L-R: Frances Wood (UKRI), and collaborators Bruce Greive (U Manchester), Siobain Duffy (Rutgers), Linda Hanley-Bowdoin (North Carolina State U), Hujun Yin (U Manchester), Jose Trino Ascencio-Ibáñez (NCSU), Vasthi Alonso-Chavez (Rothamsted Research) pictured at the Pioneering UK–US Breakthroughs (PUB) Award event on March 4, 2026. Photo credit: Thomas Pospiech – UKRI North America Thomas.Pospiech@ukri.org

At a reception hosted at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. on March 4, Professor Siobain Duffy and her international research team were recognized with the Pioneering UK–US Breakthroughs (PUB) Award, a distinction honoring seven collaborative teams whose work is addressing some of the world’s most urgent challenges.

Presented by His Majesty’s Ambassador to the United States, Sir Christian Turner, and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) International Director Frances Wood, the award highlights the global impact of cross-border scientific partnerships. Duffy, professor and chair of the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, was part of one of the seven selected teams, recognized for pioneering a transformative technology to detect crop vi

Duffy serves as principal investigator on the NSF-BBSRC-funded project, “US-UK Collab: Resurrecting a role for roguing: Presymptomatic detection with multispectral imaging to quantify and control the transmission of cassava brown streak disease.” The research introduces a novel multispectral imaging device capable of detecting viral infections in crops earlier, faster, and more cost-effectively than traditional genetic testing.

Genetic analysis of cassava brown streak disease root necrosis using image analysis and genome-wide association studies. Copyright © 2024 Nandudu, Strock, Ogbonna, Kawuki and Jannink.

“This award reflects the strength of international collaboration in tackling complex global problems,” said Duffy. “By bringing together expertise across disciplines and continents, we are developing tools that can make a real difference for farmers and food systems worldwide.”

At the center of the team’s work is cassava brown streak disease, a devastating viral infection threatening cassava crops across sub-Saharan Africa. Cassava, a staple food for hundreds of millions of people, is also gaining traction globally as a climate-resilient alternative to wheat because it requires less water and can survive in harsher conditions.

The challenge, Duffy explains, is that the disease often goes undetected until it is too late. “The symptoms of the disease are often so subtle on the above-ground parts of the plant that farmers do not know their fields are infected,” she said. “The disease spreads throughout the growing season, and when the roots are harvested, they are full of necrotic lesions.”

To address this, the team has developed a cutting-edge multispectral imaging system that scans cassava leaves using wavelengths beyond the visible spectrum. Combined with machine learning models, the device can identify infected plants before visible symptoms appear—and even earlier than conventional molecular diagnostics.

“Our team has developed a multi-spectral imager that scans cassava leaves with many wavelengths of light,” Duffy explained. “Extensive training has yielded machine learning models that can detect diseased plants earlier than molecular tests, and much earlier than slight symptoms develop.” Early detection enables farmers to remove infected plants before the disease spreads. “If we had a better way to detect which plants were infected earlier in the season, then farmers could ‘rogue’ the diseased plants and prevent further spread of the disease,” she added.

A new device for field-testing crops for Cassava Mosaic and Brown Streak disease. Photo courtesy of UKRI.

The project brings together a highly interdisciplinary team spanning institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, and East Africa, including molecular virologists, evolutionary biologists, engineers and AI specialists, mathematical modelers, and field-based researchers working directly with farming communities. Field testing of the imaging device is currently underway in Tanzania, where the team is evaluating its effectiveness in real-world conditions.

Looking ahead, Duffy notes that if the technology proves successful, the team plans to partner with Tanzania’s clean seed system to ensure that certified cassava planting material is free of the disease.

The broader implications of the research are significant. By enabling earlier detection and containment of plant viruses, the technology has the potential to reduce crop loss, boost yields, and decrease reliance on expensive laboratory diagnostics. In doing so, it supports local livelihoods, strengthens rural economies, and contributes to more resilient global food systems.

“This technology can help safeguard food security,” said Duffy, underscoring its importance for regions where cassava is a dietary and economic cornerstone.

Funded jointly by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council through the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease Program, the project exemplifies how international collaboration can drive innovation with meaningful, far-reaching impact.

Sampling rosette with gray sampling bottles at left, the ship’s rail at lower right, and the face of the ice shelf in the background. Photo: Rob Sherrell

For scientists who study the Southern Ocean, a long-standing silver lining in the gloomy forecast of climate change has been the theory of iron fertilization. As temperatures rise and glaciers in Antarctica melt, ice-trapped iron would feed blooms of microscopic algae, pulling heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow.

