Floating Ideas Lecture Series

Doors Open 6:30pm, Lecture 7:00pm

Regular admission applies, free for members and annual pass holders

Effects of Local and Global Change on our Coastal Ocean

How are our local waters changing, and what can we do about it? Sophia Johannessen will discuss the effects of local and global change on the Strait of Georgia. The ecosystem of this inland sea has adjusted to enormous natural transitions over the past ten thousand years. But now global change is combined with local human activities to produce unprecedented challenges.  The temperature of seawater is increasing. Oxygen and pH are decreasing. Sea level is rising against seawalls and dykes.  Mudflats – critical habitat for many seabirds and fish – will be lost.  In contrast, measures to reduce pollution in Howe Sound have seen great improvements in the health of that ecosystem. Climate change is already upon us; how we respond is up to us. 

Dr. Sophia Johannessen is a geochemical oceanographer at the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney, BC.  Her research interests include: the effects of climate change on the coastal ocean; changes in primary productivity in the Salish Sea; and the fate of diluted bitumen in coastal waters.  She has worked in the Mid-Atlantic Bight, the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Currently she works in the coastal waters of British Columbia.