OCTOBER 4, 2016. "Empowering patients with cancer curing immune systems through genetic engineering" was presented by Dr. Michael Jensen, Professor, UW School of Medicine, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research.
Dr. Michael Jensen is a pioneer in the use of immunotherapy, an approach that recruits the immune system to fight cancer. His laboratory is involved in developing treatments for childhood cancer that involve genetic engineering of T lymphocytes. It has the potential to be highly effective yet lacking the extremely harmful effects of current therapies.
JUNE 6, 2016. “The Bloom was not the Blob – so what caused it?” was presented by Dr. Vera Trainer from the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA, in Seattle. In 2015, a massive bloom of the marine diatom Pseudo-nitzschia, stretching from central California to northern British Columbia, resulted in significant impacts to coastal resources and marine life. This harmful algal bloom was first detected in early May 2015, when Washington closed its scheduled razor clam digs on coastal beaches. It is the largest bloom in at least the past 15 years, and concentrations of the toxin, domoic acid, in seawater, some forage fish, and crab samples were the highest ever reported for this region. By mid-May, domoic acid concentrations in Monterey Bay, California, were 10 to 30 times the level that would be considered high for a normal Pseudo-nitzschia bloom. Impacts to coastal communities and marine life include razor clam and Dungeness crab closures in multiple states, impacting commercial, recreational and subsistence harvesters, anchovy and sardine fishery health advisories in some areas of California, and sea lion strandings in California, Oregon, and Washington. Other marine mammal and bird mortalities were reported in multiple states, with domoic acid poisoning the cause of impaired health or a strong contributing factor to compromised marine animal health. The causes of the harmful algal bloom’s severity and coastwide distribution were discussed.
MAY 2, 2016. “The Blob, El Nino and Climate Change: Looking for a Hot Time?” was presented by Dr. Nick Bond, a Research Meteorologist from the University of Washington. He summarizd some of his recent work on the abnormally warm water that occurred off the western coast of North America in 2014-15. Nick coined the term for this water. The presentation will include discussion of the causes and consequences of this mass of coastal ocean heat and what the future patterns may look like.
APRIL 4, 2016. Our April presentation will be given by Dr. Greg Geehan and is titled “Bainbridge Island's Glacial Heritage.” The geological evidence for past glacial incursions into the Puget Sound area will be presented, followed by the ways in which glaciers shaped our island both externally and internally. The complexities of glacial strata and structural faulting will also be addressed, and how that complexity translates into uncertainties regarding our aquifer system will be considered. Finally, there will be some discussion of aquifer modeling studies done by the U S Geological Survey in 2011 and updated by Aspect Consulting
this year.
MARCH 7, 2016. Our March presentation "Climate Science in the Space Age - an Update” was given by Dr. Gary Lagerloef, Senior Scientist at Earth and Space Research in Seattle. This presentation reviewed scientific findings of many aspects of climate research based on satellite measurements, and gave a summary of the current state of the climate (e.g. 2015 was the warmest year on record). He also discussed some new science developments since IPCC 2013, and placed this in the context of the Paris accords. Lastly, he presented a summary of the recently published report by the UW Climate Impacts Group on the forecast environmental impacts of 21st century climate change on the Puget Sound region.
FEBRUARY 1, 2016. Our Neanderthal genes: the genetic legacy of interbreeding between humans and our archaic hominin relatives, was jointly presented by Drs. Rajiv McCoy and Joshua Schraiber from the University of Washington. The Akey lab at the University of Washington has recently devised methods to identify specific segments of human genomes that are inherited from archaic hominin species. This talk described research regarding the evolutionary implications of our Neanderthal ancestry as well as potential consequences for modern human traits and disease risk. An overview of the lab’s recent work studying interbreeding between yet another hominin species, the Denisovans, and the ancestors of humans from Papua New Guinea was also described.
JANUARY 4, 2016. Steve Ruhl, President of the Battle Point Astronomical Association, gave a presentation titled “Cosmology, Dark Matter & Dark Energy.” He began by looking at the universe as a whole entity. From this view, he then looked at large structures to infer the presence of things we cannot see - Dark Matter. And then he looked at the whole structure to see movements we do not understand - Dark Energy.
DECEMBER 7, 2015. Dr. Bob Bindschadler, a NASA Emeritus Scientist, gave a presentation titled WHAT ICE SHEETS HATE AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE. Dr. Bindshadler has spent many years studying the ice sheets of the Antarctic, especially the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Thawing permafrost, thinning sea ice and retreating glaciers all signal changes that have become the “new normal” for the colder parts of our planet. These changes continue to affect the daily lives of arctic residents but now, as the large ice sheets have also begun to lose ice rapidly, billions more people are being impacted through the acceleration of rising seas. While the ice sheets also provide the climatic history that shows that human activity is a primary driver of these modern changes, the rapidity of the changes has posed puzzles that scientists only recently solved. The answers to these puzzles were described by the speaker, and demonstrated by the audience in an informative and entertaining presentation.
NOVEMBER 2, 2015. Dr. Rick Keil, Professor of Chemical Oceanography at the University of Washington, gave a presentation titled “What happens to dead stuff in the ocean?” There is more dead stuff in the ocean than there are living creatures on land. This necromass plays an important role moving energy and carbon between the surface ocean and the deep sea. Why this is important, how it is changing in the anthropogenic ocean, and how dead stuff is related to the ocean’s growing problems of acidification, deoxygenation and warming, was explored via a fun and action-packed interactive conversation.
