Scientists left scrambling amid hurricane season after irreplaceable program is slotted to be shuttered
A critical US atmospheric data collection program will be halted by Monday, giving weather forecasters just days to prepare, according to a public notice sent this week. Scientists that the Guardian spoke with say the change could set hurricane forecasting back “decades”, just as this year’s season ramps up.
In a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) message sent on Wednesday to its scientists, the agency said that “due to recent service changes” the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) will “discontinue ingest, processing and distribution of all DMSP data no later than June 30, 2025”.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
06/28/2025 - 06:00
06/28/2025 - 06:00
Having a child makes you see cities differently. As Britain heats up, we need to look to countries where public spaces work for both children and adults
There’s nothing like a boiling hot summer with an energetic small child to make you acutely aware of the need for outdoor space. We are lucky to have a garden, albeit an overgrown one that isn’t exactly child-friendly, so, like many parents, we mostly rely on public space in order for him to play and get the huge amount of exercise he needs. And, if you are able-bodied, there’s nothing like having a child to make you look at public spaces differently.
Steps instead of ramps. A lack of benches on which to feed a baby, or give a toddler their snack. No shade. No access to toilets or changing tables. Nowhere to fill up a water bottle. No fences or gates dividing pedestrianised space from a busy road, or a deep body of water, or myriad other hazards. These are just some of the things that start to matter. Before your eyes, the urban environment becomes transformed and often inhospitable. Things such as locked playgrounds (I’m looking at you, Camden council – Falkland Place playground has been closed for literally months at this point) have the potential to ruin your morning. In a heatwave, broken splash pads and locked paddling pools (most recent personal disappointments include Brighton and Leamington Spa) feel like acts of particular cruelty.
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist and author. Her Republic of Parenthood book will be published this summer
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06/27/2025 - 23:00
Long-awaited ILC report examines what should happen to vulnerable countries as sea levels rise
States should be able to continue politically even if their land disappears underwater, legal experts have said.
The conclusions come from a long-awaited report by the International Law Commission that examined what existing law means for continued statehood and access to key resources if sea levels continue to rise due to climate breakdown.
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06/20/2025 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 21 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00134-5
Improving detectability of illegal fishing activities across supply chains
World Ocean Explorer Wins Gold Medal Serious Simulation Award from Serious Play Annual International Competition
10/26/2023 - 14:35
For Immediate Release October 19, 2023
Sedgwick, Maine USA World Ocean Explorer, a 3D virtual aquarium and educational simulation, was recently cited for excellence, winning a Gold Medal Award in the 2023 International Serious Play Awards Program.
World Ocean Explorer is an innovative 3D virtual aquarium designed for educational exploration of the world’s oceans. With interactive exhibits and a lobby space, visitors can immerse themselves in realistic marine environments, including a DEEP SEA exhibit funded by Schmidt Ocean Institute, showcasing unprecedented deep-sea discoveries off Australia. Targeted at 3rd graders and beyond, this immersive experience offers a range of perspectives on the ocean environment and can be explored through guided tours or user-controlled interfaces. Visit DEEP SEA at worldoceanexplorer.org/deep-sea-aquarium.html.
Serious Play Conference brings together professionals who are exploring the use of game-based learning, sharing their experience, and working together to shape the future of training and education. For more information on Serious Play Award Program visit seriousplayconf.com/international-serious-play-award-programs.
World Ocean Explorer is a transformative virtual aquarium designed to deepen understanding of the world ocean and amplify connection for young people worldwide. Organized around the principles of Ocean Literacy and the Next Gen Science Standards, World Ocean Explorer brings the wonder and knowledge of ocean species and systems to students in formal and informal classrooms, absolutely free to anyone with a good Internet connection. As an advocate for the ocean through communications, World Ocean Observatory believes there is no better investment in the future of the sustainable ocean than through a new approach to educational engagement that excites, informs, and motivates students to explore the wonders of our marine world and to understand the pervasive connection and implication for our future, inherent in the protection and conservation of all aspects of our ocean world.
World Ocean Explorer presents an astonishing 3-dimensional simulated aquarium visit, organized to reveal the wonders of undersea life, with layers of detailed data and information to augment the emotional connection made to the astonishing beauty and complexity of the dynamic ocean. Within each of the virtual exhibits, students visit exemplary theme-based sites with myriad opportunities to understand the larger perspectives of scientific knowledge as organized and visualized to dramatize the impact and change on ocean life as a result of natural and human-generated events. Through immersion among displays, mixed media and 3D models, the experience of an aquarium visit will be brought into classrooms or home school environments as a free, accessible, always available opportunity for teaching and learning. All of this will be available to a world audience without physical limitation or cost. World Ocean Explorer, a project of the World Ocean Observatory, receives support from the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation, Visual Solutions Lab, the Climate Change Institute, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, and The Fram Museum Oslo. To learn more about the current and future exhibits of World Ocean Explorer, visit worldoceanexplorer.org.
media contact
Trisha Badger, Managing Director, World Ocean Observatory | [email protected] +12077011069
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