There’s just one problem: The theory doesn’t hold water.

In what researchers describe as the most accurate measurement of iron inputs from a glacier in Antarctica, marine scientists from Rutgers University-New Brunswick have discovered that meltwater from an Antarctic ice shelf supplies far less iron to surrounding waters than once thought.

The findings, published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, raise questions about the sources of iron in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica, and could significantly alter how climate change predictions are forecasted and modeled, the researchers said.

“It has been widely assumed that glacial melting underneath ice shelves contributes considerable bioavailable iron to these shelf waters, in a process of natural glacier-driven iron fertilization,” said Rob Sherrell, a professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and the study’s principal investigator. 

Sherrell said the study modifies those assumptions by determining that the amount of iron in meltwater is several times lower than previously thought and that most of that iron comes from a different type of meltwater than is produced by ice shelves melting.

Despite being shrouded in darkness for several months a year, the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean are a highly productive region for growth of phytoplankton – the vital food source for krill, which feeds penguins, seals and whales. As phytoplankton grow, they absorb vast amounts of carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, making the region the world’s largest oceanic sink for the climate-warming gas. 

Previous research into iron sources in the Southern Ocean has primarily been through simulations and computer modeling. Together with researchers from Rutgers and several universities in the United States and the United Kingdom, Sherrell, who also is a professor at the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences, took a different approach. In 2022, they traveled aboard a now-decommissioned U.S. icebreaker, the Nathaniel B. Palmer, to the Dotson Ice Shelf, located in the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica, to collect melting glacial water at the source.  The Amundsen Sea accounts for most of the sea level rise driven by Antarctic melting. 

In the Amundsen Sea, glacial meltwater comes from beneath floating ice shelves – the seaward extensions of glaciers from the continent – and the melting is caused primarily by warm water that flows from the deep ocean into the cavities under the ice.

At the Dotson Ice Shelf, Sherrell and his team identified where seawater enters one such cavity and where it exits after meltwater is added. They collected water samples from entry and exit points.

Back in New Jersey, Sherrell’s colleague Venkatesh Chinni, a postdoctoral scholar and lead author of the study, analyzed the samples for iron content in both its dissolved state and in suspended particles.  Collaborators Jessica Fitzsimmons, a professor and chemical oceanographer, and Janelle Steffen, an assistant research scientist, both at Texas A&M University, measured the isotopic ratios to “fingerprint” and distinguish the sources. Steffen carried out initial isotopic measurements in the laboratory of Tim Conway, an associate professor at the University of South Florida.

Chinni and the team then calculated how much more iron was coming out of the cavity than went in and deduced from the isotopic data the type of melting that was responsible.

The results were surprising, Sherrell said. Total meltwater contributed about 10% of the outflowing dissolved iron, with the majority contributed by inflowing deep water (62%) and another 28% as inputs from shelf sediments.

“Roughly 90% of the dissolved iron coming out of the ice shelf cavity comes from deep waters and sediments outside the cavity, not from meltwater,” Chinni said.

Additionally, iron isotope ratios from the samples suggest that somewhere beneath the glacier is a liquid meltwater layer that lacks dissolved oxygen, a condition that promotes the dissolution of solid iron oxides in the bedrock, seemingly a larger source of iron than ice shelf melting, Chinni said.

Taken together, the findings challenge prevailing assumptions about iron sources in the Southern Ocean in a warming world, though additional research is needed to better understand how the subglacial processes are involved, the team said.

“Our claim in this paper is that the meltwater itself carries very little iron, and that most of the iron that it does carry comes from the grinding up and dissolving of bedrock into the liquid layer between the bedrock and the ice sheet, not from the ice that is driving sea level rise,” Sherrell said. 

For some colleagues, this will be a very surprising realization, he added.

This article first appeared in Rutgers Today.

This illustration shows how greenhouse gas emissions and movement are studied at three scales: local, small regional, and large regional. Local scales focus on individual sites, such as factories as well as “sinks” like carbon dioxide removal projects. Regional scales track multiple nearby sources and sinks, while large scales capture how gases mix across wide areas of the atmosphere. Graphic: Keck Institute for Space Studies/Victor Leshyk

A study published by the W. M. Keck Institute for Space Studies in collaboration with Rutgers University, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology, presents a roadmap for harnessing global-scale trace gas and atmospheric wind observations to improve the monitoring, attribution and mitigation of the greenhouse gases that drive climate change. 

