Ocean temperatures and their connections to weather trends have been making news. Five 91探花 experts offer their perspectives on the current El Ni帽o 鈥� a climate pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean that affects weather worldwide. 91探花researchers comment on the current El Ni帽o, its effect on weather in the Pacific Northwest, as well as on regional and global ocean temperature trends.

, a 91探花research scientist at the , comments on the developing El Ni帽o:

“This El Ni帽o has evolved in a really interesting way. Since spring, the dynamical models have very confidently predicted an El Ni帽o event. But while the key region of the tropical Pacific has warmed quickly, the typical atmospheric response has lagged. The atmosphere in the tropical Pacific is only now becoming more typical of an El Ni帽o event, although it is still not fully matching the ocean surface. That鈥檚 unusual, because the tropical ocean and atmosphere tend to evolve together.

“It will be interesting to see how this El Ni帽o continues to evolve over the next few months, which will help determine the extent of impacts on our upcoming winter weather. Remote impacts in places like Seattle tend to be stronger for stronger El Ni帽o events. While sea surface temperature has typically been the main measure, the impacts might very well depend more on the atmospheric response. So the evolution of the system over the next few months will be key to the eventual local impacts in places like Seattle.”

Dennis Hartmann, professor of atmospheric sciences at the UW, on El Ni帽o and its effects:

“The impact of El Ni帽o on the Pacific Northwest varies a lot from one event to the other, depending on the spatial structure and size of the sea surface temperature changes in the tropics, and on the state of the atmosphere between the tropics and the Pacific Northwest. For that reason, the predictions of Pacific Northwest impacts based upon El Ni帽o events that happened in the past are quite uncertain.

“In addition, the climate has warmed significantly in both the tropics and outside the tropics since some of the prior big El Ni帽o events, in the 1970s and 1980s. That may add an additional complication to making an accurate forecast of how this winter will be different because of the current El Ni帽o event.”

Nick Bond, a research scientist at CICOES and Washington鈥檚 state climatologist, on El Ni帽o and its effects on Washington鈥檚 weather:

“El Ni帽o conditions are present now in the tropical Pacific Ocean, and they are very likely to persist through the coming winter. The effects on Washington鈥檚 weather are expected to feature relatively warm, and perhaps drier, weather than usual after Jan. 1, and ultimately a lower-than-normal snowpack in our mountains at the end of winter. El Ni帽o’s impacts on the weather in Washington state tend to be more consistent in the middle to latter part of the winter.

“But this is not written in stone 鈥� there has been variability among past El Ni帽os in terms of effects on Washington鈥檚 winter weather.”

Jan Newton, senior principal oceanographer at the 91探花Applied Physics Laboratory and director of the UW-based , on what oceanographers are seeing in regional waters:

“Conditions off Washington鈥檚 outer coast have varied and are mainly influenced by changes in coastal upwelling and downwelling in the Pacific Ocean. Temperatures off the outer coast are now 4 degrees Fahrenheit (about 2 degrees Celsius) above normal, though variable.

“In Puget Sound, we鈥檙e starting to see surface water temperatures shift from cooler than normal, or normal, to consistently warmer than normal, but only by less than one degree Fahrenheit (half a degree Celsius). Given the large-scale warmth in the satellite-measured sea surface temperatures offshore, I do expect that we will continue to see warmer-than-normal sea temperatures in Puget Sound.聽 However, it鈥檚 hard to predict if these differences from the average will stay small or will increase. What happens next will depend on ocean conditions and local weather.”

LuAnne Thompson, 91探花professor of oceanography, on the :

“The recent acceleration of ocean warming in the Atlantic is unprecedented in the historical record, and has created an Atlantic-wide marine heat wave. The ability of the ocean to absorb and store vast amounts of heat makes these types of events last longer. I study marine heat waves with a focus on their evolution in time and space. However, with more long-lasting, basin-wide events, such as the one we are seeing now in the Atlantic Ocean, we will need to reevaluate our approach.

“At a particular location, a marine heat wave occurs when the sea surface temperature is above a threshold, defined by what is typical for that time of year, and lasts for at least five days. However, with the global warming projected over coming decades, these dangerous hot water events will no longer be localized and of finite duration 鈥� they will no longer fit the traditional definition of marine heat waves. Instead, these marine heat wave events will become more persistent and widespread, and eventually will cover entire ocean basins.”

