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Home » Research & Services » Topics » Global Change

Global Change

Sea-level rise, warming temperatures, and changes in weather patterns pose particular challenges to Chesapeake Bay and the coastal zone. Learn what VIMS scientists are doing to help society understand, mitigate, and adapt to changing climate. Also visit our Center for Coastal Resources Management (CCRM) and our Initiative for Coastal Climate Change Research (IC3R).

Top Stories | Crest Articles | Adv Service Reports | Labs & Groups | SRAMSOE | Articles | Dissertations | Links

Top Stories

VIMS professor studies “middle ground” of sea-level change (November 2012)
Ongoing research by professor John Brubaker throws light on the intra-seasonal changes that occupy the middle ground between rapid, storm-related surges in sea level and the long-term increase in sea level due to global climate change.

Study confirms sea-level rise is accelerating along NE U.S. coast (October 2012)
Findings confirm those of two other recent studies that find accelerating rates of sea-level rise along the Atlantic Coast of the U.S. and Canada.

Study shows small fish can play a big role in the coastal carbon cycle (October 2012)
Research shows that small forage fish like anchovies can transport carbon dioxide into the deep sea--where it contributes nothing to current global warming.

Smith helps announce NASA discovery of unprecedented blooms of ocean life (June 2012)
VIMS professor Walker Smith provides independent expertise regarding an Arctic Ocean discovery that scientists say is as dramatic and unexpected as finding a rainforest in the middle of a desert.

Ecosystem effects of biodiversity loss could rival impacts of climate change and pollution (May 2012)
New study from international research team including professor J. Emmett Duffy of VIMS highlights need for stronger efforts to protect biodiversity and the benefits it provides.

Researchers meet at VIMS to refine carbon budget for U.S. East Coast (January 2012)
A large group of researchers gathered at VIMS to integrate and refine field measurements and computer models of carbon cycling in the waters along the U.S. East Coast.

VIMS research team returns to the Amazon plume (September 2011)
VIMS researchers join an international team to study how the Amazon River's huge freshwater plume affects the biology and chemistry of the Atlantic Ocean.

NASA climate scientist puts weather extremes in context (April 2011)
Dr. Bruce Wielicki explains how cold spells and blizzards can occur with global warming.

Smith team glides into polar research (January 2011)
Tests of a free-swimming underwater glider in the icy waters of Antarctica mark the most southerly glider deployment ever and the first successful glider dive beneath the Ross Ice Shelf.

Researchers brave icy waters to study Arctic food web (January 2011)
Professor Deborah Bronk leads a study of the Arctic coastal ecosystem, and how climate change might affect nutrient supplies, the food web, and native peoples.

VIMS team returns to Antarctic Peninsula (January 2011)
A research team led by professor Deborah Steinberg has returned to Antarctica for their annual 6-week field season.

Sea-level study brings good and bad news to Hampton Roads (December 2010)
A new VIMS study of local sea-level trends brings both good and bad news to localities concerned with coastal inundation.

Duffy explains the science behind algal biofuels (December 2010)
Energy Now interviews VIMS professor Emmett Duffy concerning efforts to harvest wild algae for use as a biofuel.

SunTrust gift supports VIMS graduate student (September 2010)
The gift to the VIMS Foundation will support climate change research by Master’s student Emily Jayne.

Gas hydrates subject of "hot" VIMS paper (July 2010)
A VIMS study of gas hydrates—substances that have hindered attempts to stop the Gulf oil leak—is among the top 25 most-downloaded journal articles in Marine Chemistry.

ANACONDAS project brings VIMS to the Amazon plume (May 2010)
VIMS researchers join an international team to study how the Amazon River's huge freshwater plume affects the biology and chemistry of the Atlantic Ocean.

The algal-biofuel project: Wintertime research at VIMS (March 2010)
Professors from VIMS, William & Mary, and the University of Maryland pursue clean water and sustainable fuel sources in Gloucester Point.

VIMS awarded sustainability grants (January 2010)
Two energy-saving projects at VIMS were among a dozen funded by W&M's Committee on Sustainability during its fall 2009 round of awards.

VIMS professor to serve U.N. climate-modeling group (January 2010)
Dr. Marjorie Friedrichs will provide guidance concerning the computer models that are used to project the magnitude and rate of climate change.

Study reveals threat to tidal wetlands (November 2009)
Study shows that continuation of current shoreline-protection strategies will cause more than half of East Coast tidal wetlands to drown beneath rising seas during the coming century.

MA project may jumpstart market for offshore wind energy (October 2009)
VIMS alum Charles Natale says pending approval of the "Cape Wind" project in Massachusetts is likely to jumpstart development of other wind farms in the nation's coastal waters, including those off Virginia.

