Category Archives: climate

NOAA, FEMA urge “Be a Force of Nature”

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Be a Force of Nature - Pledge to Prepare“Be a Force of Nature” is the theme of the first-ever National Severe Weather Preparedness Week, starting this Sunday (Earth Day) and continuing through April 28.

The campaign is a joint effort by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Daily themes will  target public awareness about severe weather hazards and encourage people to get prepared:

  • Monday: Know Your Risk
  • Tuesday: Make a Plan
  • Wednesday: Build a Kit
  • Thursday: Get a NOAA Weather Radio
  • Friday: Be an example for others to follow

Full details – including downloadable posters, media PSAs and emergency preparedness kit checklists – can be found on NOAA’s Weather-Ready Nation Website.

While the effort focuses on hurricanes, tornadoes and other catastrophic storms less common in the Pacific Northwest, Oregonians can still learn from the campaign, according to Patrick Corcoran, Oregon Sea Grant’s coastal hazards specialist.

In this region, coastal storms generally occur from November to March – but recent trends have shown earlier dates for the first storm and later dates for the last storm of the season. And offshore buoys have measured increasingly higher waves during winter storms over the past 30 years. A result has been more impacts by storms on people and infrastructure, from homes to highways.

“Some homes on cliff-backed beaches have found themselves precariously closer to the edge,” said Corcoran. “A few have fallen into the sea. Other properties in lower areas with dune-backed beaches are experiencing larger storm waves, overtopping of shore protection structures, and an overall increase in erosion.”

Corcoran pointed out that although the Northwest is generally spared from tornadoes and hurricane-strength storms, they can happen – and the region is also prone to seismic disasters including earthquakes and tsunamis.

“The steps NOAA recommends to prepare for catastrophic storms make good sense for the types of disasters we in the Northwest face, too,” he said.

Learn more:

New Oregon Sea Grant publication probes the mysteries of hypoxia

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Hypoxia: How Is It Affecting Ocean Life and Why?The causes and effects of hypoxia have been confounding marine scientists since the 1970s, when so-called “dead zones” first started appearing in oceans and large lakes. Currently there are more than 400 dead zones worldwide.

How did this happen, and how can it be fixed?

As Nathan Gilles, Oregon Sea Grant’s 2011 Science Communication Fellow, spent time with Sea Grant-funded researchers Francis Chan, Lorenzo Ciannelli, and Stephen Brandt, he uncovered a rich and complex story. That story is revealed in Oregon Sea Grant’s new publication, Hypoxia:How Is It Affecting Ocean Life, and Why?

The publication is available for purchase, and as a free download.

More on hypoxia from Oregon Sea Grant:

 

Terra tackles climate change

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The latest issue of  Terra, Oregon State University’s research quarterly, looks at how OSU scientists are working to help the state and region improve the capacity and ability to respond to a changing climate.

Among the articles is a feature by Joe Cone, Oregon Sea Grant’s assistant director and communications leader,  about the challenges of communicating climate science to lay audiences, even in coastal communities that stand to suffer the most from sea level rise and other results of climate change.

The article is based on Cone’s NOAA-funded research, with collaborators in Maine, into the concerns of people and communities around the subject, and how their personal beliefs and attitudes can shape their approach to climate information.

Cone’s research led to a series of publications aimed at scientists, educators, science writers and others involved in communicating with the public about climate change and other complex science topics:

Sea Grant coastal erosion, climate work in Terra

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High waves on the Oregon coastIncreasing winter storms since the 1980s have been sending higher, harder waves crashing into the Oregon coast, cutting away at seacliffs, roads and infrastructure in an area never known for its seismic stability. Scientists say the increased storm activity is consistent with predictions for the sorts of hazards the world’s coastlines will face as an effect of changing climate.

In Oregon, Sea Grant is partnering with communities and researchers to better understand the growing risks of coastal erosion, and to help counties and towns come up with plans for adapting to changes happening now, and predicted for the future.

