From The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Via “phys.org” : “The ocean twilight zone could eventually store vast amounts of carbon captured from the atmosphere”

From The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Via

“phys.org”

2.2.23

A large robot, loaded with sensors and cameras, designed to explore the ocean twilight zone. Credit: Marine Imaging Technologies, LLC, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Deep below the ocean surface, the light fades into a twilight zone where whales and fish migrate and dead algae and zooplankton rain down from above. This is the heart of the ocean’s carbon pump, part of the natural ocean processes that capture about a third of all human-produced carbon dioxide and sink it into the deep sea, where it remains for hundreds of years.

There may be ways to enhance these processes so the ocean pulls more carbon out of the atmosphere to help slow climate change. Yet little is known about the consequences.

Peter de Menocal, a marine paleoclimatologist and director of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, discussed ocean carbon dioxide removal at a recent TEDxBoston: Planetary Stewardship event. In this interview, he dives deeper into the risks and benefits of human intervention and describes an ambitious plan to build a vast monitoring network of autonomous sensors in the ocean to help humanity understand the impact.

First, what is ocean carbon dioxide removal, and how does it work in nature?

The ocean is like a big carbonated beverage. Although it doesn’t fizz, it has about 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere. So, for taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it someplace where it won’t continue to warm the planet, the ocean is the single biggest place it can go.

Ocean carbon dioxide removal, or ocean CDR uses the ocean’s natural ability to take up carbon on a large scale and amplifies it.

Methods of ocean carbon storage. Credit: Natalie Renier/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Carbon gets into the ocean from the atmosphere in two ways.

In the first, air dissolves into the ocean surface. Winds and crashing waves mix it into the upper half-mile or so, and because seawater is slightly alkaline, the carbon dioxide is absorbed into the ocean.

The second involves the biologic pump. The ocean is a living medium—it has algae and fish and whales, and when that organic material is eaten or dies, it gets recycled. It rains down through the ocean and makes its way to the ocean twilight zone, a level around 650 to 3,300 feet (roughly 200 to 1,000 meters) deep.

The ocean twilight zone sustains biologic activity in the oceans. It is the “soil” of the ocean where organic carbon and nutrients accumulate and are recycled by microbes. It is also home to the largest animal migration on the planet. Each day trillions of fish and other organisms migrate from the depths to the surface to feed on plankton and one another, and go back down, acting like a large carbon pump that captures carbon from the surface and shunts it down into the deep oceans where it is stored away from the atmosphere.

Credit: The Conversation.

Why is ocean CDR drawing so much attention right now?

The single most shocking sentence I have read in my career was in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report, released in 2021. It said that we have delayed action on climate change for so long that removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is now necessary for all pathways to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F). Beyond that, climate change’s impacts become increasingly dangerous and unpredictable.

Because of its volume and carbon storage potential, the ocean is really the only arrow in our quiver that has the ability to take up and store carbon at the scale and urgency required.

A 2022 report by the national academies outlined a research strategy for ocean carbon dioxide removal. The three most promising methods all explore ways to enhance the ocean’s natural ability to take up more carbon.

The first is ocean alkalinity enhancement. The oceans are salty—they’re naturally alkaline, with a pH of about 8.1. Increasing alkalinity by dissolving certain powdered rocks and minerals makes the ocean a chemical sponge for atmospheric CO2.

A second method adds micronutrients to the surface ocean, particularly soluble iron. Very small amounts of soluble iron can stimulate greater productivity, or algae growth, which drives a more vigorous biologic pump. Over a dozen of these experiments have been done, so we know it works.

Third is perhaps the easiest to understand—grow kelp in the ocean, which captures carbon at the surface through photosynthesis, then bale it and sink it to the deep ocean.

But all of these methods have drawbacks for large-scale use, including cost and unanticipated consequences.

I’m not advocating for any one of these, or for ocean CDR more generally. But I do believe accelerating research to understand the impacts of these methods is essential. The ocean is essential for everything humans depend on—food, water, shelter, crops, climate stability. It’s the lungs of the planet. So we need to know if these ocean-based technologies to reduce carbon dioxide and climate risk are viable, safe and scalable.

You’ve talked about building an ‘internet of the ocean’ to monitor changes there. What would that involve?

The ocean is changing rapidly, and it is the single biggest cog in Earth’s climate engine, yet we have almost no observations of the subsurface ocean to understand how these changes are affecting the things we care about. We’re basically flying blind at a time when we most need observations. Moreover, if we were to try any of these carbon removal technologies at any scale right now, we wouldn’t be able to measure or verify their effectiveness or assess impacts on ocean health and ecosystems.

Top predators such as whales, tuna, swordfish and sharks rely on the twilight zone for food, diving down hundreds or even thousands of feet to catch their prey. Credit: Eric S. Taylor/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

So, we are leading an initiative at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to build the world’s first internet for the ocean, called the Ocean Vital Signs Network. It’s a large network of moorings and sensors that provides 4D eyes on the oceans—the fourth dimension being time—that are always on, always connected to monitor these carbon cycling processes and ocean health.

Right now, there is about one ocean sensor in the global Argo program for every patch of ocean the size of Texas. These go up and down like pogo sticks, mostly measuring temperature and salinity.

We envision a central hub in the middle of an ocean basin where a dense network of intelligent gliders and autonomous vehicles measure ocean properties including carbon and other vital signs of ocean and planetary health. These vehicles can dock, repower, upload data they’ve collected and go out to collect more. The vehicles would be sharing information and making intelligent sampling decisions as they measure the chemistry, biology and environmental DNA for a volume of the ocean that’s really representative of how the ocean works.

Having that kind of network of autonomous vehicles, able to come back in and power up in the middle of the ocean from wave or solar or wind energy at the mooring site and send data to a satellite, could launch a new era of ocean observing and discovery.

Does the technology needed for this level of monitoring exist?

Mesobot starts its descent toward the ocean twilight zone. Credit: Marine Imaging Technologies, LLC, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

We’re already doing much of this engineering and technology development. What we haven’t done yet is stitch it all together.

For example, we have a team that works with blue light lasers for communicating in the ocean. Underwater, you can’t use electromagnetic radiation as cellphones do, because seawater is conductive. Instead, you have to use sound or light to communicate underwater.

We also have an acoustics communications group that works on swarming technologies and communications between nearby vehicles. Another group works on how to dock vehicles into moorings in the middle of the ocean. Another specializes in mooring design. Another is building chemical sensors and physical sensors that measure ocean properties and environmental DNA.

This summer, 2023, an experiment in the North Atlantic called the Ocean Twilight Zone Project will image the larger functioning of the ocean over a big piece of real estate at the scale at which ocean processes actually work.

We’ll have acoustic transceivers that can create a 4D image over time of these dark, hidden regions, along with gliders, new sensors we call “minions” that will be looking at ocean carbon flow, nutrients and oxygen changes. “Minions” are basically sensors the size of a soda bottle that go down to a fixed depth, say 1,000 meters (0.6 miles), and use essentially an iPhone camera pointing up to take pictures of all the material floating down through the water column. That lets us quantify how much organic carbon is making its way into this old, cold deep water, where it can remain for centuries.

The Ocean Twilight Zone: Earth’s Final Frontier.
Premiered Mar 11, 2020
The mysteries of the ocean twilight zone are waiting to be explored. What was once thought to be desert-like isn’t a desert at all. Where the deep sea creatures lurk there are incredible biomass and biodiversity. The ocean twilight zone is a huge habitat that is very difficult to explore. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is poised to change this because we have the engineers that can help us overcome these challenges. Making new discoveries in ocean exploration is more important now than ever.

For the first time we’ll be able to see just how patchy productivity is in the ocean, how carbon gets into the ocean and if we can quantify those carbon flows.

That’s a game-changer. The results can help establish the effectiveness and ground rules for using CDR. It’s a Wild West out there—nobody is watching the oceans or paying attention. This network makes observation possible for making decisions that will affect future generations.

Do you believe ocean CDR is the right answer?

Humanity doesn’t have a lot of time to reduce carbon emissions and to lower carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.

The reason scientists are working so diligently on this is not because we’re big fans of CDR, but because we know the oceans may be able to help. With an ocean internet of sensors, we can really understand how the ocean works including the risks and benefits of ocean CDR.

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Mission Statement

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is dedicated to advancing knowledge of the ocean and its connection with the Earth system through a sustained commitment to excellence in science, engineering, and education, and to the application of this knowledge to problems facing society.

Vision & Mission

The ocean is a defining feature of our planet and crucial to life on Earth, yet it remains one of the planet’s last unexplored frontiers. For this reason, WHOI scientists and engineers are committed to understanding all facets of the ocean as well as its complex connections with Earth’s atmosphere, land, ice, seafloor, and life—including humanity. This is essential not only to advance knowledge about our planet, but also to ensure society’s long-term welfare and to help guide human stewardship of the environment. WHOI researchers are also dedicated to training future generations of ocean science leaders, to providing unbiased information that informs public policy and decision-making, and to expanding public awareness about the importance of the global ocean and its resources.

The Institution is organized into six departments, the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research, and a marine policy center. Its shore-based facilities are located in the village of Woods Hole, Massachusetts and a mile and a half away on the Quissett Campus. The bulk of the Institution’s funding comes from grants and contracts from the National Science Foundation and other government agencies, augmented by foundations and private donations.

WHOI scientists, engineers, and students collaborate to develop theories, test ideas, build seagoing instruments, and collect data in diverse marine environments. Ships operated by WHOI carry research scientists throughout the world’s oceans. The WHOI fleet includes two large research vessels (R/V Atlantis and R/V Neil Armstrong); the coastal craft Tioga; small research craft such as the dive-operation work boat Echo; the deep-diving human-occupied submersible Alvin; the tethered, remotely operated vehicle Jason/Medea; and autonomous underwater vehicles such as the REMUS and SeaBED.
WHOI offers graduate and post-doctoral studies in marine science. There are several fellowship and training programs, and graduate degrees are awarded through a joint program with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. WHOI is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges . WHOI also offers public outreach programs and informal education through its Exhibit Center and summer tours. The Institution has a volunteer program and a membership program, WHOI Associate.

On October 1, 2020, Peter B. de Menocal became the institution’s eleventh president and director.

History

In 1927, a National Academy of Sciences committee concluded that it was time to “consider the share of the United States of America in a worldwide program of oceanographic research.” The committee’s recommendation for establishing a permanent independent research laboratory on the East Coast to “prosecute oceanography in all its branches” led to the founding in 1930 of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

A $2.5 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation supported the summer work of a dozen scientists, construction of a laboratory building and commissioning of a research vessel, the 142-foot (43 m) ketch R/V Atlantis, whose profile still forms the Institution’s logo.

WHOI grew substantially to support significant defense-related research during World War II, and later began a steady growth in staff, research fleet, and scientific stature. From 1950 to 1956, the director was Dr. Edward “Iceberg” Smith, an Arctic explorer, oceanographer and retired Coast Guard rear admiral.

In 1977 the institution appointed the influential oceanographer John Steele as director, and he served until his retirement in 1989.

On 1 September 1985, a joint French-American expedition led by Jean-Louis Michel of IFREMER and Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution identified the location of the wreck of the RMS Titanic which sank off the coast of Newfoundland 15 April 1912.

On 3 April 2011, within a week of resuming of the search operation for Air France Flight 447, a team led by WHOI, operating full ocean depth autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) owned by the Waitt Institute discovered, by means of sidescan sonar, a large portion of debris field from flight AF447.

In March 2017 the institution effected an open-access policy to make its research publicly accessible online.

The Institution has maintained a long and controversial business collaboration with the treasure hunter company Odyssey Marine. Likewise, WHOI has participated in the location of the San José galleon in Colombia for the commercial exploitation of the shipwreck by the Government of President Santos and a private company.