The report, Tracing Greenhouse Gases: A Blueprint for a Joint Meteorology and Atmospheric Composition Program, highlights that the rapidly increasing volume of trace gas observations from satellites, aircraft and surface-based sensors presents an opportunity to improve air quality assessments and surface temperature outlooks. However, the researchers said the true value of these observations depends on the ability to interpret them accurately.  

A critical finding is that improved understanding of the vertical movement of air in the atmosphere is essential for translating trace gas measurements into actionable insights, a challenge that requires close collaboration among scientific communities that have traditionally worked separately. 

“The complexity of air movement and atmospheric composition have fostered two relatively separate research communities,” said Mary Whelan, an associate professor with the Rutgers Department of Environmental Sciences who is one of three lead authors of the study. “We can be more effective by bringing them together in a thoughtful way.” 

The study emerged from a five-day workshop held in early October 2024, titled “Forging Community Consensus for an Integrated GHG and Winds Program.” Hosted by the Keck Institute in Pasadena, Calif., the workshop was led by Whelan, Nick Parazoo of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Paul Wennberg of the California Institute of Technology.  

The effort convened leading experts in surface-air exchange science, which examines how much carbon is emitted and absorbed by the Earth’s surface, along with specialists in meteorology, space-based remote sensing and atmospheric modeling reflecting broad engagement across academia, federal laboratories and research organizations. 

“Bringing together 29 participants from four countries representing 20 organizations, the study exemplifies the mission of the Keck Institute to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, advancing integrated, space-based approaches to greenhouse gas monitoring,” said Harriet Brettle, executive director of the institute. 

Whelan noted the publication marks a step forward in aligning space-based atmospheric science with societal needs for reliable, transparent greenhouse gas monitoring and verification. By proposing an integrated greenhouse gas and winds program, the report lays the groundwork for future mission concepts, shared community platforms and policy-relevant tools that can support climate action worldwide. 

“The integrated greenhouse gas and wind program targeting multiscale carbon management needs would be timely as NASA begins the process for the next Decadal Survey,” Parazoo said. 

The Earth Science Decadal Survey is a report published every ten years by the National Academies. It outlines the most important research priorities in Earth science, especially studies that use satellites and other space-based tools to observe and understand our planet. 

As global demand increases for high-fidelity emissions data, the blueprint positions the research community to help bridge a critical gap between atmospheric measurements, transport modeling and actionable information on emissions and removals. 

“I think one of the interesting things that emerged from the workshop was the idea of a coordinated research program that integrates data across both existing and potential future missions,” Wennberg said. “I am hopeful that the next decadal will be less focused on promoting individual missions and rather addressing key questions.” 

To accelerate progress, researchers behind the study propose closer integration between researchers who study air movement and people who study what that air is made of. The shared goal of this multiinstitution effort is to translate observations into actions that support effective climate mitigation strategies and informed decision-making. 

This article first appeared in Rutgers Today.

The R/V Falkor (too) is a state-of-the-art research vessel operated by the Schmidt Ocean Institute. Photo: Courtesy of the Schmidt Ocean Institute

Long before leaving port, Rutgers oceanographers Joe Gradone and Corday Selden are focused on packing crates of sensors, autonomous underwater gliders and instruments—some “as delicate as a potato chip”—for a mission to probe one of the ocean’s most elusive processes. In August 2026, the pair will lead a 28-day expedition aboard the state-of-the-art R/V Falkor (too), operated by the Schmidt Ocean Institute, to study salt fingering, a small-scale mixing phenomenon that may shape ecosystems and global climate.

Corday Selden (left), an assistant professor, and Joe Gradone (right), an assistant research professor, are in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences in the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. Photo: Courtesy of Rutgers University

Gradone, an assistant research professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences (DMCS), studies the physics that stir the sea. Selden, an assistant professor and biological oceanographer, also in DMCS, investigates how that mixing affects marine life and chemistry. Together, they are bridging microscopic ocean processes with climate-scale consequences. Ocean mixing regulates everything from hurricane intensity to nutrient supply, influencing phytoplankton growth and the biological carbon pump—the mechanism that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The mission, “Surveying Salt Fingering in the Caribbean,” will target the western equatorial North Atlantic, a hotspot for thermohaline staircases—layered waters where warm, salty water overlies cooler, fresher water, triggering vertical exchanges of heat, salt and nutrients. The team will deploy four autonomous gliders, a vertical microstructure profiler to measure turbulence, a CTD rosette to sample discrete water layers and an Imaging FlowCytobot to photograph individual phytoplankton cells.

