Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Climate Assemblies: Lessons Learned And Results From Around The World And Washington State, Laura Berry, John Cambalik, Ed Chadd, Michael Chang, Derek Hoshiko, Brandon Letsinger

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Citizens’ assemblies are an increasingly widespread form of democratic engagement and solution-finding. Assemblies convened specifically to address the climate crisis have taken place around the world, including in Australia, Great Britain, Belgium, Poland, and France. France’s recent “Convention Citoyenne Pour Le Climat,” focused on reducing carbon emissions, led President Macron to pledge to adopt and fund 146 out of 149 policy recommendations. The Washington Climate Assembly (WA Climate Assembly) was initiated and funded by a group of volunteers, organized as People’s Voice on Climate. The nation’s first citizens’ assembly on this critical issue, the WA Climate Assembly brought together 77 …

Opening Plenary, Scott Redman, Ginny Broadhurst, Cecilia Gobin, Patti Gobin, Christianne Wilhelmson, Dr. Kathryn L. Sobocinski, Dr. Isobel Pearsall

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Welcome from Conference Organizers Scott Redman, Executive Chair Cecilia Gobin, Program Co-Chair Julie Watson, Program Co-Chair Fran Wilshusen, Program Co-Chair Christianne Wilhelmson, Program Co-Chair Ginny Broadhurst, Salish Sea Institute Coast Salish Welcome Cecilia Gobin, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission Coast Salish Perspectives on the Last 150 years Patti Gobin, Tulalip Tribes Patti Gobin has over 25 years of Community Development experience with the Tulalip Tribes. Presently, she is with the Natural Resource Treaty Rights office working with state, local and federal agencies regarding those issues that impact the life ways of the Tulalip Tribes. In addition to her years of experience, …

Mapping The Impact Of A Trailway System On The Amount Of Trash Present Within Two Watersheds Of Lynchburg City, Virginia, Lillian Smith

Student Scholar Showcase

Transportation of trash debris within water systems is a prominent occurrence which has been linked to natural and artificial processes such as wind, rain, and littering. Recreational areas, such as activities along greenway trails, have been determined to be a source of debris found in waterways. This study examines whether the presence of an established recreational trail system limits trash accumulation in the entirety of a watershed. Trash data collected at Blackwater Creek, which contains an established trail system, was compared to trash data collected at Fishing Creek, containing a non-established trail system, to answer this hypothesis. A distance of …

Analyze And Examine Wildfire Events In California, Aleena Hoodith, Sakim Zaman, Safoan Hossain, Jiehao Huang

Publications and Research

•A wildfire is an unplanned, unwanted, uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation starting in rural areas and urban areas. •Recent studies have shown that the effect of anthropogenic climate change has fueled the wildfire events, leading to an increase in the annual burned areas and number of events. •California is one of the places having the most deadliest and destructive wildfire seasons. With the global warming effect of 1°C since 1850, the 20 largest wildfires events that have occurred in California, 8 of them were in 2017. (Center For Climate And Energy Solutions) •Climate change is primarily caused …

Downscaling Methodology For Satellite Land Surface Temperatures Over Urban Environments, Naved Khan, Ruben Vecino

Publications and Research

The objective of this study is to develop high spatial and temporal resolution Land Surface Temperature (LST) data using a combination of Landsat 8, infrared satellite sensors such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series (GOES-16). The Landsat 8 Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) provides higher spatial resolution (30 m) estimates of skin temperature every 16 days. MODIS makes daytime and nighttime observations of the Earth’s thermal emission at a coarser spatial resolution (1000 m), while GOES-16, which has lower spatial resolution (2 km), measures the skin temperature at a much higher temporal resolution …

Strategizing For Workplace Culture: Developing And Introducing A Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Road Map, Melissa Watkinson

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Organizations are familiar with developing a strategic plan to focus their work on achieving their mission and vision. A diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) road map, aligned with organizational values of DEI, is a strategic plan that defines DEI in your work: where you are starting, where you want to end up, and how you are going to get there. Washington Sea Grant (WSG) has developed a 10-year road map that includes 13 ambitious, but achievable goals that are aligned with tangible strategies and expected outcomes. The road map goals range in specificity; examples include “WSG is welcome and inclusive” …

Puget Sound Vital Sign Revision: Objectives For Puget Sound Recovery And Protection, Ron Thom