In 2019, iDefense reported that China’s hackers had launched cyberattacks on dozens of academic institutions in an attempt to gain information on technology being developed for the United States Navy. Some of the targets included the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The attacks have been underway since at least April 2017.

From Duke University Via CoastalReview.org: “NC coast a perfect lab for whale researcher Andy Read”

From Duke University

Via

Home

1.30.23
Cassie Freund

Andy Read attaches a digital acoustic tag to a short-finned pilot whale about 35 miles east of Cape Hatteras to study the behavior and ecology of the deep-diving whales. Photo courtesy of Andy Read.

Dr. Andy Read’s first encounter with a whale was, in his words, “the most gross, disgusting thing I’ve ever seen.”

He was a college student who had just landed a job with the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, putting together the skeleton of a beached fin whale that couldn’t be saved.

The catch? The center’s team hadn’t been able to fully clean the skeleton before they brought it back from Nova Scotia, and it was buried somewhere in Toronto until they had the time to finish the process – that was Read’s job. “I almost quit the first day,” he said.

Andy Read

It’s a good thing he didn’t. Read’s close encounter with that whale skeleton fascinated him and was the beginning of a prolific career. Now the Stephen A. Toth Professor of marine biology at Duke University and director of the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, Read studies the ecology and conservation of whales and other marine mammals.

Read’s move to North Carolina was a geographic stroke of luck. After completing his doctorate at the University of Guelph in Ontario, where he studied harbor porpoises in the Bay of Fundy, he took a postdoctoral position at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

During that time, he met his wife, Kim Urian, who was working at the Mote Marine Lab in Florida. The distance was a challenge, and the pair agreed to settle down somewhere in the middle. Read started at Duke in 1995.

North Carolina has been the perfect place for Read to pursue his research and conservation work. “It’s just a great place to do what I do. We have lots of access to marine mammals and sea turtles here,” he explained.

The diversity of animals he encounters in his research is a big perk, and another geographic stroke of luck: North Carolina sits at the confluence of the tropical Gulf Stream and the boreal Labrador Current. This brings a huge diversity of animals to our waters, which host 36 species of marine mammals and five of the six species of sea turtles found in the United States.

A Cuvier’s beaked whale, or goose-beaked whale, a species found year-round in the waters off Cape Hatteras. Photo courtesy of Andy Read.

Navy sonar study

Read is currently leading U.S. Navy-funded research on one of these 36 marine mammal species, the Cuvier’s beaked whale, also known as the goose-beaked whale, off the coast of Cape Hatteras. His team is working to understand how and why the midfrequency active sonar the Navy uses to detect small submarines affects the behavior of these whales. Cape Hatteras is a great place for this study because it has a high density of beaked whales and a relatively low level of Navy training activity.

Cuvier’s beaked whales are both the deepest-diving mammal in the world and the mammal capable of staying underwater the longest. They use their exceptional abilities for hunting — according to Read, they forage at an average depth of about 1,500 meters, or close to a mile, but they can descend to depths twice that.

In 2020, a team of researchers including Read recorded a Cuvier’s beaked whale dive that lasted 222 minutes – over three and a half hours. “It’s like running a 5K, taking a breath when the starting gun goes off, and you don’t take another breath until the end of the race,” said Read. “Which is just … How does a mammal do that? They shouldn’t be able to!”

Unfortunately, midfrequency active sonar alters these impressive diving behaviors. Cuvier’s beaked whales that hear the sonar tend to surface very quickly, interrupting their hunting and putting them in physiological danger from decompression sickness. Read and his team think this is because the sonar sounds like killer whale calls. Killer whales are the only natural predators of Cuvier’s beaked whales. They don’t usually dive very deep, which must make hearing their calls thousands of meters below the surface extra disconcerting for the Cuvier’s beaked whales.

“When they’re foraging … where they should be safe from killer whales, all of the sudden they hear the sounds of their predators, and they panic,” Read said. The team’s most recent experiment took place with the help of the USS Farragut, a Navy destroyer, in August 2022. They hope to continue their work until at least 2025.

Read and his students are also studying the ecology of short-fin pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins off Cape Hatteras. He’s also been involved in marine mammal studies all over the world, including a project on humpback whales in Antarctica. “But now that I’m director of the (Duke Marine) lab here, it’s hard to get away for a couple months every winter” to do that research, he said.

Andy Read on Duke Marine Lab research vessel the R/V Richard T. Barber. Photo courtesy of Andy Read

It’s not just the director’s job that keeps him busy. Read has also recently been appointed by President Biden as one of three commissioners of the federal Marine Mammal Commission.

The commission was established in 1972 as part of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. It is charged with oversight of all marine mammal research and conservation initiatives in the country, most of which are performed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.

While Read had previously served on the commission’s committee of scientific advisers from 2003-2008, this is the first time he has been confirmed by the Senate as commissioner. He was also nominated by President Obama, but never confirmed.

One of the commission’s species of concern – and a personal one for Read as well – is the North Atlantic right whale. “The population is declining, we have fewer than 400 whales left, fewer than 70 adult female whales,” he said.

North Carolina is an important migratory corridor for the species. North Atlantic right whales travel yearly between their feeding grounds in New England and Canada and their breeding grounds off the coast of Georgia and eastern Florida.

One major threat to right whales is entanglement in fishing gear. Ship strikes are another, and are particularly relevant in North Carolina. There are already seasonal restrictions on large ships coming into North Carolina ports in Morehead City and Wilmington. Those restrictions may soon affect smaller ships as well, if changes proposed by NOAA Fisheries to the existing right whale vessel speed rule go through.

“It’s seasonal, so it’s only from November through April. But we have a big bluefin tuna fishery here in some years … We’re very interested to see what NOAA Fisheries decides to do with that rule. That’ll have an impact here locally,” Read explained.

A necessary challenge

Balancing conservation and industry is a necessary challenge, and one Read readily takes on.

Early in his career he helped develop and test small pinging alarms to warn dolphins and porpoises away from gillnets. These pingers are now used by fishers around the world, and when used properly they can reduce bycatch of porpoises by about 90%.

“I think that’s the thing, probably, I’m most proud of, and working directly with fishermen has been challenging, but it can also be very rewarding,” Read, who speaks admirably about the ingenuity of the fishers he has worked with throughout the years. said.

Fisheries and coastal management can be a complex but critical undertaking, particularly when there are endangered species like right whales plying the waters. After decades in the field, Read remains hopeful that society can figure out some of these pressing conservation issues.

“We are industrializing the coastal ocean. But we have so many resources in this country and such good legislative frameworks through the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act,” he explained. However, simply having those frameworks is not enough – we also need the political will to find a way to coexist with marine mammals, he stressed.

So how can the average North Carolinian help on a daily basis? According to Read, figure out where the shrimp, tuna and other seafood you eat comes from, and seek out seafood that’s harvested in a way that has a “gentle, light touch on the environment.”

Despite our state’s abundant marine resources, much of the seafood we eat still isn’t locally or sustainably harvested. Consumers’ small changes could make a big difference for marine ecosystems and local fishers alike. “It’s worth a little investment. We should all think about where our food comes from,” said Read.

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

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Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

Younger than most other prestigious U.S. research universities, Duke University consistently ranks among the very best. Duke’s graduate and professional schools — in business, divinity, engineering, the environment, law, medicine, nursing and public policy — are among the leaders in their fields. Duke’s home campus is situated on nearly 9,000 acres in Durham, N.C, a city of more than 200,000 people. Duke also is active internationally through the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore, Duke Kunshan University in China and numerous research and education programs across the globe. More than 75 percent of Duke students pursue service-learning opportunities in Durham and around the world through DukeEngage and other programs that advance the university’s mission of “knowledge in service to society.”

Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James Buchanan Duke established The Duke Endowment and the institution changed its name to honor his deceased father, Washington Duke.

The campus spans over 8,600 acres (3,500 hectares) on three contiguous sub-campuses in Durham, and a marine lab in Beaufort. The West Campus—designed largely by architect Julian Abele, an African American architect who graduated first in his class at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design—incorporates Gothic architecture with the 210-foot (64-meter) Duke Chapel at the campus’ center and highest point of elevation, is adjacent to the Medical Center. East Campus, 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) away, home to all first-years, contains Georgian-style architecture. The university administers two concurrent schools in Asia, Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore (established in 2005) and Duke Kunshan University in Kunshan, China (established in 2013).

Duke is ranked among the top universities in the United States. The undergraduate admissions are among the most selective in the country, with an overall acceptance rate of 5.7% for the class of 2025. Duke spends more than $1 billion per year on research, making it one of the ten largest research universities in the United States. More than a dozen faculty regularly appear on annual lists of the world’s most-cited researchers. As of 2019, 15 Nobel laureates and 3 Turing Award winners have been affiliated with the university. Duke alumni also include 50 Rhodes Scholars, 25 Churchill Scholars, 13 Schwarzman Scholars, and 8 Mitchell Scholars. The university has produced the third highest number of Churchill Scholars of any university (behind Princeton University and Harvard University) and the fifth-highest number of Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater, and Udall Scholars of any American university between 1986 and 2015. Duke is the alma mater of one president of the United States (Richard Nixon) and 14 living billionaires.

Duke is the second-largest private employer in North Carolina, with more than 39,000 employees. The university has been ranked as an excellent employer by several publications.

Research

Duke’s research expenditures in the 2018 fiscal year were $1.168 billion, the tenth largest in the U.S. In fiscal year 2019 Duke received $571 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health. Duke is classified among “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity”.

Throughout the school’s history, Duke researchers have made breakthroughs, including the biomedical engineering department’s development of the world’s first real-time, three-dimensional ultrasound diagnostic system and the first engineered blood vessels and stents. In 2015, Paul Modrich shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 2012, Robert Lefkowitz along with Brian Kobilka, who is also a former affiliate, shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work on cell surface receptors. Duke has pioneered studies involving nonlinear dynamics, chaos, and complex systems in physics.

In May 2006 Duke researchers mapped the final human chromosome, which made world news as it marked the completion of the Human Genome Project. Reports of Duke researchers’ involvement in new AIDS vaccine research surfaced in June 2006. The biology department combines two historically strong programs in botany and zoology, while one of the divinity school’s leading theologians is Stanley Hauerwas, whom Time named “America’s Best Theologian” in 2001. The graduate program in literature boasts several internationally renowned figures, including Fredric Jameson, Michael Hardt, and Rey Chow, while philosophers Robert Brandon and Lakatos Award-winner Alexander Rosenberg contribute to Duke’s ranking as the nation’s best program in philosophy of biology, according to the Philosophical Gourmet Report.

From “Eos” : “Deep-Sea Pressure Crushes Carbon Cycling”

From “Eos”

AT

AGU

1.11.23
Elise Cutts

The extreme pressure in the deep sea stifles microbes’ appetite for organic carbon. This finding could have important implications for carbon budgets and geoengineering.

Scientists used a clever device to measure deep-sea organic carbon degradation rates underwater, avoiding the need to keep samples in finicky and expensive pressure chambers. Credit: Chie Amano.

When the research submarine Alvin sank off the coast of Massachusetts in 1968, it took the crew’s lunch with it. Sandwiches wrapped in wax paper, a few thermoses of broth, and an apple or two came to rest with the legendary exploration vessel. And to the shock of the scientists who later returned to recover the wreck, there they remained—practically unspoiled despite sitting more than a kilometer below the surface for nearly a year.

A sandwich left out on your countertop or casually thrown into the sea would be lucky to last more than a day or two before going bad or getting gobbled up. So why didn’t something eat the Alvin crew’s lunch?

New evidence suggests that the extreme pressures of the deep sea slow down microbial carbon degradation, the process responsible for spoiling sandwiches and recycling organic carbon into carbon dioxide, a critical step in the carbon cycle. The research team behind the new study says that their findings could have important implications for carbon budgets, which are used in climate models, and future geoengineering strategies that propose storing excess carbon on the seafloor. The results were published in Nature Geoscience [below].

