Major themes in the Hill lab:
Ocean Acidification & Coastal Carbon Flux
California Margin Climate Records
Deep Sea Bamboo Corals
Oceanic methane rich environments
For more information, click over to the Outreach and Publications links!
Students heading into Bodega Bay for a day of sampling
Ocean Acidification & Coastal Carbon Flux
Research within the BOAR group - see publications on this theme
- Research 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 CLIMATE RECORDS
Dr. Sarah Moffitt (Ph.D. 2014) analyzing species assemblages in sediment cores to understand paleoecology
See publications on this theme
- 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
deep sea Bamboo corals - records of ocean 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
See publications on this theme
- Identification of methane rich environments in the paleo record
- Methane seeps as sources of CH4 to the atmosphere during climatic warming