Webinar Series
The National Marine Sanctuary Webinar Series provides educators with educational and scientific expertise, resources and training to support ocean and climate literacy in the classroom. This series targets formal and informal educators that are engaging students (elementary through college) in formal classroom settings, as well as members of the community in informal educational venues (e.g. after school programs, science centers, aquariums, etc.).
Upcoming Webinars
Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies - Vessel Speed Reduction in California
January 15, 2019 at 6 pm Eastern / 3 pm Pacific
Jessica Morten, Resource Protection Specialist, contractor to NOAA's Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary & Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary through the Greater Farallones Association
California's nutrient-rich coastal waters are home to several species of large whales, including gray whales and endangered blue, humpback, and fin whales. The state is also home to four major shipping ports - San Diego, Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Oakland - that result in thousands of large container and tanker transits taking place within California national marine sanctuary waters. In the past decade, 10 whale fatalities have been recorded along the California coast as a result of ship and whale collisions, and recent research suggests that many more of these ship strikes are going undetected each year. To address this global issue, learn more about how west coast national marine sanctuaries have been working with a number of partners to better understand the issue of ship strikes and implement initiatives to reduce risk to endangered whales.
Home Front Hawai`i: a Naval Legacy beneath the Sea
February 5, 2019 at 6 pm Eastern / 3 pm Pacific
Shipwrecks and other submerged properties tell stories of the past, and some of those stories are about World War II in the Pacific. The Hawaiian Islands were very different during the war period, a plantation territory suddenly witness to the initial attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent years of intensive combat training both on land and sea. The events of this critical period have left a legacy of sites that act as windows on history, a heritage landscape to be shared in the present.
Estimating Coral Feeding Habits from Space
May 21, 2019 at 6 pm Eastern / 3 pm Pacific
Dr. Michael Fox, Postdoctoral Scholar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Reef-building corals rely on a symbiosis with microscopic algae for much of their energetic needs. Rising ocean temperatures threaten this symbiosis and can cause it to break down in a process known as coral bleaching, which is one of the primary threats to the persistence of coral reef ecosystems globally. Corals are not helpless, however, as they are also excellent predators and if they can capture food to maintain their energy budgets while bleached they may have a greater chance for survival. Learn more how natural variation in food availability on reefs around the world and how this may influence coral resilience and recovery from bleaching events.