In the latest issue of Terra, Oregon State University’s research magazine, Nick Houtman focuses on coastal hazard research and public engagement, highlighting the work Oregon Sea Grant is doing with Tillamook County and the town of Neskowin, where coastal hazards specialist Pat Corcoran has been working with a local group to develop the state’s first coastal hazards action plan.

Read the full article at Terra online

Rising ocean temperatures: More male fish, fewer females?

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Warming oceans could cause some fish species to produce too many males – and too few females – to sustain their populations, say scientists in Spain and Oregon.

Time magazine reports that Francesc Piferrer and other scientists working at Barcelona’s Institute of Marine Sciences have proved that rising water temperatures caused some species of fish to produce a disproportionate ratio of males to females, through a mechanism called epigenesis.

Unlike humans, whose sex is determined at fertilization by combinations of chromosomes from their parents, sex differentiation in most fish occurs during embryonic development. And in some species, the trigger that causes some fish to develop ovaries (and thus become female) turns out to be temperature-linked. Piferrer’s research suggests that a 3°C or 4°C temperature increase (roughly 37-39°F) could cause those species to go from a roughly 50-50 male-female ration to 80 percent male – bad news for the species’ survival.

Oregon State University fish biologist Scott Heppell, who studies rockfish and other species with Oregon Sea Grant support, reports that some canary rockfish populations are already showing more males than females. Although there are too many variables, thus far, for scientists to pinpoint the cause, Heppell says “The data shows a skew toward males, and the modeling shows that if this skew is real, then the population is in more trouble.”

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2103333,00.html#ixzz1iPhKVdNS

 

Sea level rise, increasing storms and the Pacific coast

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Storm waves hitting central Oregon coastNEWPORT – Oregon State University geoscientist Peter Ruggiero will speak at the Hatfield Marine Science Center tonight (Oct. 25) on “The Role of Sea Level Rise and Increasing Storminess in PNW Coastal Change and Flood Hazards.”

The talk starts at 7 pm in the Hennings Auditorium at the HMSC Visitor Center.

Ruggiero is part of a team of scientists from OSU and the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries who have been studying increased storm activity and resulting wave height off the Oregon coast, and its effects on erosion, flooding and other hazards.

This past January, the team published an assessment suggesting that maximum heights could be as much as 40 percent higher than previous record levels, especially in the stormy winter months of December and January.  The report said that the cause of these dramatically higher waves is not completely certain, but “likely due to Earth’s changing climate.”

Combined with the effects of sea level rise, higher maximum waves could have implications for erosion, flood control, property damage and development regulations up and down the Pacific Northwest coast.

Ruggiero’s team has received support for its work from Oregon Sea Grant (2008-2010) and from the NOAA Climate Program.

Volcanic vents offer peek at acidic future

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The underwater volcanoes off a tiny Italian island are helping scientists peer into the future of a world altered by increasing amounts of carbon dioxide emitted into the air and absorbed into the oceans.

The waters just off the island of Ischia mirror the projected conditions of the Earth’s oceans at the beginning of the next century because the volcanic vents found there infuse the water with large helpings of carbon dioxide, or CO2, which turns seawater acidic.

Research has shown that the growing acidic conditions are harmful to some sea creatures — those that build their protective shells with calcium are increasingly prevented from doing so the more acidic waters become.

The fates of these creatures and the stability of the ocean food chain are a major concern over the next century and beyond because of the carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere by humans, as the oceans absorb about 30 percent of this carbon dioxide.

“One part of climate change that is indisputable is that CO2 is rising in the atmosphere — it’s easy to measure,” said Bill Chadwick, an Oregon State University geologist. “And it’s indisputable that it is making the oceans more acidic — we can measure it.”

(Oregon Sea Grant has supported previous deep-sea research projects by Dr. Chadwick).