Researchers will investigate whether salt fingering has intensified as ocean salinity patterns shift and whether the process delivers enough nitrogen to stimulate phytoplankton growth and carbon export. Supported at no cost by the Schmidt Ocean Institute through a highly competitive selection process, the expedition brings together 24 scientists, including students from Rutgers and partner institutions in Barbados, Brazil and Sweden.

As the R/V Falkor (too) departs Trinidad for the equatorial North Atlantic, it will carry more than advanced instruments. It represents a rare opportunity for early-career Rutgers scientists to lead an international effort aimed at understanding how fine-scale ocean mixing can ripple through marine ecosystems and the global climate system.

Read the full article, which first appeared in Rutgers Today.

An Amsterdam albatross, among the world’s rarest seabirds, seen during a Southern Ocean research expedition.

In a groundbreaking study of ancient ocean geochemistry, a Rutgers researcher and a former Rutgers graduate student have found evidence that the end of the latest ice age some 18,000 years ago, a period of rapid planetary warming, coincided with the emergence of salty water that had been trapped in the deep ocean.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, shed new light on how salt levels in the Earth’s deepest waters may influence the amount of carbon dioxide – a principal heat-trapping gas – in the atmosphere. 

“In today’s oceans there are different major water masses, and each has a distinctive salinity,” said Elisabeth Sikes, a professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Studies at Rutgers-New Brunswick. “Researchers have long speculated that deep ocean salinity levels were linked to changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide across ice age cycles. Our paper proves it.” 

Oceans contain vast amounts of carbon dioxide, which absorbs infrared energy and contributes to global warming. Much of this carbon is taken up by marine organisms at the surface during photosynthesis. As these organisms live, die and sink, their remains break down and release the carbon dioxide into the deep waters. The differences in salinity of the deep layers of the ocean help form a barrier between the layers, keeping the gas from returning to the atmosphere.

Warming and cooling are cyclical, and this speeds up and slows down ocean overturning circulation – known as “the global ocean conveyor belt.” During warm periods, like today, the ocean circulates faster, keeping deep water from gathering as much carbon dioxide. When ocean circulation slows and denser water sinks in cool regions, more carbon dioxide is trapped with it. Eventually, the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the deep ocean helps cool the planet, and the cycle repeats.

During the latest ice age, which peaked about 20,000 years ago, the deep ocean stored carbon dioxide more efficiently than today, Sikes said, which helps explain why average temperatures were much lower.

Scientists know that the planet’s warming at the end of the last ice age was marked by a huge release of the carbon dioxide from the deep ocean. But what happened to the salt that supposedly helped lock carbon dioxide away has remained a mystery.

“The exact mechanism, the actual physical explanation for why that happens, is something researchers have been trying to resolve,” said Ryan H. Glaubke, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Arizona and lead author of the study. Research for the study was conducted while Glaubke was a graduate student in Sikes’ lab at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

“This paper supports the idea that it’s the salinity of deep ocean water – the ‘salty blob’ – that keeps carbon dioxide locked away for long periods of time,” Glaubke said. 

Read more on the study in the original article, which appeared on Rutgers Today. 

James Simon, Rutgers Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Biology in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, with students at Rutgers Horticultural Research Farm 2. Photo: Micah Seidel

The Rutgers plant biologist was elected to the 2025 Class of the National Academy of Inventors

When basil crops across the United States began collapsing 15 years ago, farmers were desperate. A mysterious strain of downy mildew began wiping out crops with no treatments, no way to stop the disease from spreading and no basil varieties that were resistant to the destructive plant disease. 

That’s when James Simon, Rutgers Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Biology in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) organized a team that spent more than a decade identifying the pathogen, developing a solution and breeding the first downy-mildew-resistant basil varieties that are now grown worldwide. 

The achievement remains a celebrated agricultural breakthrough. As a result of his cutting-edge plant breeding research on basil and many other food crops and discoveries that impact human health, Simon was elected to the 2025 class of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), one of the highest honors for academic innovators.

Rutgers breeders Jim Simon and Rong Di attend to sweet basil bred at Rutgers Hort Farm III.

Simon is one of 169 U.S. inventors elected to the 2025 Class of Fellows and the 14th Rutgers professor to be named and elected to the prestigious organization. He will be formally inducted during a ceremony in June in Los Angeles.

