Ocean Discovery League (ODL) announces the launch of the Global Deep Sea Exploration Goals, an ambitious international effort to visually explore 10,000 strategically selected locations across the deep seafloor. When completed, this initiative will nearly double the number of unique seafloor locations ever visually observed and produce the first globally representative visual dataset of the deep ocean floor. 

The study, published in Fish and Fisheries, analyzed global aquaculture production from 1950 to 2023 and found that, since the 1980s, the industry has shifted toward a smaller number of intensively farmed species—particularly finfish—that tend to have lower overall sustainability potential.

1 April 2026 / Kiel. How does gold form deep within the Earth, and why does it concentrate specifically along volcanic island arcs? A study led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel shows, using the Kermadec island arc in the South Pacific as an example, that multi-stage melting processes in a hydrous mantle drive the enrichment of gold in magmas. These findings help to explain why many of the world’s richest gold deposits are associated with subduction zones – regions where oceanic plates descend into the Earth’s interior. The study has now been published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment.

A review finds that antibiotic resistance genes—capable of undermining modern medicine—can travel through the air across both cities and farmland, and argues that airborne spread represents an overlooked public health risk.

A new study published in Big Earth Data proposes an AI cube framework that integrates GeoAI models into geospatial data cube infrastructures to enhance large-scale Earth Observation data analytics. By introducing a model warehouse, intelligent model selection, and parallel inference pipelines on the Open Geospatial Engine platform, the approach significantly improves analytical capability and reduces inference time by over 80%. The framework advances the transition from traditional data cube processing toward AI-ready spatial data infrastructures.

Terrestrial ecosystems represent a significant global carbon reservoir, with soils holding the largest fraction, influencing both agricultural productivity and climate feedback mechanisms. Comprehending how soil organic carbon (SOC) distributes across various soil depths and types, along with the factors governing its accumulation, remains essential for effective land management decisions. A recent study, published in Carbon Research, investigated the profile distribution of SOC in the predominant soil orders of Chitwan district, Nepal, addressing a critical gap in horizon-based analyses for the region. This work by researchers from Agriculture and Forestry University and the National Soil Science Research Center offers valuable insights into the intricate dynamics of soil carbon, especially pertinent to a landscape facing pressures from extensive agriculture and nutrient mining.