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Since the mid-1980’s, there have been focused federal, state and local efforts to restore the Puget Sound ecosystem. Beginning in 2008 the Puget Sound Partnership (PSP) has produced Action Agendas that describe comprehensive recovery programs and, since 2011, have identified a set of Vital Signs and indicators. As of 2018, PSP identified 25 Vital Signs (VS) with 52 affiliated indicators. The PSP is now undertaking a collaborative effort to revise the VS and indicators to address known concerns and to situate them in a framework of other types of progress measures. Revised VS and indicators will characterize biophysical condition and …

What Is The Most Threatening Disaster To The Continental United States?, Aaron Spomer, Elijah Kaufman, Julisa Prieto-Garcia, Brooke Aschwanden

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Our goal for our project is to fully understand which natural disaster is the most destructive to the United States. We have chosen to compare hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes, and nor’easters. We have researched the cost of the total damage and repair, how the warning systems have improved over time, the death tolls from each, and also the frequency at which each one occurs. Each group member will research a different disaster impact, and the data will create a comprehensive view of the level of devastation each disaster has. We collected data all the way from the early 1900s …

Recovering From Industrial Overshoot: Thermal Removal Of Atmospheric Co2, Ted Von Hippel, Sandra Boetcher, Matthew Traum, Farshid Azadian Ph.D., William Mackunis

Sustainability Conference

Humanity will soon overshoot a safe level of atmospheric CO2, if it hasn't done so already. Countries, industries, and the global economy need to dramatically and quickly alter their behavior and technology to avoid this dangerous overshoot, yet this appears unlikely. Direct Air Capture of CO2 represents an insurance policy for society - a way of removing excess atmospheric CO2. I will present an approach to this problem based on thermal physics that cools cubic kilometers of air to extract CO2 as it sublimates. I propose a combination of an efficient heat exchanger, radiative cooling, and refrigeration, all at industrial …

A Toolkit For Managing The Ee (Environmental Education) And Esd (Education For Sustainable Development) Continuum, Attiyya Atkins, John J. Pipoly Iii

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) represent extremes of a global continuum. EE stresses awareness of process about, from and for the environment (Vrasidas 2007). ESD is defined as education empowering communities to acquire best management practices engendering human, social, economic and natural sustainability (UNESCO 2012) and developing their resilience despite environmental changes (Fastenrath et al. 2019). ESD is a critical component of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (UN 2012), which grew from the Millennium Development Goals (UN 2000). Each park agency should develop research-based educational programs that address both EE and ESD. The ESD must promote …

Using Remote Sensing And Gis Techniques Combined With Weather And Climate Data To Create A Deeper Understanding The Wildfire Campfire In California, Lucas Farmer

Student Symposium

Wildfires have devastated the West Coast time and time again. This project takes on multiple approaches to help understand different aspects of these fires, focusing on the wildfire Campfire. The Campfire started and ended in November of 2018 in Butte County California. The first portion of the project focuses on the weather and climate of this region in California. By understanding the weather and climate of a particular area and the time at which a wildfire starts you can start to identify optimal conditions where a fire could potentially breakout. Local weather data will be gathered to look at temperature, …

Analysis Of Land Surface Temperature Over Urban Landcover Types Using Satellite Remote Sensing And Ground-Based Applications, Makini Valentine, Justine Ginchereau

Publications and Research

Urban areas have discrete differences in their land surface temperatures (LST) compared to rural areas. These regions are covered with impermeable materials with less vegetation and moisture. Consequently, this phenomenon causes major thermal intensities of different land surfaces, negatively impact people and environment. The objective of this project is to examine and to compare land surface temperature obtained from in-situ data and satellite-based observations in order to understand the diurnal variation and heat transfer at each surface type. The study utilizes series of hand held thermal infrared cameras and one Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) infrared camera to find land surface …

Ctle - Meteorological Sensors Incorporated Into A Uas For Pedagogical Purposes, David Ehrensperger, James Curtis, Dorothea Ivanova, Mark Sinclair, Jacqueline R. Luedtke, Tim Holt, Jennah Perry, Johnny L. Young, Nicholas E. Harris

David Ehrensperger

Air Pressure, Clouds, And Weather, Laura Shofield

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

1) What are basis characteristics of the atmosphere?

2) What is the horizontal and vertical movement of air in a “High” and “Low?”

3) How do clouds form and what can they tell us?

4) How are temperature, pressure and clouds related?

5) Applying concepts to real-time data

Frontline Experiences From Changing Fisheries Bycatch Paradigms, David Kerstetter

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

No abstract provided.

