Mary Margaret Stoll
University of Washington, School of Oceanography, MS
Growing up in New England, I attribute my love of the oceans to my family’s annual camping trips to Acadia National Park in Maine. My curiosity for the surrounding world steered me to pursue a dual degree program in Chemistry and Environmental Studies at Amherst College in addition to Engineering at Dartmouth College. Subsequent research experiences studying the effects of climate change on blue mussels, sea ice in Alaska, and green sea turtles in Hawaii solidified my career path as a scientist exploring our impact on the oceans.
I am currently a fourth-year graduate student in the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington. My graduate research aims to identify the primary processes that affect ocean acidification in the Salish Sea and broader California Current using coral paleoclimate records and biogeochemical models. I hope these insights will enhance our understanding of the western US coastal waters and constrain our projections of climate change impacts in the region.
As a scientist, it is my goal to understand the challenges confronting the marine environment and produce actionable science that informs responsible environmental policy and conservation. As the insights from my research will constrain climate change impacts in this region, I hope to open pathways of engagement within the community to collaboratively inform strategies that protect the Salish Sea. I hope to weave this common thread of marine conservation based on science, policy and communities into my future work to protect ocean ecosystems from a holistic perspective.
Projects
A Century of Change in the California Current: Quantifying the Impact of Anthropogenic Climate Change on Ocean Chemistry
The California Current System (CCS) is an eastern boundary current off the west coast of North America that is characterized by intense upwelling of acidified waters with low-pH and high-pCO2. This uplift of deep water to the surface also provides a pathway for nutrients to fuel one of the most economically vital and biologically productive ecosystems in the world. As a result of these acidified, upwelled waters, the CCS represents the leading edge of ocean acidification impacts while also providing a window into future ocean conditions and processes. However, predicting the extent and pace of acidification in upwelling systems is complicated because anthropogenic contributions to acidification are intertwined with natural sources of acidity and variability. Therefore, a central and contested question is whether acidification in coastal upwelling regions like the CCS will follow the pace of increasing atmospheric CO2, or if dynamic climate effects will act to either accelerate or attenuate acidification.
Here, we apply a boron isotope pH proxy to cold-water orange cup corals collected since the 1890s along the west coast of North America. We establish a historic baseline for acidification in the CCS and the Salish Sea, an associated coastal estuary. Combining these geochemical records with a biogeochemical ocean model, we show that the CCS and Salish Sea have experienced accelerated acidification and increased CO2Â accumulation over the industrial era relative to the atmosphere. We use our biogeochemical model to show that this acceleration is projected to continue in the coming century, posing a severe threat to marine ecosystems of economic, cultural, and biological significance.