Gear up to explore oceanic science with the popular UCTV series, Perspectives on Ocean Science. Hosted by the Birch Aquarium at Scripps, this educational series is led by world-renowned researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Each month offers an exciting new episode that undertakes a unique journey into the depth of the oceans, across continents, or into the atmosphere.
Newly featured is Acidifying the Ocean: Assessing the impacts on Coral Reefs. Ocean acidification, the well-documented increase in ocean acidity resulting from increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide, poses threats to ocean ecosystems that are not yet fully understood. Ocean chemist Andreas Andersson explains the basics of ocean acidification and how his research monitors the function and health of coral reef systems as the ocean changes.
In coastal regions with frequent sewage spills, the resulting beach shutdowns can cause severe economic setbacks to the local communities. Professor Falk Feddersen, Physical Oceanographer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, has dedicated his work to understanding the passage of pollutants through the ocean once it has passed the “surf- zone” beside the shore.
In Following the Flow of Pollutants: Transport and Mixing in the Surf Zone, Professor Feddersen goes into depth on how the combination of coastal zone dye release experiments and oceanographic models can help explain how sewage is being transported and diluted into the ocean.
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