Intraseasonal oscillations in the atmosphere-ocean system can affect weather patterns and regional ecosystems. In turn, these oscillations can be affected by climate variability, resulting in additive and/or non-linear responses of regional ecosystems to climate forcing. In the Northern California Current, a strong correlation was identified between the location of the...
Continental shelf sediments are sinks for dissolved oxygen and sources of many major and minor nutrients required for oceanic surface primary production, resulting in a strong coupling between benthic and pelagic biogeochemical cycling. However, the influence and spatiotemporal variability of benthic remineralization on bottom-water chemistry and the supply of nutrients...
Over recent decades, the Bering Sea has experienced oceanic and atmospheric
climate extremes, including record warm ocean temperature anomalies and marine heatwaves (MHWs), and increasingly variable air-sea heat fluxes. In this work, we assess the relative roles of surface forcing and ocean dynamical processes on mixed layer temperature (MLT) tendency...
Global warming is expected to cause significant changes in the pattern of precipitation minus evaporation (𝑃 − 𝐸), which represents the net flux of water from the atmosphere to the surface or, equivalently, the convergence of moisture transport within the atmosphere. In most global climate model simulations, the pattern of...
The agricultural sector is one of the largest contributors to global climate change but is also one of the most vulnerable to its impacts. Farmers are at increasing risk of livelihood loss, which produces risks for their physical and emotional wellbeing on a global scale. Swift and effective adaptation is...
Stable oxygen and stable carbon isotopes of foraminifera are widely applied in paleoceanographic reconstructions. Oxygen and carbon isotopes are typically measured using pooled sample analysis (i.e., the combination of several shells) or single-shell analysis (typically restricted to heavier shells that weigh above 10 µg). With pooled sample analysis, where many...
Copper and iron are essential micronutrients that are required by marine primary producers for a variety of metabolic processes. Over 99% of both copper and iron are bound within organic complexes in the marine environment, however the molecular identity of many of these complexes remains unknown. The speciation of these...
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a problem for coastal communities, the fishing industry, and coastal organisms. Pseudo-nitzschia spp. is a regularly occurring diatom in Oregon’s coastal waters. At times, Pseudo-nitzschia spp. can facultatively produce domoic acid, a neurotoxin that can bioaccumulate in the food chain. While regular shore-based sampling provides...
There could be a geospatial and socio-ecological intersection between climate change, energy production, and sustainable fisheries management in the United States. Marine renewable energy generation efforts are currently being planned, studied, and initially implemented in the country as a response to climate change. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is...
The RV Ronald H. Brown traveled a section of tropical Atlantic waters northeast of Barbados during January-February 2020 in an international collaboration effort known as Elucidating the Role of Clouds Circulation Coupling in Climate Campaign (EUREC4A). ATOMIC (Atlantic Trade-wind Ocean–Atmosphere Mesoscale Interaction Campaign) was the US contribution to EUREC4A focused...
In eastern Washington and western Oregon, southwest-northeast striking thrust faults and folds of the Yakima Fold and Thrust Belt (YFTB) and northwest-striking dextral strike-slip faults accommodate north-south contraction resulting from clockwise rotation of the North American Plate. Though present to the east and west of the Cascade Range, the connectivity...
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an area-based tool used to manage and protect areas along the coasts and ocean that face impacts from development and climate change. Local communities both impact and are affected by the creation of MPAs and as such, it is important to include their knowledge and...
In this report, we present climate projections for Union County that are relevant to specified natural hazards for the 2020s (2010–2039) and 2050s (2040–2069) relative to the 1971–2000 historical baseline. The projections are based on multiple global climate models for both a lower greenhouse gas emissions scenario (RCP 4.5) and...
In this report, we present future climate projections for Polk County relevant to specified natural hazards for the 2020s (2010–2039) and 2050s (2040–2069) relative to the 1971–2000 historical baseline. We present projections that are based on multiple global climate models for both a lower greenhouse gas emissions scenario (RCP 4.5)...
