During a Pacific Ocean research cruise, Angel White peers into her microscope. The ship rides gentle swells and sways side to side. In her field of view, organisms the size of dust motes rise and fall through their own watery world. “It can be disorienting and enthralling at the same time. The microbes are dying [...]
Tag » Marine Science
January 4, 2012
Connected by climate
Fish bones and tree rings reveal ecological see-saw
Fish bones aren’t exactly the most prized portion of the catch of the day. Encountering a nearly translucent sliver in a grilled fillet is at best an annoyance and at worst a choking hazard. But for one Oregon State University researcher, certain fish bones are immensely valuable. Bryan Black, an associate professor at OSU’s Hatfield [...]
June 23, 2010
Stones on Ice
Greenland streams hold clues to future sea levels
Why should the residents of Seattle, San Francisco, New York City and Boston worry about warming in Greenland, an ice-laden island in the North Atlantic? Because if all the water locked in the massive Greenland Ice Sheet flowed into the oceans, low-lying coastal cities worldwide would be inundated. “The Greenland Ice Sheet could contribute up [...]
February 22, 2010
Sensing the Seas: New equipment will monitor coastal ecosystems
Ocean science is confronted with many unknowns about the intricate interplay of physics, chemistry and biology in Earth’s vast oceans. In this era of climatic flux, better understanding of sensitive ocean systems has taken on new urgency. OSU oceanographers Jack Barthand Murray Levine are refining and testing an innovative sensing system designed to track trends in temperature, [...]
June 24, 2009
Epitaph for a Reef
For OSU coral reef scientist Mark Hixon, climate change is personal. He studied a tropical reef for a decade, and the results of his work stunned and inspired him. In a new book, Thoreau’s Legacy, published by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Penguin Books, Hixon describes the calamity that struck in 1998. His is [...]
February 24, 2009
Lubchenco Nomination Underscores OSU’s National Leadership
The nomination of Oregon State University marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reflects OSU’s growing leadership in federal environmental science programs.
June 30, 2008
Out of the Depths
Voracious “red devil” squid are on the move
It was like a scene from a grade-B horror film. On a gently rocking vessel in the warm waters of the Sea of Cortez, a young oceanographer earnestly watches her computer screen while colleagues lower a cable into the water.
July 22, 2006
Views from the Lagoon
Passengers on OSU’s 2006 Gray Whale Expedition to Baja came from places as far-flung as Ypsilanti, North Dakota; Oakland, Iowa; and Tucson, Arizona. Most, however, live in Oregon. Here are a few impressions from San Ignacio Lagoon. Julie Brinck, a retired registered nurse from Florence, Oregon, said: “Entering the lagoon gave me sort of a [...]
