Do you have a good atlas? You’ll need it to understand how far apart San Diego scientists will be this summer when conducting field research.
A researcher heads towards an icy stretch of the North Atlantic, off the coast of Greenland. Another trip to a lush national park in central Brazil. A third will roam China’s farmlands.
Some will work closer to home, especially not far from home.
The San Diego Union-Tribune has chosen to introduce you to 10 researchers whose work ranges from literally taking the temperature of the planet to exploring how dolphins communicate.
Rafael Almeida
Geologist, San Diego State University
The Argentine province of Mendoza is not only known for its beloved red wines. Since the mid-1800s, seven earthquakes have been recorded on this island, ranging in magnitude from 6.0 to 7.1.
Raphael Almeida with his daughter Nadia in Eucador.
(Courtesy of Raphaël Almeida)
Like residents of Southern California, Mendoza residents are well aware that they live in a potentially dangerous area. And Almeida will spend nearly a month there this summer to map the faults.
This work often involves digging trenches. He won’t need to do that. The province is home to deep river canyons whose walls contain specific signs of past earthquakes.
“Everything is beautifully displayed,” Almeida said. “There are abrupt changes in rock types. This area was once part of the southern edge of the supercontinent Pangea. This will help us understand what Pangea looked like around 250 million years ago.
Audra Ames
Bioacoustitian, Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute
Risso’s dolphins are noisy mammals that make a variety of sounds, from grunts to chirps to clicks. They even whistle.
Ames is trying to determine if the whistles are unique sounds they use to identify themselves to other members of their species. Bottlenose dolphins do this – but it’s unclear how widespread this is among marine mammals.
Ames will use hydrophones to record Risso’s dolphins off Pico Island in the Azores, an archipelago off the coast of Portugal in the North Atlantic.
“If we can use these whistles to identify specific Rissos, we can track their movements,” she said. “Recently there have been fewer sightings of Risso off Pico. The whistles might help us understand what’s going on.
Researcher Audra Ames synchronizes a hydrophone.
(Dr. Karin Hartman)
Michelle Thompson
Conservation Biologist, San Diego Museum of Natural History
Urbanization has affected some of San Diego County’s hundreds of canyons. But there is plenty of flora and wildlife. Thompson catalogs as much as she can with preservation in mind, bringing a keen eye to the task.
“We look at plants, we look at insects, we look at arachnids, we look at reptiles, we look at birds, we look at bats, we look at large mammals, we look at small mammals,” he said. she declared.
The work seems endless, even in familiar places like Florida Canyon in Balboa Park, right next to the museum. “We still don’t have a complete picture of all the plant and animal species using this area,” Thompson said.
Michelle Thompson photographs tadpoles in the Chollas Radio System Open Space in San Diego.
(Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Ruixue Jia
Economist, UC San Diego
Jia will make liberal use of China’s vaunted high-speed rail system to travel between big cities, small towns and obscure villages to get a fresh look at what’s going on economically and culturally in the second-largest country. most populated in the world.
She will pay particular attention to how the industry is dealing with the labor shortage.
“Young people no longer want to work in factories. They think it’s boring,” said Jia, an expert on the political and historical context in which businesses operate, particularly when it comes to adopting new technologies. “I will ask companies if they will use more machines, including robotics.”
It will also engage audiences in generalized conversations about their daily lives, avoiding sensitive issues like China’s political oppression. Jia, who is Chinese, expects this conversation to be a positive.
She will also go to music festivals to connect with young people. There, the tone could be different. “You see slogans about feminism and LGBT, which are (otherwise) banned topics in public. But young people express themselves in the subculture.
Ruixue Jia
(Courtesy of University of California, San Diego)
Georges Vourlitis
Biologist, California State University, San Marcos
A war of sorts is taking place in Chapada dos Guimarães National Park, a world of towering waterfalls and beautiful savannahs in central Brazil.
An emerging forest begins to invade the savannahs, renowned for their biodiversity. Vourlitis will help park rangers determine whether small, controlled fires can preserve savannahs without destroying too many trees.