Oregon Sea Grant video cover wins Silver Award

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Coastal Climate Change coverThe cover for Oregon Sea Grant’s video Preparing for Coastal Climate Change: What Oregonians Are Asking has won a Silver Award in the “Best Cover—Print/Other” category of the 2011 Magnum Opus Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Custom Media. There were 560 entries in this year’s competition, and the Silver Award was the top award given in the “Best Cover” category.

According to Magnum Opus, professors from the Missouri School of Journalism, along with leading custom-publishing professionals, judge the awards based on “informational and entertainment value, quality of writing and display copy, creative use of imagery and typography, and consistency of color palette and style.”

David Murray, director of the awards competition and editor-in-chief of ContentWise, said, “Your entry shone bright among an incredibly competitive field and bested the work submitted by your peers in the practice of marketing communications from around the globe. You should be proud.”

The jacket and label for Preparing for Coastal Climate Change were designed by Patricia Andersson of Oregon Sea Grant. The video was produced by Joe Cone, assistant director of Oregon Sea Grant; edited by Stevon Roberts; and supported in part by a grant from the NOAA Climate Program Office.

Copies of the video are available for $3 each plus shipping and handling from Oregon Sea Grant, 541-737-4849; or through Oregon Sea Grant’s e-commerce site at marketplace.oregonstate.edu. You may also view excerpts of the video on Sea Grant’s website.

Ocean acidification: Trouble for oysters

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Tiny oyster larvae, compared to a nickelCould increases in ocean acidity be partly to blame for larval die-offs that have plagued Northwest oyster producers for much of the past decade? Scientists and growers believe that may be the case – and they’re struggling to help the region’s lucrative shellfish industry adapt to the risk.

In a recent blog post for the Sightline Institute, a Pacific Northwest sustainable policy center, former Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Jennifer Langston talks to growers and scientist who are concerned about ocean acidification and the threat it poses for oyster growers in the Pacific Northwest.

According to Langston, West Coast oyster production dropped from 94 million pounds in 2005 to 73 million pounds in 2009, resulting in an $11 million loss in sales for what had become a $72 million-a-year industry.

Langston interviewed researchers at Oregon State University who have embarked on a major, multi-year investigation of  the effects of ocean acidification on oyster production. Among that team is OSU researcher Chris Langdon, who has received Oregon Sea Grant support for his research on the health and production of oysters, abalone and other shellfish.

While Langdon and others have identified toxic organisms  such as Vibrio tubiashii as part of the problem, there are also signs that increasing ocean acidity is playing a role in the die-off of larval oysters, which appears to worsen when ocean temperatures and currents cause water that’s high in carbon dioxide and low in pH (acidic) to well up and mix with the “good” water normally found in the oyster breeding beds.

Using what researchers have learned from their ongoing study of the issue, two major oyster producers have been able to adapt their practices to ocean conditions. Using a monitoring buoy as an early alert to changes in seawater chemistry, they were able to schedule production for “good water” periods, resulting in a strong rebound in production in the 2010 season. But concern about the state of the oceans remains.

Read the entire article in Sightline Institute’s blog.

Read more about the NOAA research project and how it has helped growers adjust their aquaculture practices.

[Photo courtesy of OSU Extension Service]

Sea Grant community assistance on climate changes: new article

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The Western Rural Development Center’s June issue of its Rural Connections magazine focuses on “climate change adaptations” and features a story about Sea Grant assistance in two Oregon coast communities dealing with effects of a changing climate. The communities aren’t named in the article [download the pdf] because the focus is on the different approaches taken in them, labelled for contrast as “classical” and “jazz.”

“Adapting to climate change will likely require a variety of approaches, as every community will have different needs, priorities, and resources,” write Joe Cone, Jenna Borberg, and Miriah Russo. “Outreach and engagement professionals have a variety of methodologies that can be employed,” and the Sea Grant authors hope the description of their approaches will stimulate their peers and ultimately lead to successful local climate adaptations.