For more information, contact Levine at aflevine@uw.edu, Hartmann at dhartm@uw.edu, Bond at nab3met@uw.edu, Newton at janewton@uw.edu and Thompson at luanne@uw.edu.

New research on the Pacific Northwest portion of the Dungeness crab fishery, which spans the West Coast of the U.S. and Canada, projects how this crustacean will fare under climate change.

Results show that by the end of this century, lower-oxygen water will pose the biggest threat. And while these crabs start as tiny, free-floating larvae, it鈥檚 the sharp-clawed adults that will be most vulnerable, specifically to lower-oxygen coastal waters in summer.

The open-access from researchers at the 91探花, the University of Connecticut and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will be in the December issue of AGU Advances, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

鈥淚ncluding all life stages allowed us to identify a critical life stage, and thus make a management recommendation,鈥� said co-author at the University of Connecticut, who began the study while at the UW. 鈥淟ooking seasonally, instead of annually, gives different 鈥� and more severe 鈥� vulnerability estimates.鈥�

Dungeness crab is the largest single-species fishery in the Northwestern U.S. Washington鈥檚 Dungeness Crab Festival takes place in October near the Dungeness Cove that gives the species its name, and the crustacean is a favorite of Pacific Northwest holiday meals and in traditional diets. The study was designed in consultation with the Hoh, Makah, Quileute and Quinault Indian Nation tribes, whose members harvest, study and eat Dungeness crab on Washington鈥檚 Olympic Peninsula.

The researchers used a detailed computer model of ocean conditions to simulate the shifting properties of the water the crabs inhabit. Using a scenario of high carbon emissions through 2100, the model looks at how heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere will make the ocean warmer, carbon dioxide transferred from the air will make the surface waters more acidic, and warmer water will hold less dissolved oxygen.

Previous research has shown that the Dungeness crab is vulnerable to climate change. Those studies focused on changes in ocean pH, while the new paper includes multiple ocean properties and uses a model that is more detailed in space and time.

Time and place are both important. Crabs mate in spring and females produce eggs in late fall. Eggs begin to hatch in January and release larvae, which float in the offshore currents while growing, shedding and regrowing their shells five times. In summer the fully developed larvae come back closer to shore and molt, becoming juvenile crabs that scamper on the ocean floor.

The authors used an ocean model to study the consequences of climate stressors at different times throughout the Dungeness crab鈥檚 life stages 鈥� from eggs, to larvae, to juveniles, to adults.

鈥淲e found that for all three stressors there will be increased population-level vulnerability, and the most severe is to low oxygen levels,鈥� said first author , a doctoral student at the University of Connecticut. 鈥淟ow-oxygen events happen during the coastal upwelling season in spring and summer, which impacts the adults, whereas ocean acidification manifests more year-round in the future, impacting all life stages but less severely.鈥�

Lab studies of Dungeness crab combined with model results suggest that the most severe effects will be lower dissolved oxygen along the coastal seafloor in summer, harming the adults. This is unlike other species, such as shellfish, which are thought to be most vulnerable in the larval stage.

Like other animals, crabs breathe oxygen. Warmer water holds less gas, so even if marine life can handle the higher temperature and acidity, the drop in oxygen may lower the chance for survival.

鈥淭he value of this down-scaled model is that it can help tribes and state agencies to focus their efforts in both space and time,鈥� said co-author , an oceanographer at the 91探花Applied Physics Laboratory and co-director of the . 鈥淭his information is very pertinent to resource managers.鈥�

The researchers say these results could be incorporated into decision-making as ocean conditions change.

鈥淎n example would be monitoring low-oxygen events in the summer, and maybe pulling the crab traps earlier,鈥� Berger said. 鈥淭his would help mitigate from the crabs dying in the trap.鈥�

Further research on the Dungeness crab should include more lab studies on how the species responds to multiple stressors. More generally, authors say, the study shows a way to understand how marine species with complex life stages will respond to climate change.

Other co-authors are and at the UW-based Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies; and at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and at the University of Connecticut.