Fig. 1: In situ bulk leucine incorporation rates normalized to rates obtained at atmospheric pressure conditions.

Symbols correspond to the different research expeditions (Extended Data Fig. 1). Regression equation is a power law function: Pinsitu = 494z^−0.321 (n = 56, number of samples incubated at in situ), where Pinsitu is the percentage of in situ leucine incorporation rate normalized to mean leucine incorporation rate under atmospheric pressure (Atm.) and z is depth (m). Shaded area indicates 95% confidence interval for the regression. Note that the data points at 0 m (n = 4) correspond to instrumental tests in which epi- to bathypelagic waters were incubated with the ISMI under atmospheric pressure conditions and compared with bottle incubations used for atmospheric pressure incubations to assess the potential bias associated with the instrument. These points are excluded from calculating the regression line.

Fig. 2: Cell-specific leucine uptake by prokaryotes.

[a], Distribution of cell-specific leucine uptake expressed as the percentage of total active cell counts (upper panels) and the percentage of total uptake (lower panels). Water was collected at meso- and bathypelagic depths and incubated under in situ and atmospheric pressure (Atm.) conditions (Supplementary Tables 1 and 2). [b], A microscopic view of a bathypelagic sample (2,000 m) collected in the Atlantic and incubated under atmospheric pressure conditions. Black halos around the cells are silver grains corresponding to their activities. The highly active cells (>0.5 amol Leu cell−1 d−1, indicated by arrows) were barely found in in situ pressure incubations. Typical low-activity cells in the bathypelagic depths are indicated by circles. Green fluorescence, EUB338 probe mix; light blue, DAPI-stained cells. Scale bar, 5 µm. [c], Leucine uptake by taxonomical groups: S11, SAR11 clade; S202, SAR202 clade; S406, SAR406 clade; Alt, Alteromonas; Cf, Bacteroidetes; Cren, Thaumarchaeota; Eury, Euryarchaeota. The grey line connects the same location and depth between in situ and Atm. samples representing the change in leucine uptake beween the two incubation conditions.

Fig. 3: Depth-related changes in the metaproteome of three abundant deep-sea bacterial taxa.

[a], Venn diagrams indicating the number of shared and unique up- and down-regulated proteins among Alteromonas, Bacteroidetes and SAR202 of meso- versus epipelagic layers, bathy- versus mesopelagic layers and bathy- versus epipelagic layers. Numbers indicate the protein abundance. Epi, epipelagic; Meso, mesopelagic; Bathy, bathypelagic waters. [b], Comparison of expressed proteins produced by Alteromonas, Bacteroidetes and SAR202. Significance of the change between depth layers is indicated by different colours: not significant (NS), P ≥ 0.05; up-regulated proteins (Up), P < 0.05 and log2 fold change ≥1; down-regulated proteins (Down), P < 0.05 and log2 fold change ≤ −1. The P values are shown in Supplementary Data 1.

Challenging Deeps

For decades, scientists have wondered whether microbial carbon degradation is suppressed in the deep sea. But answering this seemingly simple question has proven challenging.

Shallow-water microbes continually fall into the deep ocean from the sunlit surface. These unwilling interlopers would presumably break down carbon more slowly at depth because they have not adapted to the pressure.

“These microbes survive, barely, in the deep sea. But they are not feeling really comfortable there,” said marine microbiologist Gerhard Herndl of the University of Vienna.

But other microbes don’t mind pressure much at all. Some will even die if they’re decompressed. Some of these pressure-loving piezophiles seem to have hearty appetites for organic carbon, leading some scientists to think that microbial activity in the deep sea could actually be rather high—though it’s possible that when scientists sample these communities, “we’re just isolating the ‘weeds’ that grow quickly,” said marine microbiologist Douglas Bartlett of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who was not involved in the new study.

Complicating everything further is the enormous technical challenge of working in the deep. Keeping a deep-sea sample under pressure after bringing it to the surface requires a tough titanium chamber that can tolerate pressure differences hundreds of times greater than that between the inside and outside of the International Space Station.

“That’s really hard engineering to do,” Bartlett said. So scientists have mostly measured deep-sea carbon degradation rates in depressurized samples brought up to the surface.

But without a way to make measurements under natural deep-sea conditions—pressure and all—it’s impossible to know whether the observations researchers have made in decompressed samples reflect what’s going on in the depths.

Getting to the Bottom of It

After years of trying to get pressure chambers to work, Herndl and his colleagues took a different approach; instead of bringing deep-sea samples to the surface for experiments, they’d bring their experiments to the deep sea.

Previously, researchers in Japan worked with Herndl’s group to develop a device that can be lowered from a ship to make measurements under water. The device takes a water sample, performs an experiment, and then adds a special fluid into the sample to “fix” it, preserving microbes exactly as they were in the deep sea. Then the sample is brought to the surface for measurements.

In the Pacific, Atlantic, and Southern Oceans, experiments with this device revealed that as a whole, microbial communities consumed carbon about one third as quickly at 4000 meters deep as at the surface.

Roughly 85% of microbes consumed carbon at about the same rate regardless of depth, and only about 5% of the microbes in seawater samples were pressure-loving piezophiles. The remaining 10% of microbes were pressure hating. These communities “respond tremendously when you release them from pressure,” gobbling up carbon much faster than they do in the deep sea, Herndl said. Because these organisms are much more active at sea surface pressure, previous estimates of the carbon degradation rates of deep-sea microbial communities were “really grossly overestimated,” he added.

Carbon Budgeting

The discovery could have important implications for geoengineering and for the carbon budgets that scientists use to build climate models.

“One of the issues of our time now is what to do about climate impacts,” Bartlett said. Pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere drives climate change, prompting some to devise creative carbon storage solutions. “People consider ways to bring more particulate organic carbon into the deep ocean to bury it and to sequester that carbon,” so knowing the rate that microbes break down organic carbon in the deep sea “is really important,” he said.

With respect to carbon budgeting, Herndl added, the discovery resolves a long-standing problem. Previous estimates of deep-ocean carbon degradation rates found a troubling mismatch: The supply of organic material sinking down from the surface seemed far smaller than deep-sea microbes’ appetite for that carbon. If the budgets really are misbalanced, “then apparently we don’t understand how the deep ocean works,” Herndl said.

But the new, lower carbon demand measured in this study lines up neatly with supply. The mismatch looks like it was simply a matter of overestimating carbon degradation rates in depressurized samples, Herndl and Bartlett said.

“It seems like that was the magic bullet—the solution that had eluded microbial oceanographers all these years,” Bartlett said, “not [measuring] microbial activity under the actual deep-sea conditions.”

“Microbes are by far the main contributors to carbon processing in the deep ocean,” Herndl said. “So it makes a difference when you [calculate] a global carbon budget…it makes a difference whether you estimate microbial activity in the deep correctly or not.”

Science paper:
Nature Geoscience

See the full article here .

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“Eos” is the leading source for trustworthy news and perspectives about the Earth and space sciences and their impact. Its namesake is Eos, the Greek goddess of the dawn, who represents the light shed on understanding our planet and its environment in space by the Earth and space sciences.

From The University of Washington Via “phys.org” : “Warming oceans have decimated marine parasites—but that’s not a good thing”

From The University of Washington

Via

“phys.org”

1.9.23

A researcher holds open a preserved fish specimen that has been inspected for parasites. The study included eight fish species and 699 fish specimens, which yielded more than 17,000 parasites. Credit: Katherine Maslenikov/UW Burke Museum.

More than a century of preserved fish specimens offer a rare glimpse into long-term trends in parasite populations. New research from the University of Washington shows that fish parasites plummeted from 1880 to 2019, a 140-year stretch when Puget Sound—their habitat and the second largest estuary in the mainland U.S.—warmed significantly.

The study, published the week of Jan. 9 in the PNAS [below], is the world’s largest and longest dataset of wildlife parasite abundance. It suggests that parasites may be especially vulnerable to a changing climate.

“People generally think that climate change will cause parasites to thrive, that we will see an increase in parasite outbreaks as the world warms,” said lead author Chelsea Wood, a UW associate professor of aquatic and fishery sciences. “For some parasite species that may be true, but parasites depend on hosts, and that makes them particularly vulnerable in a changing world where the fate of hosts is being reshuffled.”

While some parasites have a single host species, many parasites travel between host species. Eggs are carried in one host species, the larvae emerge and infect another host and the adult may reach maturity in a third host before laying eggs.

For parasites that rely on three or more host species during their lifecycle—including more than half the parasite species identified in the study’s Puget Sound fish—analysis of historic fish specimens showed an 11% average decline per decade in abundance. Of 10 parasite species that had disappeared completely by 1980 nine relied on three or more hosts.

This copper rockfish (Sebastes caurinus) was collected in 1964 in Puget Sound. The study included eight fish species and found a dramatic decline in the number of parasites over time. Credit: Natalie Mastick/University of Washington.

“Our results show that parasites with one or two host species stayed pretty steady, but parasites with three or more hosts crashed,” Wood said. “The degree of decline was severe. It would trigger conservation action if it occurred in the types of species that people care about, like mammals or birds.”

And while parasites inspire fear or disgust—especially for people who associate them with illness in themselves, their kids or their pets—the result is worrying news for ecosystems, Wood said.

“Parasite ecology is really in its infancy, but what we do know is that these complex-lifecycle parasites probably play an important role in pushing energy through food webs and in supporting top apex predators,” Wood said. She is one of the authors of a 2020 report laying out a conservation plan for parasites.

These monogenean worms (Microcotyle sebastis) were dissected from the gills of a preserved copper rockfish specimen from the UW Fish Collection at the Burke Museum. Credit: Katie Leslie/University of Washington.

Wood’s study is among the first to use a new method for resurrecting information on parasite populations of the past. Mammals and birds are preserved with taxidermy, which retains parasites only on skin, feathers or fur. But fish, reptile and amphibian specimens are preserved in fluid, which also preserves any parasites living inside the animal at the time of its death.

The study focused on eight species of fish that are common in the behind-the-scenes collections of natural history museums. Most came from the UW Fish Collection at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. The authors carefully sliced into the preserved fish specimens and then identified and counted the parasites they discovered inside before returning the specimens to the museums.

“It took a long time. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart,” Wood said. “I’d love to stick these fish in a blender and use a genomic technique to detect their parasites’ DNA, but the fish were first preserved with a fluid that shreds DNA. So what we did was just regular old shoe-leather parasitology.”

Among the multi-celled parasites they found were arthropods, or animals with an exoskeleton, including crustaceans, as well as what Wood describes as “unbelievably gorgeous tapeworms:” the Trypanorhyncha, whose heads are armed with hook-covered tentacles. In total, the team counted 17,259 parasites, of 85 types, from 699 fish specimens.

To explain the parasite declines, the authors considered three possible causes: how abundant the host species was in Puget Sound; pollution levels; and temperature at the ocean’s surface. The variable that best explained the decline in parasites was sea surface temperature, which rose by 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in Puget Sound from 1950 to 2019.

A parasite that requires multiple hosts is like a delicate Rube Goldberg machine, Wood said. The complex series of steps they face to complete their lifecycle makes them vulnerable to disruption at any point along the way.

“This study demonstrates that major parasite declines have happened in Puget Sound. If this can happen unnoticed in an ecosystem as well studied as this one, where else might it be happening?” Wood said. “I hope our work inspires other ecologists to think about their own focal ecosystems, identify the right museum specimens, and see whether these trends are unique to Puget Sound, or something that is occurring in other places as well.

“Our result draws attention to the fact that parasitic species might be in real danger,” Wood added. “And that could mean bad stuff for us—not just fewer worms, but less of the parasite-driven ecosystem services that we’ve come to depend on.”