In this report, we present climate projections for Morrow County that are relevant to specified natural hazards for the 2020s (2010–2039) and 2050s (2040–2069) relative to the 1971–2000 historical baseline. The projections are based on multiple global climate models for both a lower greenhouse gas emissions scenario (RCP 4.5) and...
In this report, we present climate projections for Douglas County that are relevant to specified natural hazards for the 2020s (2010–2039) and 2050s (2040–2069) relative to the 1971–2000 historical baseline. The projections are based on multiple global climate models for both a lower greenhouse gas emissions scenario (RCP 4.5) and...
In this report, we present future projections of climate and climate-related natural hazards in Benton County for the 2020s (2010–2039) and 2050s (2040–2069) relative to the 1971–2000 historical baseline. The projections are based on multiple global climate models for both a lower greenhouse gas emissions scenario (RCP 4.5) and a...
Studies of Hawaiian volcanoes contribute valuable insights about Earth processes and mantle evolution, and are fundamental for understanding the construction of the largest volcanoes on terrestrial planets. The pre-shield stage exists in every Hawaiian volcano, but is usually blanketed by high volume tholeiitic lava flows during the main shield stage....
In this study, 3D finite difference and 2D finite element forward modeling were used to create an electromagnetic sensitivity analysis for the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador. Magnetotellurics (MT) is a natural-source electromagnetic geophysical technique that images electrical conductivity. Measuring strong contrasts in electrical conductivity in volcanic materials allows for the...
The southern San Andreas fault (SSAF) is the fault segment with the highest 30-year probability of causing a moderate to large magnitude earthquake in California, yet key structural characteristics of the fault remain unconstrained, particularly in the Coachella Valley where the fault splits into the Banning (BF) and Mission Creek...
As climate change and its associated environmental and socioeconomic impacts become increasingly severe and imminent across the United States, it has become imperative for the public to be aware of and actively engaged with this issue. Although scientists generally perceive outreach in a positive light, a critical barrier that tends...
Low-tech habitat restoration techniques, including Stage 0 treatments, are increasingly applied but often lack robust evaluation of their effects. In 2018, one kilometer of the South Fork McKenzie (SFMK) River, OR was modified to the Stage 0 condition for the benefit of ESA-listed Chinook by raising the incised channel to...
The hydrologic cycle on Earth comprises the transitions among the solid, liquid, and gaseous phases of water. Understanding the hydrologic cycle is of course important for climate science, but also for agricultural, drinking water, and disaster preparedness purposes. Improvements in satellite observations and general circulation models (GCMs) have led to...
Studies reveal differences in slip segmentation and plate coupling along the Cascadia subduction zone. The segment between 44.0°N and 45.0°N exhibited reduced slip in the 1700 megathrust earthquake (Wang et al., 2013) and corresponds with previous rupture boundaries inferred from paleoseismic data (Leonard et al., 2010). Notably, this segment of...
The objective of this dissertation is to enhance the monitoring of forest ecosystems through the utilization of remotely sensed data to address the exigencies posed by the Anthropocene. On a global scale, rising temperatures and fluctuating precipitation patterns have strained forests and produced shifts in natural disturbance regimes. Additionally, the...
Basin-scale superinertial oceanic tides have been observed globally to resonate with the continental shelf (e.g., the Patagonian Shelf) with a clear theoretical framework. However, the response of the shelf to atmospheric tides – another basin-scale forcing – has not been discussed. This study explores this response using a prominent S2...
Changes in the stable carbon isotope composition of carbonate rocks (𝛿13Ccarb) are used to establish the relative temporal framework for geological events, such as evolutionary extinction or radiation, between two or more locations. As every local stratigraphic record is intermittent, aligning 𝛿13Ccarb records from two or more locations, a process...
Oregon’s foredunes are part of a dynamic coastal environment that constantly evolves in response to both ecological and physical forces. Invasive beachgrasses have outcompeted native dune grass in the region and have influenced the shape of Oregon’s foredunes via species-specific biophysical feedback mechanisms. As climate change induced sea-level rise will...