OCTOBER 5, 2015. Laurel Peelle is a wildlife PhD student in Dr. Aaron Wirsing’s Predator Ecology lab at the University of Washington, gave a presentation titled "Where the Lynx Ate the Hare." Although many predators depend on snowshoe hares for subsistence, the threatened Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) is exceptionally specialized to hunt hares. This elusive wild cat can only survive where there are ample numbers of hares, yet there is a lack of empirical data on the habitat/landscape features that enable lynx to successfully forage. In addition to examining patterns of snowshoe hare survival in north-central Washington, I am identifying the features of successful lynx foraging habitat in comparison to the surrounding landscape as well as in comparison to "kill sites" attributable to other predators (coyote, bobcat, pine marten, & raptor). Laurel graduated from UCLA in 2004 and worked as a biologist for several years, gaining experience with reptiles, birds, and mammals, before moving to the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She is particularly interested in the integration of traditional tracking methods with modern forensics for her predator-prey conservation research.
June 1, 2015. Dr. Mick Spillane from the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research gave a presentation titled “Tsunami Detection and Real-time Impact Forecasting.” Like the earthquakes that cause them, tsunamis cannot be forecast in advance but if the spreading waves can be detected early, it is possible to predict quite accurately which coastal communities will be most at risk. Numerical models, run in real-time, inform the emergency response. If appropriate, the initial alert may be cancelled avoiding the cost and loss of public confidence associated with an unnecessary evacuation. Real-time tsunami detection and reporting was in its infancy and instrumentation was confined to the Pacific when the Boxing Day tragedy struck the Indian Ocean in 2004. The lack of infrastructure for warning remote areas where impact was hours into the future compounded the problem. Today an extensive array of detection sites exists, based on bottom pressure sensors, and other means of detection are under development. Coupled with the expansion in social media, tsunami warning centers and public education of when to self-evacuate, today's capabilities should limit the likelihood of devastating loss of life in the future.
May 4, 2015. Dr. Shallin Busch (Ocean Acidification Program and Northwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA, Seattle) gave a presentation titled “Ocean Acidification in Washington State: an exploration of its chemical, biological and societal impacts.” Ocean acidification, a consequence of carbon dioxide emissions, potentially has a large impact on ocean ecosystems. It is caused by well understood chemical processes, though its progression in coastal estuaries is complicated by a variety of human activities. However, the biological, societal, and economic implications of ocean acidification are poorly understood but could be large, especially in some regions like the US Pacific Northwest. The region’s oyster industry has likely already experienced some negative effects. For this reason and with great foresight, the former governor of Washington, Christine Gregoire, convened a Blue Ribbon Panel to summarize the state of ocean acidification science relevant to Washington State and make recommendations for action. In response to the Panel’s recommendations, Gov. Gregoire signed an executive order for Washington to act on the problem of ocean acidification. This presentation explained ocean acidification, explored its ecological implications for Washington and the Pacific Northwest, and discussed the Panel’s recommendations.
April 6, 2015. The April presentation “Ad Astera per Aspera: David Lack, the Galapagos, and the Birth of Evolutionary Ecology” was presented by Dr. Ted R. Anderson, Emeritus Professor of Biology at McKendree University.
Most people who have taken a biology course in the past 60 years know something of the Lack’s work, but few remember his name. Lack was a Devonshire school master in 1938 when he led an expedition to the Galapagos Islands to study a group of birds subsequently known as Darwin’s finches. This talk focused on the many difficulties that Lack encountered on the expedition, and more importantly, his difficulties in interpreting his findings. These difficulties however, ultimately culminated in the publication of his classic book, Darwin’s Finches, published in 1947 by Cambridge University Press. This work and another paper published that same year mark the beginning of a new sub-discipline in ecology, evolutionary ecology.
March 2, 2015. The March presentation, “The Bering Sea”, was given by Dr. Phyllis Stabeno, a Physical Oceanographer at the NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. For the past 25 years, Dr. Stabeno has worked on physical oceanographic, climate and ecosystem projects in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Chukchi Sea. Recently she has focused on climate change impacts on the subarctic seas around Alaska. She is the lead investigator in maintaining the biophysical mooring array in the Bering Sea, is a Principle Investigator for Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Plan (BSIERP) project and the NSF Bering Ecosystem Study (BEST) project, and has served on the Science Advisory Board for the BEST/BSIERP program since its inception.
Ice cover is a key component of Bering Sea productivity. In winter, the combination of geology, latitude, winds and ocean currents usually results in a rapid ice advance of approximately 1200 km (750 miles). In the spring, warming and change in the wind direction result in ice retreat. During summer the Bering Sea is ice-free. In spring, retreating ice, longer daylight hours, and nutrient-rich ocean waters result in high marine productivity, vital to both sea life and people. Approximately 80% of the seabird population in the U.S. and 25 species of marine mammals visit or live in these waters each year. Bering Sea fisheries provide about 40% of the total U.S. commercial catch. Climate scientists predict a major reduction in ice cover in future decades. To understand how the Bering Sea is responding now, NOAA scientists spend several months each year at sea collecting information on ocean temperature, plankton, fish and marine mammals. Long-term moorings provide information when ship operations are not possible. Data collected over the last several decades show marked changes in this ecosystem – a reduction in sea ice, a warming ocean, a decrease in zooplankton abundance, and changes in fish populations.