Co-authors are Rachel Welicky at Pennsylvania’s Neumann University, who did this work as a UW postdoctoral researcher; Whitney Preisser at Georgia’s Kennesaw State University, who did this work as a UW postdoctoral researcher; Katie Leslie, a UW Research Technologist; Natalie Mastick, a UW doctoral student; Katherine Maslenikov, manager of the UW Fish Collection at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture; Luke Tornabene and Timothy Essington, faculty members in aquatic and fishery sciences at the UW; Correigh Greene at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center; and John M. Kinsella at HelmWest Laboratory in Missoula, Montana.

Science paper:
PNAS
See the science paper for instructive material with images.

See the full article here .

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The University of Washington is one of the world’s preeminent public universities. Our impact on individuals, on our region, and on the world is profound — whether we are launching young people into a boundless future or confronting the grand challenges of our time through undaunted research and scholarship. Ranked number 10 in the world in Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings and educating more than 54,000 students annually, our students and faculty work together to turn ideas into impact and in the process transform lives and our world. For more about our impact on the world, every day.

So what defines us —the students, faculty and community members at the University of Washington? Above all, it’s our belief in possibility and our unshakable optimism. It’s a connection to others, both near and far. It’s a hunger that pushes us to tackle challenges and pursue progress. It’s the conviction that together we can create a world of good. Join us on the journey.

The University of Washington is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in downtown Seattle approximately a decade after the city’s founding to aid its economic development. Today, the university’s 703-acre main Seattle campus is in the University District above the Montlake Cut, within the urban Puget Sound region of the Pacific Northwest. The university has additional campuses in Tacoma and Bothell. Overall, University of Washington encompasses over 500 buildings and over 20 million gross square footage of space, including one of the largest library systems in the world with more than 26 university libraries, as well as the UW Tower, lecture halls, art centers, museums, laboratories, stadiums, and conference centers. The university offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees through 140 departments in various colleges and schools, sees a total student enrollment of roughly 46,000 annually, and functions on a quarter system.

University of Washington is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity”. According to the National Science Foundation, UW spent $1.41 billion on research and development in 2018, ranking it 5th in the nation. As the flagship institution of the six public universities in Washington state, it is known for its medical, engineering and scientific research as well as its highly competitive computer science and engineering programs. Additionally, University of Washington continues to benefit from its deep historic ties and major collaborations with numerous technology giants in the region, such as Amazon, Boeing, Nintendo, and particularly Microsoft. Paul G. Allen, Bill Gates and others spent significant time at Washington computer labs for a startup venture before founding Microsoft and other ventures. The University of Washington’s 22 varsity sports teams are also highly competitive, competing as the Huskies in the Pac-12 Conference of the NCAA Division I, representing the United States at the Olympic Games, and other major competitions.

The university has been affiliated with many notable alumni and faculty, including 21 Nobel Prize laureates and numerous Pulitzer Prize winners, Fulbright Scholars, Rhodes Scholars and Marshall Scholars.

In 1854, territorial governor Isaac Stevens recommended the establishment of a university in the Washington Territory. Prominent Seattle-area residents, including Methodist preacher Daniel Bagley, saw this as a chance to add to the city’s potential and prestige. Bagley learned of a law that allowed United States territories to sell land to raise money in support of public schools. At the time, Arthur A. Denny, one of the founders of Seattle and a member of the territorial legislature, aimed to increase the city’s importance by moving the territory’s capital from Olympia to Seattle. However, Bagley eventually convinced Denny that the establishment of a university would assist more in the development of Seattle’s economy. Two universities were initially chartered, but later the decision was repealed in favor of a single university in Lewis County provided that locally donated land was available. When no site emerged, Denny successfully petitioned the legislature to reconsider Seattle as a location in 1858.

In 1861, scouting began for an appropriate 10 acres (4 ha) site in Seattle to serve as a new university campus. Arthur and Mary Denny donated eight acres, while fellow pioneers Edward Lander, and Charlie and Mary Terry, donated two acres on Denny’s Knoll in downtown Seattle. More specifically, this tract was bounded by 4th Avenue to the west, 6th Avenue to the east, Union Street to the north, and Seneca Streets to the south.

John Pike, for whom Pike Street is named, was the university’s architect and builder. It was opened on November 4, 1861, as the Territorial University of Washington. The legislature passed articles incorporating the University, and establishing its Board of Regents in 1862. The school initially struggled, closing three times: in 1863 for low enrollment, and again in 1867 and 1876 due to funds shortage. University of Washington awarded its first graduate Clara Antoinette McCarty Wilt in 1876, with a bachelor’s degree in science.

19th century relocation

By the time Washington state entered the Union in 1889, both Seattle and the University had grown substantially. University of Washington’s total undergraduate enrollment increased from 30 to nearly 300 students, and the campus’s relative isolation in downtown Seattle faced encroaching development. A special legislative committee, headed by University of Washington graduate Edmond Meany, was created to find a new campus to better serve the growing student population and faculty. The committee eventually selected a site on the northeast of downtown Seattle called Union Bay, which was the land of the Duwamish, and the legislature appropriated funds for its purchase and construction. In 1895, the University relocated to the new campus by moving into the newly built Denny Hall. The University Regents tried and failed to sell the old campus, eventually settling with leasing the area. This would later become one of the University’s most valuable pieces of real estate in modern-day Seattle, generating millions in annual revenue with what is now called the Metropolitan Tract. The original Territorial University building was torn down in 1908, and its former site now houses the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.

The sole-surviving remnants of Washington’s first building are four 24-foot (7.3 m), white, hand-fluted cedar, Ionic columns. They were salvaged by Edmond S. Meany, one of the University’s first graduates and former head of its history department. Meany and his colleague, Dean Herbert T. Condon, dubbed the columns as “Loyalty,” “Industry,” “Faith”, and “Efficiency”, or “LIFE.” The columns now stand in the Sylvan Grove Theater.

20th century expansion

Organizers of the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition eyed the still largely undeveloped campus as a prime setting for their world’s fair. They came to an agreement with Washington’s Board of Regents that allowed them to use the campus grounds for the exposition, surrounding today’s Drumheller Fountain facing towards Mount Rainier. In exchange, organizers agreed Washington would take over the campus and its development after the fair’s conclusion. This arrangement led to a detailed site plan and several new buildings, prepared in part by John Charles Olmsted. The plan was later incorporated into the overall University of Washington campus master plan, permanently affecting the campus layout.

Both World Wars brought the military to campus, with certain facilities temporarily lent to the federal government. In spite of this, subsequent post-war periods were times of dramatic growth for the University. The period between the wars saw a significant expansion of the upper campus. Construction of the Liberal Arts Quadrangle, known to students as “The Quad,” began in 1916 and continued to 1939. The University’s architectural centerpiece, Suzzallo Library, was built in 1926 and expanded in 1935.

After World War II, further growth came with the G.I. Bill. Among the most important developments of this period was the opening of the School of Medicine in 1946, which is now consistently ranked as the top medical school in the United States. It would eventually lead to the University of Washington Medical Center, ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the top ten hospitals in the nation.

In 1942, all persons of Japanese ancestry in the Seattle area were forced into inland internment camps as part of Executive Order 9066 following the attack on Pearl Harbor. During this difficult time, university president Lee Paul Sieg took an active and sympathetic leadership role in advocating for and facilitating the transfer of Japanese American students to universities and colleges away from the Pacific Coast to help them avoid the mass incarceration. Nevertheless, many Japanese American students and “soon-to-be” graduates were unable to transfer successfully in the short time window or receive diplomas before being incarcerated. It was only many years later that they would be recognized for their accomplishments during the University of Washington’s Long Journey Home ceremonial event that was held in May 2008.

From 1958 to 1973, the University of Washington saw a tremendous growth in student enrollment, its faculties and operating budget, and also its prestige under the leadership of Charles Odegaard. University of Washington student enrollment had more than doubled to 34,000 as the baby boom generation came of age. However, this era was also marked by high levels of student activism, as was the case at many American universities. Much of the unrest focused around civil rights and opposition to the Vietnam War. In response to anti-Vietnam War protests by the late 1960s, the University Safety and Security Division became the University of Washington Police Department.

Odegaard instituted a vision of building a “community of scholars”, convincing the Washington State legislatures to increase investment in the University. Washington senators, such as Henry M. Jackson and Warren G. Magnuson, also used their political clout to gather research funds for the University of Washington. The results included an increase in the operating budget from $37 million in 1958 to over $400 million in 1973, solidifying University of Washington as a top recipient of federal research funds in the United States. The establishment of technology giants such as Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon in the local area also proved to be highly influential in the University of Washington’s fortunes, not only improving graduate prospects but also helping to attract millions of dollars in university and research funding through its distinguished faculty and extensive alumni network.

21st century

In 1990, the University of Washington opened its additional campuses in Bothell and Tacoma. Although originally intended for students who have already completed two years of higher education, both schools have since become four-year universities with the authority to grant degrees. The first freshman classes at these campuses started in fall 2006. Today both Bothell and Tacoma also offer a selection of master’s degree programs.

In 2012, the University began exploring plans and governmental approval to expand the main Seattle campus, including significant increases in student housing, teaching facilities for the growing student body and faculty, as well as expanded public transit options. The University of Washington light rail station was completed in March 2015, connecting Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood to the University of Washington Husky Stadium within five minutes of rail travel time. It offers a previously unavailable option of transportation into and out of the campus, designed specifically to reduce dependence on private vehicles, bicycles and local King County buses.

University of Washington has been listed as a “Public Ivy” in Greene’s Guides since 2001, and is an elected member of the American Association of Universities. Among the faculty by 2012, there have been 151 members of American Association for the Advancement of Science, 68 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 67 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 53 members of the National Academy of Medicine, 29 winners of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, 21 members of the National Academy of Engineering, 15 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators, 15 MacArthur Fellows, 9 winners of the Gairdner Foundation International Award, 5 winners of the National Medal of Science, 7 Nobel Prize laureates, 5 winners of Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, 4 members of the American Philosophical Society, 2 winners of the National Book Award, 2 winners of the National Medal of Arts, 2 Pulitzer Prize winners, 1 winner of the Fields Medal, and 1 member of the National Academy of Public Administration. Among UW students by 2012, there were 136 Fulbright Scholars, 35 Rhodes Scholars, 7 Marshall Scholars and 4 Gates Cambridge Scholars. UW is recognized as a top producer of Fulbright Scholars, ranking 2nd in the US in 2017.

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) has consistently ranked University of Washington as one of the top 20 universities worldwide every year since its first release. In 2019, University of Washington ranked 14th worldwide out of 500 by the ARWU, 26th worldwide out of 981 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and 28th worldwide out of 101 in the Times World Reputation Rankings. Meanwhile, QS World University Rankings ranked it 68th worldwide, out of over 900.

U.S. News & World Report ranked University of Washington 8th out of nearly 1,500 universities worldwide for 2021, with University of Washington’s undergraduate program tied for 58th among 389 national universities in the U.S. and tied for 19th among 209 public universities.

In 2019, it ranked 10th among the universities around the world by SCImago Institutions Rankings. In 2017, the Leiden Ranking, which focuses on science and the impact of scientific publications among the world’s 500 major universities, ranked University of Washington 12th globally and 5th in the U.S.

In 2019, Kiplinger Magazine’s review of “top college values” named University of Washington 5th for in-state students and 10th for out-of-state students among U.S. public colleges, and 84th overall out of 500 schools. In the Washington Monthly National University Rankings University of Washington was ranked 15th domestically in 2018, based on its contribution to the public good as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.

From The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: “Palau’s Rock Islands Harbor Heat-resistant Corals”

From The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

12.21.22

Authors:
Hanny E. Rivera1,2,3*
Anne L. Cohen2*
Janelle R. Thompson3,4,5
Iliana B. Baums6
Michael Fox2,7
Kirstin Meyer-Kaiser2
*Corresponding Author

 Affiliations:
1 MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science & Engineering, Cambridge and Woods Hole, MA.
2 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA.
3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
4 Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
5 Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Singapore
6 Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA.
7 Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

Finding could help reef managers to develop new defenses against ocean warming.

