Digital Commons Network^™

2025 Conference - Developing World Approaches To Ocean Governance: Perspectives From The Indian Ocean Rim, Center For Oceans Law & Policy

Conference on Oceans Law & Policy

For the 48th Annual Conference on Oceans Law & Policy, the Stockton Center for International Law at the United States Naval War College joined Gujarat Maritime University and the World Maritime University–Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute in convening the conference in New Delhi, India, from 9–12 September 2025. Hosted at The Ashok Hotel, COLP 48 marked a historic first for the series as the conference was held in the Indian subcontinent for the first time. The theme of the conference was “Developing World Approaches to Ocean Governance: Perspectives from the Indian Ocean Rim.”

Reflecting the strategic and legal importance of the …

Boundary Delimitation In The Economic Zone: The Gulf Of Maine Dispute, Maine Law Review

Maine Law Review

In an ideal world of abundant natural resources, homogeneously distributed among nations, the issue of marine boundary delimitation would have little significance within the international community. However, the realities of randomly concentrated and limited resources, complicated by the political geography of the oceans, have made maritime boundary delimitation a crucial international issue. In a world of more than 130 coastal nations, the determination of standards for allocation of living and non-living ocean resources within the fertile offshore areas has become an issue of widespread economic importance. Nonetheless, the international community has developed few concrete and specific rules for marine boundary …

State Responsibility For Disrupting Earth’S Climate System: Anticipating The Icj Advisory Opinion, Natalia Urzola, Nicholas A. Robinson, Léonore Gaboardi Carandell, Daye Chen, Bryce Clark, Madison Routledge Pettus

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will deliver an advisory opinion on the legal obligations of nations with respect to the mounting damage caused by climate change. This ruling will definitively restate applicable international law, provide a basis for new global policy decisions within the U.N. General Assembly, and provide a predicate for new lawsuits in national courts. To be effective, remedies for breaching a government's duties to avert climate change will require a “collective remedy,” not merely financial compensation. This ruling was sought by law students from the South Pacific and elsewhere; this Article, also by young …

Nitrogen Fixation At The Mid-Atlantic Bight Shelfbreak And Transport Of Newly Fixed Nitrogen To The Slope Sea, C. R. Selden, M. R. Mulholland, K. E. Crider, S. Clayton, A. Macías-Tapia, P. Bernhardt, D. J. Mcgillicuddy Jr., W. G. Zhang, P. D. Chappell

OES Faculty Publications

Continental shelves contribute a large fraction of the ocean's new nitrogen (N) via N₂ fixation; yet, we know little about how physical processes at the ocean's margins shape diazotroph biogeography and activity. Here, we test the hypothesis that frontal mixing favors N₂ fixation at the Mid-Atlantic Bight shelfbreak. Using the ¹⁵N₂ bubble release method, we measured N₂ fixation rates on repeat cross-frontal transects in July 2019. N₂ fixation rates in shelf waters (median = 5.42 nmol N L⁻¹ d⁻¹) were higher than offshore (2.48 nmol N L⁻¹ d⁻¹) …

Developing Model Federal Legislation To Advance Safe And Responsible Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal Research In The United States, Romany M. Webb, Korey Silverman-Roati

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This model federal legislation aims to advance safe and responsible ocean carbon dioxide removal (CDR) research in U.S. waters. Controlled field trials and other in-ocean research is critical to improve scientific and societal understanding of CDR techniques that could help the U.S. reach its climate goals. However, existing legal frameworks were not designed to regulate ocean CDR and, in some cases, unnecessarily or inappropriately restrict needed research. The purpose of this proposed model legislation is to establish clear and efficient permitting regime for in-ocean CDR research. At the same time, the model legislation builds in consultation, monitoring, and other safeguards …

Atmospheric Input And Seasonal Inventory Of Dissolved Iron In The Sargasso Sea: Implications For Iron Dynamics In Surface Waters Of The Subtropical Ocean, Peter N. Sedwick, Bettina M. Sohst, K. N. Buck, S. Caprara, R. J. Johnson, D. C. Ohnemus, L. E. Sofen, A. Tagliabue, B. S. Twining, Tara E. Williams