The research was funded by NOAA and was part of a regional vulnerability assessment for the Olympic Coast to ocean acidification.

For more information, contact Siedlecki at samantha.siedlecki@uconn.edu, Newton at janewton@uw.edu and Berger at halle.berger@uconn.edu.

NOAA grant: NA17OAR0170166

Part of this text was adapted from a by the University of Connecticut.

Three separate 91探花 research teams have been awarded $750,000 each by the National Science Foundation to advance studies in misinformation and the ocean economy.

The for phase 1 of the Convergence Accelerator program鈥檚 2021 cohort. The federal agency hopes to build upon basic research and discovery to accelerate solutions in two critical areas: the 鈥溾�� and 鈥�.鈥�

One team, from the 91探花Applied Physics Laboratory, was selected for the 鈥淣etworked Blue Economy鈥� track topic, and two 91探花teams 鈥� one from the 91探花Information School and another from the APL 鈥� were selected for the 鈥淭rust and Authenticity in Communications Systems鈥� track.

Designed to transition basic research and discovery into practice, the Convergence Accelerator uses innovation processes like human-centered design, user discovery, team science, and integration of multidisciplinary research and partnerships. The Convergence Accelerator, now in its third year, aims to solve high-risk societal challenges through use-inspired convergence research, according to NSF.

The three projects that teams from the 91探花will lead include:

• The 鈥溾�� project, from the APL and industry partners, will produce a flexible proof-of-concept technology to help people evaluate the source of information and its reliability. Drawing on the fields of technology development, law, business, policy, curriculum development, community management, interdisciplinary research and finance, the team will develop tools and components to generate and communicate digital 鈥渢rust signals鈥� in various settings. The result will be a proof-of-concept for a verified information exchange that would support tools that users can deploy to assess the trustworthiness and authenticity of digital information. Workstreams are anticipated to include food system safety and security, bank and financial information systems, public health information systems, academic publication and supply chains. , a principal research scientist at the APL, is the lead investigator.
• The 鈥溾�� project team, composed of a multidisciplinary set of researchers from the UW, the University of Texas at Austin, Washington State University, Seattle Central College and Black Brilliance Research, will plan, facilitate and assess a series of seven workshops focusing on critical reasoning skills, the psychological and emotional aspects of information, and broader sociocultural dimensions of trust in information ecosystems. The workshop series will be hosted in collaboration with a diverse group of local stakeholders in Washington state and Texas, including urban and rural libraries, news outlets, civic organizations, and underrepresented communities. , an Information School associate professor and 91探花 co-founder, is the principal investigator on the project.
• In the 鈥溾�� project, three new community-run ocean sensors will provide Indigenous coastal communities with real-time data on the changing ocean environment. The floating systems, anchored to the seafloor, will be deployed in collaboration with coastal communities in Alaska, the Pacific Northwest and the Pacific Islands. Sofar Ocean鈥檚 existing buoy systems 鈥� designed to be affordable and convenient 鈥� can measure waves, sea surface temperature, cloudiness of the water, and water depth, and come equipped with solar power, satellite communication and potential for expansion. The project housed under will be done through the UW-based as well as its counterparts in Alaska and the Pacific Islands, which have long-standing, trusted relationships with Indigenous and coastal communities. , an oceanographer at the APL and the director of NANOOS, is the lead investigator.

Additionally, Assistant Professor and Associate Professor , both in the 91探花Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, are co-principal investigators on a team, led by the international grassroots community . That team aims to develop practical interventions to help individuals and community moderators analyze information quality, including misinformation, to build trust and address vaccine hesitancy. Zhang also is on another , based at the University of Michigan, that will help media platforms determine how to flag articles that contain misinformation.

During phase 1, each 91探花team will engage with the other members of their cohort in a fast-paced, nine-month hands-on journey, which includes the program鈥檚 innovation curriculum, formal pitch and phase 2 proposal evaluation. The program鈥檚 team-based approach creates a 鈥渃o-opetition鈥� environment, stimulating the sharing of innovative ideas toward solving complex challenges together, while in a competitive environment to try and progress to phase 2.

