Metcalf lecture: ocean acidification

Ocean Acidification in Earth’s Past: Insights to the Future

Paleoclimatologist and URI Graduate School of Oceanography alumnus, Dr. James Zachos, UC Santa Cruz, will put ocean acidification into an historical context, showing how ancient events driven by slower, natural surges in carbon serve as warnings about the impacts that today’s rapid changes could have on marine life.

Ocean acidification in Washington State: Shallin Busch (video)

Shallin Busch is a research ecologist at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWSFC). Her current research focuses on how ocean acidification may impact North Pacific ecosystems. Using the NWFSC ocean acidification experimental system, Dr. Busch applies ecological models to explore how acidification’s impacts on susceptible species cascade through food webs, via trophic interactions, to affect other species. To date, these species include geoduck, Pacific oyster, mussels, manila clam, Pacific herring, China rockfish, surf smelt, Dungeness crab, krill, and copepods. Dr. Busch aims to generate data relevant to management of species and communities in a changing environment. Dr. Busch served on the Washington State Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification, and discusses how their 2012 report is informing state policy decisions.

Seminar – Climate change and global warming’s evil (?) cousin, ocean acidification: effects on metabolic performance in coral reef fishes

Friday 8 March 2013, 11.30am (Tas time)
CSIRO Auditorium, Hobart

Jodie Rummer
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
ARC Super Science Fellow (2011-present)
James Cook University

Preparing for the challenges of ocean acidification in Alaska (audio)

Podcast from the Alaska Marine Science Symposium, 21 January 2013: Jeremy Mathis – “Preparing for the challenges of ocean acidification in Alaska”.

Ocean acidification seminar to open Maine Fishermen’s Forum this Thursday, February 28

38th annual forum runs Thursday through Saturday, includes seminars, trade show, scholarship auction -

The 38th annual Maine Fishermen’s Forum will open Thursday, February 28, and continue through Saturday, March 2, at the Samoset Resort in Rockport. The forum is open to the public and attendance is free at the seminars and the trade show.

Thursday opens with a half-day seminar, 8 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in the Rockport Room at the Samoset, on ocean acidification in Maine, presented by The Island Institute, the National Fisheries Conservation Center, and the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership. Researchers, commercial fishermen, shellfish harvesters, and growers will share stories, ask questions, and discuss next steps in addressing what can be done to protect and preserve the ocean that provides jobs and food.

Tracking Climate Change in the Northern California Current pelagic ecosystem: response of zooplankton in the Oregon upwelling zone to large-scale climate forcing with thoughts on the looming problems of hypoxia and ocean acidification

Date and Time: February 28, 2013; 11:00-12:00 Pacific Time [Check U.S. Time clock for your local time]
Location: NOAA NWFSC Auditorium (2725 Montlake Blvd. E., Seattle, WA 98112)
Speaker(s): Bill Peterson NOAA NWFSC)
OneNOAA Science Seminar Sponsor: NOAA NWFSC Monster JAM seminars
Abstract: TBD

Ocean acidification: is the sky really falling?

Date and Time: February 28, 2013; 16:00-17:00 Eastern Time [Check U.S. Time clock for your local time]
Location: Online Access Only
Speaker(s): Dr. Jeremy Mathis (NOAA PMEL)
OneNOAA Science Seminar Sponsor: NOAA NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries West Coast Region
Abstract: In the last two and a half centuries, but mainly in the past fifty years, the pH of the ocean has been reduced due to the intrusion of anthropogenic CO2 produced mainly from fossil fuel burning and changes in land use practices. This reduction in pH could have far-reaching and detrimental consequences for a number of marine species, particularly those that produce carbonate shells. The changing chemistry will likely impact the food we gather from the ocean. Dr. Mathis will provide insight in this ecological frontier from the rivers to the sea and how ocean acidification will influence our lives.

Ken Caldeira – Ocean Acidification IPOC Seminar Part 2 (video)

Ken Caldeira – Ocean Acidification IPOC Seminar Part 1 (video)

Ocean acidification seminar scheduled for Friday Harbor Labs

San Juan County residents wanting to learn more about ocean acidification are invited to a free seminar at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Labs on February 27.

Ocean acidification results from carbon dioxide emissions being absorbed from the atmosphere into seawater, forming carbonic acid. This radically alters ocean chemistry and endangers sea life. Between 2005 and 2009, up to 80 percent of the oyster larvae in in some Washington hatcheries were killed by acidification before the problem was identified and temporary counter-measures were taken.

The seminar, hosted by the San Juan County Marine Resources Committee (MRC), will feature Shallin Busch, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research ecologist, speaking on “The Science and Food Web Implications of Ocean Acidification.” Busch was a member of the Washington State Panel on Ocean Acidification.