OES Faculty Publications

Constraining the role of dust deposition in regulating the concentration of the essential micronutrient iron in surface ocean waters requires knowledge of the flux of seawater-soluble iron in aerosols and the replacement time of dissolved iron (DFe) in the euphotic zone. Here we estimate these quantities using seasonally resolved DFe data from the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study region and weekly-scale measurements of iron in aerosols and rain from Bermuda during 2019. In response to seasonal changes in vertical mixing, primary production and dust deposition, surface DFe concentrations vary from ∼0.2 nM in early spring to >1 nM in late summer, …

A Global Comparison Of Marine Chlorophyll Variability Observed In Eulerian And Lagrangian Perspectives, Angela M. Kuhn, Matthew Mazloff, Stephanie Dutkiewicz, Oliver Jahn, Sophie Clayton, Tatiana Rynearson, Andrew D. Barton

OES Faculty Publications

The California Current System is a diatom‐dominated region characterized by seasonal coastal upwelling and additional elevated mesoscale activity. Cyclonic mesoscale eddies in the region trap productive coastal waters with their planktonic communities and transport them offshore with limited interaction with surrounding waters, effectively acting as natural mesocosms, where phytoplankton populations undergo ecological succession as eddies age. This study examines diatom community composition within two mesoscale cyclonic eddies that formed in the same region of the California Current System 2 months apart and in the California Current waters surrounding them. The diatom communities were analyzed in the context of shifting environmental …

The Response Of Sea Ice And High-Salinity Shelf Water In The Ross Ice Shelf Polynya To Cyclonic Atmosphere Circulations, Xiaoqiao Wang, Zhaoru Zhang, Michael S. Dinniman, Petteri Uotila, Xichen Li, Meng Zhou

CCPO Publications

Coastal polynyas in the Ross Sea are important source regions of high-salinity shelf water (HSSW) – the precursor of Antarctic Bottom Water that supplies the lower limb of the thermohaline circulation. Here, the response of sea ice production and HSSW formation to synoptic-scale and mesoscale cyclones was investigated for the Ross Ice Shelf Polynya (RISP) using a coupled ocean–sea ice–ice shelf model targeted on the Ross Sea. When synoptic-scale cyclones prevailed over RISP, sea ice production (SIP) increased rapidly by 20 %–30 % over the entire RISP. During the passage of mesoscale cyclones, SIP increased by about 2 times over …

Sensitivity Of The Relationship Between Antarctic Ice Shelves And Iron Supply To Projected Changes In The Atmospheric Forcing, Michael S. Dinniman, Pierre St-Laurent, Kevin R. Arrigo, Eileen E. Hofmann, Gert L. Van Dijken

CCPO Publications

Upward advection or mixing of iron-rich deep waters due to circulation changes driven by the rate of basal ice shelf melt was shown to be a primary control on chlorophyll a production in coastal polynyas over the Antarctic continental shelf. Here, the effects of atmospheric changes projected in 2100 on this relationship were examined with a 5-km resolution ocean/sea ice/ice shelf model of the Southern Ocean with different simulated dissolved iron sources and idealized biological uptake. The atmospheric changes are added as idealized increments to the forcing. Inclusion of a poleward shift and strengthening of the winds, increased precipitation, and …

Editorial: Early Career Scientists' Contributions To River Plastic Monitoring Across Scales, T Van Emmerik, D Gonzalez-Fernandez, F Mendrik, L Biermann, J Drummond, M Liedermann

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Plastic pollution in aquatic ecosystems (rivers, lakes, estuaries, and oceans) is of growing global concern, because of its negative impact on environmental health, and human livelihood. Rivers are assumed to be one of the main transport pathways for land-based plastics from source to sea (Meijer et al., 2021). Yet, observations and understanding of riverine plastics are scarce in comparison to the marine environment. To optimize plastic pollution prevention, mitigation and reduction strategies, as well as reliable data on plastic abundance, transport, and types are crucial. However, a lack of consistent and long-term observations limits our ability to monitor plastics in …

A Guide To Creating Core Ocean Gdp Accounts, Charles S. Colgan

Publications

Start with a simple question. What does the ocean contribute to the national economy? This might seem like a trivial question. After all, the contributions of other major natural resources such as agriculture or forest products are regularly counted as the output of farming, food, and fibre industries along with lumber and other forest products. But in most countries, there is no identifiable “ocean economy”. Industries like marine transportation or fishing are accounted for, but nothing that ties all the varied ocean-related economic activity together. Without a deliberate effort to identify and measure all relevant economic activity related to the …

