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OAP Ocean Outlook
Spring 2025
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In this issue: The top 10 most cited publication, meet our Knauss fellows, research cruises underway, OA and wild stock decline, data and reference material access and the latest publications |
View online
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Welcoming winter’s end!
With this season of change, we all prepare for advancing ocean acidification science ahead of the field season with two major research missions, and greater accessibility to the tools and information needed to bolster the resilience of the Blue Economy. We’re excited to provide an update on building capacity with certified reference materials, impactful publications and research underway. As always, feel free to share your thoughts, needs and work with us and the broader community on the Ocean Acidification Information Exchange.
Dwight Gledhill, Acting Director |
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Publication named top 10 most cited
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Congratulations to lead author Li-Qing Jiang and other NOAA and partner authors for their publication being named among the top 10 most cited papers published in the Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems in 2023. The landmark article Global Surface Ocean Acidification Indicators From 1750 to 2100 provides a tool of 10 ocean acidification indicators for predicting the future of ocean acidification. “These regional and global projections and maps enable communities across the world to develop more informed adaptation and mitigation strategies,” says Jiang at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information and the Earth System Science Center at University of Maryland.
View the NOAA Research story about this work |
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OAP Welcomes Two Knauss Fellows
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Left to right: Carly LaRoche and Maddie Wood |
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Every year, OAP hosts NOAA Sea Grant Knauss fellows for a one-year internship. This February, we welcomed Carly LaRoche and Madison (Maddie) Wood. Carly coordinates international activities and partnerships within the ocean acidification research community. Maddie coordinates interagency marine Carbon Dioxide Removal research and development and assists with ocean acidification communication and education for OAP. |
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ANNOUNCING GOMECC-5 for summer 2025
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Researchers deploy a CTD rosette during GOMECC-3.
Credit: Joletta Silva, University of Miami |
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The Gulf and Ocean Monitoring of Ecosystems and Carbon Cruise, GOMECC-5, is on schedule to launch August 12 - September 23. This will be the fifth research mission in the Gulf of America and surrounding waters. Scientists at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanic and Meteorological Laboratory will lead the mission, and be joined by researchers from many institutions in the region. Major operations include the core ocean acidification measurements, augmented by additional measures including plankton population dynamics and rate experiments (phytoplankton, micro - mesozooplankton, bacteria), net community respiration in bottom waters, benthic lander sampling, environmental DNA analyses, and BGC Argo float deployments. |
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Funding & Job Opportunities
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University of Delaware Seeks doctoral students |
Dr. Wei-Jun Cai at the University of Delaware seeks 2-3 doctoral students to join a research group investigating ocean uptake of carbon, ocean acidification and marine carbon dioxide removal. Students will choose one of the following projects:
- Inorganic carbon chemistry and ocean acidification along the North American East Coast;
- Using stable carbon isotopes of dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13C-DIC) to constrain the ocean uptake of CO2 in ocean basins globally (includes two potential research cruises);
- Assess coastal wetland carbon export and evaluating its potential for marine carbon dioxide removal;
- Inorganic carbon chemistry and ocean acidification in the Arctic Ocean. A trans-Arctic cruise from Norway to Alaska is anticipated for summer 2026.
More information and instructions to apply here.
Image: Dr. Wei-Jun Cai demonstrates how to wear a survival suit as part of training on the third East Coast Ocean Acidification (ECOA-3) research mission |
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First wild stock decline correlated with ocean acidity |
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Red king crab harvest, valued at $96M in 2023 (NOAA Fisheries), has experienced declines across the region. These declines were attributed to warming and changing ocean conditions, but lacked information to further determine likely contributors. A recently published study in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences provides evidence that pH is likely significantly contributing to the decline of Bristol Bay red king crab.
Researchers at NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center Lab in Kodiak looked at whether ocean acidification or warming could explain this important fishery species in the southeast Bering Sea. They found that while ocean warming had a negligible effect, acidification explained ∼21% of the population decline over 1980–2023, and ∼45% since 2000. This is the first demonstrated correlation between increasing acidity and declining crab population, which can inform resource management and communities and industries that rely on red king crab in this region.
This work is published in the article, Ocean acidification may contribute to recruitment failure for Bering Sea red king crab.
Image: Alaskan red king crab. Credit: NOAA |
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Advancing Access to Reference Materials |
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A critical need of the ocean acidification research community are certified reference materials for carbon analyses. NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) established a new Reference Material (RM) system to meet this need. Importantly, AOML-RMs use seawater from the Gulf Stream, providing benchmarks for research in the Atlantic basin. The team, led by Denis Pierrot (AOML) and Katelyn Schockman (University of Miami/CIMAS), is just bottling the fifth batch, with ~200 samples per batch. Some batches contain mercuric chloride according to best practices, but the group is also testing some batches without mercuric chloride to determine if addition of this hazardous chemical is necessary. By measuring all 4 carbon parameters (TA, DIC, pH and pCO2) on a subset of bottles throughout the span of one year, the lab can monitor the stability of the batches over time. The nutrient and microbiology groups at AOML also analyze the seawater for biological and nutrient content to ensure high quality RMs.
Learn more about this project and the need for CRMs by clicking the button below.
Image: Katelyn Schockman finishes building and setting up AOML’s Reference Material (RM) instrument. |
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OA Education Underway |
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Seven projects were awarded this winter to deliver innovative education and outreach to communities across the nation. Projects focus on curriculum development and education development in regions with little access to ocean acidification education. Check out the full announcement and projects here.
Students engage with ocean acidification education as part of an OAP-supported FY22 education grant. Credit: Flour Bluff Oceans Program |
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Easier discovery of NOA-ON buoy data
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Data from NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Observing Network (NOA-ON) moorings are now collated and summarized into one table. Find all NOA-ON data and this table through the Ocean Carbon and Acidification System (OCADS) within the National Centers for Environmental Information. OAP supports NOA-ON, a network of 15 moorings collecting pH and pCO2 in U.S. coastal, open ocean and coral reef habitats.
Image: GAKOA Buoy. Credit: PMEL |
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