'Catch The King' Tide With Stormsense On Nov. 5th: How You Can Help Crowd-Source Tidal Flood Event Calibrations For Hampton Roads' Newest Water Level Sensors, Jon Derek Loftis, Harry Wang, David R. Forrest

Presentations

Dr. Derek Loftis presented his recent research related to installing new water level sensors (and some of the early event data the network has captured during Hurricanes Jose and Maria) in many Hampton Roads municipalities with the StormSense Smart Cities project. This presentation also introduces information related VIMS efforts with the CCRFR and local news media in the organization of the 'Catch the King' Tide crowd-sourcing data event using the Sea Level Rise App.

Unusual Isotopic Effects Produced In Precipitation As A Byproduct Of Unusual Atmospheric Processes, Shelby Hurst

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Precipitation is the ultimate source of all surface and groundwater recharge. Stable oxygen and hydrogen isotope investigation of precipitation has a long history. The factors controlling these stable isotopes are well known and include mean annual temperature, amount of precipitation, altitude and air mass trajectory (Dansgaard, 1964; Yurtsever and Gat, 1981).

Stormsense Project: Forecasting Flooding From Storm Surge, Rain, And Tide, Jon Derek Loftis, David R. Forrest, Kyle Spencer

Presentations

The objective of StormSense is to enhance the capability of communities to prepare and respond to the disastrous impacts of sea level rise and coastal flooding in ways that are replicable, scalable, measurable, and make a comparable difference worldwide. The StormSense Project is an inundation forecasting research initiative partially funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to advance the field of emergency preparedness for flooding resulting from storm surge, rain, and tides. The scope of the project encompasses the interests of coastal local governments wishing to enhance their emergency preparedness via a network of 'Internet of Things' (IoT)-enabled …

Stronger Together: The Cross-Cultural Coalition To Stop Fossil Fuel Exports In The Salish Sea, Margaret Allen

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

A commonly observed paradox in conservation is that restriction of people’s access to nature and natural resources may protect ecosystem health, but sometimes decreases the wellbeing of local people and can invite conflict and reduce people’s willingness to protect resources. At a middle ground between complete protection and unrestricted commercial use is ecosystem-based management (EBM), which strives to maximize the overall wellbeing of both people and ecosystems. An important domain of human wellbeing to track for the purposes of EBM is resource access, or the ability to gain and maintain uses and benefits of the natural environment. Access does not …

Improving Our Understanding Of Ocean Circulation: A Modeling Study, Nicole M. Flecchia

Senior Honors Projects

The Gulf Stream is not a rigidly contained ocean current; it curves and meanders in a manner that causes portions of it to go unstable, breaking off to form warm core rings. These rings travel west – due to the earth’s rotation - through the Slope Sea and onto the southern New England shelfbreak, affecting various physical parameters of our coastal waters as well as the biogeochemical and ecological properties (i.e. the ‘health’) of the those waters. Where a warm core ring lands along the east coast and the time of year it appears varies with each ring, causing each …

Street-Level Inundation Modeling Of Hurricanes Matthew And Hermine And Emerging Flood Monitoring Methods In Hampton Roads, Jon Derek Loftis, H. V. Wang, D R. Forrest

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Low-Cost Hab Platform To Measure Particulate Matter In The Troposphere, Mark J. Potosnak, Bernhard Beck-Winchatz, Paul Ritter

2017 Academic High Altitude Conference

High-altitude balloons (HABs) are an engaging platform for formal and informal STEM education. However, the logistics of launching, chasing and recovering a payload on a 1200 g or 1500 g balloon can be daunting for many novice school groups and citizen scientists, and the cost can be prohibitive. In addition, there are many interesting scientific applications that do not require reaching the stratosphere. In this poster presentation we discuss a novel approach based on small (30 g) balloons that are cheap and easy to handle, and low-cost tracking devices (SPOT and 900 MHz spread spectrum) that do not require a …

Super-Oceanic Winds Over A Narrow Coastal Estuary In Onshore Flow Events, Michael Splitt, Steven M. Lazarus, Jeff Colvin, Bryan P. Holman

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Indian River Lagoon Winds -- Shallow water estuary -- Average depth ~ 1 m -- Fetch limited except NNW/SSE -- Stretches 150 miles north/south -- Limited exchange with ocean via inlets -- Improvement of wind forcing -- Wind set-up and surge forecasting -- Significant wave height forecasting -- “cheaper” solutions for ensemble forecasts -- Protection of life & property (NWS) -- Ecological system impacts (local science)