“Forests are fantastic for storing carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere and contribute to climate change,” Vourlitis said. “The question is: Can we find a fire of the right intensity to do the things we want? »
Biologist George Vourlitis will conduct research in central Brazil this summer.
(Courtesy of George Vourlitis)
Fiamma Stranéo
Physical Oceanographer, UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography
The Earth is warming, it is well established. But the precise details of what is happening in various places, and what the consequences might be, are only beginning to emerge.
Straneo will complete the picture by taking baseline data on things like ocean temperature and salinity off northwest Greenland.
“We think some of the ocean warming has spread to the glaciers,” Straneo said. “This is one of the factors for ice loss from the ice sheet.”
The work involves risks. She will be aboard a research vessel that will have to slowly make its way through sea ice and glaciers.
“One of the goals is to get as close as possible to some of the glaciers,” she said. “But there’s always a balance between pushing the science and wanting to be safe.”
Fiamma Straneo will conduct research off Greenland this summer.
(Photo by Alex Rivest)
Jillian Maloney
Geoscientist, San Diego State University
Geoscientist Jillian Maloney
(Courtesy of Jillian Maloney)
Washington state’s ancient coastline is buried under hundreds of feet of water, making it difficult to study whether early humans migrated along the coasts of North America.
But Maloney will glean new facts next month when she uses two types of sonar to search above and below the seafloor for geological features that might suggest the past presence of humans. She will look for estuaries and river channels where people might have built shelters.
“We will look at the black and white data as it comes in,” Maloney said. “It can be very exciting. You never know what you’re going to see. »
Gabriel Vallee
Environmental Studies Scientist, California State University San Marcos
Remember at the start of the pandemic, when many young workers abruptly moved to and around the mountains of Lake Tahoe and Truckee?
Valle will travel to the region to study the environmental and economic impact of this demographic shift in what was previously a slow-growing region popular with retirees.
Gabriel Valley, professor of environmental studies, Cal State San Marcos
(Courtesy of Gabriel Valle)
Young workers “were no longer tied to an office, allowing them to escape the high cost of living in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles,” he said. “And they wanted what the Sierra offers: hiking, skiing and enjoying the lakes. It was a pleasure migration.
This surge has intensified demand for everything from housing to dentists to breweries.
It has also led to more intensive use of ecologically sensitive areas, such as the backcountry near trails. “Community leaders are still trying to figure out how to manage change,” Valle said.
Anthropologist, San Diego State University
In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, people recoil in fear when they hear the explosion of an electrical transformer.
Sparks often travel up electrical wires and set fire to homes in working-class neighborhoods. It’s a regular occurrence and residents are responsible for repairing their neighborhood’s patchy and overloaded power grids.
Outages can last a week, which is unbearable in summer, when temperatures can reach 105 degrees.
Larkins’ visit will take place during the winter in Rio. But it’s still hot, and she’ll have an extended opportunity to examine how weather and power outages affect people’s health, and how people are coping with a burden exacerbated by climate change.
“I’m impressed by people’s creativity and resilience in the face of something they shouldn’t have to face,” Larkins said. Like many in Rio, she deeply hates the intense heat.
Erika Robb Larkins holds a heat index that she uses in her research.
(Courtesy of Erika Robb Larkins)
Sarah Federman
Conflict Resolution, University of San Diego
Long before Canada became a nation, the Hudson’s Bay Company was an economic and political force there with a great advantage over indigenous peoples in negotiations regarding the fur trade and land acquisition.
Much of this story is well known. But Federman will dig into the archives of the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, British Columbia, looking for new details that will be included in an upcoming book.
“I want to know if these negotiations were fair and how they went,” she said. “I also want to understand how this history continues to affect indigenous people today. On Vancouver Island you see reserves the size of postage stamps. While driving, you are in a reserve, then five minutes later you leave again.
Sarah Federman, professor of conflict resolution, University of San Diego
(Courtesy of University of San Diego)
California Daily Newspapers
