Look Who it Was Random video

New technology for measuring ocean change

4,101 views · Published 10 May 2018 · 3:20 · Indexed 28 September 2026

Channel: MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) · 2018 · Science & Technology

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Using technology developed at MBARI, researchers have observed that conditions in the coastal ocean have been changing far faster and far more than changes recorded in the open ocean. Considering that most of the biota we depend upon live in the coastal ocean, it is important that we understand how those animal communities will respond. 

Scientists at MBARI have created a laboratory system to simulate upwelling conditions—changing temperature, oxygen, and acidity of the water—to then expose animals to those conditions and measure how they perform in terms of their physiology and their interactions with other species. 

MBARI researchers have also developed the free ocean CO2 enrichment system, or FOCE, consisting of mesocosms—small chambers for experiments directly on the seabed.  Researchers control the acidity within each chamber over long periods of time to evaluate how seafloor communities will tolerate changes in ocean acidity as they’re still living in a relatively natural environment. 

FOCE technology has been used around the world from the Antarctic, to coral reefs in Australia, helping us understand how changes in ocean acidity affects animal performance and interactions among a wide spectrum of species.

All organisms have some capacity for adaptation. The question is whether they'll be able to adapt fast enough and far enough to keep up with the pace of environmental change that humans are driving through our CO2 emissions. That's one of the big challenges for the science community to investigate over the next century.

Video producer: Nancy Barr
Interview videographer: Todd Walsh
Video editor: Kyra Schlining
Music: http://taketones.com/track/digital-love (License N: TT000270144)

Special thanks to the MBARI SeeStar camera team for the shallow-water rockfish footage; the Australian Antarctic Division for the Antarctic FOCE footage; Greg Johnstone/Australian Antarctic Division for the Antarctic FOCE images; David I. Kline/CP-FOCE on Heron Island for the Australian reef FOCE images; and to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for the fishing video.

For more information, see the MBARI 2017 Annual Report:  http://annualreport.mbari.org/2017/ocean-change

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