At the end of phase 1, each team participates in a formal pitch and proposal evaluation. Selected teams from phase 1 will proceed to phase 2, with potential funding up to $5 million for 24 months. Phase 2 teams will continue to apply Convergence Accelerator fundamentals to develop solution prototypes and to build a sustainability model to continue impact beyond NSF support.聽 By the end of phase 2, teams are expected to provide high-impact solutions that address societal needs at scale.

Launched in 2019, the NSF Convergence Accelerator program builds upon basic research and discovery to accelerate solutions toward societal impact. Using convergence research fundamentals and integration of innovation processes, it brings together multiple disciplines, expertise and cross-cutting partnerships to solve national-scale societal challenges.

The productive ocean off Washington state鈥檚 Olympic Coast supports an abundant web of life including kelp forests, fish, shellfish, seabirds and marine mammals. The harvest and use of these treaty-protected marine resources have been central to the local tribes鈥� livelihoods, food security and cultural practices for thousands of years. But ocean acidification is changing the chemistry of these waters, putting many coastal species 鈥� and the human communities that depend upon them 鈥� under threat.

With a new $700,000 grant awarded from the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program, scientists from the 91探花’s Applied Physics Laboratory, Washington Sea Grant and the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean have teamed with federal and tribal partners to study the social and ecological vulnerabilities of Olympic Coast ocean acidification. The collaborative team hopes their work will enable Pacific Northwest decision makers to better anticipate, evaluate and manage the significant and unique risks that ocean change presents to tribal communities.

鈥淭he goal of this project is to marry two currently disparate data sets; ocean chemistry and biological data collected by natural scientists, and social science data that includes how people use the resources that may be impacted,鈥� said , an oceanographer at the 91探花Applied Physics Laboratory.

Much of the first dataset already exists, as researchers from groups including UW, NOAA, the local tribes and the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary have been measuring these biological and chemical trends for the past few decades. The group will synthesize these existing data sets, and use social science to help to hone in on the trends that will have the biggest impacts to the local people 鈥� including members of the Hoh, Makah and Quileute tribes, and the Quinault Indian Nation 鈥� whose ways of life are inextricably tied to the marine environment.

When it comes to understanding the effects of ocean acidification, 鈥渢here鈥檚 a whole ocean of species scientists could focus on,鈥� explained , social scientist at Washington Sea Grant. 鈥淏ut we want to focus on the ones that are identified as the most important by the communities. What are the species and the food webs that the community depends upon for economic and cultural well-being 鈥� for their identity and traditional practices?鈥�

The collaborators will assess these and other questions related to the social dimensions of ocean acidification through community-participatory methods such as ethnographic interviews and workshops. Once they have synthesized the existing chemical and biological datasets and determined the roles of key marine species to the communities, the team will model future projections and estimate the impacts that ocean acidification will have on those species. Then, they will identify the aspects of community well-being that are most vulnerable to these ecological changes.

The researchers and tribal members will use the data to work together to find the next step: viable solutions that will help the community navigate these impacts. Ultimately, the group hopes to find community-driven strategies that can increase the ability of the tribes to prepare for and respond to how ocean acidification will affect them. They also hope the approach and techniques used in the project will be transferable to other communities who face similar challenges.

鈥淭he tie to the ocean is fundamental to who tribal people are 鈥� to their history, relationships, homelands 鈥� everything. The impacts to the ocean are felt deeply and in complex ways,鈥� said Poe. 鈥淎nd so the solutions also need to be carefully matched and driven by the community needs and priorities.鈥�

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For more information, contact Poe at mpoe@uw.edu or 206-685-8209 and Newton at newton@apl.washington.edu or 206-543-9152

Scientists with the 91探花 and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deployed a new tool this week that will constantly be on the lookout for harmful algal blooms and their toxins off the coast of La Push, Washington.

The Environmental Sample Processor, or ESP, was deployed May 23 for the first time off the Pacific Northwest coast with sensors to monitor specific algal species and a harmful toxin they emit, domoic acid. The tool will provide autonomous, near-real-time measurements of the amount of toxin and the concentrations of six potentially harmful algal species.