Oceanic plateaus are regions of overthickened oceanic crust and are often thought to form from the interaction of mantle plumes with oceanic lithosphere. These regions can cover vast areas of the ocean basins and represent a highly elevated magmatic flux relative to normal mid-ocean ridge spreading. Oceanic plateaus are considered...
Rates of sediment transport were determined using tracer gravel and a RFID antenna array at Oak Creek (Oregon) to compare a new method with an existing transport relation created from data previously collected in the same study reach. Close to 3,000 tracers were deployed throughout the study reach and were...
Micro-plankton are a crucial component of pelagic food webs, responding rapidly to environmental changes, and providing a first step in the acquisition and transfer of nutrients to life in the ocean. In addition to the uptake of carbon, phytoplankton provide essential fatty acids (FAs) that can limit the growth of...
Climate change is expected to increase the occurrence of many climate-related natural hazards. Confidence that the risk of heat waves will increase is very high given strong evidence in the peer-reviewed literature, consistency among the projections of different global climate models, and robust scientific principles that explain why temperatures increase...
Climate change is expected to increase the occurrence of many climate-related natural hazards. Confidence that the risk of heat waves will increase is very high given strong evidence in the peer-reviewed literature, consistency among the projections of different global climate models, and robust scientific principles that explain why temperatures increase...
Several large-scale marine heatwave events occurred during the last 10 years in the North Pacific. A particular extreme marine heatwave in the North Pacific called the blob created an unprecedented high peak of sea surface temperature (SST) during 2013/14. MHW events had significant impacts on downstream weather and precipitation patterns...
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.”...
Drought can have substantial negative effects on human health, creating challenges for public health departments, emergency managers, and healthcare providers. For example, drought can lead to decreased water quantity and quality, increased incidence of illness or disease, increased mortality rates, and adverse mental health outcomes, especially as livelihoods are affected....
Consistent with its charge under Oregon House Bill 3543, the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute (OCCRI) conducts a biennial assessment of the state of climate change science, including biological, physical, and social science, as it relates to Oregon and the likely effects of climate change on Oregon. This fifth Oregon...
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...
Climate Change in the Northwest: Implications for Our Landscapes, Waters, and Communities is a report aimed at assessing the state of knowledge about key climate impacts and consequences to various sectors and communities in the Northwest United States. This report draws on two recent state climate assessments in Washington in...
Consistent with its charge under Oregon House Bill 3543, the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute (OCCRI) conducts a biennial assessment of the state of climate change science, including biological, physical, and social science, as it relates to Oregon and the likely effects of climate change on Oregon. This sixth Oregon...
The group of scientists that make up the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found in 2007 that the warming of Earth’s climate is unequivocal and largely due to human activity. Earth’s climate has changed in the past, though the recent magnitude and pace of changes are unprecedented in human existence....
Fungi and Actinobacteria are essential actors in global biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrients, and have both been recently appreciated for their roles in marine ecosystems. However, the diversity and distribution of these ubiquitous, but low-abundance microbes in deep-sea habitats remains poorly understood, particularly in chemosynthetic habitats such as methane...
As the global demand for seafood increases each year, there is a growing need to expand sustainable aquaculture in the interests of food security and resilience of coastal communities. Pacific oysters, Crassostrea gigas, are grown in West coast estuaries - where cultures often overlap with the federally protected native eelgrass,...
The Pacific Arctic is undergoing rapid biogeochemical changes in response to warming air temperatures caused by climate forcing. This is manifesting as changes in seasonal sea ice thickness and sea ice extent, as well as changes in primary production within surface waters. The data and samples analyzed here were collected...
Seasonal mountain snowpack of the western US (WUS) is a key water resource to millions of people. Impurities at the snow surface directly affect snowmelt timing and rate, as they contribute to earlier peak streamflow, snow disappearance, and less water availability in dry months. Predicting the locations, timing, and intensity...
Microbial communities in Arctic coastal lagoons drive biogeochemical cycles at the terrestrial-marine interface and help to determine the fate and form of resources like nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) as they are delivered to the Arctic Ocean. Though rising rates of primary production in the Arctic Ocean are well-characterized, the...
