Apr 6, 2016

Scientists recommend immediate plan to combat changes to West Coast seawater chemistry

Marine shelled organisms in Washington are already having difficulty forming their protective outer shells, and the local shellfish industry is seeing high mortality rates in early life stages of some commercially important shellfish species when shell formation is critical.

Global carbon dioxide emissions are triggering troubling changes to ocean chemistry along the West Coast that require immediate, decisive actions to combat through a coordinated regional approach, a panel of scientific experts has unanimously concluded. A failure to adequately respond to this fundamental change in seawater chemistry, known as ocean acidification, is anticipated to have devastating ecological consequences for the West Coast in the decades to come, the 20-member West Coast Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia (OAH) Science Panel warned in a comprehensive report unveiled April 4.

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Apr 1, 2016

Global ocean fish populations could increase while providing more food, income

Most of the world’s wild fisheries could be at healthy levels in just 10 years, and global fish populations could greatly increase by 2050 with better fishing approaches, according to a new study co-authored by University of Washington researchers. The new report, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also explains how the world’s fisheries could produce more seafood and increase profits for fishermen by 204 percent by the year 2050, if reforms such as secure fishing rights are implemented now.

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Mar 30, 2016

Marine Science

Tracking 'marine heatwaves' since 1950 and how the 'blob' stacks up

The coast of the Pacific Northwest from space

Unusually warm oceans can have widespread effects on marine ecosystems. Warm patches off the Pacific Northwest from 2013 to 2015, and a couple of years earlier in the Atlantic Ocean, affected everything from sea lions to fish migrations to coastal weather. A University of Washington oceanographer is lead author of a study looking at the history of such features across the Northern Hemisphere.

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Mar 18, 2016

UW Environment’s Abigail Swann and Alex Gagnon receive NSF Early Career Award

Abigail Swann, assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences and Department of Biology and Alex Gagnon, assistant professor with the School of Oceanography, each recently received an Early Faculty Development (CAREER) Program Award from the National Science Foundation. Swann works to understand when, where, and how plants influence the climate, and will receive support for her project titled “Ecosystem-driven Accelerations and Oscillations in the Coupled Earth System.”

UW video on clingfish takes top prize at Ocean 180 competition

Sometimes all it takes is artistic drive, a beneficial collaboration, and one charismatic critter to take home gold. A University of Washington team won first place in a science communication video contest that culminated during the recent Ocean Sciences Meeting. The entries were critiqued and evaluated beforehand by more than 37,000 middle-school student judges hailing from 1,600 classrooms in 17 different countries.

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