A Machine Learning Approach To Estimate Surface Chlorophyll A Concentrations In Global Oceans From Satellite Measurements, Chuanmin Hu, Lian Feng, Qi Guan

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Various approaches have been proposed to estimate surface ocean chlorophyll a concentrations (Chl, mg m ^-3 ) from spectral reflectance measured either in the field or from space, each with its own strengths and limitations. Here, we develop a machine learning approach to reduce the impact of spectral noise and improve algorithm performance at the global scale for multiple satellite sensors. Among several candidates, the support vector regression (SVR) approach was found to yield the best algorithm performance as gauged by several statistical measures against field-measured Chl. While statistically the performance of the SVR is slightly worse than the empirical …

Classic Article: Gravitational Circulation In Straits And Estuaries, Donald V. Hansen, Maurice Rattray Jr.

Journal of Marine Research

A coupled set of partial differential equations and associated boundary conditions is written to describe circulation and salt-flux processes for estuaries in which turbulent mixing results primarily from tidal currents. Similarity solutions, motivated by characteristic salinity distributions observed in estuaries, are obtained for this set of equations and are compared with observational data. The circulation is separated into modes analogous to the barotropic, baroclinic, and Ekman modes of oceanic circulation. The salinity distribution, although coupled to the velocity distribution, is found to vary independently of it as well. The theoretical results are discussed in regard to: (i) correlation between the …

Editor's Commentary: On Properties Of Seawater Defined By Temperature, Salinity, And Pressure, Kenneth H. Brink

Journal of Marine Research

A classical, and highly productive, approach to studying hydrographic data in the ocean is to use T–S (Temperature–Salinity) analysis. This is a convenient methodology that allows definition of water mass types and quantification of mixing. Information about temperature, salinity and pressure (depth) can further be used to calculate the water’s density...

Classic Article: A Bathythermograph, Athelstan F. Spilhaus

Journal of Marine Research

In the study of the homogeneous layer in the ocean, Rossby and Montgomery (1935) found it desirable to have an instrument which would provide a continuous record of temperature against pressure in the surface layers of the ocean. A preliminary instrument named an “oceanograph” was constructed and used during the summer of 1934. The manifold uses to which such an instrument could be put presaged a widespread employment of the apparatus. This, however, did not come about because of certain inherent difficulties in Rossby’s design. The record was made on a large smoked foil, and thus entailed the attachment of …

Editor's Commentary: On The Process Of Upwelling, Kenneth H. Brink

Journal of Marine Research

Although Harald Sverdrup is now probably best known for his work on basin-scale ocean circulation, his interests were remarkably diverse, and included continental shelf processes. As a coastal oceanographer, I can’t resist highlighting this contribution to the coastal upwelling literature. A relatively simple data set is exploited here, consisting of cross-shelf sections taken near Point Conception, California...

Observations Of Nonlinear Momentum Fluxes Over The Inner Continental Shelf, Thomas P. Connolly, Steven J. Lentz

Journal of Marine Research

Nonlinear momentum fluxes over the inner continental shelf are examined using moored observations from multiple years at two different locations in the Middle Atlantic Bight. Inner shelf dynamics are often described in terms of a linear alongshore momentum balance, dominated by frictional stresses generated at the surface and bottom. In this study, observations over the North Carolina inner shelf show that the divergence of the cross-shelf flux of alongshore momentum is often substantial relative to the wind stress during periods of strong stratification. During upwelling at this location, offshore fluxes of alongshore momentum in the surface layer partially balance the …

Editor's Commentary: Control Of Salinity In An Estuary By A Transition, Kenneth H. Brink, Harlow G. Farmer

Journal of Marine Research

In 1900, Martin Knudson (Knudson 1900; Burchard et al. 2018) considered the salt and volume fluxes for a steady-state estuary. He arrived at very useful relationships between the flux of fresh water coming in from upstream compared to the output salinity and volume flux. While these relations are fundamental and extremely useful, they do not close the problem. Rather, there is always one more piece of information needed; for example, to know the flux of brackish water onto the shelf, you still have to know the outflow salinity...

