Oceanography

 How many species are there in the ocean? Marine biologist and taxonomist Manuel Caballero Gutierrez joins Oceanography to explore one of the biggest unanswered questions in marine science: how much life have we actually discovered? From deep-sea expeditions and biodiversity surveys to DNA analysis and museum collections, this episode unpacks how scientists identify, classify, and name new ma...

What happens at the deepest points of the ocean? This week on Oceanography, we’re sharing a special feed drop episode from Deep Sea Pod, hosted by Thomas Linley and Alan Jamieson — two scientists many of you may already recognize from previous Oceanography episodes like What Is the Deep Sea Even Like? and Ocean Trenches Explained . In this episode, Professor Alan Jamieson takes listeners on a deep...

Where does climate change stand in 2026? This week on Oceanography , we’re bringing you a special crossover from Green Frequency: a new Earth Radio show from Pine Forest Media exploring environmental science, policy, and the systems shaping our planet. In this episode, climate scientist Dr. Claudio Piani joins a conversation on where we actually stand today: global emissions trends, the future of...

Elephant seals are helping map the Southern Ocean. This week on Oceanography , we’re sharing a special crossover episode from South Pole , another Pine Forest Media series focused on Antarctic science and research. In this episode, Dr. Clive McMahon explains how southern elephant seals are being equipped with ocean sensors to collect real-time data in one of the most remote and extreme environment...

Solar geoengineering is a justice question. As sunlight reflection methods move from theory toward real-world research, who gets to decide what happens next? This episode explores the justice and governance questions surrounding solar geoengineering, also called solar radiation modification or SRM. Hassaan Sipra of the Alliance for Just Deliberation on Solar Geoengineering explains why the risks o...

Shipping pollution changed clouds. What can scientists learn? What happens when cleaner shipping fuel suddenly changes the atmosphere above the ocean? In this episode of Oceanography , meteorologist Dr. Michael Diamond explains how shipping pollution, cloud formation, and climate are connected, and how a major fuel regulation and disrupted global shipping routes created a rare natural experiment f...

Could reflecting sunlight help cool the Earth? Stratospheric aerosol injection, or SAI, is a proposed climate intervention that aims to reduce global temperatures by reflecting a small portion of incoming sunlight. Inspired by volcanic eruptions, this approach is being studied through climate and ecosystem models to better understand its potential effects. This episode explores how SAI could influ...

Can brighter clouds cool Earth? Marine cloud brightening (MCB) is a proposed solar radiation modification strategy that could reflect sunlight, cool ocean regions, and potentially reduce dangerous heat. But can it actually work at scale, and what risks might come with it? In this episode, climate scientist Dr. Jessica Wan explains how MCB works, why researchers are studying sea salt aerosols and m...

We may need to remove carbon from the atmosphere—can the ocean help? Biomass-based marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) explores whether natural ocean processes can help store carbon for the long term. Oceanographer and biogeochemist Dr. Morgan Raven explains how organic carbon moves through marine systems, why low-oxygen environments like deep-sea brines and fjords may enable long-term carbon seq...

What is biocultural coastal conservation — and why does it matter for the future of our oceans? In this episode, conservation scientist Juan Carlos Cruz of the Amazon Conservation Team explains how Indigenous knowledge and Western marine science are being woven together through the Ancestral Tides initiative. Across Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, Colombia, and Suriname, coastal Indigenous and local c...

Ocean trenches are Earth’s deepest habitats—and they’re full of life. This episode is a guided dive into the hadal zone (6,000–11,000 meters), where tectonic plates create steep trenches that plunge toward the mantle. Learn what trenches are geologically , what conditions are like at full ocean depth (cold, pressure, darkness), and why the deep sea isn’t a single ecosystem—each trench is its own w...

What is the deep sea — really? Deep-sea researcher Dr. Thom Linley (Curator of Fishes at Te Papa Tongarewa , National Museum of New Zealand) breaks down the deep ocean as a connected world with distinct zones, ecosystems, and rules — not one mysterious “blob.” From the bathyal and abyssal to the hadal trenches , this conversation maps what’s down there, how life survives crushing pressure and perp...

Ocean oxygen shapes marine life in ways most of us never think about. This episode explores how oxygen enters the ocean (air–sea exchange and photosynthesis), how it circulates through surface waters and the deep sea, and why scientists track changes in oxygen over time. Learn what oxygen minimum zones are, how they form, and what they can mean for midwater ecosystems in the mesopelagic (“twilight...

