2010-2012
Climate change is expected to alter the amplitude and timing of upwelling. This project, related to the Match-Mismatch Project, focused on investigating how upwelling during the winter months "pre-conditions" the ecosystem which then can lead to either productive or unproductive years for fish (rockfish, salmon) and seabirds. In this interdisciplinary project, we coupled research on wintertime upwelling and physical oceanography with biological indicators of productivity to provide a holistic ecosystem perspective. Supported by NOAA's Fisheries and the Environment Program and the National Science Foundation Biological Oceanography Program, this was a collaborative effort of Farallon Institute, Oregon State University (Dr. Bryan Black, previous position), NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center, and the Environmental Research Division of NOAA. Scientists will integrate this information with rockfish stock assessments and developing Integrated Ecosystem Assessments (see below).