Algae initiative aims to produce fuel while helping the environment (September 2009)
The College of William and Mary and VIMS have formed a collaborative research initiative to explore biofuel production using algae growing naturally in Chesapeake Bay.

Loss of coastal seagrass habitat accelerating globally (June 2009)
An international team of scientists warns that accelerating losses of seagrasses across the globe threaten the immediate health and long-term sustainability of coastal ecosystems.

“Global Inquiry Group” studies biofuels and algae (March 2009)
Professor Elizabeth Canuel and colleagues have received funding to explore the use of algae as a source of biofuels.

Bronk to help set national priorities for carbon research (November 2008)
VIMS Professor Deborah Bronk will help decide the nation’s strategy for carbon-cycle research in the coming decade.

"Dead zones" spread (August 2008)
Professor Robert Diaz shows that the number of "dead zones"—areas of seafloor with too little oxygen for most marine life—has increased by a third between 1995 and 2007.

VIMS refines storm-tide predictions (May 2008)
VIMS researchers work toward street-level predictions of storm-tide flooding along the Chesapeake Bay shoreline.

Sea turtle decline linked to El Niño (May 2008)
Dr. Vincent Saba's research  provides the first evidence of a link between declining numbers of leatherback sea turtles and El Niño.

DDT persists in Antarctic ice (May 2008)
Research by VIMS graduate student Heidi Geisz shows that DDT and its breakdown products persist within the tissues of Adélie penguins, three decades after the pesticide was banned in most countries.

Pyke briefs Senate on Bay warming (Sept. 2007)
VIMS fellow Dr. Christopher Pyke briefs an influential Senate committee on global warming's impacts on Chesapeake Bay.

Ocean storms create oases in watery desert (May  2007)
Research demonstrates that mid-ocean eddies pump up nutrients to fuel plankton blooms.

Ocean's "Twilight Zone" plays important role in climate change (April 2007)
New study identifies a critical link in the ocean's ability to absorb and store carbon dioxide accumulating in our atmosphere.

VIMS contributes to Science article on ocean fertilization (April 2004)
VIMS pair shows that silica plays an unexpected role in the ocean's response to iron enrichment—one proposed method to help curb global warming.

Rising sea level increases hurricane risk (Dec 2003)
The 1-foot rise in Chesapeake Bay since 1933 explains Hurricane Isabel's surprisingly high storm tide.

VIMS researchers win 5-year, $1.7 million NSF award
NSF grant funds study of the role that plankton play in the consumption and production of dissolved organic matter in the ocean. The fate of dissolved organic carbon is particularly important to the issue of global climate change.

Advisory Service Reports/White Papers

Read the white papers prepared by VIMS' scientists for our Initiative for Coastal Climate Change Research.