February 2, 2015. Dr. Karl Shearer, from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and Bainbridge Island, gave a presentation titled “The contributions of aquaculture to the global food supply”. How much food does the world need and how does this compare to the amount currently being produced? Projections suggest that a 50-70% increase in food supply will be needed to meet the increase in global population by the end of this century. Terrestrial food production has increased dramatically with the advent of the green revolution of the 1960’s and 70's, but there are indications that the rate of increase is declining. Aquaculture (farming in water) has been practiced for more than two millennia, but the amount of food produced has been relatively modest and primarily of local importance. A blue revolution is now in progress and can make a significant contribution to global food supply if it undertaken in a responsible manner.
January 5, 2015. Dr. Dennis Donovan, Director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute at the University of Washington, gave a presentation titled “An Intoxicating Review of Distilled Facts about Alcohol”. Alcohol is ingrained and is ubiquitous in the social fabric of American life. There are a number of potential benefits, social and health-wise, from alcohol use as well as a number of potential negative consequences. This talk provided an overview of the epidemiology of alcohol use, the health benefits of moderate use, and the risks inherent in heavy drinking.
December 1, 2014. Professor Paul Johnson from the UW’s School of Oceanography, discussed his recent work on the greatest seismic hazard to the Northwest US, the Cascadia Subduction Zone. His presentation was titled “Societal Risks from the Next Big Megathrust Earthquake in Washington”. The Cascadia Subduction Zone beneath western Washington has generated numerous high-magnitude earthquakes. This serious earthquake hazard to the heavily populated Pacific NW drives extensive research into the tectonics of the region. Although no megathrust earthquakes on the Cascadia Subduction Zone have occurred since 1700 AD, indirect evidence shows repeated earthquakes have ruptured this plate boundary from Vancouver Island to northern California. Mega-thrust earthquakes in the region are influenced by sub-surface temperatures along faults. The location of temperature-fault intersections controls both the coastal tsunami amplitudes and the intensity of ground shaking beneath the heavily populated terrestrial forearc region during large-scale megathrust faulting. However, there are large uncertainties in the location of the sub-surface temperature distribution beneath western Washington, due in part to an absence of reliable heat flow data from the area. New heat flow data were presented that constrain the location of the line of epicenters for the next megathrust earthquake in the Puget Sound region.
November 3, 2014. Dr. Jeremy Mathis, originally scheduled to give a presentation titled “Ocean Acidification: Gauging the Risk and Monitoring the Environment”, cancelled due to illness and will be rescheduled for sometime in the spring. Dr. Michael Dagg gave a presentation titled “Climate and the Greenland Ice Sheet”. Paleontological and modern data were used to describe the expansion and contraction patterns of the Greenland Ice sheet since its formation about 3-4 million years ago, and to predict its future under projected conditions of global warming.
October 6, 2014. “The Bering Sea”, by Dr. Phyllis Stabeno, a Physical Oceanographer at the NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, was cancelled, due to a family emergency. This presentation will be given later in the season.
June 2, 2014. Dean Butterworth, Outreach and Education Specialist for the National Park Service at the Olympic National Park, gave a general presentation on the Elwha River Restoration. This presentation placed river restoration in the cultural/historical context, explained generally some of the science that informed management decisions, and highlighted some of the steps of dam removal and restoration that have taken place so far.
May 5, 2014. Dr. Adrian Hobden discussed "Alzheinmer’s Disease – a 21st Century Pandemic?". Over the last thousand years there have been many pandemics leading to millions of deaths worldwide. Until this century those pandemics were all the result of infectious agents. Today, however, we are facing a pandemic which is not caused by an infectious agent and which threatens to bankrupt the healthcare systems of all western countries - Alzheimer's Disease. In this talk, Adrian Hobden discussed the history and epidemiology, the causes and characteristics, and the race to find treatments for this terrible disease. Dr. Hobden has graduate degrees in microbiology, molecular biology and genetics, and he spent 35 years working in the pharmaceutical industry, primarily in research and development. He spent 8 years working on a drug to slow the progression of Alzheimer's, and he presented historical and current information to us about this fascinating and important disease.
April 7, 2014. Dr. Tom Royer, Professor Emeritus at the University of Alaska and Old Dominion University in Virginia, discussed information “On the potential disappearance of early Americans from coastal Alaska.” Recent studies suggest early Americans followed a “kelp highway” along the coast from Asia to South America. Their settlements along the Alaskan coastline near the continental shelf would have been subjected to massive flooding during the 100+ meters of sea level rise that occurred during post-Last Glacial Maximum melting. This rapid, massive increase in sea level could have destroyed these early Americans and records of this migratory pathway. Dr. Royer presented recent information concerning this component of the peopling of North America.
March 3, 2014. Dr. George Divoky of Friends of Cooper Island, a Seattle-based nonprofit, provided us with some of the fascinating insights he has gained from his 4 decades of studies on this small arctic island in the Beaufort Sea, near Barrow, Alaska. His presentation titled “40 Years of Arctic Change” described how the Black Guillemot provides information on changes in the marine environment in general and in the Arctic in particular. Along the way he told us some stories about polar bears and other animal denizens of Cooper Island, and gave information about other research and educational activities on the island. Please have a look at the Cooper Island web page for more information. (http://www.cooperisland.org).
February 3, 2014. Dr. Jim Murray, a Chemical Oceanographer from the University of Washington, gave a presentation titled “Oil production, Economic Growth and Climate Change.” Economists, geologists, environmentalists, and resource managers are among the many groups of people interested in when the use of fossil fuels is expected to peak, and whether the peak will be driven by the market or by supply, i.e. by economic or geological factors. Dr. Murray presented information on the status of oil and gas production over recent time, and whether the idea of peak oil is a myth or a reality. For more information on this topic, have a look at these two recent papers authored by Dr. Murray: Nature Comment 1-26-2012.pdf and Murray Hansen EOS.pdf.
January 6, 2014. Jamie Acker, Owls - Studies and Observations on Bainbridge Island
Jamie Acker is physics and engineering teacher at Olympic High School and retired submarine officer. An Island resident, he has been studying the Island's owl populations since 1995 and is the author of two published works as a citizen scientist concerning Barred Owls. Most of his observations center around Barred Owls and their apparent effects on other owl species, particularly the Western Screech-owl which has been extirpated from the Island. Since the fall of 2005, he has also run a banding station for Northern Saw-whet Owls, a small migratory owl whose population dynamics, particularly on the west coast, are not very well understood.
December 2, 2013. Dr. Jean Jacoby, Toxic Blue-green Algae in Lakes of Washington State (And Beyond): A Blooming Concern?
Dr. Jean Jacoby is a Professor in Civil & Environmental Engineering and Associate Dean at Seattle University. She told us about the mass occurrences (“blooms”) of cyanobacteria (formerly known as “blue-green algae”) that occur in lakes throughout the world. Cyanobacterial blooms are caused by nutrient enrichment of aquatic systems and they create water quality problems and aesthetic nuisances. Some cyanobacteria also produce potent toxins (cyanotoxins), which have caused livestock, wildlife, and pet poisonings, including the recent deaths of more than 100 elk in New Mexico. Human exposure to cyanotoxins typically occurs through drinking water supplies or through recreational use of water bodies with cyanobacterial blooms. Short-term adverse effects due to exposure during recreational activities include vomiting, diarrhea, skin and eye irritation, and respiratory tract irritation. Ingestion of cyanotoxins has caused a variety of symptoms and illnesses in humans including liver toxicity, neurotoxicity, and gastrointestinal disorders. This presentation summarized past incidences and studies of toxic cyanobacteria in Washington, and discussed the findings of a recent study, funded by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), that investigated the toxicity and public health impacts of cyanobacterial blooms in 30 western Washington lakes.
November 4, 2013. Dr. Sue Moore. Marine mammals and sea ice loss in the Pacific Arctic: tracking ecosystem responses to the 'New Normal'.
Sue is a Biological Oceanographer at the NOAA Marine Ecosystems Division in Seattle. She has been working with whales and other marine mammals for 35 years and discussed some of the effects of changing sea-ice conditions in the Arctic Ocean on these animals and their ecosystem. Extreme sea ice retreats and loss of thick multi-year ice, especially since 2007, have led some scientists to conclude that the Arctic marine ecosystem has shifted to a ‘New Normal’ state. While physical data strongly support this view, biological responses of the marine ecosystem are harder to quantify. Some marine mammal species rely on sea ice as a platform for hunting and raising young and, for all species, sea ice plays a key role in structuring the marine ecosystem. Tracking the responses of marine mammals to changes in sea ice can provide insights to biological responses in this period of rapid marine ecosystem alteration.
October 7, 2013. Dave Schuchardt. Environmental cleanup activities in the lower Duwamish River.
Dave is Seattle’s Program Manager for the Duwamish River cleanup. The Duwamish runs through Seattle’s industrial core and two residential neighborhoods before emptying into Elliott Bay. Decades of industrial use have left behind pollution including long-lasting PCBs, dioxins, cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and arsenic. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Washington Department of Ecology are working to clean up contaminated sediment and control sources of additional contamination. Dave told us about the status of these cleanup activities and plans for the future.
June 3, 2013. Dr. Kevin Bailey. The Billion-Dollar Fish: Vikings, Fish Sticks and Donut Holes.
Kevin recently retired from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. He worked on a variety of Fisheries-Oceanography issues over his 32 year tenure and recently published a book about the Pollock fishery in Alaska, The Billion Dollar Fish – The Untold Story of the Alaska Pollock. The Alaska Pollock has supported a vast fishery for 40 years and remains the most valuable food fishery in the world. He presented parts of this story to us, along with some entertaining sea stories. For information about his book, see: http://kevinmbailey.com/index.html. For information about his current activity, The Man & Sea Institute, see: http://www.manandsea.org.
May 6, 2013. Dr. Christopher Krembs. Eyes Over Puget Sound—Your Local Marine Water Condition Diary.
Chris is the lead Oceanographer in the Marine Monitoring Unit at the Washington State Department of Ecology. His academic career as a Biological Oceanographer started in Germany and continued in the US at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the University of Washington, Applied Physics Laboratory, where he focused on microbial ecology and sea ice research. He presented information on Puget Sound water quality and how it is monitored by the “Eyes Over Puget Sound” program. For more information, see http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/mar_wat/surface.html.
April 1, 2013. Dr. Jacques White. A Virtual Tour of our Complicated Relationship with the King of Fish.
Jacques is the Executive Director of a non-profit organization in Seattle called Long Live the Kings. LLTK believes strongly in the value of wild fish and is committed to restoring and maintaining wild salmon and steelhead in waters of the Pacific Northwest. Jacques presented information from some of the LLTK scientific studies describing the issues and problems faced by wild salmon and the solutions to those problems.
March 4, 2013. Dr. Nicholas Bond. Climate Change: Implications for the Pacific Northwest.
Nick is a Research Meteorologist at the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO – University of Washington), in Seattle. He specializes in measurements of storms from aircraft and buoys, placing this and other weather information into a broader view of our weather patterns and changing climate. He presented information on several aspects of climate change here in the Pacific Northwest.
Dr. Michael Jensen is a pioneer in the use of immunotherapy, an approach that recruits the immune system to fight cancer. His laboratory is involved in developing treatments for childhood cancer that involve genetic engineering of T lymphocytes. It has the potential to be highly effective yet lacking the extremely harmful effects of current therapies.
JUNE 6, 2016. “The Bloom was not the Blob – so what caused it?” was presented by Dr. Vera Trainer from the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA, in Seattle. In 2015, a massive bloom of the marine diatom Pseudo-nitzschia, stretching from central California to northern British Columbia, resulted in significant impacts to coastal resources and marine life. This harmful algal bloom was first detected in early May 2015, when Washington closed its scheduled razor clam digs on coastal beaches. It is the largest bloom in at least the past 15 years, and concentrations of the toxin, domoic acid, in seawater, some forage fish, and crab samples were the highest ever reported for this region. By mid-May, domoic acid concentrations in Monterey Bay, California, were 10 to 30 times the level that would be considered high for a normal Pseudo-nitzschia bloom. Impacts to coastal communities and marine life include razor clam and Dungeness crab closures in multiple states, impacting commercial, recreational and subsistence harvesters, anchovy and sardine fishery health advisories in some areas of California, and sea lion strandings in California, Oregon, and Washington. Other marine mammal and bird mortalities were reported in multiple states, with domoic acid poisoning the cause of impaired health or a strong contributing factor to compromised marine animal health. The causes of the harmful algal bloom’s severity and coastwide distribution were discussed.
MAY 2, 2016. “The Blob, El Nino and Climate Change: Looking for a Hot Time?” was presented by Dr. Nick Bond, a Research Meteorologist from the University of Washington. He summarizd some of his recent work on the abnormally warm water that occurred off the western coast of North America in 2014-15. Nick coined the term for this water. The presentation will include discussion of the causes and consequences of this mass of coastal ocean heat and what the future patterns may look like.
APRIL 4, 2016. Our April presentation will be given by Dr. Greg Geehan and is titled “Bainbridge Island's Glacial Heritage.” The geological evidence for past glacial incursions into the Puget Sound area will be presented, followed by the ways in which glaciers shaped our island both externally and internally. The complexities of glacial strata and structural faulting will also be addressed, and how that complexity translates into uncertainties regarding our aquifer system will be considered. Finally, there will be some discussion of aquifer modeling studies done by the U S Geological Survey in 2011 and updated by Aspect Consulting
this year.
MARCH 7, 2016. Our March presentation "Climate Science in the Space Age - an Update” was given by Dr. Gary Lagerloef, Senior Scientist at Earth and Space Research in Seattle. This presentation reviewed scientific findings of many aspects of climate research based on satellite measurements, and gave a summary of the current state of the climate (e.g. 2015 was the warmest year on record). He also discussed some new science developments since IPCC 2013, and placed this in the context of the Paris accords. Lastly, he presented a summary of the recently published report by the UW Climate Impacts Group on the forecast environmental impacts of 21st century climate change on the Puget Sound region.
FEBRUARY 1, 2016. Our Neanderthal genes: the genetic legacy of interbreeding between humans and our archaic hominin relatives, was jointly presented by Drs. Rajiv McCoy and Joshua Schraiber from the University of Washington. The Akey lab at the University of Washington has recently devised methods to identify specific segments of human genomes that are inherited from archaic hominin species. This talk described research regarding the evolutionary implications of our Neanderthal ancestry as well as potential consequences for modern human traits and disease risk. An overview of the lab’s recent work studying interbreeding between yet another hominin species, the Denisovans, and the ancestors of humans from Papua New Guinea was also described.
JANUARY 4, 2016. Steve Ruhl, President of the Battle Point Astronomical Association, gave a presentation titled “Cosmology, Dark Matter & Dark Energy.” He began by looking at the universe as a whole entity. From this view, he then looked at large structures to infer the presence of things we cannot see - Dark Matter. And then he looked at the whole structure to see movements we do not understand - Dark Energy.
DECEMBER 7, 2015. Dr. Bob Bindschadler, a NASA Emeritus Scientist, gave a presentation titled WHAT ICE SHEETS HATE AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE. Dr. Bindshadler has spent many years studying the ice sheets of the Antarctic, especially the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Thawing permafrost, thinning sea ice and retreating glaciers all signal changes that have become the “new normal” for the colder parts of our planet. These changes continue to affect the daily lives of arctic residents but now, as the large ice sheets have also begun to lose ice rapidly, billions more people are being impacted through the acceleration of rising seas. While the ice sheets also provide the climatic history that shows that human activity is a primary driver of these modern changes, the rapidity of the changes has posed puzzles that scientists only recently solved. The answers to these puzzles were described by the speaker, and demonstrated by the audience in an informative and entertaining presentation.
NOVEMBER 2, 2015. Dr. Rick Keil, Professor of Chemical Oceanography at the University of Washington, gave a presentation titled “What happens to dead stuff in the ocean?” There is more dead stuff in the ocean than there are living creatures on land. This necromass plays an important role moving energy and carbon between the surface ocean and the deep sea. Why this is important, how it is changing in the anthropogenic ocean, and how dead stuff is related to the ocean’s growing problems of acidification, deoxygenation and warming, was explored via a fun and action-packed interactive conversation.
OCTOBER 5, 2015. Laurel Peelle is a wildlife PhD student in Dr. Aaron Wirsing’s Predator Ecology lab at the University of Washington, gave a presentation titled "Where the Lynx Ate the Hare." Although many predators depend on snowshoe hares for subsistence, the threatened Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) is exceptionally specialized to hunt hares. This elusive wild cat can only survive where there are ample numbers of hares, yet there is a lack of empirical data on the habitat/landscape features that enable lynx to successfully forage. In addition to examining patterns of snowshoe hare survival in north-central Washington, I am identifying the features of successful lynx foraging habitat in comparison to the surrounding landscape as well as in comparison to "kill sites" attributable to other predators (coyote, bobcat, pine marten, & raptor). Laurel graduated from UCLA in 2004 and worked as a biologist for several years, gaining experience with reptiles, birds, and mammals, before moving to the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She is particularly interested in the integration of traditional tracking methods with modern forensics for her predator-prey conservation research.
June 1, 2015. Dr. Mick Spillane from the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research gave a presentation titled “Tsunami Detection and Real-time Impact Forecasting.” Like the earthquakes that cause them, tsunamis cannot be forecast in advance but if the spreading waves can be detected early, it is possible to predict quite accurately which coastal communities will be most at risk. Numerical models, run in real-time, inform the emergency response. If appropriate, the initial alert may be cancelled avoiding the cost and loss of public confidence associated with an unnecessary evacuation. Real-time tsunami detection and reporting was in its infancy and instrumentation was confined to the Pacific when the Boxing Day tragedy struck the Indian Ocean in 2004. The lack of infrastructure for warning remote areas where impact was hours into the future compounded the problem. Today an extensive array of detection sites exists, based on bottom pressure sensors, and other means of detection are under development. Coupled with the expansion in social media, tsunami warning centers and public education of when to self-evacuate, today's capabilities should limit the likelihood of devastating loss of life in the future.
May 4, 2015. Dr. Shallin Busch (Ocean Acidification Program and Northwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA, Seattle) gave a presentation titled “Ocean Acidification in Washington State: an exploration of its chemical, biological and societal impacts.” Ocean acidification, a consequence of carbon dioxide emissions, potentially has a large impact on ocean ecosystems. It is caused by well understood chemical processes, though its progression in coastal estuaries is complicated by a variety of human activities. However, the biological, societal, and economic implications of ocean acidification are poorly understood but could be large, especially in some regions like the US Pacific Northwest. The region’s oyster industry has likely already experienced some negative effects. For this reason and with great foresight, the former governor of Washington, Christine Gregoire, convened a Blue Ribbon Panel to summarize the state of ocean acidification science relevant to Washington State and make recommendations for action. In response to the Panel’s recommendations, Gov. Gregoire signed an executive order for Washington to act on the problem of ocean acidification. This presentation explained ocean acidification, explored its ecological implications for Washington and the Pacific Northwest, and discussed the Panel’s recommendations.
April 6, 2015. The April presentation “Ad Astera per Aspera: David Lack, the Galapagos, and the Birth of Evolutionary Ecology” was presented by Dr. Ted R. Anderson, Emeritus Professor of Biology at McKendree University.
Most people who have taken a biology course in the past 60 years know something of the Lack’s work, but few remember his name. Lack was a Devonshire school master in 1938 when he led an expedition to the Galapagos Islands to study a group of birds subsequently known as Darwin’s finches. This talk focused on the many difficulties that Lack encountered on the expedition, and more importantly, his difficulties in interpreting his findings. These difficulties however, ultimately culminated in the publication of his classic book, Darwin’s Finches, published in 1947 by Cambridge University Press. This work and another paper published that same year mark the beginning of a new sub-discipline in ecology, evolutionary ecology.
March 2, 2015. The March presentation, “The Bering Sea”, was given by Dr. Phyllis Stabeno, a Physical Oceanographer at the NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. For the past 25 years, Dr. Stabeno has worked on physical oceanographic, climate and ecosystem projects in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Chukchi Sea. Recently she has focused on climate change impacts on the subarctic seas around Alaska. She is the lead investigator in maintaining the biophysical mooring array in the Bering Sea, is a Principle Investigator for Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Plan (BSIERP) project and the NSF Bering Ecosystem Study (BEST) project, and has served on the Science Advisory Board for the BEST/BSIERP program since its inception.
Ice cover is a key component of Bering Sea productivity. In winter, the combination of geology, latitude, winds and ocean currents usually results in a rapid ice advance of approximately 1200 km (750 miles). In the spring, warming and change in the wind direction result in ice retreat. During summer the Bering Sea is ice-free. In spring, retreating ice, longer daylight hours, and nutrient-rich ocean waters result in high marine productivity, vital to both sea life and people. Approximately 80% of the seabird population in the U.S. and 25 species of marine mammals visit or live in these waters each year. Bering Sea fisheries provide about 40% of the total U.S. commercial catch. Climate scientists predict a major reduction in ice cover in future decades. To understand how the Bering Sea is responding now, NOAA scientists spend several months each year at sea collecting information on ocean temperature, plankton, fish and marine mammals. Long-term moorings provide information when ship operations are not possible. Data collected over the last several decades show marked changes in this ecosystem – a reduction in sea ice, a warming ocean, a decrease in zooplankton abundance, and changes in fish populations.
February 2, 2015. Dr. Karl Shearer, from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and Bainbridge Island, gave a presentation titled “The contributions of aquaculture to the global food supply”. How much food does the world need and how does this compare to the amount currently being produced? Projections suggest that a 50-70% increase in food supply will be needed to meet the increase in global population by the end of this century. Terrestrial food production has increased dramatically with the advent of the green revolution of the 1960’s and 70's, but there are indications that the rate of increase is declining. Aquaculture (farming in water) has been practiced for more than two millennia, but the amount of food produced has been relatively modest and primarily of local importance. A blue revolution is now in progress and can make a significant contribution to global food supply if it undertaken in a responsible manner.
January 5, 2015. Dr. Dennis Donovan, Director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute at the University of Washington, gave a presentation titled “An Intoxicating Review of Distilled Facts about Alcohol”. Alcohol is ingrained and is ubiquitous in the social fabric of American life. There are a number of potential benefits, social and health-wise, from alcohol use as well as a number of potential negative consequences. This talk provided an overview of the epidemiology of alcohol use, the health benefits of moderate use, and the risks inherent in heavy drinking.
December 1, 2014. Professor Paul Johnson from the UW’s School of Oceanography, discussed his recent work on the greatest seismic hazard to the Northwest US, the Cascadia Subduction Zone. His presentation was titled “Societal Risks from the Next Big Megathrust Earthquake in Washington”. The Cascadia Subduction Zone beneath western Washington has generated numerous high-magnitude earthquakes. This serious earthquake hazard to the heavily populated Pacific NW drives extensive research into the tectonics of the region. Although no megathrust earthquakes on the Cascadia Subduction Zone have occurred since 1700 AD, indirect evidence shows repeated earthquakes have ruptured this plate boundary from Vancouver Island to northern California. Mega-thrust earthquakes in the region are influenced by sub-surface temperatures along faults. The location of temperature-fault intersections controls both the coastal tsunami amplitudes and the intensity of ground shaking beneath the heavily populated terrestrial forearc region during large-scale megathrust faulting. However, there are large uncertainties in the location of the sub-surface temperature distribution beneath western Washington, due in part to an absence of reliable heat flow data from the area. New heat flow data were presented that constrain the location of the line of epicenters for the next megathrust earthquake in the Puget Sound region.
November 3, 2014. Dr. Jeremy Mathis, originally scheduled to give a presentation titled “Ocean Acidification: Gauging the Risk and Monitoring the Environment”, cancelled due to illness and will be rescheduled for sometime in the spring. Dr. Michael Dagg gave a presentation titled “Climate and the Greenland Ice Sheet”. Paleontological and modern data were used to describe the expansion and contraction patterns of the Greenland Ice sheet since its formation about 3-4 million years ago, and to predict its future under projected conditions of global warming.
October 6, 2014. “The Bering Sea”, by Dr. Phyllis Stabeno, a Physical Oceanographer at the NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, was cancelled, due to a family emergency. This presentation will be given later in the season.
June 2, 2014. Dean Butterworth, Outreach and Education Specialist for the National Park Service at the Olympic National Park, gave a general presentation on the Elwha River Restoration. This presentation placed river restoration in the cultural/historical context, explained generally some of the science that informed management decisions, and highlighted some of the steps of dam removal and restoration that have taken place so far.
May 5, 2014. Dr. Adrian Hobden discussed "Alzheinmer’s Disease – a 21st Century Pandemic?". Over the last thousand years there have been many pandemics leading to millions of deaths worldwide. Until this century those pandemics were all the result of infectious agents. Today, however, we are facing a pandemic which is not caused by an infectious agent and which threatens to bankrupt the healthcare systems of all western countries - Alzheimer's Disease. In this talk, Adrian Hobden discussed the history and epidemiology, the causes and characteristics, and the race to find treatments for this terrible disease. Dr. Hobden has graduate degrees in microbiology, molecular biology and genetics, and he spent 35 years working in the pharmaceutical industry, primarily in research and development. He spent 8 years working on a drug to slow the progression of Alzheimer's, and he presented historical and current information to us about this fascinating and important disease.
April 7, 2014. Dr. Tom Royer, Professor Emeritus at the University of Alaska and Old Dominion University in Virginia, discussed information “On the potential disappearance of early Americans from coastal Alaska.” Recent studies suggest early Americans followed a “kelp highway” along the coast from Asia to South America. Their settlements along the Alaskan coastline near the continental shelf would have been subjected to massive flooding during the 100+ meters of sea level rise that occurred during post-Last Glacial Maximum melting. This rapid, massive increase in sea level could have destroyed these early Americans and records of this migratory pathway. Dr. Royer presented recent information concerning this component of the peopling of North America.
March 3, 2014. Dr. George Divoky of Friends of Cooper Island, a Seattle-based nonprofit, provided us with some of the fascinating insights he has gained from his 4 decades of studies on this small arctic island in the Beaufort Sea, near Barrow, Alaska. His presentation titled “40 Years of Arctic Change” described how the Black Guillemot provides information on changes in the marine environment in general and in the Arctic in particular. Along the way he told us some stories about polar bears and other animal denizens of Cooper Island, and gave information about other research and educational activities on the island. Please have a look at the Cooper Island web page for more information. (http://www.cooperisland.org).
February 3, 2014. Dr. Jim Murray, a Chemical Oceanographer from the University of Washington, gave a presentation titled “Oil production, Economic Growth and Climate Change.” Economists, geologists, environmentalists, and resource managers are among the many groups of people interested in when the use of fossil fuels is expected to peak, and whether the peak will be driven by the market or by supply, i.e. by economic or geological factors. Dr. Murray presented information on the status of oil and gas production over recent time, and whether the idea of peak oil is a myth or a reality. For more information on this topic, have a look at these two recent papers authored by Dr. Murray: Nature Comment 1-26-2012.pdf and Murray Hansen EOS.pdf.
