Major themes in the Hill lab:

• Ocean Acidification & Coastal Carbon Flux

• California Margin Climate Records

• Deep Sea Corals As Climate Archives

For more information, click over to the Outreach and Publications links!

Ocean Acidification & Coastal Carbon Flux

Research within the BOAR group - see publications on this theme

• 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, store carbon (e.g., "blue carbon"), and ameliorate ocean acidification.

• Collaborative studies with social, natural and physical scientists to understand the geographic patterns of ocean acidification, and how they will impact human communities along the coast.

California Margin CLIMATE RECORDS

See publications on this theme

• Utilizing past climate events to understand how ocean currents, temperatures, oxygenation and marine ecosystems respond

• A focus on recent geologic intervals - the Holocene and Anthropocene - as key time periods to understand how ecosystems respond to change.

• Emphasis on understanding paleoecology, environmental change, and linkages to modern climate issues, including outreach to policymakers, publics, and educators.

deep sea corals - records of ocean change

See publications on this theme

• Utilizes 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