Labs, Centers, and Groups
Special Reports in Applied Marine Science and Ocean Engineering (SRAMSOE)
  1. Austin, H. M., B. L. Norcross, and M. I. Ingham. 1982. An annotated bibliography of climate and fisheries interactions. Virginia Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, 263, Gloucester Point.
  2. Welch, C. S., and E. P. Ruzecki. 1979. Middle Atlantic outer continental shelf environmental studies: Chapter 3. Physical oceanography and climatology. Pages 246 in Anonymous, editor. Special Report in Applied Marine Science and Ocean Engineering (SRAMSOE). Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point.
  3. Goldsmith, V., and United States Bureau of Land Management. 1979. VIMS-BLM second order wave climate model and wave climatology of the Baltimore Canyon Trough shelf area. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, 203, Gloucester Pt. VA.
  4. Ruzecki, E. P., C. S. Welch, and D. L. Baker. 1977. Seasonal meteorological and hydrographic conditions in the northern half of the Middle Atlantic Bight : 1975-76. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, 172, Gloucester Pt. VA.
  5. Goldsmith, V. 1977. VIMS-BLM wave climate model of the Baltimore Canyon through shelf and shoreline. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, 106, Gloucester Pt. VA.
  6. Gutman, A. L. 1976. Delineation of a wave climate for Dam Neck, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, 125, Gloucester Pt. VA.
  7. Goldsmith, V., D. E. Morris, R. H. Byrne, and C. H. Whitlock. 1974. Wave Climate Model of the Mid-Atlantic Shelf and shoreline (Virginian Sea) : model development, shelf geomorphology, and preliminary results. Scientific and Technical Information Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Gloucester Point VA.
Journal Articles
  1. Buesseler, K. O., and coauthors. 2007. Revisiting carbon flux through the ocean's twilight zone. Science 316(5824):567-570.
  2. Day, J. W., and coauthors. 2007. Restoration of the Mississippi Delta: Lessons from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Science 315(5819):1679-1684.
  3. Ducklow, H. W., and coauthors. 2007. Marine pelagic ecosystems: The West Antarctic Peninsula. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences 362(1477):67-94.
  4. Longworth, B. E., S. T. Petsch, P. A. Raymond, and J. E. Bauer. 2007. Linking lithology and land use to sources of dissolved and particulate organic matter in headwaters of a temperate, passive-margin river system. Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta 71(17):4233-4250.
  5. Saba, V. S., and coauthors. 2007. The effect of the El Niño Southern Oscillation on the reproductive frequency of eastern Pacific leatherback turtles. Journal of Applied Ecology 44(2):395-404.
  6. Shields, J. D., D. M. Taylor, P. G. O'Keefe, E. Colbourne, and E. Hynick. 2007. Epidemiological determinants in outbreaks of bitter crab disease (Hematodinium sp.) in snow crabs Chionoecetes opilio from Conception Bay, Newfoundland, Canada. Diseases of aquatic organisms 77(1):61-72.
  7. Syvitski, J. P. M., and J. D. Milliman. 2007. Geology, geography, and humans battle for dominance over the delivery of fluvial sediment to the coastal ocean. Journal of Geology 115(1):1-19.
  8. Doney, S. C., and H. W. Ducklow. 2006. A decade of synthesis and modeling in the US Joint Global Ocean Flux Study. Deep-Sea Research Part Ii-Topical Studies in Oceanography 53(5-7):451-458.
  9. Duffy, J. E., and J. J. Stachowicz. 2006. Why biodiversity is important to oceanography: potential roles of genetic, species, and trophic diversity in pelagic ecosystem processes. Marine Ecology-Progress Series 311:179-189.
  10. France, K. E., and J. E. Duffy. 2006. Diversity and dispersal interactively affect predictability of ecosystem function. Nature 441(7097):1139-1143.
  11. Leithold, E. L., N. E. Blair, and D. W. Perkey. 2006. Geomorphologic controls on the age of particulate organic carbon from small mountainous and upland rivers. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 20(3):-.
  12. Orth, R. J., and coauthors. 2006. A global crisis for seagrass ecosystems. Bioscience 56(12):987-996.
  13. Pourmand, A., F. Marcantonio, T. S. Bianchi, E. A. Canuel, and E. J. Waterson. 2005. Radionuclide and biomarker proxies of past ocean circulation and productivity in the Arabian Sea. Geophysical Research Letters 32(10):-.
  14. Friedrichs, C. T., and L. D. Wright. 2004. Gravity-driven sediment transport on the continental shelfimplications for equilibrium profiles near river mouths. Coastal Engineering 51(8-9):795-811.
  15. Green, M. O., C. E. Vincent, and A. C. Trembanis. 2004. Suspension of coarse and fine sand on a wave-dominated shoreface, with implications for the development of rippled scour depressions. Continental Shelf Research 24(3):317-335.
  16. Howe, J. A., T. M. Shimmield, and R. Diaz. 2004. Deep-water sedimentary environments of the northwestern Weddell Sea and South Sandwich Islands, Antarctica. Deep-Sea Research Part Ii-Topical Studies in Oceanography 51(14-16):1489-1514.
  17. Short, A. D., and A. C. Trembanis. 2004. Decadal scale patterns in beach oscillation and rotation Narrabeen Beach, Australia - Time series, PCA and wavelet analysis. Journal of Coastal Research 20(2):523-532.
  18. Southworth, M., and R. Mann. 2004. Decadal scale changes in seasonal patterns of oyster recruitment in the Virginia sub estuaries of the Chesapeake Bay. Journal of Shellfish Research 23(2):391-402.
  19. Goodbred, S. L., and S. A. Kuehl. 2003. The production, transport, and accumulation of sediment: a cross-section of recent developments with an emphasis on climate effects. Sedimentary Geology 162(1-2):1-3.
