Ocean observation research theme under ArCS project, “Theme 4: Observational research on Arctic Ocean environmental changes”, aimed to elucidate the status and trends of ongoing Arctic Ocean environmental changes and to evaluate their impacts on Arctic marine ecosystem and the global climate system. For these purposes, we conducted field observations, mooring observations, laboratory experiments, numerical modeling, and international collaborative research focusing on the Pacific Arctic Region (PAR) and from Pan-Arctic point of views. As a result, we have published several scientific studies on environmental changes and their impact on the climate and ecosystem. In this manuscript, we compiled these results with some concluding remarks. We found physical environmental changes of water cycle, sea-ice and ocean conditions, heat transport, and ocean mixing in the Arctic Ocean and surrounding areas. We also examined chemical properties, carbon, cycle, and ocean acidification in the Arctic Ocean. In addition, new findings regarding impacts of sea-ice reduction to primary productivities were published. For public outreach of Arctic research, we were able to develop an educational tool (a board game named “The Arctic”) in collaboration with Themes 6 and 7.
Continue reading ‘Status and trends of Arctic Ocean environmental change and its impacts on marine biogeochemistry: findings from the ArCS project’Archive for the 'Projects' Category
Status and trends of Arctic Ocean environmental change and its impacts on marine biogeochemistry: findings from the ArCS project
Published 27 January 2021 Projects , Science ClosedTags: Arctic, chemistry, education, review
Coastal Ocean Data Analysis Product in North America (CODAP-NA) – An internally consistent data product for discrete inorganic carbon, oxygen, and nutrients on the U.S. North American ocean margins
Published 26 January 2021 Projects , Science ClosedTags: biogeochemistry, chemistry, methods, North Atlantic, North Pacific
Internally-consistent, quality-controlled data products play a very important role in promoting regional to global research efforts to understand societal vulnerabilities to ocean acidification (OA). However, there are currently no such data products for the coastal ocean where most of the OA-susceptible commercial and recreational fisheries and aquaculture industries are located. In this collaborative effort, we compiled, quality controlled (QC), and synthesized two decades of discrete measurements of inorganic carbon system parameters, oxygen, and nutrient chemistry data from the U.S. North American continental shelves, to generate a data product called the Coastal Ocean Data Analysis Product for North America (CODAP-NA). There are few deep-water (> 1500 m) sampling locations in the current data product. As a result, cross-over analyses, which rely on comparisons between measurements on different cruises in the stable deep ocean, could not form the basis for cruise-to-cruise adjustments. For this reason, care was taken in the selection of data sets to include in this initial release of CODAP-NA, and only data sets from laboratories with known quality assurance practices were included. New consistency checks and outlier detections were used to QC the data. Future releases of this CODAP-NA product will use this core data product as the basis for secondary QC. We worked closely with the investigators who collected and measured these data during the QC process. This version of the CODAP-NA is comprised of 3,292 oceanographic profiles from 61 research cruises covering all continental shelves of North America, from Alaska to Mexico in the west and from Canada to the Caribbean in the east. Data for 14 variables (temperature; salinity; dissolved oxygen concentration; dissolved inorganic carbon concentration; total alkalinity; pH on the Total Scale; carbonate ion concentration; fugacity of carbon dioxide; and concentrations of silicate, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, nitrate plus nitrite, and ammonium) have been subjected to extensive QC. CODAP-NA is available as a merged data product (Excel, CSV, MATLAB, and NetCDF, https://doi.org/10.25921/531n-c230, https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/ncei/ocads/metadata/0219960.html) (Jiang et al., 2020). The original cruise data have also been updated with data providers’ consent and summarized in a table with links to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) archives (https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/ocean-acidification-data-stewardship-oads/synthesis/NAcruises.html).
Continue reading ‘Coastal Ocean Data Analysis Product in North America (CODAP-NA) – An internally consistent data product for discrete inorganic carbon, oxygen, and nutrients on the U.S. North American ocean margins’Researchers collaborate to study impact of ocean acidification on Northeast fisheries, develop management tools
Published 26 January 2021 Projects , Web sites and blogs ClosedA multi-institution team led by UConn researchers is using computer modeling and biological research to help northeast scallop fisheries facing the threat of ocean acidification.
A multidisciplinary, multi-institution effort is bringing together computer modeling, biological, and social science research to inform management policies for Northeast scallop fisheries facing the threat of ocean acidification.
The $1,034,822 project sponsored by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Acidification Program includes researchers from the University of Connecticut, NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation (CFRF), and Rutgers University.
