Area of Research: Oceans

Journalist Maurice Tamman wrote an excellent, widely published article, Pandemic offers scientists unprecedented chance to hear oceans as they once were, about the International Quiet Ocean Experiment (IQOE) for Reuters.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Eleven years ago, environmental scientist Jesse Ausubel dreamed aloud in a commencement speech: What if scientists could record the sounds of the ocean in the days before propeller-driven ships and boats spanned the globe?

even picked up by the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/06/08/us/08reuters-health-coronavirus-climate-research-insight.html

and in the hard copy edition of the Washington Post.

The 2009 Dalhousie University Commencement Address to which it refers is posted here: https://phe.rockefeller.edu/news/2009/11/30/son-et-lumiere-exciting-updates/,  published on 23 November 2009 by the monthly science magazine, SEED, as Broadening the Scope of Global Change to Include Illumination and Noise.

The 5^th IQOE Newsletter is here.

A vivid set of  2019 articles about the oceans authored by Maurice Tamman and Co.: Maurice Tamman, Matthew Green, Mari Saito, Sarah Slobin and Maryanne Murray – Reuters: Ocean shock: The climate crisis beneath the waves

A good 2019 article in German about ocean sound by Nicola Jones that mentions our work: Das Streben nach leiseren Meeren.

The chief scientist of the Census of Marine Life, Ron O’Dor, passed away in Nova Scotia from COVID-19 at the age of 75 on 11 May 2020.  Ron was a curious, good-humored colleague. 

Jesse first met Ron in December 1997 at a meeting at the New England Aquarium to assess the feasibility of censusing the “non-fish nekton.” Ron represented the cephalopods, very well. Ron’s creativity immediately became apparent. Chats about the potential of Internet databases with spatial information about marine species led Ron to enlist his grad student James Wood to create CephBase, for all squids and octopi. CephBase launched in 1998, biblical times for on-line services, pre-dating Google.  By the time the CoML officially launched at the start of 2000, it was clear the program would need a full-time senior scientist. Ron was the unanimous preference of the founding members of the Scientific Steering Committee.

The CoML went terrifically well in large part because Ron brought many outstanding people into the program, always neatly aligned with CoML objectives. His ability to work on airplanes and in hotel rooms amazed everyone. It did not matter where he was or when it was, work got done, and was always well-written and clean. The Baseline Report that Ron (sole author) produced in October 2003 was a tour de force and did much to establish the credibility of the program.

A remembrance from the Ocean Tracking Network and an obituary in the Chronicle Herald.

The Ron O’Dor Memorial Fund has been set-up to sustain his legacy: giving.dal.ca/ronodor  Deep condolences to his widow Janet and family and the Dalhousie science community of which he was a formative member.