High-Latitude Ocean Change Laboratory: a Kasitsna Bay Laboratory Improvement Grant

海洋正在经历前所未有的变化，例如，温度变暖和水的酸度增加，这被称为海洋酸化。海洋生物在其整个生命阶段都受到这些环境变化的生理挑战，进而影响它们的表现和生存，并最终危及整个生态系统的平衡。这种变化在生产力非常高的高纬度海洋系统中尤为明显，在那里，许多生物往往对其特定的环境进行了精细的调整。因此，迫切需要更好地监测和了解这些变化、变化的速度以及这些变化对海洋生物的影响。该项目特别提高了使用最先进的海洋传感器准确描述当前物理和化学海洋环境的能力，以及使用创新的海洋变化实验系统(OCES)测试海洋生物对未来环境变化的反应的能力。该项目的地点是阿拉斯加州中南部的卡西斯纳湾实验室(https://www.uaf.edu/cfos/about-us/locations/kasitsna-bay/)和卡切马克湾周围水域。该区域因其多样的海洋生境类型和丰富的海洋生物而受到重视，这支持了广泛的海洋渔业和自给自足的捕捞。因此，这项研究的结果对当地利益攸关方具有很高的价值，但也可以转移到其他高纬度系统的利益攸关方。通过与阿拉斯加大学费尔班克斯大学的合作，环境数据收集和可以用OCES进行的实验增加了对新一代科学家的教育。公众和一般研究界通过外联活动以及在各种科学和公共论坛、网站、社交媒体和讲习班上的陈述，了解这些数据和研究的可能性。公众可通过公开的数据库(如阿拉斯加海洋观测系统、阿拉斯加海洋酸化网络)获得这些数据。该项目使用一系列仪器，这些仪器沿冰川梯度部署在海洋中，以测量海洋酸度(PH)、温度、盐度和氧气。这些测量以高分辨率进行，每隔几个小时进行一次，以根据潮汐周期和每日天气条件用固有的短期变化来表征当前的环境条件。此外，该项目还包括一个OCES实验室系统，在该系统中，可以根据未来的海洋情景来操纵当前的条件，包括改变海洋酸化、温度、盐度和氧气。这使得能够测试感兴趣的单个生物的反应，如在预测的未来海洋条件下的发育、生长率、代谢率等，并与在当前条件下的测量进行比较。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The oceans are experiencing unprecedented changes, for example, in terms of warming temperatures and an increase in the water's acidity, called ocean acidification. Marine organisms are being physiologically challenged by these environmental changes across their life stages, which then impacts their performance and survival, and ultimately endangering overall ecosystem balance. Such changes are particularly pronounced in very productive, high-latitude marine systems where many organisms are often finely tuned to their specific environment. Hence, there is a great need to better monitor and understand the changes, the rates of changes, and how these changes affect the marine organisms. This project specifically improves the ability to accurately characterize the current physical and chemical ocean environment with state-of-the-art oceanic sensors, and the ability to test the response of marine organisms to future environmental changes with an innovative ocean change experimental system (OCES). The location of this project is the Kasitsna Bay Laboratory (https://www.uaf.edu/cfos/about-us/locations/kasitsna-bay/) and the surrounding waters of Kachemak Bay, in south-central Alaska. The region is valued for its diverse marine habitat types and rich marine life, which support extensive marine fisheries and subsistence harvests. Results of this study are, therefore, highly valuable for local stakeholders but results also are transferable to stakeholders in other high-latitude systems. Through the association with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the environmental data collection and the experiments that can be done with the OCES add to the education of a new generation of scientists. The public and general research community is informed of these data and research possibilities through outreach activities and presentations at various scientific and public forums, on websites, social media, and through workshops. These data are available for the broader public through publicly available databases (e.g., the Alaska Ocean Observing System, the Alaska Ocean Acidification Network).The project uses a series of instruments that are deployed in the ocean along a glacial gradient to measure ocean acidity (pH), temperature, salinity, and oxygen. These measurements are done at high resolution, every few hours, to characterize the present environmental conditions with the inherent short-term changes based on tidal cycles and daily weather conditions. In addition, the project includes an OCES laboratory system, where the current conditions can be manipulated into future ocean scenarios, including altering ocean acidification, temperature, salinity, and oxygen. This allows for the testing of the responses of individual organisms of interest, such as in their development, growth rates, metabolic rates, etc., under predicted future ocean conditions with comparison to measurements under current conditions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.