Some scientists consider it perhaps the most troubling effect of climate change on the ocean: increasing acidity caused by absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The potential implications, especially for the myriad of species that live in the ocean, could be dire, if current trends continue. But it’s a concern that only recently has begun to reach public attention, and many people may be uninformed or uncertain about the background science.

To help, three short video interview segments with a leading scientific authority, produced by Oregon Sea Grant. The interview is with Dr. Richard Feely, a senior scientist with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Marine Environmental Lab in Seattle. Feely was the chief scientist on the North American Carbon Program West Coast Cruise in 2007, which established important baseline science. Feely is also active internationally as a member of the European Ocean Acidification International Scientific Advisory Panel.

In the clips, Feely addresses three essential questions about ocean acidification: what’s causing it; how it’s affecting ocean animals, and how it may affect ocean ecosystems. The succinct clips run from 1-3 minutes; Joe Cone was the interviewer and videographer; Steve Roberts edited.

Video clips

“Science” journal article by Feely and others

Oregon Sea Grant is pleased to announce the launch of a new series of audio podcasts, Communicating Climate Change. The podcasts will feature in-depth conversations with prominent social scientists whose work informs public communications about science. Joe Cone is the producer. The first conversation is with Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change:

http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/blogs/communicatingclimate/

Given the importance of appropriate actions in response to climate change, successful communication with various audiences is vital and deserves to be informed by the best communication research. These podcasts will present some of that research through informal conversations with the researchers themselves. Complete text transcripts of the conversations will also be online.

Links on the web site guide listeners to subscribe to the podcasts via RSS, iTunes, or even email.

Oregon Sea Grant director Dr. Robert E. Malouf has announced he will retire Feb. 1 after 16 years leading the marine research, outreach, and education program based at Oregon State University (OSU).

Oregon Sea Grant is the largest of OSU’s institutes and programs. Malouf has had overall responsibility for all of Sea Grant’s activities, including its competitive grants, the Visitor Center of the OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center, and very active programs in communication, education and extension. Oregon Sea Grant employs more than 40 people on a budget that exceeds $5 million in state and federal funds annually.

Under Malouf’s leadership, Oregon Sea Grant has been consistently ranked as one of the very best Sea Grant programs in the nation in formal reviews. The last review (in 2005) put it simply: “Dr. Malouf has set a high standard for this program, and it has been met.”

The national review panel further cited the program as demonstrating several national “best management practices,” including strategic planning, decision-making, and program integration, all articulated and developed by Malouf.

The national recruitment and selection process for Malouf’s successor has recently begun. It is chaired by the OSU Associate Vice President for Research, Rich Holdren.

A native of Montana, Malouf’s affiliation with Oregon Sea Grant started in the program’s first year, 1968, when he received support as a new OSU master’s student in Fisheries. After earning his Ph.D. in Fisheries from OSU he joined the faculty of the Marine Sciences Research Center of the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook. While there from 1977 to 1991 he taught courses in marine fisheries, shellfisheries, and aquaculture. In 1987 he was named director of the New York Sea Grant Institute; he held that position until he succeeded Oregon Sea Grant’s original director, William Wick, on Wick’s retirement in 1991.

For more than 10 years Malouf served as a member of Oregon’s Ocean Policy Advisory Council and chaired the Council’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee. He has had numerous leadership positions with other state and national organizations.