College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences ACADEMIC REPORT FOR 2011-2012 2011-12 CEOAS Programmatic Achievements 1. Key Initiatives and Noteworthy Outcomes a. Student engagement and success • The college has successfully merged three graduate majors (Atmospheric Science, Oceanography, Geophysics) into one (Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences). The CEOAS graduate programs have been restructured to reflect an increased emphasis on a “systems” approach to Earth science research and education. In this new view, ocean, atmospheric, and earth science knowledge and training are all needed in interdisciplinary understanding of planetary processes and policy options. Fall 2011 marked the third year of offering interdisciplinary breadth courses (The Solid Earth, The Fluid Earth, The Biogeochemical Earth). The new courses and single major has provided context and intellectual identity (as Earth systems scientists) for incoming student cohorts. Student evaluations are positive and constructive feedback is being used to enhance and strengthen the breadth courses. • CEOAS offers three graduate level field experiences that occur prior to the start of Fall term. These courses are the Cascadia Field Trip, Field Geography, and Math on the Beach. They provide a primer to the 1st year curriculum as well as a unique student experience that builds friendships and strengthens the cohort. • One hallmark of the CEOAS research enterprise is the level of productivity and achievement of our graduate students. This is measured annually using a progress reporting process performed by students and their advisors. Information collected to measure productivity includes scholarship details, presenting material at conferences and contributing to research papers. The results indicate that students remain actively involved in presenting and publishing their research. Efforts to increase student participation through travel awards and our seminar designed to improve presentation skills are working. At present, 85% of graduate students participated in a professional conference with 42% invited to make a formal presentation. Examples of the types of journals and conferences our students are involved include: Coastal Management, Springer Journal of Climate Dynamics, Fisheries Oceanography, Progress in Oceanography, Nature, and Biogeochemistry, American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society, AGU Ocean Sciences, Geological Society of America, Ecological Society of America, and the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation. • A measurement of student’s perceived strengths and weaknesses was added to the assessment tool. The results will be used to identify opportunities for future student development projects. • CEOAS Student Services pays special attention to the recruitment process and working with faculty continues to ensure incoming students know whom they are working with, what they are working on and how that relates to the cost of their education. As a result, the majority of our students continue to remain funded through either research grants or targeted applied projects with agencies in the Pacific Northwest. • CEOAS is now delivering a new undergraduate Earth Science major, with options in Geology, Geography and Earth Systems. The first two are traditional fields of study, while the third emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to planetary processes and systems, with policy and management implications and a senior year synthesis experience (thesis or internship). We hired an internship coordinator to work with students and employers to develop these opportunities. b. Research and its impact Some selected CEOAS research contributions. • New deglaciation data opens door for earlier First Americans migration. A new study of lake sediment cores from Sanak Island in the western Gulf of Alaska suggest that deglaciation there from the last Ice Age took place as much as 1,500 to 2,000 years earlier than previously thought, opening the door for earlier coastal migration models for the Americas • Volcanic history of Sumatra. The early April earthquake of magnitude 8.6 that shook Sumatra was a grim reminder of the devastating earthquakes and tsunami that killed tens of thousands of people in 2004 and 2005. Researchers from Oregon State University working with colleagues in Indonesia have now documented six major volcanic eruptions in Sumatra over the past 35,000 years – most equaling or surpassing in explosive intensity the eruption of Washington’s Mount St. Helens in 1980. • Patchiness of marine food chain. New research by MacArthur Fellow, Kelly Benoit-Bird, has shown that each step of the marine food chain is clearly controlled by the trophic level below it – and that the driving factor influencing that relationship is not the abundance of prey, but how that prey is distributed. • Impacts of climate change on stream temperature and on streamflow. A new analysis of streams in the western United States with long-term monitoring programs has found that despite a general increase in air temperatures over the past several decades, streams are not necessarily warming at the same rate. In a second study, led by Julia Jones, an analysis of 35 headwater basins in the United States and Canada found that the impact of warmer air temperatures on streamflow rates was less than expected in many locations, suggesting that some ecosystems may be resilient to certain aspects of climate change. • Ocean acidification. OSU researchers have linked an increase in ocean acidification to the collapse of oyster seed production at a commercial oyster hatchery in Oregon, where larval growth had declined to a level considered by the owners to be “non-economically viable.” The study found that elevated seawater carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, resulting in more corrosive ocean water, inhibited the larval oysters from developing their shells and growing at a pace that would make commercial production cost- effective. • CO2 and global warming. Many scientists have long suspected that rising levels of carbon dioxide and the global warming that ended the last Ice Age were somehow linked, but establishing a clear cause-and-effect relationship between CO2 and global warming from the geologic record has remained difficult. A new study published in the journal Nature, identifies this relationship and provides compelling evidence that rising CO2 caused much of the global warming. • Life on Mars. Martin Fisk led a team of scientists that collected microbes from ice within a lava tube in the Cascade Mountains and found that they thrive in cold, Mars-like conditions. Fisk, who has spent much of his recent career exploring life in volcanic rocks, has been selected as a participating scientist for the new Mars expedition that may bring scientists closer to discovering life on another planet. In another study, post-doctoral geologist Joseph Levy found that that the salty soils in the frigid McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica actually suck moisture out of the atmosphere, raising the possibility that such a process could take place on Mars or on other planets. Levy said it takes a combination of the right kinds of salts and sufficient humidity to make the process work, but those ingredients are present on Mars and in many desert areas on Earth. • Mount Hood’s non-explosive nature. Studies of the rocks around Mount Hood show that the volcano has never experienced a Plinian (highly explosive) eruption despite having similar chemical magma composition and gas contents as other volcanoes that have gone through these violent episodes. The reason is that eruptions at Mount Hood appear to be preceded by episodes of intense mixing between magmas of different temperatures. • Climate sensitivity to CO2. A new study lead by Andreas Schmittner suggests that the rate of global warming from doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be less than the most dire estimates of some previous studies – and, in fact, may be less severe than projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report in 2007. • Volcanic Super-Eruptions. The “super-eruption” of a major volcanic system occurs about every 100,000 years and is considered one of the most catastrophic natural events on Earth. A new model points to a combination of temperature influence and the geometrical configuration of the magma chamber as a potential cause for these super-eruptions. • Paeloceanography. At the end of the last Ice Age, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rose rapidly as the planet warmed; scientists have long hypothesized that the source was CO2 released from the deep ocean. But a new study led by Alan Mix, using detailed radiocarbon dating of foraminifera found in a sediment core from the Gorda Ridge off Oregon, reveals that the Northeast Pacific was not an important reservoir of carbon during glacial times. In another study, analysis of prehistoric “Heinrich events” that happened many thousands of years ago, creating mass discharges of icebergs into the North Atlantic Ocean, makes it clear that very small amounts of subsurface warming of water can trigger a rapid collapse of ice shelves. • Coastal surf zone monitoring. For 25 years, scientists have employed a network of land-based video cameras called Argus stations to monitor coastal surf zones; the data have led to revelations about beach formation, erosion, rip currents and other features. Now scientists are incorporating a new resource into the Argus system – thousands of cameras mounted above beaches around the world and used by surfers, beachcombers, weather watchers