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";-|_;7b@;u;m1;ĺ -m-]bm]|_;;mbuoml;m|-Ѵblr-1|o=l-ubm;-1ঞbঞ;v-uom7|_;ouѴ7ĺ EIA, EIS, ESHIA, EMP / Permitting Services / Oil Spill Response (MESSR, STEP) / Beach Restoration & Nourishment EIA,Habitat EIS, Mitigation,ESHIA, EMP Damage /;ulbমm]";ub1;v & Risk Assessments/bѴ"rbѴѴ!;vromv;Ő ""!ķ"$ ő / Coral, Seagrass, Oyster & /Mangrove;-1_!;v|ou-ঞomşoubv_l;m| Services / Habitat Surveys & Mapping -0b|-|bঞ]-ঞomķ -l-];ş!bvhvv;vvl;m|vEBS & Drill Surveys / Physical Sampling (Sediment,/ou-Ѵķ";-]u-vvķv|;uş-m]uo;";ub1;v Water, Biological) / Hydrographic & Geophysical/-0b|-|"u;vş-rrbm] Surveys "ş ubѴѴ"u;vMetocean & Current/ _vb1-Ѵ"-lrѴbm]Ő";7bl;m|ķ)-|;uķboѴo]b1-ѴőStudies / Acoustic Monitoring & Modeling / Sound/7uo]u-r_b1ş;or_vb1-Ѵ"u;v Mitigation (PSO, MMO, PAM) ;|o1;-mşuu;m|"|7b;vEnvironmental Data Geospatial/1ovঞ1omb|oubm]şo7;Ѵbm] Services (EDGS) / Library & Document/"om7bঞ]-ঞomŐ"ķķő Services mbuoml;m|-Ѵ -|-;ovr-ঞ-Ѵ";ub1;vŐ "ő/b0u-uş o1l;m|";ub1;v ѶƔƏƑ")""( ĺ"$&!$ķ &"ņƳƐҐƕƕƑґƑƐƖ҃ƒƏƏƏņ җ" ĺņ)))ĺ" ĺ REGULAR FEATURES 06 Editorial 08 News Briefs 21 Opinion 24 Editorial Focus 21 38 Features 46 ecoCurrents 49 Science Communication 50 Industry News 58 Opportunities 60 Services Directory 62 Advertiser Index Opinion We Must Advance Coastal Sea Level Monitoring from ON THE COVER A three foot tall predatory solitary hydroid Space provides habitat for white polychaete worms at more than 6,000 feet deep. Image was taken with ROV SuBastian onboard Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area. 4 eco NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2018 24 30 34 38 42 Underwater Improving the Mapping the Protecting The Paradigm Shift Global Ocean Sea's Natural Changing Oceans Conservation Observing Defense Against Planning System: Climate Change Ecological Database Forecasts Challenges and to Improve Way Forward Fisheries Sustainability NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2018 eco 5 Editor’s Letter Senior Editor Kira Coley Art Direction Keith Meinhold Production Coordinator By Kira Coley, Senior Editor Keith Meinhold Observing Our Oceans Web News Coordinator Whitney Schwerin umankind's perpetual curiosity propels technological innovation. This, in turn, Circulation H progresses scientific discovery and exploration as locations that were previously Jessica Lewis remote and unseen, are now accessible and revealed. The arrival of autonomous [email protected] underwater robots and surface vehicles has played a leading role in the advance- ment of the ocean frontier. Better batteries and performance also mean longer-last- Advertising Sales ing missions, and the miniaturization of sensors has helped to reduce the cost and Lisa Chilik improve the efficiency of data-gathering. The arrival of smaller sensors has also +1-574-261-4215 revolutionized the space industry, igniting the rise of astropreneurship and the abili- [email protected] ty for research institutes to jump onboard the ‘space wagon’ by sending up sensors Mimi King at a fraction of the cost. And so, we have entered the age of Big Data. +44 (0) 77 7601 7564 Today, there are thousands of sensors swimming in our oceans and flying overhead, [email protected] trying to make sense of the marine environment and how (and why) it is changing. Published by The satellite altimetry record is unanimously recognized as an invaluable product that Technology Systems Corporation tells us by how much sea level is rising globally in response to global warming, says Patrick C. Lagrange, CEO French space geodesist Anny Cazenave. As one of the pioneers in satellite altim- etry, I am thrilled to have Anny open this issue’s theme, Ocean Observing Systems, Managing Editor with her thoughts on why and how we must advance coastal sea level monitoring Greg Leatherman from space. “Researchers and engineers are continually working on the next robot or software to Corporate help them understand the ocean and all organisms that call it home,” writes Carlie +1-772-221-7720 Wiener and Katherine Herries from the Schmidt Ocean Institute in our main story. [email protected] For this issue, they reveal how technologies are changing the way scientists study To Subscribe: the ocean and highlight recent expeditions aboard research vessel Falkor that are www.ecomagazine.com/subscribe redefining how marine research is conducted in the open ocean. But, as we know, observing the ocean is about more than collecting and analyzing data taken at that one time, in that one place. “So that we can understand how ocean life is responding to human use, we need standardized and regular, long-term obser- vations,” writes scientists from the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). In