  20. Goodbred, S. L., S. A. Kuehl, M. S. Steckler, and M. H. Sarker. 2003. Controls on facies distribution and stratigraphic preservation in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta sequence. Sedimentary Geology 155(3-4):301-316.
  21. Heroy, D. C., S. A. Kuehl, and S. L. Goodbred. 2003. Mineralogy of the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers: implications for river switching and Late Quaternary climate change. Sedimentary Geology 155(3-4):343-359.
  22. Kiryu, Y., J. D. Shields, W. K. Vogelbein, H. Kator, and V. S. Blazer. 2003. Infectivity and pathogenicity of the oomycete Aphanomyces invadans in Atlantic menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 54(2):135-146.
  23. Oguz, T., T. Cokacar, P. Malanotte-Rizzoli, and H. W. Ducklow. 2003. Climatic warming and accompanying changes in the ecological regime of the Black Sea during 1990s. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 17(3):-.
  24. Kiryu, Y., and coauthors. 2002. Induction of skin ulcers in Atlantic menhaden by injection and aqueous exposure to the zoospores of Aphanomyces invadans. Journal of Aquatic Animal Health 14(1):11-24.
  25. Liu, J. P., J. D. Milliman, and S. Gao. 2002. The Shandong mud wedge and post-glacial sediment accumulation in the Yellow Sea. Geo-Marine Letters 21(4):212-218.
  26. Neuer, S., and coauthors. 2002. Differences in the biological carbon pump at three subtropical ocean sites. Geophysical Research Letters 29(18):-.
  27. Best, E. P. H., and coauthors. 2001. Modeling submersed macrophyte growth in relation to underwater light climate: modeling approaches and application potential. Hydrobiologia 444(1-3):43-70.
  28. Milliman, J. D. 2001. Delivery and fate of fluvial water and sediment to the sea: a marine geologist's view of European rivers. Scientia Marina 65:121-131.
  29. Rubin, C., and coauthors. 2001. Emerging areas of research reported during the CDC National Conference on Pfiesteria: From biology to public health. Environmental Health Perspectives 109:633-637.
  30. Steinberg, D. K., and coauthors. 2001. Overview of the US JGOFS Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS): a decade-scale look at ocean biology and biogeochemistry. Deep-Sea Research Part Ii-Topical Studies in Oceanography 48(8-9):1405-1447.
  31. Cronin, T., and coauthors. 2000. Climatic variability in the eastern United States over the past millennium from Chesapeake Bay sediments. Geology 28(1):3-6.
  32. Goodbred, S. L., and S. A. Kuehl. 2000. Enormous Ganges-Brahmaputra sediment discharge during strengthened early Holocene monsoon. Geology 28(12):1083-1086.
  33. Laws, E. A., P. G. Falkowski, W. O. Smith, H. Ducklow, and J. J. McCarthy. 2000. Temperature effects on export production in the open ocean. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 14(4):1231-1246.
  34. O'Farrell, C. L., J. F. La Peyre, K. T. Paynter, and E. M. Burreson. 2000. Osmotic tolerance and volume regulation in in vitro cultures of the oyster pathogen Perkinsus marinus. Journal of Shellfish Research 19(1):139-145.
  35. Schultz, I. R., M. G. Barron, M. C. Newman, and A. M. Vick. 1999. Blood flow distribution and tissue allometry in channel catfish. Journal of Fish Biology 54(6):1275-1286.
  36. Nicholls, R. J., W. A. Birkemeier, and G. H. Lee. 1998. Evaluation of depth of closure using data from Duck, NC, USA. Marine Geology 148(3-4):179-201.
  37. LaPeyre, J. F., and M. Faisal. 1996. Optimal culture conditions for the propagation of the oyster pathogen Perkinsus marinus (Apicomplexa) in protein deficient medium. Parasite-Journal De La Societe Francaise De Parasitologie 3(2):147-153.
  38. Tirard, C. T., R. M. Grossfeld, A. K. Volety, and F. L. E. Chu. 1995. Heat-Shock Proteins of the Oyster Parasite Perkinsus marinus. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 22(2):147-151.
  39. Azam, F., G. F. Steward, D. C. Smith, and H. W. Ducklow. 1994. Significance of Bacteria in Carbon Fluxes in the Arabian Sea. Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences-Earth and Planetary Sciences 103(2):341-351.
  40. Chu, F. L. E., and J. F. Lapeyre. 1993. Perkinsus marinus Susceptibility and Defense-Related Activities in Eastern Oysters Crassostrea virginica - Temperature Effects. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 16(3):223-234.
Theses & Dissertations
  1. Saba, V. S. 2007. Bottom-up and climatic forcing on the nesting and foraging ecology of leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea). Ph.D. Dissertation. The College of William and Mary, Gloucester Pt. VA.
  2. France, K. E. 2007. Effects of regional species pool dynamics on metacommunity structure and ecosystem function. Ph.D. Dissertation. The College of William and Mary, Gloucester Pt. VA.
  3. Pohlman, J. W. 2006. Sediment biogeochemistry of northern Cascadia margin shallow gas hydrate systems. Ph.D. Dissertation. The College of William and Mary, Gloucester Pt. VA.
  4. Picariello, A. 2006. The effects of climate change on the population ecology of the Atlantic surf clam, Spisula solidissima, in the Middle Atlantic Bight. Master's Thesis. College of William and Mary. School of Marine Science.
  5. Ha, D. S. 2006. Ecology and conservation of Virginia shark species: Analysis of thirty years of Virginia long-line shark census data, 1974--2004. Ph.D. Dissertation. The College of William and Mary, Gloucester Pt. VA.
  6. Peloquin, J. A. 2005. Regulation and impact of the phytoplankton assemblage composition in the Southern Ocean. Ph.D. Dissertation. The College of William and Mary, Gloucester Pt. VA.
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