Classic Article: On Properties Of Seawater Defined By Temperature, Salinity, And Pressure, George Veronis

Journal of Marine Research

Hydrographic station data, consisting principally of temperature and salinity determinations, have been used by physical oceanographers to develop a climatological picture of the distribution of these quantities in the oceans of the world. Density as determined by Knudsen's formula, taken together with hydrostatic and geostrophic dynamics, also provides a crude picture of oceanic flow. However, the data probably contain substantially more information than has been derived from them in the past.The quantity that is orthogonal to potential-density curves in the θS plane is suggested as a useful variable to complement the information contained in potential density. The derivation of …

Nitrogen Cycling In Muddy Sediments Of Great Peconic Bay, Usa: Seasonal N Reaction Balances And Multi-Year Flux Patterns, Stuart Waugh, Robert C. Aller

Journal of Marine Research

To better understand the capacity of sediments to serve as both source and sink of nitrogen (N) and to identify any evidence of evolving changes in sedimentary N cycling, N₂ production, N remineralization, and N₂ fixation were studied over a multi-year period (2010–2015) in bioturbated mud of Great Peconic Bay, a temperate northeastern U. S. estuary. Benthic fluxes and rates of organic matter remineralization were measured using in situ and ex situ incubations. Net annual NH⁺ ₄, NO–₃/NO–₂, and N₂–N fluxes (μ = 1.1, 0.03, and 1.2 mmol m ^{–2 …}

Density And Size-Dependent Bioturbation Effects Of The Infaunal Polychaete Nephtys Incisa On Sediment Biogeochemistry And Solute Exchange, Emma Michaud, Robert C. Aller, Qingzhi Zhu, Christina Heilbrun, Georges Stora

Journal of Marine Research

The impact of bioturbation on the geochemistry of aquatic sediments is known to depend on the benthic infauna species that are present. However, burrowing and activity patterns of each species may also change during the different stages of a life cycle. In this study, we examined the effects of four size classes of the polychaete Nephtys incisa on burrow networks and sediment biogeochemistry. In our experimental aquaria, the total biovolume (~ biomass) of Nephtys was kept constant, but different age classes were introduced, so the size and abundance varied between treatments. Despite differences in the geometry of burrow networks (due …

Upwelling Velocity And Ventilation In The Western South China Sea Deduced From Cfc-12 And Sf6 Observations, Weimin Wang, Peng Huang, Hengxiang Deng, Mian Chen, Minggang Cai, Zhiyou Jing, Shihao Luo, Xuehong Zheng, Chunhui Wang, Hongwei Ke

Journal of Marine Research

This study presents observations of the transient tracers CFC-12 and SF₆ in the western South China Sea during the fall of 2015. A CFC-12 maximum was discovered in the western South China Sea at the subsurface layer (150–200 m), which could be traced back to the North Pacific Tropical Water. The transit time distribution approach was used to estimate the ventilation time in this area. The constrained Δ /Γ ratio of 0.5 was obtained using CFC-12/SF₆ tracer pair. This ratio is lower than the empirical unit ratio of one as used for previous estimates. Waters in the northern …

Editor's Commentary: A Bathythermograph, Kenneth H. Brink

Journal of Marine Research

In this classic, Athelstan Spilhaus reports on his progress on a prototype of the mechanical bathythermograph, a project that C.-G. Rossby encouraged him to pursue. Although now most often seen in museums or on movie sets (they look a bit like rockets), bathythermographs were extremely influential from the later 1930s into the 1950s. These remarkable, durable instruments allowed continuous traces of temperature versus depth (previously measured as bottle temperatures at typically 50-m separations), and so opened up an entirely new vision of what ocean thermal structure actually looks like. Spilhaus further provides some actual data...

Classic Article: On The Process Of Upwelling, H. U. Sverdrup

Journal of Marine Research

The phenomenon of upwelling which is present along many coasts has been discussed from various points of view. A general explanation of the phenomenon has been given by application of Ekman’s theory of wind driven currents (Thorade 1909; McEwen 1912), and emphasis has been put on the velocity of the vertical motion (McEwen 1934) or on the depth from which water is brought to the surface (Sverdrup 1930; Gunther 1936). Defant (1936) has discussed the horizontal and vertical motion and the distribution of density within the region of upwelling off the coast of southwest Africa, but his analysis is based …

Editor's Commentary: Gravitational Circulation In Straits And Estuaries, Kenneth H. Brink, Maurice Rattray Jr.

