seawater

Colombia's Santa Marta is set to receive drinking water desalinated from seawater, pumped from a plant north of the city and powered by solar energy with battery storage. The announcement comes as the Caribbean coastal city faces the threat of a severe climate-driven drought. Officials say the project could secure potable water supplies, though the exact timeline and scale remain to be detailed.

Researchers have demonstrated a technique that measures seawater temperature and salinity at the same time using Brillouin scattering, an optical method that analyzes how light shifts when it interacts with sound waves in a medium. The approach could offer a new way to monitor ocean conditions, complementing conventional instruments deployed on buoys, floats and research vessels.

News outlets are publishing explainers decoding the hurricane terminology that dominates storm coverage, including spaghetti models, rapid intensification, and storm surge. Spaghetti models refer to multiple forecast tracks plotted together, rapid intensification describes a storm strengthening quickly, and storm surge is the abnormal rise of seawater pushed ashore. The goal is to help the public understand forecasts and prepare for hurricane threats.

Ocean alkalinity enhancement, a proposed carbon removal method that involves adding alkaline substances to seawater to boost the ocean's uptake of carbon dioxide, is being reconsidered. A commentary in Nature argues the approach needs fresh scientific and governance scrutiny before large-scale deployment. The debate touches on its potential to slow climate change against unresolved questions about environmental side effects and regulation.

Researchers report that offshore wind turbine foundations could mix seawater and slightly cool the ocean's surface. The finding adds a new dimension to debates over the environmental effects of large wind farms, suggesting impacts beyond the better-known effects on wildlife, shipping and coastal views.

Scientists are calling for a locally tailored approach to ocean carbon removal, arguing that methods to extract and store carbon dioxide in seawater should be adapted to regional conditions rather than applied as one-size-fits-all solutions. The appeal highlights growing debate over how marine-based climate interventions should be studied, regulated and deployed.

NASA is analyzing nearly 20,000 seawater samples to calibrate and validate the ocean color measurements collected by its Earth-observing satellites. The effort checks that satellite instruments accurately track phytoplankton, chlorophyll and water clarity across the globe, which matters for climate monitoring and marine ecosystem research.

China has developed a plant capable of extracting hydrogen, fresh water and uranium directly from seawater, according to the South China Morning Post. If scaled up, the technology could provide clean fuel, drinking water and nuclear reactor material from the ocean, and observers are weighing both its strategic energy implications and how practical large-scale deployment would be.

The USGS has published a case study examining radon as a tracer for locating seabed mineral deposits. The research explores how measuring radon in seawater could help identify mineral-rich areas of the ocean floor, potentially aiding exploration for resources such as rare earth elements and other valuable metals increasingly sought after for energy technologies.

A 100 kW floating solar platform is operating in open seawater off the coast of Shandong, China, using engineered bamboo tubes as its floatation structure. The Yellow Sea's waves and salt water are serving as a real-world durability test of every joint in the design, which could offer a low-cost, renewable alternative to plastic or metal floats for offshore solar projects.