carbon in upper ocean waters Scientists have little understanding of the role fishes play in the global carbon cycle linked to climate change, but a Rutgers-led study found that carbon in feces, respiration and other excretions from fishes – roughly 1.65 billion tons annually – make up […]
A Look at Climate Change and the IPCC as the U.S. Re-enters the Paris Agreement
Climate change is one of the most serious global problems today. Increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, acidification of the ocean, damaging hurricanes, droughts, wildfires and other extreme events have caused devastating human, environmental and economic damage. In response to escalating climate change concerns, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was created in 1988 by […]
Important Climate Change Mystery Solved by Scientists
Revised Holocene temperature record affirms role of greenhouse gases in recent millennia. Scientists have resolved a key climate change mystery, showing that the annual global temperature today is the warmest of the past 10,000 years – contrary to recent research, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal Nature. The long-standing mystery is called the “Holocene temperature […]
Challenger Glider Mission Receives Award from the G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation
Faculty members Scott Glenn, Oscar Schofield, and Travis Miles with The Rutgers University Center for Ocean Observing Leadership (RUCOOL), were recently awarded a $150,000 gift from the G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation for the continuing support of the global Challenger Glider Mission. The gift will support oceanographic research, capacity building, and education with autonomous underwater gliders […]
2020 Excellence Award Winners
This year we are honoring the recipients of the 27th Excellence Awards for the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station on our website. According to interim executive dean Laura Lawson, these signature awards acknowledge contributions that meet carefully-considered criteria, including creativity, original work and ideas, innovation, effectiveness, integrity, […]
Ocean Algae Get “Coup de Grace” from Viruses
Viruses don’t immediately kill algae but live in harmony with them Scientists have long believed that ocean viruses always quickly kill algae, but Rutgers-led research shows they live in harmony with algae and viruses provide a “coup de grace” only when blooms of algae are already stressed and dying. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, will […]
Rutgers Marine Facility Part of Unique “Songscape” Partnership Supporting Public Land Conservation
Along the southern coast of New Jersey, stationed at the Rutgers University Marine Field Station, Kentucky-native Ben Sollee spent a week perched on the Great Bay’s edge, where the Mullica River empties. As a selected partner with Sustain Music and Nature, the Americana artist and cellist commissioned a ‘songscape’ inspired by Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. Here, by the wooded marshes, […]











