As of June 2026, El Niño has officially arrived. This naturally recurring phenomenon is characterized by warmer-than-normal water temperatures in parts of the equatorial Pacific along with changes to atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns. Its regional effects range from desert floods to delayed monsoons to shifts in where tropical cyclones are more likely to form.
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center expects the current El Niño to continue to strengthen through the end of 2026, with a 97 percent chance of lasting through early Northern Hemisphere spring 2027. Even during El Niño’s early stages, satellites have observed characteristic changes along the equatorial Pacific, such as warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures and higher-than-normal sea surface height.
Among the first ecological downstream effects are changes to the marine food web. The maps above show chlorophyll-a concentrations—the pigment present in most phytoplankton—as observed by the OCI (Ocean Color Instrument) on NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite. In June 2025 (left), conditions were neutral, while in June 2026 (right), El Niño was strengthening.
The most noticeable difference appears in the central Pacific, around the equator due north of New Zealand: chlorophyll concentrations, an indication of phytoplankton abundance, are substantially lower in 2026. This change is expected, said Matthew Kehrli and Graham Trolley, oceanographers in the Ocean Ecology Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. That’s because during an El Niño, easterly equatorial trade winds weaken, the warm surface layer of the ocean extends deeper, and the upwelling of cool, nutrient-rich water that typically fuels phytoplankton growth is suppressed.
As the El Niño progresses, the scientists anticipate the differences in the central Pacific will become more pronounced. “This may manifest as a greater difference in values across the current region, as a broadening region of reduced surface chlorophyll-a concentration, or both, depending on the behavior of the equatorial trade winds,” they said.
Reductions in phytoplankton have ripple effects through the marine food web, including in coastal regions. Less food is available for zooplankton, as well as for fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. Peru’s anchovy fisheries have seen profound declines in catch during past El Niños, driven similarly by warmer surface waters, reduced upwelling, and lower phytoplankton abundance. In 2026, Peru’s Ministry of Production repeatedly suspended the fishery to safeguard the country’s main fishing resource. Pelicans have been seen venturing into Peruvian ports and urban areas in search of food.
Although the disruptions to marine life can be severe, a post-El Niño “chlorophyll rebound,” with higher-than-normal concentrations in the equatorial Pacific, can occur. Research suggests that higher iron concentrations delivered in ocean currents, as well as dust arriving from drier land in parts of Central and South America, help fuel the resurgence—a rebound that doesn’t require a follow-on La Niña. La Niña, which often follows El Niño events, can also produce elevated chlorophyll concentrations. A strong La Niña in 1998–1999 set off a large phytoplankton bloom in the eastern Pacific and a dramatic increase in fish populations.
Scientists have new tools available for studying this sort of variability. The PACE mission launched in February 2024, making this the first complete El Niño event for which the satellite will gather global, near-daily hyperspectral measurements. “The scientific community will be able to observe the 2026 El Niño with data across more wavelengths of light than ever before,” Kehrli and Trolley said.
To better understand effects on life in the ocean, researchers hope to use PACE data to gauge the responses of specific phytoplankton communities to El Niño. And the possibilities extend beyond the marine realm, the scientists note. PACE’s sensors can measure plant pigment composition on land and clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere, all of which are influenced by El Niño.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using PACE data from the NASA Ocean Biology Distributed Active Archive Center OB.DAAC and processed by Matthew Kehrli. Story by Lindsey Doermann.
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Satellite observations of sea surface height indicated that the 2026 event continued to strengthen in early June.
Something is brewing in shallow waters offshore of Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia.
Seaweed composing the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt hit near-record levels in June 2026, with the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of…
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Quem estiver em Portugal nesta quarta-feira, 12 de agosto, terá a oportunidade de testemunhar o primeiro eclipse solar total desde 1912, com previsão de repetição do feito somente daqui a 118 anos, em 2144.
A sua raridade, além da sazonalidade, está especialmente no percentual de visibilidade do fenômeno em todo o país, que varia de 92% a 100%. Para quem quiser ver o eclipse em sua totalidade, será necessário visitar o Parque Natural de Montesinho, no concelho de Bragança.
Caso também seja do seu interesse registrar esse momento histórico, existem algumas coisas importantes a se observar e algumas alternativas, a depender do que você pretende fotografar exatamente.
Antes de qualquer dica tecnológica, é importante se certificar de que a sua visão estará protegida: recomenda-se o uso de óculos de eclipse com certificação ISO 12312-2, que serão distribuídos gratuitamente pela ZEISS em parceria com a rede de óticas Club da Visão, mediante cadastro e enquanto durarem os estoques (que, aparentemente, já esgotaram-se).
Depois, vale observar as janelas de horário do eclipse:
Caso você opte por fotografar o evento, existem duas opções de mais fácil acesso: uma câmera digital ou o seu iPhone. Em ambos os casos, há uma série de poréns.