It can be reasonably assumed that lamprey eel harvesting has systematically and periodically occurred along the Siletz River and its tributaries for as many hundreds, or thousands, or tens of thousands of years that human families and lamprey eel populations have coexisted in the Siletz Valley ecosystem. This report is...
Globally rising anthropogenic CO₂ emissions have resulted in the increased prevalence of ocean acidification (OA) which has the potential to impact shell-forming organisms. On geologic timescales, the largest contributor to atmospheric CO₂ was volcanoes, counterbalanced by weathering and erosion, but due to increased anthropogenic emissions, these processes alone can no...
Seafood processing is a sector of the seafood supply chain in which individuals and communities along Oregon’s coast rely on for food, livelihood, economic, and cultural relationships. Many coastal resilience studies focus on the seafood harvest (fishing) communities leaving the seafood processing sector relatively understudied. The objective of this thesis...
Snow is a critical component of global climate regulation and provides water resources to over one billion people worldwide. Yet current measurement methods and modeling techniques lack the ability to fully capture snow characteristics such as snow water equivalent (SWE), snow depth, and density variable landscapes. In recent years, the...
Understanding how the latitudinal distribution of methane sources changed between stadial and interstadial climate states during the last glacial period can provide important clues about how terrestrial hydroclimate and ecosystems evolved between these different states. The punctuation of the millennial-scale structure by Heinrich events is also of interest in this...
This research presents a u-channel based study of the natural remanent magnetization (NRM), the laboratory magnetization, Anhysteretic Remanent Magnetization (ARM), and magnetic susceptibility (k), from the upper 100 m of International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 383 Site U1543 in the eastern South Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. Alternating...
Climate model simulations and paleoclimate proxies are two tools that enable an understanding of the climate history of the Earth. When utilized together, they form a powerful paradigm for understanding past changes. Proxies are the only physical link to the past conditions on Earth, and models “fill in the gaps”...
Uncertainties in general circulation model (GCM) representations of marine boundary layer (MBL) shallow cloud cover contribute substantially to the spread in model predictions of future climate. Further uncertainties in GCM output arise from an incomplete understanding of cloud-aerosol interactions. For example, the Fifth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on...
Pacific razor clams (Siliqua patula) are narrow oblong bivalves that can be found in sandy habitats along the western coast of the United States, from Alaska (Aleutian Islands) to southern California (Pismo Beach). In Washington state, the razor clam fishery has been documented to be an important contributor to the...
As of 2022, Uganda hosts the third largest refugee population in the world with roughly 1.5 million refugees settled within 13 districts. With some of the most progressive refugee policies in the world, refugees in Uganda live alongside hosts in integrated settlements to support positive, sustainable socioeconomic relationships in both...
After the commercial exploitation of humpback whales (Megaptera Novaeangliae) ceased, population trends in the North Pacific increased with the implementation of federal protective legislation. The recovery of the population prompted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to divide the population into 14 Distinct Population Segments (DPSs) based on discrete geographic...
Early life stages of marine fishes exert substantial control on the productivity and resilience of marine fisheries, as these life stages represent periods of extreme mortality. Additionally, eggs and larvae of marine fishes respond rapidly to environmental change and can thus be used to infer ecosystem-wide responses to climate change...
The Arctic climate system is changing dramatically as a response to rising atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. Key indicators of Arctic change include thinning and retreating of Arctic pack ice, thawing permafrost, greening tundra, and rising surface temperatures. The structure of the atmospheric boundary layer influences and is influenced by processes...
Magmatic-hydrothermal ore deposits are giant geochemical anomalies in the earth’s crust most often generated by normal magmatic terrestrial processes. They are often associated with oxidized and hydrous intermediate to highly evolved magmas that have concentrated metals and have the necessary components to efficiently extract and transport them as ascending magmatic-hydrothermal...
Worldwide, networks of plants and pollinators are faced with the threat of climate change. The extent of this threat and the degree of adaptability is not yet understood. In Oregon, climate change is predicted to bring hotter and drier summers which may have consequences for pollinators and the resources they...
