News

01/21/10 Seattle, WA

Tom Sanford, Ph.D.

Tom Sanford, Ph.D., an investigator with the Center for Coastal Margin Observation & Prediction (CMOP) and oceanographer at the Applied Physics Laboratory of the University of Washington (APL-UW), has been awarded The Henry Stommel Research Award by the American Meteorological Society.

The Henry Stommel Research Award is granted to researchers in recognition of their outstanding contributions to advance understanding of ocean dynamics and physics.

12/16/09 Portland, OR

Poster board and push pins are typical supplies one needs when presenting at a poster session. Not so for Nirzwan Bandolin, a graduate student conducting research in the Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction (CMOP) at Oregon Health & Science University. What he needed was an electrical outlet.

Bandolin was the only student presenter among the electronic posters at the 2009 Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) 20th Biennial Conference.

10/27/09 Portland, OR

Parker to receive the CMOP Leadership Award at OHSU on October 28, 2009

The Center for Coastal Margin Observation & Prediction (CMOP) at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) will honor Alan Parker, attorney and scholar. Parker is being honored for his efforts to bring people together around river-to-ocean ecosystems, climate change effects, and indigenous knowledge systems. Parker will receive the CMOP Leadership Award at OHSU on October 28th during a dinner and panel discussion titled “Oceans, Climate and Human Health”.

The CMOP Leadership Award honors contemporary leaders whose work in science, technology or science-based policy and education has brought indigenous and non-indigenous communities closer in addressing issues of importance to the sustainability of the Pacific Northwest coastal margin.

09/30/09 Portland, OR

Color 3D image of observed oxygen readings taken by Phoebe over the Washington coast bathymetry. Red represents higher levels of oxygen in the water. Blue represents lower oxygen levels. View more images.

In the summer of 2006, marine life was devastated by hypoxia, low-oxygen, in the coastal waters of the Quinault Indian Nation (QIN). Bottom fish were strewn across beaches. Crab pots were filled with dead crustaceans. The fishing economy that the Quinault people depend on was threatened by a hypoxic event.

Today the tribe is gaining a better understanding of hypoxia in their coastal waters with assistance from the Center for Coastal Margin Observation & Prediction (CMOP).

Coastal hypoxia is caused by oxygen depletion in coastal waters due to microbial respiration of organic matter. When temperature and water column mixing create conditions of high oxygen removal the environment becomes inhospitable for fish and mammals.

08/03/09 Portland, OR

Kelly aboard the Sea Breeze heading to a sampling site in the Columbia River Estuary.

After spending a day on the Columbia River estuary, science teacher Stephanie Kelley gained a better understanding of how researchers collect data.

Kelley spent five weeks this summer learning about river-to-ocean science as an intern in the Teachers Translating Research into Practice internship program at the Center for Coastal Margin Observation & Prediction (CMOP).

“As a science teacher, I think it is important to keep expanding your knowledge,” says Kelley. “CMOP gave me greater exposure to the science and technology used to study the Columbia River estuary.

07/20/09 Portland, OR

Michelle Maier and Wendy Smythe have each received a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program award.

The NSF program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based masters and doctoral degrees in the U.S. and abroad.

07/01/09 Portland, OR

Tawnya Peterson examines an algal culture in her lab at Oregon Health & Science University.

Tawnya Peterson, Ph.D., an assistant professor with the Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction (CMOP), recently said she only had a “learners permit” to speak about K-12 education programs.

Yet a recent $900,000 math and science grant will move her to the head of the class in helping enhance ocean and aquatic science teaching in rural communities on the Central Oregon Coast.

The Oregon Department of Education has awarded a Title IIB Math and Science Partnership (MSP) Grant to the Oregon Coast Aquatic and Marine Science Partnership (OCAMP), a collaborative program composed of eight academic, non-profit and government science institutions, including CMOP.

06/02/09 Astoria, OR

CMOP successfully launched its new autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) to help scientists gain a better understanding of the Columbia River estuary and near plume system. One of the first studies to use these vehicles will be directed at internal waves.

Internal wave diagramWhile surface waves are generated mostly by wind, internal waves oscillate within the water due to the density stratification often generated by coastal tides. They cause local circulations to redistribute nutrients and minerals. Internal waves can also cause vertical velocity shear, which can intensify vertical mixing process and bring suspended particles and nutrients to the surface.

05/07/09 Portland, OR

CMOP is offering an eight week non-credit course that focuses on the unique governmental status of Indian Tribes and their relationship to other governments – federal, state and local – with an emphasis on natural resources. For people working within the natural resource management fields, it is important to learn basic facts about Tribes, treaty rights and the federal trust responsibility to protect Tribes and tribal resources.