Continue reading ‘Researchers collaborate to study impact of ocean acidification on Northeast fisheries, develop management tools’The case for a global ocean carbon observation network
Published 9 December 2020 Projects , Web sites and blogs ClosedSince 1958, the Global Carbon Budget has tracked anthropogenic CO2 emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and land. Annual budgeting is necessary due to large year-to-year variability in CO2 sources (primarily fossil fuels) and sinks (primarily climate driven). However, uncertainties remain, due to a lack of data, that hinder both research seeking to better understand the global carbon cycle and efforts to independently verify reported CO2 emissions. To refine our understanding of how much atmospheric carbon the planet—and the life it supports—can tolerate, we must significantly increase observational data collection, especially in remote, chronically undersampled regions.
Saildrone proposes a global fleet of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) for sustained carbon monitoring, supported by a public-private partnership made up of the international science community and private companies developing innovative solutions for ocean observation.
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Seeking impact partners
Saildrone proposes a global fleet of 40 vehicles to collect carbon data for sustained monitoring. Saildrone’s USVs are environmentally friendly, using wind power for propulsion and solar power to run the onboard sensors, computers, and satellite and navigation instruments. In addition to carbon data, each Saildrone autonomous vehicle collects nearly two dozen meteorological and oceanographic metrics above and below the sea surface at a frequency of 1 minute or greater.
Continue reading ‘The case for a global ocean carbon observation network’Princeton project expands to create a worldwide fleet of robotic floats to monitor ocean health
Published 30 October 2020 Projects , Science ClosedOn October 29, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a $53 million grant — shared among a consortium of the country’s top ocean research institutions — to build a global network of chemical and biological sensors that will monitor ocean health.
Scientists at Princeton University, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), University of Washington, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will use this grant to build and deploy 500 robotic ocean monitoring floats around the globe. The new program builds on the successful Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM) project based at Princeton that has deployed similar floats in the ocean around Antarctica, proving their usefulness as year-round reporters of ocean chemistry and biological activity.
Continue reading ‘Princeton project expands to create a worldwide fleet of robotic floats to monitor ocean health’Since 2008 the NOAA’s Ocean Acidification program (OAP) buoy has been installed in La Parguera, Puerto Rico where oceanographic studies of chemistry, biology, geology, and physics of the Caribbean Sea have been conducted for more than 50 years. Below is a video on La Parguera and Ocean Acidification.
Cir#20/84: Pacific Islands survey to assess Pacific members capacity to monitor and study ocean acidification
Published 21 October 2020 Projects , Web sites and blogs ClosedSPREP is working with the Ocean Foundation and NOAA to develop a new three-year project focused on building capacity to monitor and study ocean acidification in the Pacific Islands.
The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). Circular.
Building CapacIty in Ocean AcidificaTion MoniToring in the Gulf of GuineA (BIOTTA)
Published 12 August 2020 Projects ClosedThe Gulf of Guinea (GoG) is host to many distinct ecosystems, among which is the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem extending from the intense upwelling area of the Guinea Current in the north to the Benguela Current in the south. The GoG region is however, characterized by a high poverty rate within fishing communities, with an average daily income of USD 6.1 for over 610,000 artisanal fishers (IDAF, 1997), with the situation getting worse in recent times due to continual decline in fish landings. Dotted along the relatively wide continental shelf of the GoG are several lagoonal/estuarine systems including adjacent coastal marine waters that provide livelihood benefits i.e., nutrition and jobs to deprived communities living around them. The productive waters of the GoG support shellfish (oysters, mussels, clams, crabs etc.) and a diverse finfish fishery which provide significant livelihood income to coastal communities in countries such as Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria etc. Climate change in West Africa is characterized by increasing temperatures, changing ocean pH, erratic rainfall patterns and an increase in the number of extreme events. Changing ocean pH coupled with other climate and non-climate stressors such as pollution and overfishing present huge threats to the future of the fishery and other marine resources in the region. A lack of skills in the measurement of ocean acidification (OA) hinders ocean observation which puts the fishery and other marine biological resources in the GoG at a greater risk. This deficit in ocean acidification measurement skills forestalls our understanding of species vulnerability to changing pH. The BIOTTA working group will equip graduate students, early career ocean scientists and other marine science professionals in the GoG region with skills on sustainable OA data acquisition to expand our understanding of the threats, risks and impacts to marine ecosystems and chart pathways for sustainable management of marine resources at risk to OA in the GoG region.
Video: What is the global community doing to address ocean acidification?
