One person has died and several are missing after a ship in the Black Sea sent out emergency signals.
Just over four years have passed since the explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines off Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. The trial has now begun in Hamburg.
Ukraine’s flag is often said to represent a wheat field under a blue sky. Yet the flag’s yellow field is also reminiscent of another important crop: the sunflower. Sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine, a symbol of culture and identity, and Ukraine is the world’s biggest exporter of sunflower oil. This oil, used in cooking and for skincare, is often stored in massive tanks along the Black Sea coast and then shipped across the sea, destined for the world’s cabinets.
Deep in the Eurasian continent, the Sea of Azov is a stepping stone between freshwater and saltwater. Like no other sea in the world, it sits at the far end of a chain of water bodies: the Black, Marmara, Aegean, and Mediterranean Seas, and all the straits that connect them.
When scientists study the Black Sea’s coastal seaweed forests, they often dive beneath the surface to see them in person. Formed by two species of brown algae in the genus Cystoseira, these ecosystems can look dull from a distance. “But when you actually dive deeper, you can see the biodiversity, and these various interesting invertebrates and fish species which are moving there,” says marine biologist Sofia Sadogurska.
