Harry is a U.K.-based senior staff writer at Live Science. He studied marine biology at the University of Exeter before training to become a journalist. He covers a wide range of topics including space exploration, planetary science, space weather, climate change, animal behavior and paleontology.
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Rivers & OceansWorld's oldest rock art, giant reservoir found beneath the East Coast seafloor, black hole revelations, and a record solar radiation stormMega-iceberg A23a, formerly the world's largest, turns into bright 'blue mush' as it finally dies after 40 years at seaBandera Volcano Ice Cave: The weird lava tube in New Mexico whose temperature is always below freezing A beautiful, pale blue plume of sediment appeared to glow off the southwest coast of Florida after a cold blast of Arctic air was pushed over the eastern U.S. by the polar vortex.Unlock instant access to exclusive member features.Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsSign up for the latest discoveries, groundbreaking research and fascinating breakthroughs that impact you and the wider world direct to your inbox.Feed your curiosity with an exclusive mystery every week, solved with science and delivered direct to your inbox before it's seen anywhere else.Sign up to our free science & technology newsletter for your weekly fix of fascinating articles, quick quizzes, amazing images, and moreSign up to our monthly entertainment newsletter to keep up with all our coverage of the latest sci-fi and space movies, tv shows, games and books.Discover this week's must-see night sky events, moon phases, and stunning astrophotos. Sign up for our skywatching newsletter and explore the universe with us!This striking satellite photo shows a bright plume of swirling marine mud that was whipped up off the coast of Florida following a blast of cold air from the Arctic, which brought severe winter weather to large parts of the U.S. earlier this year. In late January, an extreme cold front descended across the eastern half of North America as the polar vortex — the ring of cold air that circles in the atmosphere above the Arctic — stretched southward, just This phenomenon, known as an Arctic blast, brought temperatures as low as minus 43 degrees Fahrenheit to parts of the Midwest, according to the National Weather Service'sGiant underwater plumes triggered by 7-story waves at Nazaré captured off Portuguese coastIn addition to dumping snow as far south as Georgia, this weather front also helped create a giant underwater plume in the West Florida Shelf — a large area of shallow water created by a submerged continental shelf that extends off Florida's southwest coast. The plume, which consists mostly of calcium carbonate scattered across the seafloor, stretched up to 150 miles from the coast at its widest point, which extended outward from Key West , according toThe plume extended across the West Florida Shelf but was most concentrated between Key West and Dry Tortugas National Park.) is an inorganic chemical compound. While it is commonly found in rocks, such as limestone, the swirls in the photo are made of biological CaCO— created by corals, algae and crustaceans — that builds up on the seafloor as the creatures die and fall to the ocean floor. The West Florida Shelf collects high levels of this material due to its shallow waters and is often described as a"carbonate ramp" as a result. When the cold Arctic air descended on North America, it triggered strong winds across the shelf's surface, which created currents that dragged the calcium carbonate and other seafloor sediments closer to the surface,Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors Similar plumes have appeared in this area after hurricanes, which can also whip up seafloor sediments. However, such plumes are often less intricate than the one in this image because the disturbance to the ocean floor is much more violent. Recent research has suggested that Arctic blasts like the one that painted this plume could become more common in the future as a result of human-causedRainbow-colored phantom lakes emerge around Namibia's 'Great White Place' World's oldest rock art, giant reservoir found beneath the East Coast seafloor, black hole revelations, and a record solar radiation storm Faint sediment swirls can also be seen farther from the coast. They include a rare pair of counter-rotating eddies, also called a"hammerhead eddy" , which was created when the cold waters of the plume collided with the warmer waters in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Earth Observatory.This swirling sediment is also partly tied to the cold weather."The cold air cools off the shallow water on the banks and makes it denser than the surrounding warmer open ocean water," Acker said. When this dense water sinks and flows offshore with the tides, it can carry some of the sediment toward the shelf’s edge, he added. In the opposite direction, a thin trail of sediment can be seen snaking beneath the plume and terminating in a distinctive curl. This"loop current" formed when sediment-filled water spurted into the deeper waters of the Atlantic Ocean through hidden channels in the shelf's floor. The last time such a visible loop current was seen in this area was in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, whichA 2020 astronaut photo shows the unusual cetacean-like shape of Belize's Lighthouse Reef. It's home to the famous Great Blue Hole, which doubles as the island's"blowhole" when viewed from space.A 2016 astronaut photo of the Bahamas shows a series of luminous, rippling sandbanks partly carved out by a coral reef. The image also reveals subtle differences in the ocean's surface caused by a steep, hidden ocean drop-off.A 2011 astronaut photo shows the atolls of Rowley Shoals lined up in a near-perfect line off the coast of Australia. The island trio was once part of an ancient barrier reef system that stretched over 1,200 miles. Harry is a U.K.-based senior staff writer at Live Science. He studied marine biology at the University of Exeter before training to become a journalist. He covers a wide range of topics including space exploration, planetary science, space weather, climate change, animal behavior and paleontology. His recent work on the solar maximum won"best space submission" at the and was shortlisted in the"top scoop" category at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence in 2023. He also writes Live Science's weeklyRivers & OceansWorld's oldest rock art, giant reservoir found beneath the East Coast seafloor, black hole revelations, and a record solar radiation stormDrought paradox study reveals plants around Colorado River turn to groundwater when it gets too hot and dry, reducing flow into the already strained basin'We got evidence of boars, deer, bears, aurochs': Ancient DNA reveals sunken realm Doggerland had habitable forests during the last ice ageRare star spotted in its original galaxy could answer a key question about the ingredients of life: Space photo of the weekHubble and Euclid capture the final act of a dying star — and it's glorious: Space photo of the week
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