Embedded Files
This site is under construction 🚧🙂🚧 Message the mods at our Reddit community if you'd like to help. We'd be excited to have it!
Introduction
Introduction
Our oceans run on complicated and intertwined processes and systems. These include processes and events that may be influenced or driven by things that are organic (such as nutrient cycling), chemical, weather, and erosive in nature. Entire species and ecosystems have evolved to rely on and fluctuate with these processes, so when they change suddenly due to human impact such as pollution dumping and climate change, it can cause extinctions and impact entire countries that rely on healthy oceans for survival.
Types & Examples of Oceanic Process Collapse
Types & Examples of Oceanic Process Collapse
Ocean Current Collapse
Ocean Current Collapse
"The North Atlantic Current of the Gulf Stream, along with similar warm air currents, helps keep Ireland and the western coast of Great Britain a few degrees warmer than the east.[36] However, the difference is most dramatic in the western coastal islands of Scotland.[37][failed verification] A noticeable effect of the Gulf Stream and the strong westerly winds on Europe occurs along the Norwegian coast.[12] Northern parts of Norway lie close to the Arctic zone, most of which is covered with ice and snow in winter. However, almost all of Norway's coast remains free of ice and snow throughout the year.[38] The warming effect provided by the Gulf Stream has allowed fairly large settlements to be developed and maintained on the coast of Northern Norway, including Tromsø, the third-largest city north of the Arctic Circle. Weather systems warmed by the Gulf Stream drift into Northern Europe, also warming the climate behind the Scandinavian Mountains." - Wikipedia: Gulf Stream
Seasonal Upwelling Collapse
Seasonal Upwelling Collapse
"The annual phenomenon of upwelling in the Gulf of Panama failed to occur in 2025 for the first time on record. A team of scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) linked the disruption to weakened trade winds."
"Each year during Central America’s dry season (typically December through April), northern trade winds trigger upwelling in the Gulf of Panama. This process brings cold, nutrient-rich waters from deep in the ocean to the surface, sustaining productive fisheries and shielding coral reefs from heat stress. The rising cool waters also keep the Pacific coast of Panama noticeably cooler during the region’s “summer” vacation months."
"STRI researchers have monitored this seasonal cycle for more than four decades, documenting its consistent recurrence between January and April. In 2025, however, the process did not take place, marking the first observed failure. As a result, expected temperature declines and productivity increases were significantly reduced.
In a study published in PNAS, the team concluded that a sharp weakening of wind patterns was the likely driver of this unprecedented event. The results reveal how climate instability can disrupt long-standing oceanic systems that have supported coastal fisheries for millennia. Additional investigation is needed to pinpoint the exact mechanisms and assess the potential long-term impacts on marine resources.
This finding highlights the growing vulnerability of tropical upwelling systems, which, despite their enormous ecological and socioeconomic importance, remain poorly monitored. It also underscores the urgency of strengthening ocean-climate observation and prediction capabilities in the planet’s tropical regions." - Sci Tech Daily: For The First Time in 40 Years Panamas Ocean Lifeline Has Vanished
Solutions
Solutions
Monitoring
Monitoring
Despite their importance - economic and otherwise - these processes aren't particularly well understood or monitored. Right now as they are under threat, it is more important than ever to monitor them for changes and the impact of those changes.
"A new collaboration between STRI and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry will make a research vessel available to researchers, educators and marine policy makers working in the Tropical Eastern Pacific.
STRI is thrilled to announce the arrival of the research vessel, S/Y Eugen Seibold, in Panama. This state-of-the-art vessel is capable of sampling and monitoring water, air, and plankton as well as supporting many other research and education initiatives.
The intention of this new collaboration between STRI and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC), which owns and operates the boat, is to expand collaboration among local, regional, and international researchers; to build regional capacity in marine research, to train marine scientists and to support innovation in Latin America." - Smithsonian: Boat for All
Programs & Resources
Programs & Resources
South America
South America
S/Y Eugen Seibold in Tropical America "is the Max Planck Society for Chemistry's (MPIC) world-class “sustainable” research yacht, offering contamination-free and continuous sampling and analyses of seawater, plankton, and air.
From early 2023, the S/Y Eugen Seibold will be in Latin America. It will dock on the Pacific side of Panama in collaboration with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), from where it will explore the Tropical Eastern Pacific until 2025."
Organizations
Organizations
International
International
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) "was founded with the purpose of increasing and sharing knowledge about the past, present and future of tropical ecosystems and their relevance to human welfare. This work began in Panama in 1910, when the Smithsonian led one of the world’s first major environmental impact studies, which surveyed and catalogued the flora and fauna of the lowland tropical forests that would be flooded with the creation of the Panama Canal. A century later, the Smithsonian in Panama is a standard-setting global platform for groundbreaking research on tropical forests and marine ecosystems and their astounding biodiversity.
Today, STRI employs 40 staff scientists and hosts some 1,400 scientific visitors every year, from undergrads and interns to postdoctoral investigators and tenured research associates. Together, they collaborate on 350 running research projects and publish more than 400 peer reviewed articles in scientific journals every year. The research is not only shared widely around the global scientific community, but also reaches policymakers in Panama and beyond, receives media coverage around the globe, and is the foundation of an outreach and training program that reaches hundreds of teachers and tens of thousands of schoolchildren every year."
v
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse