Visible through shortwave (VSWIR) spectral reflectance of the geologic units across the basal Tertiary nonconformity (BTN) is characterized at three spatially disparate locations in California. At two of these sites, location-specific spectral endmembers are obtained from AVIRIS imaging spectroscopy and linear spectral mixture models are used to visualize spatial patterns...
Probabilistic flood hazard assessment is a promising methodology for estuarine risk assessment but currently remains limited by prohibitively long simulation times. This study addresses this problem through the development of an emulator, or surrogate model, which replaces the simulator (in this case the coupled ADCIRC+SWAN model) with a statistical representation...
1. Globally, river systems have been extensively modified through alterations in riverscapes and flow regimes, reducing their capacity to absorb geophysical and environmental changes.
2. In western North America and elsewhere, alterations in natural flow regimes and swimways through dams, levees, and floodplain development, work in concert with fire regime,...
This case study explores how to add value to regional ocean condition forecast information by bringing awareness to the processes that govern decision-making and outcomes within the system. A modified mental models research approach is applied to examine differences and similarities in perceptions of risk and comfort with uncertainty between...
Whether CaCO₃ dissolves within the top centimeters of marine sediments overlaid by deep, supersaturated bottom waters remains an area of debate in geochemistry. This uncertainty stems from the fact that different methods used to assess CaCO₃ dissolution rates often provide what appear to be profoundly different results. Here we combine...
Coastal upwelling ecosystems around the world are defined by wind-generated currents that bring deep, nutrient-rich waters to the surface ocean where they fuel exceptionally productive food webs. These ecosystems are also now understood to share a common vulnerability to ocean acidification and hypoxia (OAH). In the California Current Large Marine...
Ocean acidification (OA) has had significant negative effects on oyster populations on the west coast of North America over the past decade. Many studies have focused on the physiological challenges experienced by young oyster larvae in high pCO₂/low pH seawater with reduced aragonite saturation state (Ωarag), which is characteristic of...
A major goal of the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) has been to understand the impacts of climate change and variability on the coastal ecosystems of the inner shelf of the California Current Large Marine System in particular, and other marine and even nonmarine systems more generally....
Despite progressive policies and continued advances in ocean management, numerous shifts associated with global changes have been observed in marine ecosystems in recent years, including warming, ocean acidification, and deoxygenation. As global change accelerates, science is needed to inform evidence-based management strategies for continued ecosystem services. Resilience management, in which...
Twenty years ago, the creation of a new scientific program, the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO), funded by the Packard Foundation, provided the opportunity to integrate—from the outset—research, monitoring, and outreach to the public, policymakers, and managers. PISCO’s outreach efforts were initially focused primarily on sharing scientific...
Extreme water levels generating flooding in estuarine and coastal environments are often driven by compound events, where many individual processes such as waves, storm surge, streamflow, and tides coincide. Despite this, extreme water levels are typically modeled in isolated open-coast or estuarine environments, potentially mischaracterizing the true risk of flooding...
The largest source of uncertainty among climate models simulating the climate system response to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations is the cloud feedback, the amplification or dampening of the warming from the carbon dioxide forcing by clouds. Refining our knowledge of the cloud feedback is therefore essential to gaining a...
This dataset contains data layers used and produced by a fuzzy logic model for biomass loss risk under projected climate change in Oregon and Washington west of the Cascade Mountains crest.
The literal distance inherent in online education can be an important difference between it and traditional classroom settings, such that proximate, on-site learning is thought to be where experiential, transformative education happens (Cohen, 2013). Yet it is possible that some of the most compelling, effective aspects of traditional, proximate education...
This report, required by state law under HB3543, provides a comprehensive assessment of the state of science of climate change as it pertains to Oregon, covering the physical, biological, and social dimensions. The first chapter summarizes the current state of knowledge of physical changes in climate and hydrology, focusing on...
Bedrock (U-Th)/He data reveal an Eocene exhumation difference greater than four kilometers athwart Owens Valley, California near the Alabama Hills. This difference is localized at the eastern fault-bound edge of the valley between the Owens Valley Fault and the Inyo-White Mountains Fault. Time-temperature modeling of published data reveal a major...
This case study is in response to a recognized need to transform short-term regional ocean condition forecast information into useful data products for a range of end users, considering their perceptions of uncertainty and risk associated with these forecasts. It demonstrates the value of user engagement in achieving long-term goals...
In recent years the conservation community has engaged in debate over value in nonhuman nature, especially as it relates to motivations for conservation. Many have expressed the assumption that more people are willing to support conservation when emphasis is placed on the human benefits of nonhuman nature, rather than the...
This Guidebook follows a holistic approach to adaptation planning called community-driven climate resilience planning. Community-driven climate resilience planning is “the process by which residents of vulnerable and impacted communities define for themselves the complex climate challenges they face, and the climate solutions most relevant to their unique assets and threats.”...
Coupled models of coastal hazards, ecosystems, socioeconomics, and landscape management in conjunction with alternative scenario analysis provide tools that can allow decision-makers to explore effects of policy decisions under uncertain futures. Here, we describe the development and assessment of a set of model-based alternative future scenarios examining climate and population...
Terrestrial chronologies from southern Greenland provide a detailed deglacial history of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS). The northern GIS margin history, however, is less established. Here we present surface exposure ages from moraines associated with two large outlet glaciers, Petermann and Humboldt, in the northwestern sector of the GIS. These...
Understanding larval bivalve responses to variable regimes of seawater carbonate chemistry requires realistic quantification of physiological stress. Based on a degree-day modeling approach, we developed a new metric, the ocean acidification stress index for shellfish (OASIS), for this purpose. OASIS integrates over the entire larval period the instantaneous stress associated...
This study investigates the use of a mobile application, Whale mAPP, as a citizen science tool for collecting marine mammal sighting data. In just over three months, 1261 marine mammal sightings were observed and recorded by 39 citizen scientists in Southeast Alaska. The resulting data, along with a preliminary and...
Marine macrophyte wrack (macroalgae and seagrasses) frequently washes onto beaches but little is known about the factors controlling its biogeographic variability. We report on a large-scale study of macrophyte wrack deposition patterns on the US Pacific Northwest coast. We measured macrophyte wrack on 12 sandy beach sites from southern Washington...
The juvenile demersal fish assemblage along the Pacific Northwest coast has received little attention relative to adult life history stages since pioneering work in the 1970s. Increasing severity of hypoxia along the Oregon coast in recent years has prompted investigations into the response of biota in this region. We used...
OBJECTIVE To document the environmental stewardship practices (decisions and actions regarding use and disposal) of pet and human pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) among pet-owning veterinary-care professionals (practicing veterinarians, veterinary students, and veterinary technicians and trainees) and environmental educators. DESIGN Internet-based cross-sectional survey. SAMPLE 191 pet owners (103 veterinary-care...
Coastal communities are increasingly experiencing climate change–induced coastal disasters and chronic flooding and erosion. Decision makers and the public alike are struggling to reconcile the lack of ‘‘fit’’ between a rapidly changing environment and relatively rigid governance structures. In efforts to bridge this environment-governance gap in Tillamook County, Oregon, stakeholders...
This chapter is part of Barrier Dynamics and Response to Changing Climate.
Coastal foredunes are often the “first line of defense” for backshore infrastructure from the hazards of erosion and flooding, and they are key components of coastal ecosystems. The shape and growth characteristics of coastal foredunes, typically characterized by...
REFEWLS - REnewable Food Energy Water on Land and Sea Nexus
This project will explore the connections between food, energy, and water uses along Oregon's mid coastal regions with a emphasis and focus on Newport. On average Newport uses approximately 2,000,000 gallons of water per day, but in the tourist...
Because barriers are low-lying and dynamic landforms, they are especially sensitive to changing environmental conditions. The continued existence of barriers will depend on the degree to which these landforms can maintain elevation above sea level while also migrating landward. We are increasingly learning that ecomorphodynamic interactions (i.e., interactions between morphology,...
In a subduction zone, the volcanic arc marks the location where magma, generated via flux melting in the mantle wedge, migrates through the crust and erupts. While the location of deep magma broadly defines the arc position, here we argue that crustal structures, identified in geophysical data from the Washington...
This study uses semi-structured interviews and an online survey to explore the structure, challenges and outcomes of a five-year National Science Foundation-funded water scarcity modelling project in the Willamette River Basin of Oregon, USA. The research team chose to facilitate broader impacts by engaging stakeholders from the study’s inception (e.g....
The Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database (TFDD) is a multifaceted global database that began in 1996 and includes a collection of international freshwater treaties, a database of water conflict-cooperation events, and a spatial database. Delineations of transboundary international river basin boundaries are the focus of the spatial database of which population,...
Snowpack impacts and trends in precipitation regimes are investigated for the mountainous western United States from water years 1984–2016. The vast majority of snow trend studies utilize undifferentiated air temperature records, which do not segregate between days with and without precipitation and effectually dilute temperature trends relevant for snowpack monitoring....
This study utilized long-term daily precipitation and snow-water equivalent (SWE) data derived from the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Snow Telemetry Network (SNOTEL). All existing SNOTEL sites in the Olympic, Coast and Cascade ranges in Washington (n = 66) and Oregon (n = 52) and in the California Sierra Nevada (n...
Background: Tidal wetlands are important habitats for salmon and a diversity of other fish and wildlife species. They also trap sediment, buffer coastal communities from flooding and erosion, and perform other valued ecosystem services. Tidal wetlands currently exist just at and above sea level, and healthy tidal wetlands are able...
This presentation summarizes the MidCoast Watersheds Council's project on the impacts of SLR on tidal wetlands in Oregon. Please see the project report for details (linked in Related Items below).
Maps from the report "Modeling sea level rise impacts to Oregon’s tidal wetlands : Maps and prioritization tools to help plan for habitat conservation into the future.”
Maps from the report, "Modeling sea level rise impacts to Oregon’s tidal wetlands : Maps and prioritization tools to help plan for habitat conservation into the future."
Maps from the report "Modeling sea level rise impacts to Oregon’s tidal wetlands : Maps and prioritization tools to help plan for habitat conservation into the future.”
Maps from the report "Modeling sea level rise impacts to Oregon’s tidal wetlands : Maps and prioritization tools to help plan for habitat conservation into the future."
Maps from the report "Modeling sea level rise impacts to Oregon’s tidal wetlands : Maps and prioritization tools to help plan for habitat conservation into the future.”