Working Toward Solutions: Sea Level Rise and Coastal Communities

Submitted by sworden on Tue, 2012-10-09 13:12
in

October 2012: Working Toward Solutions: Sea Level Rise and Coastal Communities

The impacts of sea level rise are being felt in varying degrees of severity across the Pacific. On Pacific islands, increased and prolonged inundation is forcing governments to relocate some citizens while on the west coast of the United States, governments are considering how to protect airports, sewage treatment plants and other critical infrastructure. It is crucial to understand how climate change will impact the coast and what can be done to mitigate damage.  Read more...

California Ocean and Coastal Ecological Principles Guide

Submitted by sworden on Fri, 2012-08-31 10:36
in

September 2012: California Ocean and Coastal Ecological Principles Guide

Government staff must weigh myriad, sometimes conflicting, considerations before making management decisions that impact California’s iconic coast and ocean. A holistic, ecosystem-based approach to management that uses the best available scientific information can ensure that ocean and coastal management decisions account for the maintenance and restoration of ecosystem health. This month, the Center for Ocean Solutions released a guide, Incorporating Ecological Principles into California Ocean and Coastal Management: Examples from Practice (Guide), which describes how important ecological principles and ecosystem vulnerability characteristics, such as cumulative impacts and climate change, can be applied to existing California management practices.  Read more...

Natural Disaster Preparedness in the Pacific

Submitted by sworden on Mon, 2012-08-06 15:14
in

August 2012: Natural Disaster Preparedness in the Pacific

This month, the Pacific Ocean Library blog focuses on natural disaster preparedness in the Pacific. Historically the site of much volcanic activity, the Pacific region is now also experiencing climate change.  Our blog looks into what this means for coastal communities and what strategies can be used to better prepare for natural disasters and hazards.  Read more...

Support the Consensus Statement on Climate Change and Coral Reefs

Submitted by sworden on Mon, 2012-07-02 14:45
in

July 2012: Support the Consensus Statement on Climate Change and Coral Reefs

This month, the Pacific Ocean Library blog focuses on climate change and coral reefs. How is changing climate affecting corals and coral reef ecosystems in the Pacific? What solutions are being used to restore degraded coral reefs? Read more...

Managing and Mitigating Ocean Acidification in California and the Pacific

Submitted by bhooton on Tue, 2012-04-17 13:41
in

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
in

by Ryan Kelly   and Meg Caldwell Meg Caldwell thumbnail

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)

National Geographic Spotlights Ocean Acidification

Submitted by cosedit on Mon, 2011-03-21 18:01
in

National Geographic writer Elizabeth Kolbert dives into the Tyrrhenian Sea not far from Naples to see firsthand the lethal effects of carbon dioxide that has been absorbed into the ocean.  Ocean acidification is an important subject for Center for Ocean Solutions' work on climate change and communicating climate change adaptation strategies.  "The Acid Sea" records the author's personal discovery of how man is changing the environment.

Dr. Susanne Moser named Google Science Communication Fellow

Submitted by cosedit on Wed, 2011-02-16 11:29
in

Dr. Susanne Moser, a social science research fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Center for Ocean Solutions at Stanford University, was selected to be one of only 21 Google Science Communication Fellows. Moser and others were nominated by leaders in climate change research and science-based institutions across the U.S. to be part of this inaugural group of early to mid-career Ph.D. scientists named to the program.  Read more...

Carbon dioxide is polluting the ocean: tackling ocean acidification under the Clean Water Act

Submitted by eloury on Wed, 2010-12-01 15:58
in

Animals like corals that depend on calcium carbonate to construct their skeletons are on the frontlines of the ocean's rising acidity. (photo: M. Fox)

by Melissa Foley, Science Early Career Fellow and Erin Loury, Science Communication Intern.

Ocean acidification, or the increase of low-pH, corrosive ocean waters, certainly qualifies as a process that impairs water quality.   Now the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has created guidance to address ocean acidification under the Clean Water Act. 

On November 15th, the EPA released a Memorandum to guide regions and states in reporting the impacts of ocean acidification under Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act, which requires states to submit a list of impaired water bodies that do not meet water quality standards, and develop total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for these waters.  A TMDL is a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a body of water can receive and still safely meet water quality standards.  In the case of ocean acidification, the main pollutant in question is carbon dioxide (CO2).  Read more...

Status Update for California's Wetlands: Some Loss, Some Gain

Submitted by eloury on Fri, 2010-10-22 13:55
in

Researchers in the mudflats of the Morro Bay Estuary. (photo: Mike Baird)

by Erin Loury, Science Communication Intern

Buffer in a storm, migratory rest stop, water filter, crucial habitat and protected nursery ground – California’s wetlands perform many roles at that special zone where land and water meet.  Neither fully terrestrial nor completely aquatic, these unique habitats grace every California landscape, from desert playas to mountain meadows.  Now the California Natural Resources Agency has released the second State of the State’s Wetlands report (pdf), which summarizes efforts to protect, monitor, and restore our wetlands between 1999 and 2009.  

This current chapter in the wetlands story unfolds against a historical backdrop of great destruction: between 1780’s and 1980’s, California lost over 90% of its wetland area. The 2.9 million acres that remain encompass mostly freshwater sources, such as lakes, vernal pools, marshes and springs.  Recognizing the many valuable services that wetlands provide, California voters have approved at least five bond measures, and invested billions of dollars over the past ten years to protect and restore wetlands.  The report notes substantial wetland increases in San Francisco Bay, along California’s south coast, in the Central Valley and in the Sierras. Read more... 

Syndicate content