The instrument was placed 13 miles offshore in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. It is near the Juan de Fuca eddy, and in a where offshore Pseudo-nitzschia blooms 鈥� a common Pacific harmful algal species 鈥� travel to coastal beaches where they can contaminate shellfish. The tool sits about 50 feet below the surface near the , first deployed by researchers from NOAA and the 91探花Applied Physics Laboratory in 2010 to measure other variables such as temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, currents and acidity.

, an oceanographer at the 91探花Applied Physics Laboratory, led the deployment of the new instrument with , a scientist at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, as part of a larger collaborative project.

The was developed at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute to automate water-testing that normally requires a boat trip to sea and lab analyses. MBARI scientist Roman Marin helped install the instrument that will beam results back to shore three times a week for the next six weeks. The research team will collect the tool in July, and then deploy another to monitor during the late summer season.

The installation of new technology to monitor harmful algal blooms in the Pacific Northwest comes after a in 2015, and worries that such events could become under climate change.

The on bloom toxicity and algal species biomass will be made available directly to state coastal managers and public health officials, including coastal tribes, through the website of the UW-based , or NANOOS.

Coastal managers will use early warning data from the instrument to inform proactive shellfish toxicity testing, and facilitate timely decision-making on shellfish harvesting opportunities and closures.

“Anyone can access the data in near-real-time,” said , an oceanographer at the 91探花Applied Physics Laboratory and affiliate faculty member in the 91探花School of Oceanography, and director of NANOOS. “It’s an early warning sentry.”

The new data will also be made available to 91探花oceanographers to help develop a computer forecast, , that simulates how currents travel and affect local marine conditions along Washington’s coast and into Puget Sound and Canada’s Strait of Georgia.

The new tool’s deployment is part of a collaborative project led by the 91探花and NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center and funded by the NOAA-led U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System. Partners include NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, NANOOS, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Florida-based Spyglass Technologies, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Bellingham’s Northwest Indian College.

Ship time aboard the R/V Thomas G. Thompson to deploy the tool was provided by the 91探花School of Oceanography, and the crew included undergraduate students from the 91探花and the Northwest Indian College.

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For more information, contact Mickett at jmickett@apl.washington.edu or 206-897-1795, Newton at newton@apl.washington.edu or 206-543-9152, and Moore at 206-860-3327 or stephanie.moore@noaa.gov.

See a related on NOAA’s website.

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 , which included scientists from the 91探花 and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Seattle office, warned in a unveiled April 4.

鈥淭he findings of the West Coast OAH Science Panel build on those of the , extending those findings to the entire West Coast, and incorporating consideration of the growing stressor, hypoxia. The strength of the OAH Panel鈥檚 findings lies in the coordinated, regional approach to the problem and opportunities for mitigation and adaptation that are scaled to the West Coast,鈥� said , who participated in both panels and co-directs the . Klinger is also director and professor of the UW’s .

鈥淒ue to the combined impacts of ocean acidification and seasonal upwelling, the West Coast is exposed to unusually high volumes of seawater at elevated acidity levels,鈥� said Richard Feely of NOAA鈥檚 Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle.

Already, marine shelled organisms in Washington are 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.

鈥淭he acidity of West Coast waters is anticipated to continue to accelerate in lockstep with rising atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions,鈥� Feely added.

The panel鈥檚 final report, titled 鈥�,鈥� summarizes the state of the science around the anticipated impacts of these multiple stressors on our marine resources. It outlines a series of potential management actions that the governments of Washington, Oregon, California and British Columbia can immediately begin implementing to offset and mitigate the economic and ecological impacts of ocean acidification.

The panel is urging ocean management and natural resource agencies to develop highly coordinated, comprehensive multiagency solutions, including:

• Reducing carbon emissions is critical to addressing the root cause
• Exploring approaches that involve the use of seagrass to remove carbon dioxide from seawater
• Supporting wholesale revisions to water-quality criteria that are used as benchmarks for improving water quality, as existing water-quality criteria were not written to protect marine organisms from the damaging effects of ocean acidification
• Identifying strategies for reducing the amounts of land-based pollution entering coastal waters, especially in bays, estuaries and sounds, as this pollution can exacerbate the intensity of acidification in some locations
• Enhancing a West Coast-wide monitoring network that provides information toward development of coastal ecosystem management plans
• Supporting approaches that enhance the adaptive capacity of marine organisms to cope with ocean acidification

The report emphasized that global carbon emissions are the dominant cause of ocean acidification and that the West Coast states should advance regional carbon management strategies. The panel deliberately focused its recommendations around actions West Coast ocean management and natural resource agencies can take in each jurisdiction to combat the challenge at the regional level.

