STEMxm Episode 25 -  Ocean Corals and Climate Change with Jessica Carilli, PhD This is the 2nd episode in a series touching on climate change careers and research. Check out the others here: Episode 23 - Atmospheric Physics with Dr. Joanna Haigh Episode 24 - Theoretical Ecology with Dr. Emily Moberg Where Jessica earned a PhD - Scripps Institution of Oceanography Stuff we discussed  -- How are scientists able to "go back in time" to study how the environment was on earth many years ago?

• Ocean floor core sampling
• Tree rings as a way to understand the environment in years past (Dendrochronology) - This audio clip is an excellent explanation of how scientists use tree rings in combination other data to perform dating: listen here
• Ice corps from Greenland and Antarctica
• Corals also have annual layers they grow through time. You can use these similarly
• We also spoke with Dr. Holmes in episode 14 about core sampling!

How do scientists date this stuff? Radiometric clocks!

• How carbon dating works (must click through all pages)!
• Ice core sample dating works and what the heck is ferne?

Now Corals...

• How do we date corals?  More core sampling!
• Then what?  X-rays and Cat-scans for corals
• Proxies of past ocean chemistry
• How does sediment runoff impact corals?

 

• Phytoplankton
• Zooplankton
• Ocean acidification
• Saltwater Science Blog (no longer active)
• Jessica's personal Blog
• Jessica's Twitter

 

STEMxm is available on iTunes & Stitcher: