Hypoxic zone-sketchy report

ron m · 11-21-2006, 10:30 AM

There is a talk today (Tues, 11-21) at OSU on the hypoxic zone, aka dead zone. This is an on campus talk and I'm prettys sure it will be scientific in nature, not a political talk.
ronm

Here is the info:
Jack Barth of the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences and Francis Chan of the zoology department will discuss "Oregon Shelf Hypoxia 2006: What We Know and Don't Know" at 3:30 p.m. today in 193 Burt Hall.

fyshndad · 11-21-2006, 10:31 AM

Wish I could hear that

StickFish · 11-21-2006, 10:51 AM

Ron, any chance they can web cast that?

Pilar · 11-21-2006, 10:55 AM

You are referring to the 'dead zone'?

ron m · 11-21-2006, 05:04 PM

I went to the talk, had to sit in the lobby, it was crowded, I think almost entirely with students and staff.

The talk was scientific in nature, they showed some data and have done a preliminary examination on possible contributing factors. They don't have their minds made up about whether or not golbal warming is a contributing factor. No big conclusions were reached, they spent considerable time giveing info on items that need to be investigated more, including various types of historical data. One of them specifically said that they need to make sure the data don't just show decadal oscillations.

I've followed this fairly closely this year and still got some new things to think about today. This summer there was an unusually large and intense plankton bloom in the Gulf of Alaska or on the northern Canadian coast and there is some speculation as to the possibility that as the plankton bloom died and the water moved south that it could have been a contributor to bringing water to WA and OR that was already unusually low in oxygen.

Also, apparently we had an artic water mass move here due to upwelling in 2002 and so the hypoxic zone that year was a bit different that the others in the last few years.

Also the last two years have been more than one standard deviation outside the norm regarding the seasonal accumulation of upwelling due to wind. This year we had lots of it early and then it just got more intense. In 05 it was really late getting started and only got intense for a short period late in the summer.

My impression was and is that the scientists want to understand this phenomen better and that they aren't being hysterical. There is a meeting next week to set up a schedule for some of the research they will do next summer. Seems like a multi-disciplinary effort is in the making and IMO this will make it more thorough and scientific.
ronm

ron m · 11-21-2006, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pilar

You are referring to the 'dead zone'?

yes, though that is a media term, the scientists don't call it that. They call it hypoxia or anoxia. Calling it a dead zone is not accurate since the hypoxia is mostly in the lower part of the water column, so the "dead zone" is mostly along the bottom. The top part of the water column isn't low in oxygen, so fish can sometimes still be found there.

One of the problems with the hypoxia from 06 is it's extended period (it was over 3 months long in some locations) and the subsequent death of more of the invertabrates that live in the mud. When the fish and crabs come back, some of the food lower part of the chain won't be there.
ronm

garyk · 11-21-2006, 07:35 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pilar

You are referring to the 'dead zone'?

yes, though that is a media term....

Thanks Ron for keeping us informed about the latest info being diseminated...a real service. Ya have to wish presentations of such valuable info such as you described could be made available to much wider audiences.

BTW, in reference to Pilar's post, did they work 'Terrapin Station' into the presentation?

ron m · 11-21-2006, 08:48 PM

garyk---unh, I feel like I missed something that I should have understood. "terrapin station" either wasn't used or it went by me. What am I missing here?
ron m

Salty Walty · 11-21-2006, 08:57 PM

Thanks for the report Ron and I personally don't think you are sketchy in the least bit.

Looks like they have a lot of work ahead of them.

Pilar · 11-22-2006, 06:11 AM

That was a total miss. I was referring to the 'sound bite' term used by the media to describe the rootbeer colored water off the central Oregon coast .... not the band from San Francisco, the Grateful Dead.

No worries RonM if you get confused listen to the music play.

Chrome Bumper · 11-22-2006, 10:16 AM

I thought the Hypoxia is a bar in the Pearl District.