Published 9 July 2020 Projects ClosedSOCAT version 2020 was released on the 16th of June 2020, containing data submitted on or before 15th of January 2020. Data submissions for the next version are welcome at any time, and will be included in the next SOCAT release in 2021.
SOCAT version 2020 contains 28.2 million in situ surface ocean fCO2 (fugacity of CO2) measurements for the global ocean and coastal seas with an accuracy < 5 μatm, while a further 2.3 million fCO2 values with an accuracy of 5 to 10 μatm are made available separately. The Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (www.socat.info) documents the increase in surface ocean CO2 (carbon dioxide), a critical measure as the oceans are taking up one quarter of the global CO2 emissions from human activity. The SOCAT community-led synthesis product is a key step in the value chain based on in situ inorganic carbon measurements of the oceans, which provides policy makers with essential information on ocean CO2 uptake in climate negotiations. The global need for accurate knowledge of ocean CO2 uptake and its variation makes sustained funding for in situ surface ocean CO2 observations imperative. The annual SOCAT release is a Voluntary Commitment for SDG 14.3 (#OceanAction20464) and contributes to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
Survey on ocean acidification impacts on coral reefs (in French)
Published 25 March 2020 Projects ClosedLes récifs coralliens sont réputés pour leurs magnifiques paysages sous-marins colorés, mais ce sont des écosystèmes lointains pour une grande partie d’entre nous. Nous avons besoin de protéger ces écosystèmes exceptionnels et pour cela nous souhaitons faire un bilan sur l’état des connaissances sur les récifs coralliens. Aidez-nous en remplissant ce questionnaire.
Ce court sondage ne vous prendra pas plus de 10 minutes. Bien évidemment, vos réponses resteront totalement anonymes. Nous vous remercions par avance pour votre précieuse contribution !
Continue reading ‘Survey on ocean acidification impacts on coral reefs (in French)’
Call for manuscripts: Microbial response to a rapidly changing marine environment: global warming and ocean acidification
Published 19 March 2020 Projects , Science ClosedSubmission Deadlines
30 June 2020: Abstract
31 October 2020: Manuscript
About this Research Topic
Under the global climate change, the world’s oceans are warming more quickly than previously thought. The ocean warming could lead to remarkable changes in marine environments, such as ocean deoxygenation, acidification, and sea ice melting. Marine ecosystems are undergoing significant changes due to the current environmental changes caused by a rapidly warming ocean.
Microbial communities are diverse and productive assemblages, including phytoplankton, protists, and the two main groups of prokaryotes (Bacteria and Archaea). Since they drive major biogeochemical cycles and support higher food-webs globally, microbes are a vital component of the marine ecosystem. Moreover, microbes can be an important indicator for the environmental changes, because physiological and ecological alterations in microbial communities can herald changes not only in pathways of energy transfer through food-web but also in biogeochemical cycles. Considering the microbial communities’ pivotal roles in ongoing climate change, it is important to understand which current changes in microbial communities have occurred to date and which future changes might arise under ongoing environmental forcing of the warming ocean.
NOAA graduate research fellowship in ocean, coastal, and estuarine acidification
Published 10 March 2020 Projects ClosedThe Louisiana and Texas Sea Grant Programs, in partnership with the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (OAP), are pleased to announce the availability of Ocean Acidification Graduate Research Fellowships for the two-year period covering the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 academic years. The fellowship provides a total award of $46,000 per year for two years.
The fellowship is open to full-time graduate students at any academic institution in Louisiana and Texas who are engaged in coastal and marine research relevant to regional ocean, coastal, and estuarine acidification. In addition to supporting the student’s academic expenses, the fellowship will provide additional professional development opportunities throughout its duration, focusing on science communication, management application, outreach, and other Sea Grant and OAP activities and mission priorities.
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Call for proposals: Ocean Acidification Information Exchange microgrants
Published 11 December 2019 Program , Projects ClosedBackground:
The mission of the Ocean Acidification Information Exchange is to respond and adapt to ocean and coastal acidification by fostering an online environment built on trust, where our members, regardless of background, feel empowered to ask, answer, and learn from one another. By promoting the collegial exchange of information across disciplines and geographical boundaries, our goal is to facilitate the creation of more holistic, effective response strategies and share lessons learned. To that end, we are offering grants for members of the site who propose innovative strategies for leveraging the OA Information Exchange’s collaboration tools to advance our community’s mission, facilitate their own work related to ocean and coastal acidification and expand the reach/utility of the OA Information Exchange.
Project Ideas:
These are provided as examples of projects that would likely receive funding based on the criteria of this RFP.
