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，温度升高和海水酸度增加，即海洋酸化。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，进而影响其性能和生存，并最终危及整个生态系统的平衡。这种变化在生产力很高的高纬度海洋系统中尤为明显，在那里，许多生物往往能很好地适应它们的特定环境。因此，有必要更好地监测和了解这些变化、变化的速度以及这些变化如何影响海洋生物。该项目特别提高了利用最先进的海洋传感器准确表征当前海洋物理和化学环境的能力，以及利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。这个项目的地点是Kasitsna湾实验室（https://www.uaf.edu/cfos/about-us/locations/kasitsna-bay/）和阿拉斯加中南部Kachemak湾的周围水域。该地区因其多样的海洋栖息地类型和丰富的海洋生物而受到重视，这些海洋生物支持着广泛的海洋渔业和自给自足的收成。因此，本研究的结果对当地利益相关者非常有价值，但结果也可转移给其他高纬度系统的利益相关者。通过与阿拉斯加费尔班克斯大学（University of Alaska Fairbanks）的合作，OCES可以收集环境数据并进行实验，这有助于培养新一代科学家。公众和一般研究界通过各种科学和公共论坛、网站、社交媒体和讲习班的外联活动和介绍，了解这些数据和研究可能性。这些数据可通过公开的数据库（例如阿拉斯加海洋观测系统、阿拉斯加海洋酸化网络）向广大公众提供。该项目使用一系列沿着冰川梯度部署在海洋中的仪器来测量海洋酸度（pH）、温度、盐度和氧气。这些测量以高分辨率进行，每隔几小时进行一次，以描述当前环境条件，以及基于潮汐周期和每日天气条件的固有短期变化。此外，该项目还包括一个OCES实验室系统，在该系统中，当前的条件可以被操纵成未来的海洋情景，包括改变海洋酸化、温度、盐度和氧气。这样就可以在预测的未来海洋条件下与当前条件下的测量结果进行比较，从而测试感兴趣的单个生物的反应，例如它们的发育、生长速度、代谢率等。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.