Sobre DSLRs e mirrorless, vale adquirir um filtro solar para a sua lente, considerando a sensibilidade do sensor à exposição ao sol, que pode acarretar uma danificação irreversível — dada a quantidade de entrada de luz. Recomenda-se fixar a abertura entre ƒ/8 e ƒ/16, com a velocidade do obturador ajustada entre 1/1000 e 1/4, de acordo com as especificações da sua câmera.
Já o iPhone, dado o tamanho do seu sensor e outras limitações técnicas, terá dificuldade de registrar o eclipse naturalmente. Claro, ainda é possível obter muitos resultados legais em relação à sombra e aos seus efeitos, ou até mesmo capturar a atmosfera do momento com um time-lapse utilizando um tripé ou outro equipamento estabilizador.
No entanto, para quem quiser de fato registrar o sol de maneira direta, será necessário adquirir acessórios:
Quanto ao software, embora existam boas opções de apps de terceiros, como o Project Indigo ou o Halide, o próprio aplicativo Câmera (Camera) nativo do iPhone deverá dar conta.
Cada escolha (ou ausência) poderá impactar o registro do fenômeno, mas nada será tão determinante quanto a prática de quem fotografa. Independentemente da escolha, vale conhecer o equipamento que você tem em mãos antes do tão esperado dia, testar o comportamento da câmera sob o sol e pensar qual será o enquadramento do registro no dia do eclipse.
via AppleInsider, Lisboa Secreta
Da organização das tarefas ao acompanhamento dos treinos, passando por resumos de livros e uma proposta para ajudar a gerir a exposição solar, a equipa do TEK Notícias reuniu um novo conjunto de apps para Android e iOS, todas com opções gratuitas.
The post Organização, exercício e leituras de verão entre as melhores apps da semana para experimentar no smartphone appeared first on Tek Notícias.
Olhos no céu no final da tarde de 12 de agosto. Enquanto a Lua tapa quase por completo o Sol, dezenas de localidades portuguesas preparam observações, experiências e atividades para acompanhar um dos fenómenos astronómicos mais marcantes dos últimos anos.
The post De Norte a Sul: Portugal prepara centenas de eventos para “viver” o eclipse de 12 de agosto appeared first on Tek Notícias.
Mesmo num eclipse total, a tecnologia ajuda a que ninguém fique de fora. Chama-se LightSound e é um pequeno dispositivo capaz de transformar a luz do Sol em notas musicais, permitindo que pessoas cegas ou com deficiência visual "ouçam" a passagem da Lua em frente ao astro-rei.
The post Do céu para os ouvidos: tecnologia transforma eclipse em experiência acessível para pessoas cegas appeared first on Tek Notícias.
Frequent cannabis use was associated with higher cortisol upon waking, suggesting a possible disruption of daily stress rhythms. The body’s stress system follows a daily rhythm, and frequent cannabis users may begin that cycle differently. Research from Oregon State University found that people who use cannabis often wake with higher cortisol levels than nonusers, pointing [...]
Sargassum, a type of brown floating algae, has shifted its range in recent decades, thinning out in the North Atlantic’s Sargasso Sea while proliferating in the tropical Atlantic. That trend, underway since 2011, continued in 2026 as the algae, commonly known as a type of seaweed, reached its annual peak in June across a stretch of ocean known as the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt.
The belt’s Sargassum abundance in June 2026 made it the second-highest Sargassum year in the satellite record, slightly behind 2025, according to scientists at the University of South Florida (USF) College of Marine Science. Regionally, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of America (Gulf of Mexico) both hit record highs, according to USF’s June 2026 Sargassum outlook. The western and eastern Caribbean saw 3.6 and 9 million metric tons, respectively, while the Gulf saw 5 million metric tons—nearly double its previous record, also set in 2025.
“The belt is a basin-scale phenomenon that can have devastating local-scale impacts throughout the Caribbean and Gulf, and satellite observations are the only method that captures both scales on a daily basis,” said Brian Barnes, a marine scientist at the Optical Oceanography Laboratory at USF. “The tracking done by our lab helps communities know the current extent of Sargassum and prepare for what’s to come.”
In moderate amounts in the open ocean, Sargassum provides habitat for turtles, invertebrates, fish, and birds, and adds oxygen to the water through photosynthesis. But too much of it near shore can tangle and suffocate marine life, and mats that sink can smother corals and seagrasses. On beaches, decomposing Sargassum releases hydrogen sulfide, a rotten-egg-smelling gas that’s a potential problem for both ecosystems and tourism.
The map above shows Sargassum density in the tropical Atlantic Ocean in June 2026. Red and orange areas are where Sargassum densities were the highest. Note that although the “belt” appears continuous, discrete Sargassum mats are scattered across the ocean surface. The map is based on satellite measurements of how much of the ocean surface was covered by the seaweed, averaged per pixel across all observations made in June by the OCI (Ocean Color Instrument) on NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite.