For example, the (MRAC) 鈥� formed after the Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification 鈥� is advancing the Blue Ribbon Panel鈥檚 ocean acidification strategies, helping Washington adapt and respond to ocean acidification. Its members plan to go to the state legislature in 2017 for more funding for research, monitoring, modeling and outreach.

The Washington Ocean Acidification Center is providing funds from the state legislature to shellfish growers to continue monitoring at five key sites in Puget Sound and Willapa Bay. The water-quality monitoring alerts growers to periods where conditions are not conducive for hatchery production so that they can maximize production and avoid losses due to ocean acidification.

The center is also partnering with NOAA Fisheries to perform experimental studies on Dungeness crab, and is collaborating with Washington Sea Grant to fund innovative, new experimental studies on the state’s salmon and sablefish.

鈥淭he Washington OA Center plays a role in coordinating science and monitoring, in collaboration with many partners, and then consistently communicating results to the MRAC, providing a critical link to policymakers and the legislature in Washington state. We find this structure to be an effective means of connecting science with policy and recommend that this type of coordination could be implemented along the West Coast,鈥� said , a 91探花oceanographer who co-directs the Washington Ocean Acidification Center and participated in both panels.

West Coast policymakers will use the panel鈥檚 recommendations to continue to advance management actions aimed at combating ocean acidification and hypoxia. This work will be coordinated through the Pacific Coast Collaborative, a coalition of the offices of the governors of Washington, Oregon, California, and the premier of British Columbia, which have been working together on ocean acidification since 2013.

The West Coast OAH Science Panel, which convened for a three-year period that ended in February, also has recommended the formation of a task force to continue to advance the scientific foundation for comprehensive, managerially relevant solutions to West Coast ocean acidification.

This was adapted from a release by the California Ocean Science Trust. .

The , through its education partner the 91探花, is deploying an oceanographic observing buoy in Bellingham Bay this week that will allow students both hands-on experience with the technology as well as the ability to study the data from their computers, through the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems, .

“It’s impressive to see NWIC students helping Western and 91探花collect important data from our oceans,” said Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island. “The collaboration between these three schools is key to monitoring what goes on in these waters.”

The goals of the Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction are to transcend traditional scientific, educational and societal boundaries to understand complex coastal margin issues. Through the organization, Northwest Indian College students have joined 91探花students on oceanography research cruises out of the UW’s Friday Harbor Laboratories.

91探花worked with Northwest Indian College, Western Washington University and the Lummi Nation Natural Resources Department to site the buoy and design its features. The buoy will provide the oceanographic data needed to understand fluctuations in harvested species like Dungeness crab and clams.

“NWIC students are excited about this project because it blends the latest technology with the needs of the Lummi community. This buoy will give students real-time, place-based data that can provide environmental context for in-class and capstone research. For many years NWIC students have enjoyed oceanographic opportunities provided by 91探花and CMOP; through this buoy we will continue this partnership. In fact, a number of students have stated that going on these cruises solidified their desire to become marine scientists,” said Marco Hatch, director of the Salish Sea Research Center at NWIC.

“This program is a great example of Pacific Northwest ingenuity at its best,” Ranker said. “These smart students and resourceful schools are helping to ensure the health of one of our most precious resources.”

The Lummi Nation has given a name to the buoy, Se’lhaem. Se’lhaem was an island located near the mouth of the Nooksack River, but disappeared some time ago. The island was important to the Lummi community as a place for harvesting butter clams, horse clams and cockles.

“This has been such a great project, to bring together students to gain very real experience with technology and science, to work with so many partners, and to provide much needed high-quality data about this part of the Salish Sea. Best of all, it will be a lasting legacy,” said project lead , a 91探花oceanographer.

91探花will work collectively with Western and Northwest Indian College to maintain the buoy, engaging students from all three institutions. Western research vessels will be used to deploy and maintain the buoy.