January 6, 2014. Jamie Acker, Owls - Studies and Observations on Bainbridge Island
Jamie Acker is physics and engineering teacher at Olympic High School and retired submarine officer. An Island resident, he has been studying the Island's owl populations since 1995 and is the author of two published works as a citizen scientist concerning Barred Owls. Most of his observations center around Barred Owls and their apparent effects on other owl species, particularly the Western Screech-owl which has been extirpated from the Island. Since the fall of 2005, he has also run a banding station for Northern Saw-whet Owls, a small migratory owl whose population dynamics, particularly on the west coast, are not very well understood.
December 2, 2013. Dr. Jean Jacoby, Toxic Blue-green Algae in Lakes of Washington State (And Beyond): A Blooming Concern?
Dr. Jean Jacoby is a Professor in Civil & Environmental Engineering and Associate Dean at Seattle University. She told us about the mass occurrences (“blooms”) of cyanobacteria (formerly known as “blue-green algae”) that occur in lakes throughout the world. Cyanobacterial blooms are caused by nutrient enrichment of aquatic systems and they create water quality problems and aesthetic nuisances. Some cyanobacteria also produce potent toxins (cyanotoxins), which have caused livestock, wildlife, and pet poisonings, including the recent deaths of more than 100 elk in New Mexico. Human exposure to cyanotoxins typically occurs through drinking water supplies or through recreational use of water bodies with cyanobacterial blooms. Short-term adverse effects due to exposure during recreational activities include vomiting, diarrhea, skin and eye irritation, and respiratory tract irritation. Ingestion of cyanotoxins has caused a variety of symptoms and illnesses in humans including liver toxicity, neurotoxicity, and gastrointestinal disorders. This presentation summarized past incidences and studies of toxic cyanobacteria in Washington, and discussed the findings of a recent study, funded by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), that investigated the toxicity and public health impacts of cyanobacterial blooms in 30 western Washington lakes.
November 4, 2013. Dr. Sue Moore. Marine mammals and sea ice loss in the Pacific Arctic: tracking ecosystem responses to the 'New Normal'.
Sue is a Biological Oceanographer at the NOAA Marine Ecosystems Division in Seattle. She has been working with whales and other marine mammals for 35 years and discussed some of the effects of changing sea-ice conditions in the Arctic Ocean on these animals and their ecosystem. Extreme sea ice retreats and loss of thick multi-year ice, especially since 2007, have led some scientists to conclude that the Arctic marine ecosystem has shifted to a ‘New Normal’ state. While physical data strongly support this view, biological responses of the marine ecosystem are harder to quantify. Some marine mammal species rely on sea ice as a platform for hunting and raising young and, for all species, sea ice plays a key role in structuring the marine ecosystem. Tracking the responses of marine mammals to changes in sea ice can provide insights to biological responses in this period of rapid marine ecosystem alteration.
October 7, 2013. Dave Schuchardt. Environmental cleanup activities in the lower Duwamish River.
Dave is Seattle’s Program Manager for the Duwamish River cleanup. The Duwamish runs through Seattle’s industrial core and two residential neighborhoods before emptying into Elliott Bay. Decades of industrial use have left behind pollution including long-lasting PCBs, dioxins, cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and arsenic. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Washington Department of Ecology are working to clean up contaminated sediment and control sources of additional contamination. Dave told us about the status of these cleanup activities and plans for the future.
June 3, 2013. Dr. Kevin Bailey. The Billion-Dollar Fish: Vikings, Fish Sticks and Donut Holes.
Kevin recently retired from the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. He worked on a variety of Fisheries-Oceanography issues over his 32 year tenure and recently published a book about the Pollock fishery in Alaska, The Billion Dollar Fish – The Untold Story of the Alaska Pollock. The Alaska Pollock has supported a vast fishery for 40 years and remains the most valuable food fishery in the world. He presented parts of this story to us, along with some entertaining sea stories. For information about his book, see: http://kevinmbailey.com/index.html. For information about his current activity, The Man & Sea Institute, see: http://www.manandsea.org.
May 6, 2013. Dr. Christopher Krembs. Eyes Over Puget Sound—Your Local Marine Water Condition Diary.
Chris is the lead Oceanographer in the Marine Monitoring Unit at the Washington State Department of Ecology. His academic career as a Biological Oceanographer started in Germany and continued in the US at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the University of Washington, Applied Physics Laboratory, where he focused on microbial ecology and sea ice research. He presented information on Puget Sound water quality and how it is monitored by the “Eyes Over Puget Sound” program. For more information, see http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/mar_wat/surface.html.
April 1, 2013. Dr. Jacques White. A Virtual Tour of our Complicated Relationship with the King of Fish.
Jacques is the Executive Director of a non-profit organization in Seattle called Long Live the Kings. LLTK believes strongly in the value of wild fish and is committed to restoring and maintaining wild salmon and steelhead in waters of the Pacific Northwest. Jacques presented information from some of the LLTK scientific studies describing the issues and problems faced by wild salmon and the solutions to those problems.
March 4, 2013. Dr. Nicholas Bond. Climate Change: Implications for the Pacific Northwest.
Nick is a Research Meteorologist at the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO – University of Washington), in Seattle. He specializes in measurements of storms from aircraft and buoys, placing this and other weather information into a broader view of our weather patterns and changing climate. He presented information on several aspects of climate change here in the Pacific Northwest.
