Major themes in the Hill lab:
Ocean Acidification
California Margin Climate Records
Bamboo Corals
Oceanic methane rich environments
For more information, click over to the News and Publications links!
Students heading into Bodega Bay for a day of sampling
Ocean Acidification in the context of coastal upwelling and nearshore oceanography
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- Research with the BOAR group at Bodega Marine Lab focuses on the impact of ocean acidification on West Coast ecosystems and native species.
- Laboratory and field based experiments to understand future impacts
- Collaboration with Hog Island Oyster Co. to understand the natural geochemical variability of Tomales Bay, CA
- Research on seagrass ecosystems and how they modify estuarine geochemistry and store carbon (e.g., "blue carbon")
California Margin sediment records of past climate and environmental change
Dr. Sarah Moffitt (Ph.D. 2014) analyzing species assemblages in sediment cores to understand paleoecology
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- Motivated by a need to understand the Earth's climate system to predict consequences of future change
- Utilizing past climate events to understand how ocean currents, temperatures, oxygenation and marine ecosystems respond
- Emphasis on understanding paleoecology in the context of geochemical changes, supported by a NSF CAREER award
Bamboo coral records of surface & intermediate water climate change
Ph.D. student Melissa Ward installing a monitoring system in Tomales Bay, CA
- Coral archive of ocean climate and environmental change, much like 'tree rings'
- Record of both surface and deepwater processes through different aspects of the coral skeleton
- Collaboration with Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary to understand impacts of global change on deep sea ecosystems
Oceanic methane rich environments
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- Identification of methane rich environments in the paleo record
- Methane seeps as sources of CH4 to the atmosphere during climatic warming