Open Ocean

New Findings from the Pacific Ocean Library: Probing Marine Debris in the North Pacific Ocean

Submitted by cosedit on Fri, 2012-05-04 09:46
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May 2012: Probing Marine Debris in the North Pacific Ocean

Think about the last time you walked along the ocean shore or strolled down the street. Chances are you witnessed trash strewn on the ground. Litter on land and sea seems like a permanent problem.  Read more...

Dive of a lifetime transports COS fellow back in time

Submitted by cosedit on Thu, 2012-05-03 09:59
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Rod Fujita diving near Cuba

Rod Fujita is a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Ocean Solutions.  He posted this blog from Cuba.

New Findings from the Pacific Ocean Library: Managing and Mitigating Ocean Acidification in California and the Pacific

Submitted by bhooton on Tue, 2012-04-17 13:41
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Welcome to our blog! Here you can explore hot ocean topics and find postings that highlight a few of the most interesting new articles added in the Center for Ocean Solution’s Pacific Ocean Library. We hope to inspire you to participate in the ongoing conversation and encourage you to explore the resources of the Pacific Ocean Library.

April 2012: Managing and Mitigating Ocean Acidification in California and the Pacific

In April, we focus on ocean acidification. How is carbon dioxide (CO2) affecting our oceans, what are the consequences of increased levels for marine ecosystems, and what can we do to manage and mitigate rising CO2 in our oceans? As California takes steps to better understand the impacts of ocean acidification and how to develop a response, state leaders recently asked the Center for Ocean Solutions to analyze the issue.  Read more...

Today's Unprecedented Ocean Acidification

Submitted by bhooton on Tue, 2012-03-13 09:14
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by Ryan Kelly   and Meg Caldwell  

When an environmental issue merits a full-scale editorial in The New York Times, it’s a sign that the issue has broken out of the scientific literature and into the popular consciousness. Last Friday, 10 March 2012, The Times ran an editorial highlighting the human-caused change in the world’s ocean chemistry. One consequence of human-released carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is an ocean significantly more acidic than it was just a few generations ago, and this change is accelerating in tandem with our carbon dioxide emissions.

An "acid ocean SOS." (photo: Lou Dematteis/Spectral Q/Handout)

Pacific Ocean Library Featured in New Blog

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2011-11-17 12:01
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The Pacific Ocean Library blog will spotlight new additions to the library’s collection of news articles, academic papers, and other materials useful to both researchers and general readers with an interest in Pacific Ocean issues. This debut post features a paper covering a key concern for marine conservation planning.

Not Your Parents' Water Pollution: Clean Water Act Failures in a New Climate

Submitted by bhooton on Tue, 2011-10-18 12:53
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Photo: MSVG, Flickr Creative Commons

by Ryan P. Kelly and Margaret R. Caldwell

This week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave California some tough love in the form of a ghastly report card on water quality along our coasts and in our rivers and streams: the state’s water pollution seems to have gotten much worse, with the number of polluted water bodies skyrocketing between 2006 and 2010.  Some of this change is due to more aggressive testing; the blame for the rest is solely our own.  And while this news is bad enough on its own, what’s often not discussed is that all of that polluted water ends up downstream in the coastal ocean, already hard hit by decades of abuse.

Te Mana o Te Moana - The Spirit of the Sea

Submitted by bhooton on Thu, 2011-08-11 09:29
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The seven vaka of the Pacific Voyagers. (photo: Ron Hagg  Oceanic Nature Film Productions)

 by Brynn Hooton-Kaufman, Science Communication Intern

Look for their vibrant sails dotting the horizon – red, yellow, and orange,  the colors of a sunset.  Hopefully full of wind, these sails will be speeding along seven vaka, Polynesian voyaging canoes, toward their next anchorage in Monterey Bay.   They’re  crewed by the Pacific Voyagers, who hail from island nations flung across the southern Pacific – Aotearoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, and Samoa just to name a few.  Read more...

FishNET Project Semifinalist for 2011 Gulfstream Navigator Award

Submitted by bhooton on Tue, 2011-08-02 11:43
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Imagine a system that would utilize stakeholders to report illegal fishing activities via the web, SMS text messaging, phone, and other sources, while simultaneously using observation technologies such as acoustic monitoring, inexpensive radar, and unmanned aircraft to do the same.  The system could help replace expensive  military surveillance currently used to monitor illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing at a fraction of the cost.  The system could also greatly improve our ability to observe and collaborate data on IUU fishing, while taking action to stop its threat to our oceans.  Read more...

FishNET Technology

 

Stanford Researchers Compute Grazing Rates on Coral and Temperate Rocky Reefs

Submitted by bhooton on Mon, 2011-06-27 18:19
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By using the control volume approach and carefully integrating physical and biological sampling, a team of researchers including COS’ Brock Woodson, Stephen Monismith, Jeff Koseff, and Fiorenza Micheli are tackling the computation of grazing rates on coral and temperate rocky reefs.  Read more...

Stanford a “Plastic Bag-Free Zone,” Students Urge

Submitted by eloury on Tue, 2011-05-17 15:48
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Ethan Estess, the Stanford Bag Project's design team member, shows off the latest shipment of reusable totes. (photo: S. Aguilera)

Katie Jewett  by Katie Jewett, Stanford University

Plastic bags floating in the sea are a major threat to marine life. Now, a small group of locally-minded students has come together under the auspices of Stanford’s chapter of The Coastal Society to establish the Stanford Bag Project which will work to make Stanford a plastic bag-free campus by providing environmentally conscious alternatives. With funding from the Center for Ocean Solutions and others, the Stanford Bag Project will target undergraduates with reusable tote alternatives to plastic bags.  Read more…