As ocean and land temperatures rise, wind patterns change, increasing the upwelling of nutrient-rich water and disrupting the ocean ecosystem. One example is the appearance of “dead zones” off the Oregon Coast. “The most likely explanation for why we're seeing this are changes that are related to climate change,” Lubchenco said. Those findings indicate that sea levels are rising and that the world’s oceans are becoming warmer and more acidic, and contain less oxygen. “There are very few places in the world that have the long-term data that we do.”ĭata collected here and at many other sites allow researchers like Lubchenco to explore why things are changing, as well as differentiate between those patterns that are just routine fluctuations and others that suggest something really abnormal is happening. “This place has been such a phenomenal laboratory,” Lubchenco said of the Oregon Coast. Here, nestled between the vivid, life-filled tide pools are a collection of small wire-mesh boxes and colored knobs that track environmental changes occurring at exact locations over time.

It’s also where study sites that were set up during the couple’s early years at OSU are now providing important long-term data.

The intertidal zone on this small point of land supplies the kids with the endless delights of chasing hermit crabs and feeling the squishy tentacles of anemones close around tiny fingers. On this day, Menge and Lubchenco were tide-pooling with their grandchildren near Cape Foulweather. Lubchenco and her husband, fellow-OSU marine ecologist Bruce Menge, moved to Oregon from the East Coast 40 years ago. “I’ve started focusing not just on discovering how ocean ecosystems work,' she said, 'but tracking how they're changing and thinking about how can we do a better job of managing our activities that are affecting the oceans that provide so many things that we want and need.” John Holdren and Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen about the PB Deepwater Horizon disaster, 2010. Jane Lubchenco in her role as NOAA chief confers with President Barack Obama, Science Advisor Dr. The post gave her influence on the policies that affect the environments she’s been exploring throughout her career.ĭr. That’s when President Barack Obama tapped Lubchenco to head up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 'Oregon Field Guide' first toured the tide pools of Boiler Bay with the eminent marine ecologist in 2003.īy 2009, Lubchenco had ventured into much deeper waters.

Oregon tidal pools