Porites cf. lobata is a key reef-building coral that provides habitats for numerous species, including feather stars (comatulid crinoids) and fish. (Photo by Kharis Schrage, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Ocean warming is driving an increase in the frequency and severity of marine heatwaves, causing untold damage to coral reefs. Tropical corals, which live in symbiosis with tiny single celled algae, are sensitive to high temperatures, and exhibit a stress response called bleaching when the ocean gets too hot. In the last 4 decades, marine heatwaves have caused widespread bleaching, and killed millions of corals. Because of this, a global search is underway for reefs that can withstand the heat stress, survive future warming, and act as sources of heat-tolerant coral larvae to replenish affected areas both naturally and through restoration.

Now, scientists studying reefs in Palau, an archipelago in the western tropical Pacific, have identified genetic subgroups of a common coral species that exhibit remarkable tolerance to the extreme heat associated with marine heatwaves. Further, the scientists found evidence that larvae from these corals are traveling from their birthing grounds deep in Palau’s lagoons, to the outer reef, where they survive and grow, and maintain their heat tolerance.

Understanding both the underlying mechanisms that facilitate heat tolerance of these corals, as well as the dispersal capabilities of their larvae will go a long way toward enhancing coral reef conservation and restoration efforts in the 21st century ocean, according to scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who led the research.

In Palau’s main lagoon, a network of very ancient, fossilized reefs has been uplifted to form a series of mountains known as the Rock Islands. These formations slow water flow in and around them, creating localized environments in which the water temperatures are consistently higher than other areas of Palau’s reefs.

Scientists sampled the keystone coral species Porites lobata (lobe coral) across Palau, including the Rock Islands. They took skeletal biopsies and examined the cores for stress bands, which are telltale signs of bleaching, a stress response corals have to high temperatures. They found corals from the Rock Islands bleached less during the intense 1998 heatwave than corals from other areas of the reef, indicating enhanced thermal tolerance.

Scientists then investigated the genetics of the corals and discovered four distinct lineages within the same species. Within the warmer Rock Islands, certain lineages, designated as “LB” and “RD” lineages, were much more common. The scientists were able to match the genetics of each coral with its own bleaching history and found that fewer individuals from the “LB” and “RD” lineages bleached during 1998, indicating enhanced thermal tolerance.

Porites cf. lobata is a key reef-building coral in the tropical Indo-Pacific, providing habitats for many species. (Photo by Kharis Schrage, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Remarkably, the scientists found the LB lineage was not restricted to the Rock Islands. They found some LB colonies also living on the cooler outer reefs. An examination of the bleaching histories of these colonies again revealed fewer stress bands, indicating that they maintained the thermal tolerance characteristic of their relatives in the Rock Islands.

“This suggests that the Rock Islands provide naturally tolerant larvae to neighboring areas,” the scientists write in their paper published in Communications Biology [below]. “Finding and protecting such sources of thermally-tolerant corals is key to reef survival under 21st century climate change,” the authors wrote.

“As oceans worldwide continue to warm, corals derived from extreme habitats will be at a competitive advantage and may enable the survival of otherwise vulnerable reefs,” the authors continue. “Identifying and safeguarding natural breeding grounds of environmentally tolerant corals that can thrive under future climate conditions will be fundamental to the persistence of coral reef ecosystems worldwide in the coming decades.”

“We found that some of Palau’s reefs with the highest temperatures have corals that are more tolerant than one would expect,” said the paper’s lead author Hanny Rivera, a graduate of the MIT-WHOI Joint Program. Rivera, who conducted this work as part of her Ph.D. and postdoctoral research, is currently an associate director of business development at Ginko Bioworks. “In addition, they are genetically distinct from the same corals found in other parts of Palau, which suggests that there has been natural selection for hardier corals in these regions.”.

Paper co-author Michael Fox added that the study is particularly exciting because it combines coral genetics with historical records of bleaching preserved in their skeletons to shed light on how corals from extreme habitats with high temperature tolerance can be dispersed across a reefscape. “This integrated perspective is essential for improving projections of coral communities in a warming ocean,” said Fox, who was a postdoctoral scholar at WHOI during the research for this paper. He currently is an assistant research professor in the Red Sea Research Center at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.

The Palau research is directly related to the Super Reefs initiative WHOI launched with The Nature Conservancy and Stanford University to locate coral communities that can withstand marine heat waves, and work with local communities and governments to protect them.

“This work is the scientific basis for the Super Reefs initiative,” said paper co-author Anne Cohen, a scientist at WHOI and Rivera’s advisor on the study. “The Palau research demonstrates that Super Reefs exist and also provides actionable science knowledge that can be used to support their protection.”

Cohen noted that there are other coral reefs, not just in Palau, where coral communities have not bleached as severely as scientists predicted based on the levels of thermal stress. “When we find the coral communities that are heat-tolerant or bleaching-resistant, and we protect them from other stresses that can kill them—like dynamiting, overfishing, or coastal development— they will produce millions of larvae that will travel on the currents, outside of their places of origin as we see on Palau, and they will repopulate reefs that have been devastated by heatwaves,” she said. “Nature is amazing. Our job with the Super Reefs initiative is to protect these thermally resilient reefs and let nature do the rest.”

Rivera added she is in awe of the immense appreciation, respect, and stewardship that the Palauan people have for their environment.

“They have been one of the pioneering countries in promoting marine conservation and ecological protection. It is wonderful to know that these special reefs are in such good hands,” Rivera said. “It is my greatest hope that our research will further support the Palauan people in their efforts to maintain a healthy marine ecosystem.”

Funding for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation, The Seija Family, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, the Atlantic Charter Donor Advised Fund, The Dalio Foundation, Inc., the MIT Sea Grant Office, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Coastal Ocean Institute Grant and Ocean Venture Fund, the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program, the Martin Family Fellowship for Sustainability the American Association of University Women Dissertation Fellowship, and an Angell Family Foundation Grant.

Science paper:
Communications Biology
See the science paper for instructive material with images.

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Mission Statement

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is dedicated to advancing knowledge of the ocean and its connection with the Earth system through a sustained commitment to excellence in science, engineering, and education, and to the application of this knowledge to problems facing society.

Vision & Mission

The ocean is a defining feature of our planet and crucial to life on Earth, yet it remains one of the planet’s last unexplored frontiers. For this reason, WHOI scientists and engineers are committed to understanding all facets of the ocean as well as its complex connections with Earth’s atmosphere, land, ice, seafloor, and life—including humanity. This is essential not only to advance knowledge about our planet, but also to ensure society’s long-term welfare and to help guide human stewardship of the environment. WHOI researchers are also dedicated to training future generations of ocean science leaders, to providing unbiased information that informs public policy and decision-making, and to expanding public awareness about the importance of the global ocean and its resources.

The Institution is organized into six departments, the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Ocean Research, and a marine policy center. Its shore-based facilities are located in the village of Woods Hole, Massachusetts and a mile and a half away on the Quissett Campus. The bulk of the Institution’s funding comes from grants and contracts from the National Science Foundation and other government agencies, augmented by foundations and private donations.

WHOI scientists, engineers, and students collaborate to develop theories, test ideas, build seagoing instruments, and collect data in diverse marine environments. Ships operated by WHOI carry research scientists throughout the world’s oceans. The WHOI fleet includes two large research vessels (R/V Atlantis and R/V Neil Armstrong); the coastal craft Tioga; small research craft such as the dive-operation work boat Echo; the deep-diving human-occupied submersible Alvin; the tethered, remotely operated vehicle Jason/Medea; and autonomous underwater vehicles such as the REMUS and SeaBED.
WHOI offers graduate and post-doctoral studies in marine science. There are several fellowship and training programs, and graduate degrees are awarded through a joint program with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. WHOI is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges . WHOI also offers public outreach programs and informal education through its Exhibit Center and summer tours. The Institution has a volunteer program and a membership program, WHOI Associate.

On October 1, 2020, Peter B. de Menocal became the institution’s eleventh president and director.

History

In 1927, a National Academy of Sciences committee concluded that it was time to “consider the share of the United States of America in a worldwide program of oceanographic research.” The committee’s recommendation for establishing a permanent independent research laboratory on the East Coast to “prosecute oceanography in all its branches” led to the founding in 1930 of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

A $2.5 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation supported the summer work of a dozen scientists, construction of a laboratory building and commissioning of a research vessel, the 142-foot (43 m) ketch R/V Atlantis, whose profile still forms the Institution’s logo.

WHOI grew substantially to support significant defense-related research during World War II, and later began a steady growth in staff, research fleet, and scientific stature. From 1950 to 1956, the director was Dr. Edward “Iceberg” Smith, an Arctic explorer, oceanographer and retired Coast Guard rear admiral.

In 1977 the institution appointed the influential oceanographer John Steele as director, and he served until his retirement in 1989.

On 1 September 1985, a joint French-American expedition led by Jean-Louis Michel of IFREMER and Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution identified the location of the wreck of the RMS Titanic which sank off the coast of Newfoundland 15 April 1912.

On 3 April 2011, within a week of resuming of the search operation for Air France Flight 447, a team led by WHOI, operating full ocean depth autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) owned by the Waitt Institute discovered, by means of sidescan sonar, a large portion of debris field from flight AF447.

In March 2017 the institution effected an open-access policy to make its research publicly accessible online.

The Institution has maintained a long and controversial business collaboration with the treasure hunter company Odyssey Marine. Likewise, WHOI has participated in the location of the San José galleon in Colombia for the commercial exploitation of the shipwreck by the Government of President Santos and a private company.

In 2019, iDefense reported that China’s hackers had launched cyberattacks on dozens of academic institutions in an attempt to gain information on technology being developed for the United States Navy. Some of the targets included the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The attacks have been underway since at least April 2017.

From The University of Washington : “Fighting ocean acidification one oyster at a time”

From The University of Washington

12.14.22
Story by Jackson Holtz
Photos by Dennis Wise

Pacific oysters, among other popular west coast seafood products, are vulnerable to ocean acidification – the oyster industry is a leader on raising awareness of the issue and advocating for action. Credit: The University of Washington Earth Lab.

Worldwide, the ocean plays an invaluable service to the planet by absorbing nearly 30% of the carbon dioxide produced by human activity. Yet this also drives a series of reactions that change seawater chemistry, and as a result the oceans are becoming more acidified, which poses a suite of problems to some marine organisms.

At first, Washington shellfish farmers thought it might be bacteria.

Something was causing an usually high mortality rate among the tiny baby oysters.

“We were having zero survival,” said Diani Taylor, a fifth-generation shellfish farmer. “We were very concerned.”

This was back in 2007. What scientists have since learned is that it wasn’t bacteria killing the molluscs at all. It was the seawater itself. The ocean was becoming more acidified.

But instead of devastating an industry that generates millions of dollars each year, shellfish companies began adapting. The shellfish industry now monitors the pH in hatchery waters and adds soda ash — a harmless additive — when needed to allow the seed clams, oysters and geoduck to thrive.

“It’s made a huge impact,” said Taylor, who grew up working in the Taylor Shellfish family business and today is the company’s general counsel.

The company, the largest producer of farmed shellfish in the country, has nearly 600 employees working at its hatcheries, farms, processing facilities and restaurants.

Taylor Shellfish and other shellfish farmers now are partners with the University of Washington to collect and share data through EarthLab’s Washington Ocean Acidification Center.

Supporting communities through ocean acidification research.

Born from a Washington State Blue Ribbon Panel, the center was established at the University of Washington in 2013 by the Legislature to make sure actions to address ocean acidification have a strong backbone in science. Along with colleagues and collaborators at state and federal agencies, it was up to co-directors Jan Newton and Terrie Klinger to bring the new center to life, ensuring it serves the needs of Washington citizens.

