Dr. Elizabeth (Libby) Jewett, a NOAA scientist with diverse science and management experience in ocean acidification and coastal hypoxia (low oxygen) research programs, will be the first director of NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program.
Established by Congress in 2009, the Ocean Acidification Program will plan and oversee a long-term coastal and open ocean monitoring program, lead research on the impacts of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems and the socioeconomic implications of these impacts. It will also provide educational opportunities to learn about this threat through national public outreach and coordinate activities with other agencies, nongovernmental groups and the international community.
Ocean acidification is a change in the chemistry of the ocean that results in seawater becoming more acidic because the ocean is absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This increase in ocean acidity makes it difficult for many ocean plants and animals to make or maintain their shells or skeletons. According to NOAA’s Ocean and Great Lakes Acidification Research Plan, a more acidic ocean has the potential to seriously threaten the health of the world’s oceans and the significant economic benefit they provide to humans.
Jewett has led the nation‘s only two national hypoxia research funding programs as Hypoxia Research Program manager at the Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research in NOAA’s National Ocean Service. In this role, she has strived to make the funded science relevant to the management of coastal ecosystems, especially in the Chesapeake Bay and northern Gulf of Mexico. At the same time, she has taken leadership roles in NOAA-wide and interagency organizations focused on ocean acidification and its effect on ecosystems.
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We’re monitoring the response of the Great Barrier Reef to changes in water chemistry, including ocean acidity, and other stressors such as warming.