The ~5 km3, 4.54 to 4.09 Ma Caspana Ignimbrite of the Altiplano-Puna Volcanic Complex (APVC) of the Central Andes records the eruption of an andesite and two distinct rhyolitic magmas. It provides a unique opportunity to investigate the production of silicic magmas in a continental arc flare-up, where small volumes...
Continental margin sediments have been recognized as a major source of dissolved iron to the global ocean. The focus of this study was to build an early diagenetic model that can be used to simulate iron fluxes from continental margins and thereby identify key controlling factors. The model uses the...
In 2013, NSF selected OSU as the lead institution to oversee the design and construction of three new Regional Class Research Vessels (RCRVs), a new class of research ship designed with advanced capabilities for next generation, interdisciplinary, oceanographic operations. The new RCRVs will increase efficiency and the ability to address...
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 dataset is a collection of digital appendices for the PhD dissertation by Kellie T. Wall (2022), entitled "The 3.1 Ma to 100 ka Goat Rocks Volcanic Complex: Persistence and Evolution of Magmatism at a Long-Lived Major Andesite Locus on the Cascade Arc." Each appendix is a file (e.g. Word...
Predators must consume enough prey to support costly events, such as reproduction. Meeting high energetic requirements is particularly challenging for migrating baleen whales as their feeding seasons are typically restricted to a limited temporal window and marine prey are notoriously patchy. We assessed the energetic value of the six most...
The imposing andesite stratovolcano is the characteristic expression of subduction zone magmatism, posing hazards to coastal populations and bearing insight into deep Earth processes. On a map of a typical volcanic arc, one can easily distinguish the approximately linear alignment and regular spacing of these major edifices that stand out...
Coastal communities face heightened risk to coastal flooding and erosion hazards due to sea-level rise, changing storminess patterns, and evolving human development pressures. Incorporating uncertainty associated with both climate change and the range of possible adaptation measures is essential for projecting the evolving exposure to coastal flooding and erosion, as...
Oceanic fronts mark the boundary between two water masses and are often sites of complex bio-physical processes and multi-trophic level interactions, making them particularly important features in marine ecosystems. As global climate change induces multi-scale shifts in the driving physical mechanisms of fronts, spatiotemporal tracking of frontal variability can aid...
Near-surface advanced argillic hydrothermal alteration zones, also referred to as lithocaps, are characterized by quartz, alunite, clays (pyrophyllite and kaolinite group minerals), and minor F-bearing aluminosilicates (i.e., topaz, zunyite, diaspore, and APS) that form where water-, SO2-, and HF-rich gas condenses into shallow groundwater, acidifies, and reacts with rocks. The...
In winter and spring, ice-coast interactions driven by winds and ocean currents cause sea ice fractures (leads) to form repeatedly along Arctic coastlines. These events are often associated with rapid and expansive changes in sea ice drift and state that are challenging to predict and represent in models. We investigate...
Climate change has the potential to accelerate many forms of human migration and mobility, yet almost all of the key migration outcomes of interest are determined predominantly by governance, or the norms, laws, and institutions involved in the coordination of human society. These outcomes include the decision whether or not...
This study examines dissolved rhenium (Re) as a function of water runoff using river samples from two contrasting watersheds, the Eel and Umpqua Rivers in the Pacific Northwest, USA. These watersheds share many key characteristics in terms of size, discharge, climate, and vegetation, but they have a 10-fold difference in...
The South Pole ice core (SPC14), drilled in the field seasons of 2014/2015 and 2015/2016, is an intermediate length, 1,751-m ice core which preserves a 54,000-year record of past climate and atmospheric composition. The SPC14 ice core adds to the spatial grid of ice cores in Antarctica extending into the...
Variations in ocean conditions influenced by climate fluctuations may impact fish populations by changing their spatial distribution, physiology, survival, and other ecological features. Somatic growth is a crucial aspect of the biology of fishes and an important contributor to biomass fluctuations. Climate variability also affects somatic growth rates along the...