‘Fingerprinting' the Ocean to Predict Devastating Sea Level Rise

Coastal communities in Maine are building living shorelines to adapt to sea level rise and address erosion concerns. This nature-based solution uses native plants and materials, or even discarded holiday trees, to bolster shorelines against strong storms and higher tides. And they get stronger as nature takes its course over time.

After planting clams in Shinnecock Bay in 2012, scientists at Stony Brook University were able to reverse the trends of red tide in the coastal New York waters. The bay restoration project resulted in 400,000 square meters of seagrass regrowth and the local clam population significantly grew.

In an effort to collect data about the environmental health of high traffic destinations, researchers are examining the text and images of geotagged social media posts. Tweets about the Great Barrier Reef were analyzed for relevant information about specifically where people visited, common activities, and common complaints. While people passively provided data by geotagging posts, researchers are also proposing creating hashtags that allow for people to actively communicate data to researchers through social media posts.

Geography and climate change challenge the viability of sea-level cities in Vietnam, but architects, researchers, and urban planners work together to find creative solutions. One architect in Ho Chi Minh City designed green roofs to absorb the rainwater that causes floods.

The Turks and Caicos Reef Fund coral lab houses a living biobank of coral species at risk of being lost to climate change impacts and disease. Researchers collect the corals from the ocean and plan to keep them on land until the oceans are a suitable habitat again.

In the South Indian coast, erosion is leading to disappearing beaches. A study found that this erosion was in part due to man-made structures like a harbor that was built in the late 80s, groynes, and seawalls. These structures were interfering with the natural movement of sand. To fix it, they needed a structure that could block waves but also allow sand movement, the solution? An artificial reef. It was installed and some beaches are already seeing the results.

The invasive European green crab was wreaking havoc on the soft-shell clam fishery in Nova Scotia. But fishers, researchers, and park officials worked together to remove as many of them as possible and find an alternative use for them. Their efforts were working: eelgrass meadows and clam populations were rebounding. Now, they’re testing how these crabs can be used in lobster bait, bioplastics, or even fertilizer for gardens.

The research group, Beneath the Waves, is cultivating cross-sector collaborations with nonprofits, scientists, and individual philanthropists in order to better study the movements and patterns of sharks in the Bahamas. What has typically been a challenging task has been made possible through the use of acoustic tags, which can provide researchers insight into ocean ecosystems and thus conservation. Such initiatives are part of a larger trend of bringing together private donors, nonprofits, and ocean scientists to bolster marine science and conservation efforts.

Scientists and conservationists have been pushing for more marine protected areas, regions that restrict human activity to protect marine life. But, they're quickly realizing it’s not about the quantity of mpa’s, but the quality.

Despite advancements in technology in most sectors of life leading to an increase to access of information about practically anything, little is still known about the ocean and its behavioral patterns. Liquid Robotics – a Silicon Valley-based company – is trying to change that. Engineers here have created the "Wave Glider," which essentially acts as a router within the ocean powered by wave energy and solar panels. This invention can transmit data on tectonic activity that has the potential to predict tsunamis.