“When we first were funded by the Legislature to stand up the Washington Ocean Acidification Center, there was no precedent. It was exciting to implement the guidance from the panel to build, with our partners, something valuable to the state,” said Newton, a UW oceanographer and professor.

Ocean acidification isn’t just a Washington state issue. It’s a global phenomenon.

Worldwide, the ocean plays an invaluable service to the planet by absorbing nearly 30% of the carbon dioxide produced by human activity. Yet this also drives a series of reactions that change seawater chemistry, and as a result the oceans are becoming more acidified, which poses a suite of problems to some marine organisms, including the tide-tumbled oyster varieties like Shigoku, Fat Bastard and Grand Cru.

In Washington, ocean acidification’s threat became visible when those oysters’ seeds were reaching unprecedented mortality rates. That’s because corrosive seawater compromises the ability of shellfish to form their shells, especially in the animal’s early days.

Answers began surfacing when scientists, including those at the Washington Ocean Acidification Center, NOAA and Oregon State University, connected with shellfish growers and other partners, helping solve what initially seemed like an intractable problem.

Now, thanks to the collaborative work between research scientists and shellfish farmers, the industry has new tools to manage corrosive water: real-time monitoring of water conditions at the hatcheries and nearby waters, viewable via the online portal NANOOS; adding buffering agents to incoming seawater; and tracking forecasts of unfavorable water conditions through LiveOcean, a model that forecasts when Washington’s waters are particularly corrosive.

Using a suite of inputs to the model – like ocean currents, weather, water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen and more – LiveOcean issues a three-day forecast of ocean conditions that are useful to numerous communities, including shellfish farmers, like Taylor Shellfish.

By checking the forecast, farmers can decide if the conditions are favorable to set out baby oysters to start growing in the ocean or if they should wait until conditions improve. All this comes from a free website that provides real-time forecasting data for marine waters across the Pacific Northwest.

With partners, the Washington Ocean Acidification Center works to monitor and model Washington waters, both on the coast and throughout the Salish Sea, which includes Puget Sound. The center emphasizes using results from both monitoring and modeling together to advance knowledge.

In many cases, these tools have allowed shellfish – and the industry – to continue thriving.

The University of Washington Earth Lab.

Over the years, the center’s approach to research has become even more sophisticated, all while remaining “grounded on the Blue Ribbon Panel recommendations to sustain observations, modeling, and biological experiments relevant to ocean acidification,” Newton said.

Researchers now can start telling the story of how ocean acidification threatens ocean food webs, which underpin the eye-popping amount of wildlife and productivity in Puget Sound.

“We’re trying to use the lens of ocean acidification to help solve bigger problems,” said Klinger, a University of Washington professor of marine and environmental affairs. “We’ve grown since our establishment and are moving from just a focus on, let’s say shellfish, also to include salmon, forage fish, harmful algal blooms and other parts of our ecosystem that are really important to the region.”

Expanding the focus matters because it can answer questions at ecological scales, helping decision-makers better understand the threats to the tiniest creatures in the ecosystem all the way up to the big ones, like the endangered southern resident orca whales.

“Ocean acidification is one issue we can work around,” said Taylor, the shellfish farmer. “The more we learn the more complicated it becomes.”

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

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Please help promote STEM in your local schools.
Stem Education Coalition

The University of Washington is one of the world’s preeminent public universities. Our impact on individuals, on our region, and on the world is profound — whether we are launching young people into a boundless future or confronting the grand challenges of our time through undaunted research and scholarship. Ranked number 10 in the world in Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings and educating more than 54,000 students annually, our students and faculty work together to turn ideas into impact and in the process transform lives and our world. For more about our impact on the world, every day.

So what defines us —the students, faculty and community members at the University of Washington? Above all, it’s our belief in possibility and our unshakable optimism. It’s a connection to others, both near and far. It’s a hunger that pushes us to tackle challenges and pursue progress. It’s the conviction that together we can create a world of good. Join us on the journey.

The University of Washington is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in downtown Seattle approximately a decade after the city’s founding to aid its economic development. Today, the university’s 703-acre main Seattle campus is in the University District above the Montlake Cut, within the urban Puget Sound region of the Pacific Northwest. The university has additional campuses in Tacoma and Bothell. Overall, University of Washington encompasses over 500 buildings and over 20 million gross square footage of space, including one of the largest library systems in the world with more than 26 university libraries, as well as the UW Tower, lecture halls, art centers, museums, laboratories, stadiums, and conference centers. The university offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees through 140 departments in various colleges and schools, sees a total student enrollment of roughly 46,000 annually, and functions on a quarter system.

University of Washington is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity”. According to the National Science Foundation, UW spent $1.41 billion on research and development in 2018, ranking it 5th in the nation. As the flagship institution of the six public universities in Washington state, it is known for its medical, engineering and scientific research as well as its highly competitive computer science and engineering programs. Additionally, University of Washington continues to benefit from its deep historic ties and major collaborations with numerous technology giants in the region, such as Amazon, Boeing, Nintendo, and particularly Microsoft. Paul G. Allen, Bill Gates and others spent significant time at Washington computer labs for a startup venture before founding Microsoft and other ventures. The University of Washington’s 22 varsity sports teams are also highly competitive, competing as the Huskies in the Pac-12 Conference of the NCAA Division I, representing the United States at the Olympic Games, and other major competitions.

The university has been affiliated with many notable alumni and faculty, including 21 Nobel Prize laureates and numerous Pulitzer Prize winners, Fulbright Scholars, Rhodes Scholars and Marshall Scholars.

In 1854, territorial governor Isaac Stevens recommended the establishment of a university in the Washington Territory. Prominent Seattle-area residents, including Methodist preacher Daniel Bagley, saw this as a chance to add to the city’s potential and prestige. Bagley learned of a law that allowed United States territories to sell land to raise money in support of public schools. At the time, Arthur A. Denny, one of the founders of Seattle and a member of the territorial legislature, aimed to increase the city’s importance by moving the territory’s capital from Olympia to Seattle. However, Bagley eventually convinced Denny that the establishment of a university would assist more in the development of Seattle’s economy. Two universities were initially chartered, but later the decision was repealed in favor of a single university in Lewis County provided that locally donated land was available. When no site emerged, Denny successfully petitioned the legislature to reconsider Seattle as a location in 1858.

In 1861, scouting began for an appropriate 10 acres (4 ha) site in Seattle to serve as a new university campus. Arthur and Mary Denny donated eight acres, while fellow pioneers Edward Lander, and Charlie and Mary Terry, donated two acres on Denny’s Knoll in downtown Seattle. More specifically, this tract was bounded by 4th Avenue to the west, 6th Avenue to the east, Union Street to the north, and Seneca Streets to the south.

John Pike, for whom Pike Street is named, was the university’s architect and builder. It was opened on November 4, 1861, as the Territorial University of Washington. The legislature passed articles incorporating the University, and establishing its Board of Regents in 1862. The school initially struggled, closing three times: in 1863 for low enrollment, and again in 1867 and 1876 due to funds shortage. University of Washington awarded its first graduate Clara Antoinette McCarty Wilt in 1876, with a bachelor’s degree in science.

19th century relocation

By the time Washington state entered the Union in 1889, both Seattle and the University had grown substantially. University of Washington’s total undergraduate enrollment increased from 30 to nearly 300 students, and the campus’s relative isolation in downtown Seattle faced encroaching development. A special legislative committee, headed by University of Washington graduate Edmond Meany, was created to find a new campus to better serve the growing student population and faculty. The committee eventually selected a site on the northeast of downtown Seattle called Union Bay, which was the land of the Duwamish, and the legislature appropriated funds for its purchase and construction. In 1895, the University relocated to the new campus by moving into the newly built Denny Hall. The University Regents tried and failed to sell the old campus, eventually settling with leasing the area. This would later become one of the University’s most valuable pieces of real estate in modern-day Seattle, generating millions in annual revenue with what is now called the Metropolitan Tract. The original Territorial University building was torn down in 1908, and its former site now houses the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.

The sole-surviving remnants of Washington’s first building are four 24-foot (7.3 m), white, hand-fluted cedar, Ionic columns. They were salvaged by Edmond S. Meany, one of the University’s first graduates and former head of its history department. Meany and his colleague, Dean Herbert T. Condon, dubbed the columns as “Loyalty,” “Industry,” “Faith”, and “Efficiency”, or “LIFE.” The columns now stand in the Sylvan Grove Theater.

20th century expansion

Organizers of the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition eyed the still largely undeveloped campus as a prime setting for their world’s fair. They came to an agreement with Washington’s Board of Regents that allowed them to use the campus grounds for the exposition, surrounding today’s Drumheller Fountain facing towards Mount Rainier. In exchange, organizers agreed Washington would take over the campus and its development after the fair’s conclusion. This arrangement led to a detailed site plan and several new buildings, prepared in part by John Charles Olmsted. The plan was later incorporated into the overall University of Washington campus master plan, permanently affecting the campus layout.

Both World Wars brought the military to campus, with certain facilities temporarily lent to the federal government. In spite of this, subsequent post-war periods were times of dramatic growth for the University. The period between the wars saw a significant expansion of the upper campus. Construction of the Liberal Arts Quadrangle, known to students as “The Quad,” began in 1916 and continued to 1939. The University’s architectural centerpiece, Suzzallo Library, was built in 1926 and expanded in 1935.

After World War II, further growth came with the G.I. Bill. Among the most important developments of this period was the opening of the School of Medicine in 1946, which is now consistently ranked as the top medical school in the United States. It would eventually lead to the University of Washington Medical Center, ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the top ten hospitals in the nation.

In 1942, all persons of Japanese ancestry in the Seattle area were forced into inland internment camps as part of Executive Order 9066 following the attack on Pearl Harbor. During this difficult time, university president Lee Paul Sieg took an active and sympathetic leadership role in advocating for and facilitating the transfer of Japanese American students to universities and colleges away from the Pacific Coast to help them avoid the mass incarceration. Nevertheless, many Japanese American students and “soon-to-be” graduates were unable to transfer successfully in the short time window or receive diplomas before being incarcerated. It was only many years later that they would be recognized for their accomplishments during the University of Washington’s Long Journey Home ceremonial event that was held in May 2008.

From 1958 to 1973, the University of Washington saw a tremendous growth in student enrollment, its faculties and operating budget, and also its prestige under the leadership of Charles Odegaard. University of Washington student enrollment had more than doubled to 34,000 as the baby boom generation came of age. However, this era was also marked by high levels of student activism, as was the case at many American universities. Much of the unrest focused around civil rights and opposition to the Vietnam War. In response to anti-Vietnam War protests by the late 1960s, the University Safety and Security Division became the University of Washington Police Department.

Odegaard instituted a vision of building a “community of scholars”, convincing the Washington State legislatures to increase investment in the University. Washington senators, such as Henry M. Jackson and Warren G. Magnuson, also used their political clout to gather research funds for the University of Washington. The results included an increase in the operating budget from $37 million in 1958 to over $400 million in 1973, solidifying University of Washington as a top recipient of federal research funds in the United States. The establishment of technology giants such as Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon in the local area also proved to be highly influential in the University of Washington’s fortunes, not only improving graduate prospects but also helping to attract millions of dollars in university and research funding through its distinguished faculty and extensive alumni network.

21st century

In 1990, the University of Washington opened its additional campuses in Bothell and Tacoma. Although originally intended for students who have already completed two years of higher education, both schools have since become four-year universities with the authority to grant degrees. The first freshman classes at these campuses started in fall 2006. Today both Bothell and Tacoma also offer a selection of master’s degree programs.

In 2012, the University began exploring plans and governmental approval to expand the main Seattle campus, including significant increases in student housing, teaching facilities for the growing student body and faculty, as well as expanded public transit options. The University of Washington light rail station was completed in March 2015, connecting Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood to the University of Washington Husky Stadium within five minutes of rail travel time. It offers a previously unavailable option of transportation into and out of the campus, designed specifically to reduce dependence on private vehicles, bicycles and local King County buses.