Continue reading ‘Call for proposals: Ocean Acidification Information Exchange microgrants’
The US announces continued support to the IAEA Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre (OA-ICC) at 2019 Our Oceans Conference
Published 25 October 2019 Projects ClosedThe United States announced USD 316,830 to two Nuclear Sciences and Applications projects through the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Peaceful Uses Initiative. The contributions include USD 251,670 to the Ocean Acidification International Coordination Center (OA-ICC) located at the Environment Laboratories in Monaco. The OA-ICC works to promote, facilitate, and communicate global activities on ocean acidification and serves as a hub to bring together scientists, policy makers, media, schools, the general public, and other ocean acidification stakeholders. Since 2010, the United States has allocated a total of more than USD 3.4 million to the OA-ICC. The United States also announced a contribution of USD 65,160 to a continuing IAEA project, “Marine Plastics: Tackling the Challenge Using Nuclear Applications.” This project seeks to develop and apply radio-labelling techniques to assess how marine microplastic particles and their associated adsorbed organic pollutants are bioaccumulated in marine organisms, and evaluate effects to organisms. Since 2010 the United States has allocated over USD 620,000 to this project.
Request review of manual for real-time quality control of pH data observations: a guide to quality control and quality assurance for pH observations
Published 5 July 2019 Projects , Science ClosedThe U.S. IOOS QARTOD project (https://ioos.noaa.gov/project/qartod/) has initiated the development of a Manual for Real-Time Quality Control of pH Data Observations: A Guide to Quality Control and Quality Assurance for pH Observations in Coastal Oceans. The manual builds upon the existing twelve QARTOD manuals and the generous support from hundreds of contributors. They are unique in their focus on real-time QC, and are produced through an expanding series of reviews which ultimately result in a document that reflects present community thinking. They are living manuals, that are maintained and updated to ensure they remain accurate and relevant.
SOCAT version 2019 was released on the 18th of June 2019, containing data submitted on or before 15th of January 2019. New data submissions are welcome at any time, and will be included in the next SOCAT release.
SOCAT data are released in versions. Each succeeding version contains new data sets as well as updates of older ones. The first version of SOCAT was released in 2011, the second and third version followed biennially. Automation allowed annual public releases since version 4. The latest SOCAT version (version 2019) has 25.7 million observations from 1957 to 2019 for the global oceans and coastal seas. Calibrated sensor data are also available.
Oregon’s draft ocean acidification & hypoxia action plan
Published 14 June 2019 Newsletters and reports , Projects ClosedThis OAH Action Plan was developed in recognition of the OAH impacts that we see today, in the hopes of minimizing the impacts for tomorrow, and altering the trajectory of ocean changes for future generations. Because Oregon is one of the first states to feel the impacts of OAH, it is our intent that the OAH Action Plan will contain actions that are meaningful locally, and in fighting the global challenges of climate and ocean changes. Additionally, the Action Plan will serve as a model for others to apply to their own geographical and political context. Once adopted by Governor Brown, the Action Plan will guide Oregon’s efforts and become Oregon’s submission to the International Alliance to Combat Ocean Acidification, and thus will be shared with the region and world.
Continue reading ‘Oregon’s draft ocean acidification & hypoxia action plan’
Request for community feedback: practical guidelines for ocean acidification research
Published 4 June 2019 Projects , Science ClosedA group of 15 scientists from 7 countries, IOC-UNESCO, and the IAEA met at the IAEA Environment Laboratories in Monaco on 29-31 May 2019 to discuss practical guidelines for ocean acidification monitoring and experimental studies. The meeting was organized by the IAEA Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre (OA-ICC) in partnership with the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON) and The Ocean Foundation. During this meeting, the participants worked on a list of tools useful for “GOA-ON in a Box” users and those starting ocean acidification research. The plan is to release these resources as a package for the community.
Requests for proposals: blue carbon restoration in Latin America and the Caribbean
Published 4 June 2019 Projects ClosedThe Ocean Foundation (TOF) is seeking multi-year proposals under the Ocean Acidification Monitoring and Mitigation (OAMM) project for blue carbon restoration (seagrass, mangrove, or salt marsh) in the Latin American and Caribbean Region.
TOF will fund one proposal for the region with a budget not to exceed US $90,000. TOF is soliciting multiple proposals which will then be reviewed by an expert panel for selection. Projects must be focused in one of the following four countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Jamaica, or Panama and must be coordinated with ocean acidification monitoring projects recently funded in these same countries by TOF. Proposals are due by June 30th, 2019. Decisions will be communicated by July 15th, 2019 for work to commence no later than August 15th, 2019.
