Aug 22, 2022

Annual research trip off Oregon coast gives students once in a lifetime experience at sea

Most things that humans build need a little maintenance every now and again. That’s no different for the Regional Cabled Array, a high-tech engineering marvel off the Pacific Northwest coast studded with all kinds of oceanographic equipment that gives humans a real-time, 24/7 look at what’s happening under the sea surface. The lengths that scientists and engineers go to keep the array working and up to snuff is extraordinary, and they are currently at sea providing its annual check-up.

Whodunnit? Uncovering the mystery of a tiny toxin killing shellfish in Puget Sound

Around 50 years ago, Pacific oysters in the Puget Sound started dying at noticeably increasing rates during the summer, causing residents and scientists to wonder why. Researchers in what is now the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences investigated many factors that may cause mortalities such as bacteria, reproductive stress related to spawning and changes in other environmental conditions. The evidence collected pointed towards stress on the animals when they spawn, as the Pacific oyster spends a lot of their energy on reproduction.

New study: 2021 heat wave created ‘perfect storm’ for shellfish die-off

Dead oysters seen along a shoreline in Washington state, following a record heat wave in summer 2021.

It’s hard to forget the excruciating heat that blanketed the Pacific Northwest in late June 2021. Temperatures in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia soared to well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with Seattle setting an all-time heat record of 108 degrees on June 28. During the heat wave, also called a heat dome, scientists and community members alike noticed a disturbing uptick of dying and dead shellfish on some beaches in Washington and British Columbia, both in the Salish Sea and along the outer coast.

Unchecked global emissions on track to initiate mass extinction of marine life

Oceanographers reported that unless greenhouse gas emissions are curbed, marine biodiversity could be on track to plummet to levels not seen since the extinction of the dinosaurs. The study authors modeled future marine biodiversity under projected climate scenarios and found that species such as dolphinfish, or mahi mahi (large fish in foreground shown here) would be imperiled as warming oceans decrease the ocean’s oxygen supply while increasing marine life’s metabolic demands.

As greenhouse gas emissions continue to warm the world’s oceans, marine biodiversity could be on track to plummet within the next few centuries to levels not seen since the extinction of the dinosaurs, according to research from the University of Washington and Princeton University. Oceanographers modeled future marine biodiversity under different projected climate scenarios. They found that if emissions are not curbed, species losses from warming and oxygen depletion alone could come to mirror the substantial impact humans already have on marine biodiversity by around 2100.

Experiments measure freezing point of extraterrestrial oceans to aid search for life

This image, taken by the Galileo spacecraft in 1996, shows two views of Jupiter’s ice-covered satellite, Europa. The left image shows the approximate natural color while the right is colored to accentuate features. Europa is about 3,160 kilometers (1,950 miles) in diameter, or about the size of Earth’s moon.

Researchers from the University of Washington and the University of California, Berkeley have conducted experiments that measured the physical limits for the existence of liquid water in icy extraterrestrial worlds. This blend of geoscience and engineering was done to aid in the search for extraterrestrial life and the upcoming robotic exploration of oceans on moons of other planets. The results were recently published in Cell Reports Physical Sciences.