OSU Marine Sciences

OSU Marine Sciences programs regularly engage with Oregon communities, providing them with science-based information they can use to prepare for emergencies and change, engaging them in solving regional marine science problems and even enlisting coastal stakeholders in research projects. For example:

• Tsunami preparedness
  The research of OSU oceanographers, engineers and others to understand more about earthquake and tsunami risks is informing coastal distaster preparedness and land-use planning. OSU research and Extension  faculty helped organize some of the earliest multi-agency conferences about tsunami preparedness, leading to inundation mapping and the establishment of tsunami evacuation zones up and down the coast. Since then, research by OSU oceanographer Chris Goldfinger and others has refined our knowledge of how often tsunami-inducing quakes hit the Oregon Coast, and how critical it is to prepare for them. Much of that preparation is being led Oregon Sea Grant's Coastal Hazards specialist, Patrick Corcoran, who educates and engages coastal residents, businesses and governments about creating personal and community plans for what to do when an earthquake or tsunami strikes.
• Climate change
  Since 2010, CEOAS has hosted the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute, created by the Legislature in 2007 to foster climate change research among faculty of the Oregon University System, serve as a clearinghouse for climate information; and provide climate change information to the public in an easily understandable form.  The institute also serves as the anchor institution for two federally funded regional climate science centers: The Department of the Interior’s Pacific Northwest Climate Science Center, and NOAA's Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Research Consortium. In addition, Oregon Sea Grant's Joe Cone is part of a bi-coastal team, funded by NOAA, studying how coastal communities respond to climate change, and how public outreach efforts on the subject can be tailored to meet community needs and attitudes.
• Marine invasive species
  Summarize research/outreach connections. Sam Chan, Oregon Sea Grant Extension aquatic invasive species specialist and a Fisheries & Wildlife faculty members, serves on the Oregon Invasive Species Council and has become a leader in educating the public about the threats posed by invasive species. The work of Chan and other Extension faculty is informed by the efforts of OSU researchers to learn more about how invasive species spread, and what strategies might work best to limit their spread.

Read more:

• Earthquake and Tsunami Experts at Oregon State University (from OSU News & Research Communications)