this story, they share their thoughts on the challenges the scientific community faces today in ocean observation and what more needs to be done to improve the global ocean observing system. Technology Systems Corp. We also hear from Esri’s chief scientist Dawn Wright, as she describes how location Environment Coastal & Offshore Magazine intelligence is helping scientists understand how to protect an important marine ally, ISSN # 2327-3445 is published 6 times a year seagrass, in combating global warming. Scientists from NOAA and the University by Technology Systems Corporation, 7897 SW Jack James Dr., Suite A, Stuart, FL 34997, of California Santa Cruz reveal how they utilized ecological forecasts to develop Telephone +1-772-221-7720. Copyright ©2018 Technology Systems Corp. All rights to editorial a NASA-funded dynamic management tool, EcoCast, that aims to increase fishery content are reserved. No article, photograph or sustainability by helping fishers avoid bycatch. And last but not least, Jorge G. Alva- illustration may be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the publisher. rez-Romero of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, reveals a Unless otherwise stated in writing by the contrib- new global database to better guide marine conservation efforts. utor, all images submitted to TSC may be used in other promotional materials belonging to TSC without permission. Subscriptions are free to It’s great to see so many collaborative efforts underway today that work to combine qualified individuals orcompanies. For all others, and share data for the good of all. call TSC for subscription information. Printed in the USA. To all our readers, thank you for your fantastic support throughout 2018. I hope you enjoy this issue of ECO and have an excellent festive season. 6 eco NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2018 AS SEEN IN ECO Reach Marine Scientists, Ocean Experts and Explorers that need products and services from business like yours. Your directory listing tells decision makers that your business offers expertise and resources to the offshore and coastal environmental community. GET YOUR BUSINESS SEEN IN ECO Magazine’s Environmental Services Directory To be listed in the Lisa Chilik New for 2019 Environmental Services [email protected] Directory, please contact one of our account +1-574-261-4215 Your magazine listing also representatives: Mimi King includes a digital listing online [email protected] at ecomagazine.com +44 (0) 77 7601 7564 Study Finds Oceans Are Heating Up Quicker than Previously Thought For each of the past 25 years, splandy's former postdoctoral advisor. measures the upper half of the ocean. oceans have absorbed an amount “The result significantly increases the Several reassessments of heat content of heat energy that is 150 times the confidence we can place in estimates have been made in recent years using energy humans produce as electric- of ocean warming and therefore helps the ocean temperature data – including ity annually, according to a Nature reduce uncertainty about climate sensi- the recent Argo data — which has led to study led by researchers at Scripps tivity,” Keeling said. Climate sensitivity upward revisions of the IPCC estimate. Institution of Oceanography at the is used to evaluate allowable emissions Resplandy and her co-authors used University of California San Diego for mitigation strategies. Most climate Scripps' high-precision measurements and Princeton University. scientists have agreed in the past de- of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the cade that if global average temperatures air made at stations around the world. The strong ocean warming researchers exceed pre-industrial levels by 2°C With it, they determined how much have found suggests that Earth is more (3.6°F), it is all but certain that society heat the oceans have stored during the sensitive to fossil-fuel emissions than will face widespread and dangerous time span they studied. They measured previously thought. Study lead author consequences of climate change. ocean heat by looking at the combined Laure Resplandy, a Princeton assistant amount of O2 and CO2 in air, a quantity professor of geosciences, said that The researchers' findings suggest that if they call “atmospheric potential oxygen” this estimate is more than 60 percent society is to prevent temperatures from or APO. The method depends on the higher than the figure in the most re- rising above that mark, emissions of fact that oxygen and carbon dioxide are cent assessment report from the United carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse both less soluble in warmer water.