“NAI fellows are a driving force within the innovation ecosystem, and their contribution across scientific disciplines are shaping the future of the world,” said Paul R. Sandberg, president of the NAI. 

Simon’s goal is to develop new plant varieties, strengthen food systems and identify natural products that can address serious health issues. His research includes breeding culinary herbs and medicinal plants, identifying natural compounds that treat inflammation, stroke risk, diabetes, anxiety, depression, and addiction, and discovering natural insect repellents that includes a catnip-based compound that is safe and effective.

Simon’s team is now breeding nutrient-dense vegetables, that surveys indicate are preferred by Latino, African and South East Asian communities. These types of specialty crops support New Jersey farmer livelihoods while providing culturally desired vegetables for New Jersey residents.

The NAI recognition, Simon said, makes him want to continue innovating. His team is advancing new natural pharmaceuticals, next-generation insect repellents, new generations of Thai and lemon basils, culturally preferred nutrient-rich crops, baby greens with new flavors and aromas, and vegetables that can withstand extreme heat and drought.

The full article first appeared in Rutgers Today.

Allyson Salisbury teaches several tree-related courses that incorporate hands-on activities and getting outside. Photo credit: Roslyn Dvorin.

Allyson Salisbury, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, is the recipient of the 2025 International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Early-Career Scientist Award. This Award of Distinction recognizes an individual who shows exceptional promise, with high potential to become an internationally recognized scientist.

The ISA Awards of Distinction are the highest honors given by ISA based on nominations submitted by members and industry professionals. Recipients were announced at the ISA Annual International Conference, which was held from 19-22 October in Christchurch, New Zealand.

“The Early-Career Scientist Award is designed to recognize those making a difference right from the start,” said ISA CEO and executive director Caitlyn Pollihan. “While success and impact can occur at any point in a career, we want to honor those making an impact early in their journey, which is why we are excited to present this award to Allyson Salisbury.”

As an assistant teaching professor at Rutgers, Salisbury teaches an introductory course called Trees and the Environment, as well as Arboriculture, Silviculture and Urban Forestry. In addition to teaching, she studies how to help trees and other plants thrive in towns and cities.

Before joining the Rutgers faculty, Salisbury worked as a remote researcher for the University of Florida and Temple University. Salisbury completed her master’s and Ph.D. in environmental science at Rutgers-New Brunswick and her bachelor’s degree in Earth and environmental science at Susquehanna University.

She worked as a post-doc at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, and in the Holzapfel Lab at Rutgers-Newark. Additionally, she worked as a graduate mentor in the Douglass Project for Women in Math, Science and Engineering at Rutgers.

ABOUT ISA
The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., U.S., is a nonprofit professional organization dedicated to promoting the importance of arboriculture and educating the public about the significance of trees and the value of their proper care. As part of ISA’s advancing the arboriculture profession, it offers the only internationally recognized certification program in the industry, including ISA Certified Arborist ®. For more information about ISA and Certified Arborists, visit www.isa-arbor.com.

A new study published in the journal, Environmental Research Letters, reports that cooling the planet by injecting sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere—a proposed climate intervention technique—could reduce the nutritional value of the world’s crops.

Scientists at Rutgers University used global climate and crop models to estimate how stratospheric aerosol intervention (SAI), one type of solar geoengineering, would impact the protein level of the world’s four major food crops, maize, rice, wheat and soybeans. The SAI approach, inspired by volcanic eruptions, would involve releasing sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere. This gas would transform into sulfuric acid particles, forming a persistent cloud in the upper atmosphere that reflects a small part of the Sun’s radiation, thereby cooling the Earth.

While these cereal crops are primarily sources of carbohydrates, they also provide a substantial share of dietary protein for large portions of the global population. Model simulations suggested that increased CO₂ concentrations tended to reduce the protein content of all four crops, while increased temperatures tended to increase the protein content of crops. Because SAI would stop temperatures from increasing, the CO₂ effect would not be countered by warming, and protein would decrease relative to a warmer world without SAI.

“SAI would not perfectly counteract the impacts of climate change; it would instead create a novel climate where the relationship between CO₂ and surface temperatures is decoupled. This would likely reduce the protein content of crops, and impact plant ecology in other ways we do not yet fully understand,” said Brendan Clark, a former doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS), and lead author on the study.

Models show that SAI would affect crop protein differently across regions, with the largest declines in nations that are already malnourished and protein deficient. The authors highlight that more field studies and model development are needed to make more informed decisions about SAI.

