天美影视传媒 students, faculty and staff are part of the fifth that will investigate changes to ocean chemistry from Baja to British Columbia. The ship left Thursday from San Diego to begin sampling on Mexico’s northern coast. It will stop May 21 at San Francisco’s Exploratorium Pier, then travel as far as northern Vancouver Island before ending in Seattle in early June.
Follow along with the , which is being coordinated from shore by , ocean acidification specialist with UW-based .
The team aboard the Research Vessel Ronald H. Brown includes 36 scientists from the UW, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other institutions in the U.S., Mexico, Canada and Europe. Chief scientists are for the first leg, and for the second leg, both NOAA scientists who hold affiliate faculty appointments in the UW School of Oceanography.
“The acidity of West Coast water is anticipated to continue to accelerate in lockstep with rising atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions,” Feely said in a about the cruise.
The voyage will include 16 stops to sample acidity, temperature, oxygen and chlorophyll, an indication of marine plant growth. The researchers will also use nets to sample ocean plants and animals to learn how they are being affected by acidifying seawater.
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UW postdoctoral researcher is collecting samples for her research on sea snails, or pteropods. UW graduate student , in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, is aboard for the first leg, and undergraduate student and graduate student , both in the UW School of Oceanography, will participate in the second leg.
Also participating are UW research scientists , and and lab technician , all with the UW’s Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean.
Washington state observation stations include stops off the Olympic Peninsula at the end of May to collect data at Cape Elizabeth, near Taholah, and Cape Alava, near Lake Ozette. Other nearby sampling locations include the mouth of the Columbia River and Barkley Sound in British Columbia.
The first such NOAA cruise to look at West Coast ocean acidification took place in 2007, and the most recent ones were in 2011 and 2013. This year’s cruise includes more types of biological and chemical sampling, and is billed as the most integrated West Coast ocean acidification cruise to date.
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For more information, contact Chadsey at mchadsey@uw.edu or 206-616-1538.