Making marine biodiversity visible for everyone Marine biodiversity is vast, complex—and mostly out of sight. In this “ocean story hour” episode, a Paris-based science communicator, Anabelle Chaumun, shares how to translate marine research into stories people can actually feel and remember. We explore why misinformation spreads faster than evidence, why ocean issues can feel distant, and how story...

What have we learned about microplastics over the last 20 years? This episode surveys two decades of ocean microplastics science: where microplastics come from (fibers, tires, fragmentation, microbeads), where they’re found (shorelines, water column, sea ice, deep sea), and what research shows about impacts across food webs and ecosystems. It also unpacks major gaps—nanoplastics, fragmentation rat...

Marine heat waves can make summer heat even worse. New climate research shows that unusually warm ocean conditions don’t just damage marine ecosystems — they can also intensify extreme heat on land. In this episode, Mr. Hirotaka Sato, a Japan Meteorological Agency climate scientist explains how marine heat waves form, why the ocean stores most of Earth’s excess heat, and how a 2023 marine heat wav...

How oil research protects ocean health. Understanding oil spills, offshore drilling, and marine pollution starts before any accident happens. In this episode, marine microbial oceanographer Dr. Alice Ortmann explains how scientists collect baseline ocean data to measure ecosystem health in oil and gas regions offshore Newfoundland. The conversation covers what counts as an oil spill, how oil and m...

A legendary research ship’s final sail. For nearly 50 years, the R/V Endeavor served as a floating laboratory for ocean science—supporting 700+ expeditions, training generations of students, and enabling research from CTD/rosette water sampling to seafloor mapping, deep-sea coring, and long-term climate and ecosystem monitoring. In this episode, the ship’s operations manager Brendan Thornton and l...

COP30’s biggest fault lines, explained. In this final installment of our COP30 arc, we zoom out from Belém to map the conference’s defining tensions: ambitious speeches versus stalled outcomes, science-led urgency versus market-led “solutions,” and the growing leadership of the Global South. We unpack why carbon markets remain so contested, what “net zero” really allows, and how China’s energy tra...

The ocean took center stage at COP30. This episode of Oceanography explores how ocean science, policy, and lived experience shaped the climate conversations at COP30 in Belém, Brazil. From marine carbon dioxide removal and blue carbon ecosystem restoration to funding gaps and governance challenges, the episode traces how the ocean is increasingly framed as both a climate solution and a site of urg...

Voices from Belém COP30 brought global climate negotiations to Belém, a city where the Amazon meets the sea. This episode offers a grounded introduction to the conference by centering the people who live there. Activist Catarina Nefertari and artist and event producer Danilo Pontes share what the event meant for their communities, the environmental challenges facing Pará, and how local experiences...

Dive into the ocean’s rainforests and how to save them. This episode explores the science and hope behind seaforestation —the restoration of underwater kelp forests that sustain marine life, capture carbon, and protect our coasts. Joined by Scott Bohachyk of OceanWise and James LaFlamme of the Tseshaht First Nation, Clark uncovers how innovative science and Indigenous stewardship are teaming up to...

  Film sparks action: from screens to shorelines. In this episode of Oceanography , host Clark Marchese talks with Julie Anderson, CEO and co-founder of Plastic Oceans International, about the Trees & Seas Film Festival and its “participatory film activism” model. We explore how curated films connect to on-the-ground efforts in global Blue Communities, turning awareness into cleanups, tre...

Turn seawater into a species map. In this episode of Oceanography , host Clark Marchese talks with OceanOmics director Dr. Michael Bunce about how eDNA (environmental DNA), DNA barcoding, and genomics reveal what’s living in the ocean—from microbes to megafauna—using just a few liters of water. We follow the journey from deck to lab, then into powerful, human-friendly AI dashboards that translate...

Antarctica’s Hidden Carbon Vault — Beneath the icy surface of the Southern Ocean lies a powerful ally in the fight against climate change: Antarctic blue carbon. In this episode of Oceanography , host Clark Marchese speaks with marine ecologist Dr. Narissa Bax about how deep-sea coral gardens, sponge fields, and seafloor ecosystems around Antarctica are quietly locking away carbon for thousands of...