Pacific Ocean

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If You Misplaced 1.4 Tons of Cocaine, El Salvador Has It

Country has nabbed $1B worth of the drug since 2024

(Newser) - El Salvador's navy hauled in a pricey catch this week: 1.4 tons of cocaine found floating in the Pacific, roughly 1,000 miles southwest of the country's coastline. President Nayib Bukele announced the seizure Tuesday, touting it as a blow against international drug networks, per CBS...

For First Time on Record, Panama's Ocean Fails to Flip

Weakened trade winds disrupt vital cold-water 'upwelling' in Gulf of Panama

(Newser) - For the first time in at least four decades of record keeping, the annual upwelling event in the Gulf of Panama, on Panama's southern coast, was a no-show in 2025. This process, typically driven by northern trade winds each dry season (between December and April), brings cool, nutrient-rich...

'I Repeat, Do You Have Pizza and Beer? Over'

Brothers row 9K miles across the Pacific in record time

(Newser) - Three Scottish brothers set a world record Saturday for completing the fastest unsupported row across the full Pacific Ocean. Jamie, Ewan, and Lachlan Maclean completed the journey in 139 days, arriving in Cairns, Australia. They rowed over 9,000 miles nonstop from Peru, becoming the first team to achieve the...

'Extinct' Gecko Rediscovered After Rat Removal

Turns out the leaf-toed gecko wasn't actually gone from an island in the Galápagos

(Newser) - A species of tiny and secretive geckos long thought lost on one Galápagos island has made a dramatic return, and all it really took was calling someone about the rat problem. NewScientist reports that conservationists rediscovered the elusive leaf-toed gecko on Rábida Island—a small, hilly isle overrun...

Almost 40% of Island Nation's Residents Want Off

Australia sees flood of visa applications from Tuvalu, vulnerable to climate change

(Newser) - Nearly 40% of people living on Tuvalu, the Pacific island nation predicted to be swallowed by rising seas, have applied to move to Australia. The latter country is offering 280 visas for Tuvalu residents. Winners, to be chosen at random between July and January, will get permanent residency in the...

China Sent 2 Aircraft Carriers Into Pacific. That's Notable

Japan monitored drills as warships operated east of Iwo Jima

(Newser) - China has sent two aircraft carriers into the Pacific for joint military drills, signaling a bold new chapter in its naval ambitions. Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani confirmed the exercises began Saturday and said Monday that the carriers were observed launching and recovering jet fighters to the east of...

Carnival Ship Rushes to the Rescue in Remote South Pacific

The Splendor rushed to pick up 4 people, 3 dogs on disabled catamaran near New Caledonia

(Newser) - A cruise ship almost halfway through its eight-day adventure in the South Pacific made a startling discovery on Thursday as it plowed through ocean waters: a disabled catamaran with four people and three dogs on board. USA Today reports that the Carnival Splendor, which had departed from Sydney on Monday,...

This Tiny Island Has a 'Golden Passport' Waiting for You

Pacific isle of Nauru offers citizenship, if you can pay the $105K minimum they'll use to fight climate crisis

(Newser) - Nearly 12,500 people live on the Micronesian island of Nauru, the world's third smallest nation, but thanks to global warming, those folks need to move to higher ground—and they're hoping a new "golden passport" program convincing foreigners to obtain citizenship there will help. Interested parties...

Rower's Trans-Pacific Feat Is Sunk, Just Days From End

Aurimas Mockus, 44, rescued after being stranded by tropical cyclone on his US-to-Australia journey

(Newser) - Since October, when he launched off the shores of California, Aurimas Mockus has been rowing for up to 12 hours a day in his solo quest to cross the Pacific and reach Australia without stopping. Now, that 7,500-mile mission has come to an end, with a frustrating finish for...

The World Has a Burgeoning New Drug Highway
The World Has a Burgeoning
New Drug Highway
longform
Mar 2, 2025 6:30 AM CST

The World Has a Burgeoning New Drug Highway

New Lines reports on how Mexican cartels and New Zealand gangs are using the vast Pacific

(Newser) - Not that long ago, Pacific island nations such as Fiji, Tonga, and Somoa rarely had drugs more potent than marijuana. Today, "they are mired in addiction crises" of cocaine and meth, reports New Lines . The reason is that Mexican cartels have joined with New Zealand gangs to create what...