Forecasting Significant Wave Height In A Coastal Estuary, Steven M. Lazarus, Michael Splitt, Jeff Colvin, Bryan Holman, Robert Weaver, Peyman Taeb, Atousa Saberi

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Would like to ‘extend’ the Nearshore Wave Prediction System (NWPS, Van Der Westhuysen et al. 2013) into a large narrow estuary (Indian River Lagoon, IRL). Full-blown hydrodynamic simulations

Variable Marsh Resilience To Stress Offers Clues To Climate Change Adaptive Management, Roger Nathan Fuller, Katrina L. Poppe, John M. Rybczyk, Eric Grossman, Chad Stellern

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

In Puget Sound’s Stillaguamish estuary, tidal marshes exhibit evidence of multiple stressors that affect their vulnerability and provide insight into adaptive management opportunities to enhance their resilience. Despite high accretion rates, some marsh areas have receded by 10m/yr since 1964. Sources of stress include overgrazing by snow geese, high soil salinities, insect attacks, and changes in flow and inundation patterns. These interact with winter vegetation structure, sediment composition, and wave exposure to result in spatially variable marsh resilience. Some marshes are receding quickly, some slowly, and others are minimally affected. In the context of climate change, with potentially substantial near-term …

An Inventory Of Environmental Governance In The Salish Sea, Laurie D. Trautman

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

How is the natural environment of the Salish Sea governed? The fact that the Salish Sea is bifurcated by a national border has inhibited our ability to answer this question. Indeed, the Salish Sea involves not only two national governments, but also a multitude of both state and non-state actors, which exist across scales, and interact in different frameworks (i.e. First Nations/tribes often seek only to negotiate with federal, rather than state/provincial governments). Environmental governance in the Salish Sea also encompasses informal modes of interaction involving public and private interest groups, social movements and community stakeholders, in addition to traditional …

A Long-Term Phytoplankton Monitoring Program For Central Puget Sound Using Particle Imaging, Gabriela Hannach, Lyndsey M. Swanson

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Puget Sound is a large and highly productive estuarine system that is vulnerable to climate change and anthropogenic impacts from a growing population. King County operates an exceptionally comprehensive, long-running monitoring program designed to assess water quality in the Puget Sound Central Basin. Data are collected year-round for a suite of physical, chemical, and biological parameters. Phyoplankton monitoring using traditional methods was added to the program in 2008 to address a significant biological data gap at the lower trophic level. Since acquisition of a FlowCAM particle imaging system in 2014 the program is generating a more extensive and robust dataset …

Skagit Climate Science Consortium: Using Local Polling To Provide Relevant Science, Carol B. Macilroy, Larry Wasserman

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Skagit Climate Science Consortium (SC²) and the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication partnered to conduct a public opinion poll in the spring of 2015 regarding Skagit County resident’s attitudes and perceptions regarding global warming. The effort, part of Yale’s renown 6 America’s Project, also is providing SC² critical information to help understand local concerns and beliefs about climate change in order to better provide relevant and timely climate science to a broader Skagit community. This presentation will provide an overview of SC²’s theory of change regarding the role of climate science in supporting …

Virtual Simulations Of Potential Vessel Discharges In Puget Sound And The Puget Sound No Discharge Zone, Teizeen Mohamedali, Mindy Roberts, Amy Jankowiak

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) evaluated the potential transport, dispersion and dilution of potential vessel sewer discharges within the draft proposed Puget Sound No Discharge Zone (NDZ). These model simulations included potential vessel sewer discharges at six locations in Puget Sound along major shipping routes. Results are presented as virtual animations of surface concentrations, allowing us to visualize the transport, circulation, and dilution of these discharges over the course of several days.

Ecology and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory jointly developed a three-dimensional hydrodynamic FVCOM (Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model) computer model of the Salish Sea. This model is …

Volunteer-Assisted Monitoring Of A Significant Private Bulkhead Removal, Jeffrey Adams, Brenda Padgham, Jason David Toft, Kyra O'Neil, Kate Litle

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Monitoring efforts to restore physical and biological functions along developed shorelines can take many forms and be influenced by monitoring goals, the scope and scale of the project, and available resources. The Powel project in Port Madison on Bainbridge Island, Washington, had regional significance because of its scale (removing 1544 lineal feet of armor), the diversity of types of armor and shoreline, and its private ownership, but it lacked the funding to support a broad, long-term monitoring program. Not willing to let the opportunity pass without some effort to gather as much appropriate information as possible about the impact and …