“We expect the data sets to be used in multiple classes at Western, and for students to have opportunities to participate in turnaround cruises, where they’ll experience how oceanography is done in the real world,” said Erika McPhee-Shaw, director of Western’s .

“Once these data sets have been streaming for a few years their value will be immense. It is difficult to overstate the new understanding we gain of hour-to-hour and week-to-week variability, the true ‘ocean weather’ of the system, that we can only start to see when we implement in-situ observing system systems like this one.”

The buoy will measure a host of atmospheric measurements (wind and air pressure, for example) and has sensors to measure conditions in the bay such as temperature, salinity, oxygen, pH and chlorophyll. These data are valuable to understanding the base of the marine ecosystem, but also issues such as hypoxia (lack of oxygen) and ocean acidification (reduction of pH).

Data will be available to the public as part of .

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For more information, contact Newton at janewton@uw.edu or 206-713-5214.

91探花 researchers are tracking what the season will deliver to the Pacific Northwest region.

For Washington, El Ni帽o typically brings warm, and often dry, winter weather. That may seem surprising, since the state just experienced a very wet December, according to the latest from the UW-based state climatologist’s office. Many places broke previous records for the month. But that precipitation does not seem to be linked to El Ni帽o.

“We were very fortunate, from a water-supply point of view, to get all that lowland rain and mountain snow when we did, because that’s not always the case during El Ni帽o,” said , Washington’s state climatologist and a researcher with the UW-based .

“And looking ahead, at least in the short term, it looks like there’s not going to be a lot of precipitation.”

The West Coast effects of El Ni帽o tend to peak in January and February and continue to be felt through March. But the Godzilla El Ni帽o in the tropical Pacific doesn’t necessarily mean we need to brace for monster-sized effects in this region.

“There’s not a strict relationship between the magnitude of the El Ni帽o and the magnitude of the response at the higher latitudes,” Bond said. “Sometimes more moderate El Ni帽os seem to have a really big response, and other times the strong ones have a more moderate response. It’s not a one-to-one relationship.”

So far, this El Ni帽o is shaping up to be a textbook event, said , a 91探花professor of atmospheric sciences who has covered the topic on his .

“It’s been following the typical route for a strong El Ni帽o,” Mass said. “Typically, even a strong El Ni帽o doesn’t have a lot of implications for this region in the early winter, but after the first of the year the teleconnections develop and the jet stream splits to bring rainstorms to California and Alaska, with Washington right in the middle,” he said.

“This El Ni帽o is following the typical game plan, particularly the increasing effects after the new year.”

Observations show this El Ni帽o is already weakening in the tropics, Mass said, and models suggest a neutral situation by the middle of summer, and either neutral or the opposing La Ni帽a phase by next winter.

Along the West Coast, El Ni帽o conditions tend to bring higher sea level and bigger winter waves, which together can create more flooding and storm damage along the coast. They also can shift the direction of storm waves to come from the southwest, rather than from the west, which has been shown in past years to alter the shape of beaches in Oregon and California.

How these various factors influence Washington state, though, is less clear, said , a coastal hazards specialist in Port Angeles with the UW-based . Miller discussed the coastal effects of El Ni帽o in a last fall. He will be checking tide gauges to see if average sea levels for the year are unusually high, and visiting beaches to see how they fare this season.

“One of the things I’m interested in doing this winter is better documenting what an El Ni帽o winter means for Washington’s coast, in particular the north coast and the Strait of Juan de Fuca,” Miller said.

In the water, El Ni帽o leaves its mark by both water and air, said , an oceanographer at the 91探花Applied Physics Laboratory who tracks regional ocean conditions.

“During an El Ni帽o year we often have warmer and saltier than normal ocean conditions,” Newton said. “And it’s coming from both the effect of the ocean, which would have those warmer waters, and the effects on our weather, which would be warmer air temperatures and less precipitation.”

El Ni帽o’s effects on the ocean will largely replace the phenomenon known as “,” the unusually warm patch in the northern Pacific that influenced coastal weather and marine ecosystems in 2014 and 2015.