China's 'Routine' Test Launch Was Anything But

Nation test-fired intercontinental ballistic missile into international waters for first time since 1980

(Newser) - China hasn't test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into international waters in more than four decades—until now. The AP reports that China launched an ICBM with a dummy warhead on Wednesday, and that the missile fell into the Pacific Ocean as it was intended to, according to the nation'...

Final Resting Place of ISS May One Day Be a 'Treasure Trove'

Underwater conditions at remote Point Nemo keep spacecraft relatively well preserved

(Newser) - Even defunct spacecraft need a final resting place. For Russia's Mir space station, as well as hundreds of other spacecraft from the US, Russia, Europe, and Japan, that graveyard is situated around the remote Point Nemo in the South Pacific, east of New Zealand—and it will eventually claim...

Underwater Mountains Serve Up Dozens of New Species

On this expedition in the South Pacific, at least 50 new ones emerged

(Newser) - Over 40 days exploring an 1,800-mile underwater mountain chain extending from Chile to Easter Island, an international team of scientists discovered an entirely unknown species once a day on average. The team led by Erin Easton of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and Javier Sellanes of Chile'...

3 Rescued From Remote Atoll Thanks to Their 'Ingenuity'

Rescue came after US Navy aircraft spotted 'HELP' message spelled out in palm leaves on the beach

(Newser) - In a search area covering more than 100,000 square miles in the remote Pacific, the 31-acre atoll was a needle in a haystack. Still, authorities discovered the three men stranded for days on the uninhabited island thanks to their ingenuity—spelled out in palm fronds. The men in their...

'Worrying' Find Made in Pacific Plastic Research
'Worrying' Find Made in
Pacific Plastic Research
NEW STUDY
Mar 21, 2024 10:30 AM CDT

'Worrying' Find Made in Pacific Plastic Research

Researchers discover high concentration of microplastics in an unexpected area

(Newser) - The plastic problem in the world's oceans is a lot bigger than the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, researchers say. In a study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology , researchers say they used a catamaran to measure plastic waste and microplastics in nine spots in the open ocean...

'Tremendous Wave Energy' Sends 8 to Hospital in California

Rogue wave crashes down on bystanders at Ventura's Pierpont Beach

(Newser) - "It's really exciting," one local said earlier this week of the giant waves that have been slamming into the California coastline of late, attracting gawkers who appear unfazed by the potential danger. A group of bystanders in the southern part of the state got more excitement on...

As They Got to the Seafloor, He 'Knew We Were Making History'

Explorer, retired Navy Capt. Don Walsh, part of first crew to reach deepest part of ocean, is dead at 92

(Newser) - Retired Navy Capt. Don Walsh, an explorer who in 1960 was part of a two-man crew that made the first voyage to the deepest part of the ocean—to the "snuff-colored ooze" at the bottom of the Pacific's Mariana Trench—has died. He was 92. Walsh died Nov....

Octopuses Are Typically Solitary, Yet Thousands Gather Here
Octopus Researchers Crack
Mystery of Meeting Place
NEW STUDY
Aug 24, 2023 11:52 AM CDT

Octopus Researchers Crack Mystery of Meeting Place

Spot off the California coast is a mating and nesting ground

(Newser) - Two miles below the surface of the ocean some 80 miles off central California sits the world's largest known assembly of octopuses. This "octopus garden," featuring thousands of the typically solitary mollusks, stunned researchers who discovered it on the foothills of an inactive underwater volcano in 2018....

California's Waves Are Getting Bigger
In California, 13-Foot
Waves Are a 'Harbinger'
new study
Aug 4, 2023 1:15 PM CDT

In California, 13-Foot Waves Are a 'Harbinger'

Study says giant swells have become more common, with signs pointing to climate change

(Newser) - Waves are getting bigger, and surf at least 13 feet tall is becoming more common off California's coast as the planet warms, according to innovative new research that tracked the increasing height from historical data gathered over the past 90 years. Oceanographer Peter Bromirski at the Scripps Institution of...

Mexico Finds Capsized Boat of Missing US Sailor

Mexican Navy spots Baltimore man Donald Lawson's racing yacht off Acapulco

(Newser) - A sailboat belonging to a Baltimore man who lost contact with family two weeks ago while sailing home from Mexico has reportedly been spotted capsized some 300 miles off the Mexican coast. A Mexican Navy search plane spotted what is believed to be Donald Lawson's 60-foot trimaran racing yacht...

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