“Are we willing to live with all these potential impacts to have less global warming? That’s the question we’re trying to ask here,” said Alan Robock, a Distinguished Professor of Climate Science in the Department of Environmental Sciences at SEBS, and a co-author of the study. “We’re trying to quantify each of the potential risks and benefits so we can make informed decisions in the future.”

Brendan Clark is now a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University. Other scientists on the study include Lili Xia, assistant research professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at SEBS, Sam Rabin of NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, Jose Guarin of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Jonas Jägermeyr of Columbia University.

Image by RLS Photo, licensed via Adobe Stock (Education License)

In Antarctica’s frigid waters, tiny shrimp-like creatures called krill are the foundation of the entire ocean food web, feeding everything from penguins to whales. But how do these krill—and the microscopic plants they eat—end up in the right place at the right time? A new study reveals that ocean currents act like invisible highways, concentrating food into specific areas where hungry predators know to look.

Josh Kohut, professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences and SEBS Dean of Research/NJAES Director of Research, is an affiliate of the Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute and co-author on the study. Kohut worked with an international team of researchers to map how tides control where food gathers in Palmer Deep Canyon, Antarctica. Their research was published as a conference proceeding for the OCEANS 2025 Brest Conference in IEEE Xplore.

This region undergoes a unique tidal shift in which some days there are two high tides and other days only one. The authors discovered that the shift from one tidal regime to the other dramatically changes where phytoplankton (microscopic ocean plants) and krill cluster. During periods with two high tides per day, called semi-diurnal tides, ocean currents create strong gathering zones concentrated on one side of the underwater canyon. During periods with just one high tide daily, called diurnal tides, these food hotspots shift to different locations. The team used high-frequency radar to track ocean surface currents, underwater acoustics to detect krill swarms, and optical sensors to map phytoplankton patches.

This research connects directly to climate concerns in Antarctica, one of Earth’s fastest-warming regions. Understanding how food at the base of the food web is concentrated matters because climate change is already disrupting Antarctic ecosystems. However, since tidal patterns themselves won’t change with warming, these predictable food highways may provide crucial stability for Antarctic wildlife even as other environmental conditions shift.

“These findings help us understand where and why penguins and other predators go to certain areas to feed,” said Kohut. “By revealing how and where tides concentrate prey, we can better predict where marine life will gather and make smarter decisions about protecting these critical feeding grounds in our changing climate.”

The practical implications extend beyond wildlife conservation. This approach can be applied in other regions.  For example, fisheries managers could use this knowledge to avoid disrupting important feeding areas for endangered species. Marine protected area planners could identify zones that naturally concentrate food resources, ensuring the most critical habitats receive protection. You can read the full study here:

This article was written with assistance from Artificial Intelligence, was reviewed and edited by Oliver Stringham, and was reviewed by Josh Kohut, a co-author on the study.

Image by Deyan, licensed via Adobe Stock (Education License)

Scientists around the world are studying different ways we might respond to climate change, including controversial approaches called solar radiation modification (SRM), which aims to reflect some of the sun’s energy back to space to cool the Earth. To better understand how these approaches might work, researchers need to run complex computer simulations using climate models, and they need to coordinate their efforts so they can compare results.

In May 2025, nearly 160 scientists gathered in Cape Town, South Africa, for the fifteenth annual workshop of the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP). Among them was Alan Robock, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and affiliate of the Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute, and co-chair of GeoMIP. The meeting brought together both experienced researchers and newcomers to plan standardized experiments that different research teams around the world will run using their climate models.

The authors of the study, published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, describe how the workshop focused on designing experiments for the next major phase of climate model comparisons. These computer simulations will test different scenarios, including injecting reflective particles into the atmosphere at different locations and brightening marine clouds over oceans. By having many research groups run the same experiments, scientists can better understand how reliable their predictions are and how different approaches might affect regions around the world.

This research helps inform public policy about climate responses by providing data on potential risks and benefits of different intervention strategies. The coordinated approach ensures that scientists worldwide—including researchers from developing countries—can participate in understanding these complex climate questions.

“By bringing together diverse perspectives from researchers around the world, we’re ensuring that our climate models can provide the most reliable information possible to help society make informed decisions about how to respond to climate change,” said Robock.

You can read the full study here: https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-25-0191.1

This article was written with assistance from Artificial Intelligence, was reviewed and edited by Oliver Stringham, and was reviewed by Alan Robock, a co-author on the study.