Ocean currents and winds shape the Sargassum belt, which, despite the patchiness, stretches nearly continuously from West Africa to the Gulf and holds a fairly steady “width” from the western tropical Atlantic westward, explained Chuanmin Hu, also an optical oceanographer at USF. The ocean currents have also spared Florida’s west coast from inundation this summer, while delivering large amounts of seaweed to the Florida Keys and the state’s east coast. The bulk of the Sargassum, however, is visible in the Caribbean Sea, shown in detail above, where problems associated with inundation have been more severe, Hu said.
Data for the maps were provided by Lin Qi, an oceanographer at NOAA’s Center for Satellite Applications and Research, who has been working to generate Sargassum maps based on data from PACE, which was launched in February 2024. The work extends that of Qi and colleagues at USF’s Optical Oceanography Laboratory. This team first developed Sargassum detection techniques using MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s long-running Terra and Aqua satellites and VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the NOAA-20 satellite—data that have been a key component of USF’s Sargassum Watch System and of research into the seaweed’s longer-term trends.
Satellites detect Sargassum by its signals in reflected sunlight. Because of its plant structure and chlorophyll pigments, Sargassum reflects more near-infrared light than water. Scientists flag pixels where the reflectance spikes above the levels produced by plain seawater, and then they use the strength of this spike to estimate Sargassum density, which refers to the fraction of ocean surface covered by the seaweed in each pixel. Density estimates can then be converted into biomass, or the total weight of Sargassum present within a pixel, which is how the longer-term trends in the chart below are tracked.
The chart above uses the continuous MODIS record since March 2000 to show how Sargassum biomass across the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt has changed through June 2026. Notice the uptick beginning around 2011, when the belt was first developing, and the seasonal dips in winter and peaks in spring and summer. The record high in July 2025 stands out, followed by the quick rise in early 2026—especially in the first four months of the year—that culminated in the year’s peak in June. More recent observations, not yet reflected in the chart, indicate Sargassum biomass declined through the following month of July.
“Since the initial appearance of the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt in 2011, the total Sargassum amount in the Atlantic Ocean has increased substantially, more than doubling every five years,” Hu said. He added that the exact mechanism is still being investigated, but it’s possibly related to ocean warming, multiple nutrient sources, and the fact that large Sargassum mats attract other organisms—such as nitrogen-fixing bacteria—that can supply additional nutrients to sustain further growth.
Alongside data from MODIS and VIIRS, OCI data from PACE now feeds into the Sargassum Watch System’s near-real-time daily and weekly composite maps. A recent study of the central-west Atlantic led by Qi, spanning May through August 2024, found that OCI offers several advantages over its predecessors, observing more of the ocean and detecting Sargassum with greater sensitivity.
Hu noted that the added pixels from OCI can improve near-real-time monitoring and analyses of short-term fluctuations. And its higher sensitivity, he said, will also lead to improved maps during winter months, “thus helping understand Sargassum changes over time.”
Additionally, the study’s authors found that OCI’s hyperspectral capability makes it the only sensor able to spectrally discriminate Sargassum pixels across the Atlantic Ocean “without ambiguity,” adding confidence to the interpretation of detected image features—especially in parts of the Atlantic where another type of floating algae, Trichodesmium, has been reported.
“I think I can speak for all project members, past and present, in sharing how rewarding it is to see the promise of PACE’s advancements come to life,” said Jeremy Werdell, PACE project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “OCI has started a true renaissance in aquatic ecosystem monitoring from space.”
NASA Earth Observatory maps and chart by Lauren Dauphin, using PACE and MODIS data courtesy of Lin Qi (NOAA), and Brian Barnes and Chuanmin Hu (University of South Florida, Optical Oceanography Laboratory). Story by Kathryn Hansen.
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Something is brewing in shallow waters offshore of Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia.
Phytoplankton added a milky blue hue to the waters of the Black Sea and nearby waterways in spring and summer…
Satellite observations of sea surface height indicated that the 2026 event continued to strengthen in early June.
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Fechando a semana com a nossa tradicional seleção de promoções na App Store para esta sexta-feira!
Canon: Chord Composer, desenvolvido por Dylan Shade, destaca-se como uma ferramenta de composição extremamente intuitiva e inspiradora — e, por isso, é o nosso destaque do dia.
O app combina três modos de criação (Instant Inspiration, Intelligent Discovery e Total Control), permitindo desde progressões totalmente aleatórias até construções manuais detalhadas.
A interface, limpa e direta, facilita a experimentação dos acordes de diferentes estilos (jazz, guitarra, piano, ukulele) e a audição de tudo com reprodução realista, seja você um músico profissional ou apenas um entusiasta no assunto.
Desbloqueie sua criatividade musical! Aproveite a oferta!
Abaixo outros jogos/apps que, juntos, somam quase R$60 em descontos:
Jogo de aventura e estratégia.
Sons animais.
Acompanhe a Estação Espacial Internacional.
Utilitário para acompanhar o sol.
Utilitário de chuvas.
Aproveite as ofertas e tenha um excelente final de semana! Vale lembrar que as ofertas são sempre por tempo limitado, então é bom correr. 🏎️
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