That pattern 鈥� which included ocean temperatures of up to 7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than usual 鈥� continues to be a subject of scientific study. A at the 91探花Jan. 20 and 21 will review the unusual pattern of the blob, its effects, whether this event could have been forecast, and also consider how any remnants may be interacting with El Ni帽o.

Although the warm-water blob is now mostly history, climate models project that the coastal winds will be more from the south than usual, resulting in a strip of relatively warm water along the West Coast this spring, Bond said. This phenomenon is related to yet another climate cycle known as the .

“All the models are showing that to be the case, but to varying extent. It looks like it will be warm enough along the coast to have some significant effects,” Bond said. “People are keeping an eye on that, because the ocean has [already] been warm for a couple of years. If that continues, it’s going to have implications for the marine ecosystem.”

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For more information, contact Bond at 206-526-6459 or nab3met@uw.edu, Mass at 206-685-0910 or cliff@atmos.washington.edu, Miller at 360-417-6460 or immiller@uw.edu, and Newton at 206-543-9152 or newton@apl.washington.edu.

Reporters interested in attending the “” workshop Jan. 20-21 should contact Newton at newton@apl.washington.edu.

A new tool doesn’t alter that reality, but it does allow scientists to better understand what’s happening and provide data to help the shellfish industry adapt to these changes.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this week the launch of the IOOS (Integrated Ocean Observing System) , a go-to source for ocean acidification data along the West Coast. A 91探花 researcher led the collaborative effort.

“This makes valuable data more easily accessible, and it will increase our scientific understanding of how similar or different conditions are throughout the Pacific,” said , an oceanographer at the 91探花Applied Physics Laboratory.

The tool offers real-time ocean chemistry data for the coast and some Pacific islands, and in protected bays at shellfish hatcheries in Washington, Oregon, Alaska and California.

Shellfish growers can use the data to decide when to grow larvae, when to set baby oysters out into the field, and when to draw the thousands of gallons of seawater they need to fill their tanks. They can also see when they might want to manipulate the chemistry of intake waters.

“For shellfish growers, having access to the data off their local site is important, but the oceanic data is an advanced warning system,” Newton said.

The interactive portal is adapted from a tool launched in 2009 by the , or NANOOS. Newton directs the NOAA-funded center that acts as a clearinghouse for Washington and Oregon coastal observations on everything from boating conditions to toxic algal blooms.

In addition to compiling data from NANOOS and four other regional centers, the tool adds new sensors developed by 91探花alumnus , now a professor at Oregon State University. His device, nicknamed “the ,” can detect the suitability of ocean waters to form aragonite 鈥� the specific form of calcium carbonate mineral that clams, mussels and oysters use to form their protective shells. Aragonite is one of the most soluble forms of calcium carbonate, and is particularly sensitive to changes in ocean chemistry.

The portal includes readings from Burke-O-Lators along the West Coast. The Oregon Legislature funded the first deployment at the Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery. In the past year, the UW-based was funded by the Washington Legislature to install Burke-O-Lators at a hatchery operated by Taylor Shellfish Farms in Puget Sound’s Hood Canal and at a shellfish in Willapa Bay. The federal government funded sensors this year at Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery in Alaska, Hog Island Oyster Co. in central California and Carlsbad Aquafarm in Southern California.

Other incorporated in the data portal are at commercial shellfish beds, the Seattle Aquarium, big offshore buoys that record weather and ocean conditions, and deployed by the 91探花in Hood Canal and other locations in Puget Sound. Also included are several moorings deployed by NOAA’s Seattle-based to measure ocean acidification in Hawaii, Alaska and California waters.

“All of us will continue to serve our data on our own regional portals, because that’s very important to connect to your local communities,” Newton said. “But in some cases you want to take a wider look at things.”

Scientists at the 91探花and elsewhere will use the data to understand changes in the water chemistry. Three new postdoctoral research positions with the Washington Ocean Acidification Center will interpret the data and look for trends.

A new three-year will allow NANOOS and the 91探花center to maintain and expand the project. The data portal was created by 91探花Applied Physics Laboratory oceanographer and engineer . The project is funded by NOAA’s U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System.

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For more information, contact Newton at 206-543-9152 or newton@apl.washington.edu. She will be at UW’s Friday Harbor Labs through Dec. 5. The website is .