Perspectives on Ocean Science

Scripps Institution’s Jeff Severinghaus takes you on a thorough exploration of the record that greenhouse gases captured in ice for nearly a million years tells us, and explains what this reveals about current human activities and future conditions for our planet. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 30661]

Barbara Taylor of the National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Fisheries Science Center, who participated in the last effort to save the recently extinct Chinese River Dolphin, or Baiji, gives a detailed chronicle of her involvement in documenting the decline of earth’s most endangered marine mammal, the Vaquita, found only in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico. Their primary threat is death in gillnets, which until very recently supplied shrimp to the U.S. market. The catastrophic 80% decline since 2011 results from illegal sales of endangered totoaba swim bladders to China. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 30921]

Fifteen physical scientists, political scientists, and students from UC San Diego were part of the University of California delegation to the 21st Conference of the Parties, more commonly known as COP 21, the latest in a series of negotiations held annually under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The outcome was a landmark agreement to fight climate change signed by 195 countries, as well as inclusion of ocean science in final COP agreements text for the first time. Join us for an insider’s look at the conference and find out from local participants why this agreement holds great promise for the future. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 30660]

Southern California has been bracing for the effects of a strong El Niño year, with concerns about large surf, heavy rainfall, and coastal flooding on the minds of all of us who call the Southern California Coast home. Join us to learn about how El Nino is impacting our urban coastal zone and how coastal monitoring, including a community-based observing program, Urban Tides, is essential for informing how we adapt to rising seas. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 30659]

The severe drought gripping the western United States in recent years is changing the landscape well beyond localized effects of water restrictions and browning lawns. Geophysicist Adrian Borsa describes how the loss of water across the west is causing the entire region to rise like an uncoiling spring. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 30495]

Learn more about the amazing seadragons, as well as the recent discovery of a new species: the Ruby Seadragon, one of only three species of these charismatic fishes that live exclusively in the waters off southern Australia. Join graduate student Josefin Stiller, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, to learn how she and her advisors discovered the new species and how genetic diversity data is helping inform conservation efforts for these beautiful animals. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 30405]

Dale Stokes of Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Marine Physical Laboratory explores the details of different imaging techniques and how they are used to both represent science and its subjects as well as conduct research. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 29995]

Most people think that in the United States, the area around the San Andreas Fault poses the highest risk for a large earthquake. But the risk for a "great earthquake" and tsunami is highest in the Pacific Northwest. Join seismologist Diego Melgar and learn about the risks, the geologic forces behind the potential for a truly massive U.S. earthquake, and efforts underway to build warning systems for the western U.S. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 29994]

Fish showed up in the fossil record about 500 million years ago, and today, they are the most diverse group of vertebrate animals on the planet. Phil Hastings, Scripps Professor, and Curator of the SIO Marine Vertebrate Collection, will discuss the global diversity of fishes. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 29777]

Clara Deser from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, an internationally recognized expert on global climate variability will address a long-standing challenge for climate communicators – articulating the reasons for differences between projections of global scale climate change, which are strikingly consistent across climate models, and projections of regional change, which are not. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 29257]