University of Washington has been listed as a “Public Ivy” in Greene’s Guides since 2001, and is an elected member of the American Association of Universities. Among the faculty by 2012, there have been 151 members of American Association for the Advancement of Science, 68 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 67 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 53 members of the National Academy of Medicine, 29 winners of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, 21 members of the National Academy of Engineering, 15 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators, 15 MacArthur Fellows, 9 winners of the Gairdner Foundation International Award, 5 winners of the National Medal of Science, 7 Nobel Prize laureates, 5 winners of Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, 4 members of the American Philosophical Society, 2 winners of the National Book Award, 2 winners of the National Medal of Arts, 2 Pulitzer Prize winners, 1 winner of the Fields Medal, and 1 member of the National Academy of Public Administration. Among UW students by 2012, there were 136 Fulbright Scholars, 35 Rhodes Scholars, 7 Marshall Scholars and 4 Gates Cambridge Scholars. UW is recognized as a top producer of Fulbright Scholars, ranking 2nd in the US in 2017.

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) has consistently ranked University of Washington as one of the top 20 universities worldwide every year since its first release. In 2019, University of Washington ranked 14th worldwide out of 500 by the ARWU, 26th worldwide out of 981 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and 28th worldwide out of 101 in the Times World Reputation Rankings. Meanwhile, QS World University Rankings ranked it 68th worldwide, out of over 900.

U.S. News & World Report ranked University of Washington 8th out of nearly 1,500 universities worldwide for 2021, with University of Washington’s undergraduate program tied for 58th among 389 national universities in the U.S. and tied for 19th among 209 public universities.

In 2019, it ranked 10th among the universities around the world by SCImago Institutions Rankings. In 2017, the Leiden Ranking, which focuses on science and the impact of scientific publications among the world’s 500 major universities, ranked University of Washington 12th globally and 5th in the U.S.

In 2019, Kiplinger Magazine’s review of “top college values” named University of Washington 5th for in-state students and 10th for out-of-state students among U.S. public colleges, and 84th overall out of 500 schools. In the Washington Monthly National University Rankings University of Washington was ranked 15th domestically in 2018, based on its contribution to the public good as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.

From The University of Aberdeen (SCT) : “Seaweed found at new depths around Antarctica”

From The University of Aberdeen (SCT)

11.28.22

A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) was used to find seaweed around Antarctica.

Scientists have discovered a type of seaweed at new depths for the first time around Antarctica.

Working at Rothera Research Station on Adelaide Island off the southwestern Antarctic Peninsula and by using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) from a small boat the researchers found the red alga Palmaria decipiens at 100m below the surface and collected samples for further examination.

DNA sequencing was then used to confirm the type of seaweed.

Seaweeds are hugely important to marine ecosystems, providing a habitat to a variety of marine organisms like barnacles, snails, sea urchins, crabs and mussels as well as being natural carbon sinks.

Funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and published in journal Polar Biology [below] the research was a collaboration involving the University of Aberdeen, the University of Southampton, the British Antarctic Survey and the University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece.

Video stills from ROV footage during an algal collection at 100 m depth, 31st January 2018 (A, B). High detailed ROV imagery of macroalgae attached on hard substratum at 90 m. February 2016 (C, D). Herbarium specimen (310118-10 FCK) collected via ROV on Jan 2018, scale bar is 5 cm (E)

Professor Frithjof Kuepper of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Aberdeen said: “We know that carbon capture will be crucial to limiting global warming as we move forward and seaweeds sequester large amounts of CO2.

“Seaweeds have the potential to play a huge role in protecting the environment by storing carbon at the bottom of oceans when they die and reducing ocean acidification. Seaweeds are also an important food source to numerous animals and fish and have been eaten by people in many coastal communities in parts of the world for centuries.

“Seaweeds have been used in a variety of cosmetic and pharmaceutical goods and with carbon-neutralizing properties it represents a sustainable product.

“Finding Palmaria decipiens at 100m depth is important for furthering our knowledge of Antarctica, a continent that is so important to understand for addressing the environmental challenges the world faces today.

“Our research aimed to clarify the maximum depths that seaweeds grow at in Antarctica and we used the ROV to look for seaweeds attached to hard substrate, in order to avoid mistaking them for alga which could have drifted down from shallower waters.

“We now know that seaweeds can live at least down to 100m depth in Antarctica. That is quite a lot, but we can’t rule out that they may live even deeper.”

Ben Robinson, British Antarctic Survey and University of Southampton added: “In Antarctica icebergs scour and remove seaweed from the shallows, leading to lots of loose seaweed at depths where it is no longer attached to the seafloor. Due to cold temperatures, it can take many years for these loose seaweeds to even start breaking down, so we could not rely on appearance. Instead we needed to use an ROV to test and collect seaweed to confirm whether they were attached to the seafloor and to confirm a new depth limit for seaweed.”

A fuller feature including pictures from the research carried out in Antarctica can be viewed here.

Science paper:
Polar Biology

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

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Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

Founded in 1495 by William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland, the The University of Aberdeen (SCT) is Scotland’s third oldest and the UK’s fifth oldest university.

William Elphinstone established King’s College to train doctors, teachers and clergy for the communities of northern Scotland, and lawyers and administrators to serve the Scottish Crown. Much of the King’s College still remains today, as do the traditions which the Bishop began.

King’s College opened with 36 staff and students, and embraced all the known branches of learning: arts, theology, canon and civil law. In 1497 it was first in the English-speaking world to create a chair of medicine. Elphinstone’s college looked outward to Europe and beyond, taking the great European universities of Paris and Bologna as its model.
Uniting the Rivals
In 1593, a second, Post-Reformation University, was founded in the heart of the New Town of Aberdeen by George Keith, fourth Earl Marischal. King’s College and Marischal College were united to form the modern University of Aberdeen in 1860. At first, arts and divinity were taught at King’s and law and medicine at Marischal. A separate science faculty – also at Marischal – was established in 1892. All faculties were opened to women in 1892, and in 1894 the first 20 matriculated female students began their studies. Four women graduated in arts in 1898, and by the following year, women made up a quarter of the faculty.

Into our Sixth Century
Throughout the 20th century Aberdeen has consistently increased student recruitment, which now stands at 14,000. In recent years picturesque and historic Old Aberdeen, home of Bishop Elphinstone’s original foundation, has again become the main campus site.

The University has also invested heavily in medical research, where time and again University staff have demonstrated their skills as world leaders in their field. The Institute of Medical Sciences, completed in 2002, was designed to provide state-of-the-art facilities for medical researchers and their students. This was followed in 2007 by the Health Sciences Building. The Foresterhill campus is now one of Europe’s major biomedical research centres. The Suttie Centre for Teaching and Learning in Healthcare, a £20m healthcare training facility, opened in 2009.

From Rutgers University Via “WHYY”: “Rutgers University develops oyster reef ecosystem to prevent beach erosion”

Our Great Seal.

From Rutgers University

Via

WHYY

11.26.22
Zoë Read

Researchers explain oyster recruitment and predation trials at field site. (Kurt Gust, ERDC)

Sea level rise and increased storm events caused by climate change are accelerating erosion along the East Coast, putting communities and infrastructure at risk.

Concrete breakwaters are often installed in the ocean to reduce erosion and protect communities. However, scientists say nature might be the best defense.

Rutgers University has partnered with the environmental engineering firm WSP USA to develop oyster beds that could also protect coastlines from storms, flooding, and erosion. It’s a natural alternative to man-made protections, said Rutgers professor David Bushek.

“How can we use Mother Nature to help us keep up with things such as sea level rise, and keep the shorelines from eroding? Because behind the shorelines are other infrastructures, buildings, roads, and whatnot,” he said.

Bushek’s team have produced oysters, which attach to one another and become a solid structure. As sea level rises, they can grow on top of each other.

Researcher displays oyster recruitment to experimental structure. (David Bushek)

“So the next generation of oysters will sit on top of the previous one, and they will grow vertically in that way,” Bushek said. “And so you have a structure that’s living that continues to provide that protection as opposed to something that’s fixed and inanimate. Oyster reefs, in theory, would increase in height as sea level rises.”

The project is funded by a $12.6 million grant from the Department of Defense, which will help them create the reef in East Bay, Fla. That project will protect a nearby military base, as well as the surrounding community.

The scientists hope the project will inform similar projects in other regions where oysters can thrive.

“I think the 10,000-foot view is to have something that is transferable to any system anywhere across the world that has erosion issues. It’s not just a local issue, it’s a global issue,” said Nigel Temple, Coastal Restoration Specialist at WSP. “Having a product that’s quickly deployable and easy to produce and get out on site and build these systems as close to natural conditions as possible.”

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, is a leading national research university and the state’s preeminent, comprehensive public institution of higher education. Rutgers is dedicated to teaching that meets the highest standards of excellence; to conducting research that breaks new ground; and to providing services, solutions, and clinical care that help individuals and the local, national, and global communities where they live.

Founded in 1766, Rutgers teaches across the full educational spectrum: preschool to precollege; undergraduate to graduate; postdoctoral fellowships to residencies; and continuing education for professional and personal advancement.

Rutgers University is a public land-grant research university based in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen’s College, and today it is the eighth-oldest college in the United States, the second-oldest in New Jersey (after Princeton University), and one of the nine U.S. colonial colleges that were chartered before the American War of Independence. In 1825, Queen’s College was renamed Rutgers College in honor of Colonel Henry Rutgers, whose substantial gift to the school had stabilized its finances during a period of uncertainty. For most of its existence, Rutgers was a private liberal arts college but it has evolved into a coeducational public research university after being designated The State University of New Jersey by the New Jersey Legislature via laws enacted in 1945 and 1956.

Rutgers today has three distinct campuses, located in New Brunswick (including grounds in adjacent Piscataway), Newark, and Camden. The university has additional facilities elsewhere in the state, including oceanographic research facilities at the New Jersey shore. Rutgers is also a land-grant university, a sea-grant university, and the largest university in the state. Instruction is offered by 9,000 faculty members in 175 academic departments to over 45,000 undergraduate students and more than 20,000 graduate and professional students. The university is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the Big Ten Academic Alliance, the Association of American Universities and the Universities Research Association. Over the years, Rutgers has been considered a Public Ivy.

Research

Rutgers is home to the Rutgers University Center for Cognitive Science, also known as RUCCS. This research center hosts researchers in psychology, linguistics, computer science, philosophy, electrical engineering, and anthropology.

It was at Rutgers that Selman Waksman (1888–1973) discovered several antibiotics, including actinomycin, clavacin, streptothricin, grisein, neomycin, fradicin, candicidin, candidin, and others. Waksman, along with graduate student Albert Schatz (1920–2005), discovered streptomycin—a versatile antibiotic that was to be the first applied to cure tuberculosis. For this discovery, Waksman received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1952.

Rutgers developed water-soluble sustained release polymers, tetraploids, robotic hands, artificial bovine insemination, and the ceramic tiles for the heat shield on the Space Shuttle. In health related field, Rutgers has the Environmental & Occupational Health Science Institute (EOHSI).

Rutgers is also home to the RCSB Protein Data bank, “…an information portal to Biological Macromolecular Structures’ cohosted with the San Diego Supercomputer Center. This database is the authoritative research tool for bioinformaticists using protein primary, secondary and tertiary structures worldwide….”

Rutgers is home to the Rutgers Cooperative Research & Extension office, which is run by the Agricultural and Experiment Station with the support of local government. The institution provides research & education to the local farming and agro industrial community in 19 of the 21 counties of the state and educational outreach programs offered through the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station Office of Continuing Professional Education.

Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository (RUCDR) is the largest university based repository in the world and has received awards worth more than $57.8 million from the National Institutes of Health. One will fund genetic studies of mental disorders and the other will support investigations into the causes of digestive, liver and kidney diseases, and diabetes. RUCDR activities will enable gene discovery leading to diagnoses, treatments and, eventually, cures for these diseases. RUCDR assists researchers throughout the world by providing the highest quality biomaterials, technical consultation, and logistical support.

Rutgers–Camden is home to the nation’s PhD granting Department of Childhood Studies. This department, in conjunction with the Center for Children and Childhood Studies, also on the Camden campus, conducts interdisciplinary research which combines methodologies and research practices of sociology, psychology, literature, anthropology and other disciplines into the study of childhoods internationally.

Rutgers is home to several National Science Foundation IGERT fellowships that support interdisciplinary scientific research at the graduate-level. Highly selective fellowships are available in the following areas: Perceptual Science, Stem Cell Science and Engineering, Nanotechnology for Clean Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Fuels Solutions, and Nanopharmaceutical Engineering.

Rutgers also maintains the Office of Research Alliances that focuses on working with companies to increase engagement with the university’s faculty members, staff and extensive resources on the four campuses.

As a ’67 graduate of University College, second in my class, I am proud to be a member of

Alpha Sigma Lamda, National Honor Society of non-tradional students.

From “WIRED“: “The Geological Fluke That’s Protecting Sea Life in the Galapagos”

From “WIRED“

11.26.22
Richard Kemeny

The islands are in the line of an icy current that provides marine ecosystems refuge amid warming oceans. But the good news might not last for long.

Photograph: Wolfgang Kaehler/Getty Images.

Pushed by climate change, almost every part of the ocean is heating up. But off the west coast of the Galapagos Islands, there is a patch of cold, nutrient-rich water. This prosperous patch feeds phytoplankton and breathes life into the archipelago.

“The cool water sustains populations of penguins, marine iguanas, sea lions, fur seals, and cetaceans that would not be able to stay on the equator year round,” says Judith Denkinger, a marine ecologist at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador.

Over the past four decades, this cold patch has cooled by roughly half a degree. Its persistence has scientists wondering how long it will hold. The Galapagos Islands are already famed for their biodiversity. Could it be that the water offshore will become a refuge for marine animals seeking cold water in a warming world? The answer, it seems, is yes. At least for a while.

There are other cold pools on the planet. One, in the North Atlantic just south of Greenland, is caused by the weakening of a global current that carries heat north. But according to a new study [Geophysical Research Letters (below)] led by Kris Karnauskas and Donata Giglio, climate scientists at the University of Colorado-Boulder, the Galapagos cold pool is a product of the shape of the seafloor and the rotation of the planet—two things unlikely to change because of rising greenhouse gases. And the Galapagos are not the only islands seeing this effect.

Along the equator, several islands have unusually cold water lying immediately to their west. According to Karnauskas and Giglio’s work, this cooling is the product of upwelling caused by the collision of a deep ocean current against the islands lying in its path.

Analyzing 22 years’ worth of ocean temperature data collected by Argo floats, along with observations from satellites, ocean gliders, and cruises, the scientists constructed temperature profiles around several equatorial islands and pinpointed the location of the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC), a cold, fast-flowing current that travels eastward about 100 meters below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The EUC is held in place along the equator by the Coriolis force, an inertia brought on by the Earth’s spin on its axis. This same effect twists hurricanes anticlockwise north of the equator and clockwise south of it.

Karnauskas and Giglio’s work shows that when the EUC gets within 100 kilometers west of the Galapagos Islands, it suddenly intensifies as it’s diverted upward by the islands. This causes the water to be up to 1.5 degrees Celsius cooler than the water outside this cold pool. The researchers found a similar, yet weaker, effect west of the Gilbert Islands in the western Pacific Ocean.

In a separate study, Karnauskas shows that over the past few decades, the EUC has been getting stronger and deeper. It’s also moved about 10 kilometers south, bringing its path more in line with the Galapagos Islands. All of those changes contribute to the observed cooling, says Karnauskas.

For the Galapagos marine ecosystem, this cooling is “a bit of a mixed bag,” says Jon Witman, a marine ecologist at Brown University in Rhode Island who was not involved in the studies. “The cool upwelled water of the EUC certainly has important positive impacts,” he says. But when combined with other oceanic processes that also cause temperatures to drop, such as La Niña, the cooling can hurt certain wildlife, such as by cold shocking corals, causing them to bleach and sometimes die.

For the near future, this shield of cold will likely benefit life around the Galapagos Islands and other equatorial islands. But this cooling water is fighting a losing battle with a warming atmosphere, says Karnauskas. “This cooling trend probably won’t last through the century; it will eventually be overwhelmed,” he says.

If some species are protected at least for a while, however, the Galapagos could become a genetic bank that could be used to reseed devastated marine ecosystems elsewhere, suggests Karnauskas. “And it’s just beautiful that it’s the iconic Galapagos that we’re talking about here.”

Science paper:
Geophysical Research Letters

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct.

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From “CSIROscope” (AU): “From larvae to livelihoods – restoring coral reefs in the Maldives”

From “CSIROscope” (AU)

At

CSIRO (AU)-Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization

11.15.22
Natalie Kikken
Lauren Hardiman

We’re working with local partners in the Maldives to develop coral restoration methods to assist with reef recovery.

Over 1000 small coral islands with white sandy beaches and colourful reefs teeming with marine life. This is what makes up the idyllic nation of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean.

But the Maldives is under threat from climate change. Over the last decade, increased sea surface temperatures have resulted in major coral bleaching events.

We’ve been working with local partners to develop coral restoration methods to assist with reef recovery.

A team effort to help coral recovery

We worked together with the Maldives Marine Research Institution to train local partners in methods to help with coral reef recovery. Here the team is preparing settlement tiles to resettle coral larvae back onto the reef.

Major coral bleaching in the Maldives has been recorded in 1998, 2016, 2017 and 2020. Live coral cover declined to as low as 2 per cent average cover. So, they need solutions to help with coral recovery.

Our researchers recently traveled to the Maldives to help implement solutions. We used our experience with the Great Barrier Reef to implement tried and tested methods.

So, how do you help reefs recover from major disturbance events? Much like us humans and other members of the animal kingdom, it starts with a sperm and an egg.

Spawning new research and knowledge

Training included lab-based sessions to identify coral identification and when a coral is ready to spawn.

Corals release their sperm and eggs during coral spawning events. These events usually only happen a few times each year.

We collect the coral spawn and culture it into coral larvae. Then, we release the larvae back onto areas of degraded reef where it will help re-establish corals.

Before we release the larvae, they are settled onto tiles. We can also release the larvae directly onto the reef. But settling on tiles can help reduce losses of larvae. It also enables early detection of the tiny coral settlers, as they are less than 1 millimetre in size.

On the other hand, direct release of larvae (without the use of tiles) requires less handling and can be more easily scaled up. Both methods help to re-establish populations of coral reefs impacted by disturbances, to aid in long term recovery.

Future proofing the Maldives reefs

The Maldives is made up of 1100 small islands but its coral reefs are under threat from climate change.

Initially, our researchers delivered the training through a series of online workshops. The interactive sessions included making coral spawn catcher nets from recycled materials such as plastic bottles. Participants were from government, environmental consulting, tourism and education sectors.

In addition to the online workshops, we rolled out hands-on training to tackle the challenges that locals are facing. 

We visited the remote island of Omadhoo to deliver a range of field and lab-based sessions. This included determining when corals are ready to spawn, coral identification and larval culturing. 

The team documented when the corals spawned and the precise locations. This information is vital in developing a better understanding of coral reproduction on local reefs in the Maldives. 

The training also used resources from the island. A facility normally used for fish aquaculture was repurposed to culture coral larvae before it could be settled onto the reef.

Like many countries in the region, the Maldives relies on its coral reefs for sustaining local livelihoods. Its reefs are critical for coastal protection, as they reduce impacts from waves and storms which cause erosion. And they are also important for economic prosperity. The Maldives depends on the reefs for tourism, with the sector employing 58 per cent of the population. Also, 98 per cent of exports come from reef-associated fisheries. 

The workshops and training were the first of its kind. They have boosted the local community’s knowledge to implement actions on their islands and atolls to help in reef restoration. This aims to improve the prosperity of the Maldives and help build resilience in a changing climate. 

See the full article here .

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CSIRO (AU)-Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization , is Australia’s national science agency and one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world.

CSIRO works with leading organizations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO maintains more than 50 sites across Australia and in France, Chile and the United States, employing about 5,500 people.

Federally funded scientific research began in Australia 104 years ago. The Advisory Council of Science and Industry was established in 1916 but was hampered by insufficient available finance. In 1926 the research effort was reinvigorated by establishment of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which strengthened national science leadership and increased research funding. CSIR grew rapidly and achieved significant early successes. In 1949 further legislated changes included renaming the organization as CSIRO.

Notable developments by CSIRO have included the invention of atomic absorption spectroscopy; essential components of Wi-Fi technology; development of the first commercially successful polymer banknote; the invention of the insect repellent in Aerogard and the introduction of a series of biological controls into Australia, such as the introduction of myxomatosis and rabbit calicivirus for the control of rabbit populations.

Research and focus areas

Research Business Units

As at 2019, CSIRO’s research areas are identified as “Impact science” and organized into the following Business Units:

Agriculture and Food
Health and Biosecurity
Data 61
Energy
Land and Water
Manufacturing
Mineral Resources
Oceans and Atmosphere

National Facilities

CSIRO manages national research facilities and scientific infrastructure on behalf of the nation to assist with the delivery of research. The national facilities and specialized laboratories are available to both international and Australian users from industry and research. As at 2019, the following National Facilities are listed:

Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL)
Australia Telescope National Facility – radio telescopes in the Facility include the Australia Telescope Compact Array, the Parkes Observatory, Mopra Radio Telescope Observatory and the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder.

CSIRO Australia Compact Array (AU), six radio telescopes at the Paul Wild Observatory, is an array of six 22-m antennas located about twenty five kilometres (16 mi) west of the town of Narrabri in Australia.

CSIRO-Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (AU) Parkes Observatory [Murriyang, the traditional Indigenous name], located 20 kilometres north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia, 414.80m above sea level.

CSIRO-Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (AU) Mopra Radio Telescope

NASA Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, AU, Deep Space Network. Credit: The National Aeronautics and Space Agency

CSIRO Canberra campus

ESA DSA 1, hosts a 35-metre deep-space antenna with transmission and reception in both S- and X-band and is located 140 kilometres north of Perth, Western Australia, near the town of New Norcia

CSIRO-Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (AU)CSIRO R/V Investigator.

UK Space NovaSAR-1 satellite (UK) synthetic aperture radar satellite.

CSIRO Pawsey Supercomputing Centre AU)

Magnus Cray XC40 supercomputer at Pawsey Supercomputer Centre Perth Australia

Galaxy Cray XC30 Series Supercomputer at at Pawsey Supercomputer Centre Perth Australia

Pausey Supercomputer CSIRO Zeus SGI Linux cluster

Pawsey Cray EX Supercomputer – Setonix

Others not shown

SKA

SKA- Square Kilometer Array

Australia Telescope National Facility – radio telescopes included in the Facility include the Australia Telescope Compact Array, the Parkes Observatory, Mopra Radio Telescope Observatory and the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder.

SKA ASKAP Pathfinder Radio Telescope at the Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO), on the traditional lands of the Wajarri peoples

SKA Murchison Widefield Array (AU), Boolardy station in outback Western Australia, at the Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO), on the traditional lands of the Wajarri peoples.

SKA Square Kilometre Array low frequency at the Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara Murchison Widefield Array, Boolardy station in outback Western Australia on the traditional lands of the Wajarri peoples.

Testing EDGES at MIT Haystack Observatory

EDGES telescope in a radio quiet zone at the Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Western Australia, on the traditional lands of the Wajarri peoples.