Journal of Marine Research

For decades, people understood the rudiments of how idealized estuaries work: fresh water flows outward above saltier water that intrudes into the estuary. At the same time, mixing smooths out contrasts, so that the ultimate shallow outflow water is much saltier that the upstream riverine inflow had been. But, this vision is qualitative, so that it is hard to predict or diagnose flow structures or the outflow salinity. Hansen and Rattray provided a major step forward in an age before any sophisticated numerical models could deal simultaneously with the many competing effects...

Classic Article: Control Of Salinity In An Estuary By A Transition, Henry Stommel, Harlow G. Farmer

Journal of Marine Research

A theoretical reason is developed to explain why the mouth of a vertically stratified estuary should act as a constraint on the amount of salt water available for mixing in the estuary. Flume experiments designed to test this idea are described. The effect of tides on the control action and application to various estuaries is discussed.

Extensive Morphological Variability In Asexually Produced Planktic Foraminifera, Catherine V. Davis, Caitlin M. Livsey, Hannah M. Palmer, Pincelli M. Hull, Ellen Thomas, Tessa M. Hill, Claudia R. Benitez-Nelson

Faculty Publications

Marine protists are integral to the structure and function of pelagic ecosystems and marine carbon cycling, with rhizarian biomass alone accounting for more than half of all mesozooplankton in the oligotrophic oceans. Yet, understanding how their environment shapes diversity within species and across taxa is limited by a paucity of observations of heritability and life history. Here, we present observations of asexual reproduction, morphologic plasticity, and ontogeny in the planktic foraminifer in laboratory culture. Our results demonstrate that planktic foraminifera reproduce both sexually and asexually and demonstrate extensive phenotypic plasticity in response to nonheritable factors. These two processes fundamentally explain …

The Ocean Climate Action Plan, Jason Scorse, David Helvarg

Working Papers

Climate change and ocean health are often thought about as separate silos, when the two are interconnected.

Climate change is warming the oceans and changing their chemistry. Without ocean health, the entire planetary water cycle and oxygen cycle are in danger. The oceans sequester huge amounts of carbon dioxide helping to cool the planet, but that may not continue with “business as usual.” Climate change affects even those far from any coastline. We must solve the ocean climate challenge together, and we have a short window of time to take action.

The Center for the Blue Economy has partnered with …

Integrating Oceans Into Climate Policy: Any Green New Deal Needs A Splash Of Blue, Steven J. Dundas, Arielle S. Levine, Rebecca L. Lewison, Angee N. Doerr, Crow White, Aaron W.E. Galloway, Corey Garza, Elliott L. Hazen, Jacqueline Padilla-Gamiño, Jameal F. Samhouri, Ana Spalding, Adrian Stier, J. Wilson White

Marine Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recent warnings from scientists suggest there is limited time to enact policies to avert wide-ranging ecological and social damage from climate change. In the United States, discussions about comprehensive national policies to avert climate change have begun, with “Green New Deal” proposals and climate plans put forth by members of Congress and presidential candidates. Oceans are largely absent or separate from these nascent policy proposals. Here, we highlight a policy framework to develop terrestrial and ocean-integrated policies that can complement and enhance terrestrial-focused initiatives focused on four specific sectors: 1) energy; 2) transportation; 3) food security; and 4) habitat restoration. …

On The Mutual Adjustment Of Pressure And Velocity Distributions In Certain Simple Current Systems, C.-G. Rossby

Journal of Marine Research

The writer (Rossby 1936) recently advanced the hypothesis that the horizontal pressure gradients observed in the current systems of the atmosphere and the ocean to a large extent must be interpreted as reactions to the Coriolis’ forces impressed upon these systems by the rotation of the earth. Observational support for this point of view was found in the fact that both the temperature-salinity and oxygen-salinity correlation curves obtained from stations on both sides of the Gulf Stream in the region between Nova Scotia and Bermuda are very nearly identical, even though the individual isotherms may drop as much as 700 …