Author Archives: Kevin Anthony Liedel

Heating and cooling

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The global ocean has been warming up as a consequence of anthropogenic, or human-made, climate change, with 90% of the anthropogenic warming stored in the world’s ocean, leading to an increase in ocean heat and sea level rise.

From 2003 to 2012, however, the surface temperature of the Earth experienced what is known as a global surface warming slowdown. Instead of heating up rapidly, as would be expected as a consequence of global warming, the global surface temperatures instead stayed flat.

Rather than this being proof that global warming isn’t happening, University of Delaware Professor Xiao-Hai Yan showed in previous research that the heat wasn’t simply disappearing and the ocean wasn’t magically cooling. Instead, the heat was being redistributed, specifically, to deeper layers of the ocean and especially the oceans in the Southern Hemisphere.

Read the full article on UDaily

Professor Feng Tong dicussed collaboration on Dolphin sound studies with UD colleagues

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Professor Feng Tong of the College of Oceanography and Environmental Science (COE) at Xiamen University, visited the Ocean Acoustics Laboratory at the Physical Ocean Science and Engineering (POSE) Program, College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment (CEOE), the University of Delaware from April 28 to May 06, 2010. Dr. Tong is currently spending his sabbatical leave at the University of California, San Diego, where he is a visiting scientist. Professor Mohsen Badiey and Research Assistant Professor Aijun Song of the POSE program at the University of Delaware had detailed discussions with Professor Tong for the establishment of Dolphin sound studies at the Xiamen Waters. As an outcome of the discussions, research plans have been outlined for the long-term collaboration in this area. Furthermore, an outreach program for Dolphin monitoring in the Wuyuan Gulf has been suggested to gain public support and to obtain initial funding for the collaboration. Dr. Tong’s visit is part of the collaboration initiative in the area of acoustical oceanography between the University of Delaware and Xiamen University.

Professor Xiao-Hai Yan gave a talk at Xiamen University

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Professor Xiao-Hai Yan, who is the Mary A. S. Lighthipe Chair Professor of the University of Delaware, visited Xiamen University at the end of March 2010, and delivered a talk titled “Observing the Ocean’s Interior from the Space” to the XMU faculty and students.

Professor Yan has been a Distinguished Scholar of XMU since 2007, and he visited XMU frequently for doing joint research or giving series of lectures there.

UD Delegation Visited the College of Oceanography and Environmental Science and the State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University

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In the afternoon of March 31, 2010, the University of Delaware Delegation visited the College of Oceanography and Environmental Science (COE) and the State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science (MEL), Xiamen University (XMU) in Xiamen. The Delegation, led by Deputy Provost Havidán Rodríguez, included Nancy Targett, Dean of Earth, Ocean and Environment (CEOE); Michael Chajes, Dean of Engineering; George Watson, Dean of Arts & Sciences; Bintong Chen, Prof. in Civil & Environmental Engineering and Business Administration; Jianguo Chen, Director of the Chinese Program and a professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures; and Bahram Rajaee, Director of Grants, Contracts, and International Partnerships in the Institute for Global Studies. The Lighthipe Chair Professor at CEOE/UD Xiao-Hai Yan, who arrived Xiamen days earlier, also joined the discussion meetings. More information about the Delegation’s visit to China is available at UD’s website.

The Dean of COE/XMU, Prof. Minhan Dai, gave a brief introduction of the College and the MEL to the delegates. Afterwards, Prof. Nancy Targett introduced UD’s marine programs and global perspectives to COE/XMU faculty.Prof. Nancy Targett and Prof. Minhan Dai are the Co-Directors of the Joint Institute for Coastal Research and Management (Joint-CRM). Dai overviewed new progress of the Joint-CRM during year 2009 and expressed his vision for deeper and extensive collaborations with UD in the future. Targett said that she was very pleased to see the progress made in the Joint-CRM, and she was excited to be able to build further collaborations between faculties from both sides.

On April 2, Targett and Yan met with Dai and other COE faculty members again to further discuss detail collaboration issues of the Joint-CRM. Both sides agreed that in addition to ocean remote sensing, other areas of interest for joint research could be acoustics and biogeochemistry and microbial ecology. Both Co-Directors also remarked that they would allocate some seed funds for seeking future funding possibilities to facilitate scholar and student exchange programs. The Dual PhD Degree Program in Oceanography and the facility link in the web of the Joint-CRM were also discussed.

Prof. Jonathan H. Sharp gave a talk on 2009 Xiamen World Ocean Week

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The World Ocean Week (WOW) in Xiamen [2009] was held in Xiamen, China, on November 6-12. Prof. Jonathan H. Sharp from CEOE/UD was invited to deliver a talk on the forum of Watershed and Estuary Management, which was cosponsored and organized by Xiamen University, in 2009 WOW on Nov. 7. Prof. Sharp planned to participate in 2009 WOW physically, but couldn’t make it due to personal reasons. His talk titled “Influence of Seasonal and Periodic River Discharge Fluctuations on the Biogeochemistry of the Delaware Estuary” was given via ITV at last.

World Ocean Week (WOW) in Xiamen serves as a platform for regional cooperation as well as for connecting marine and social science, technology, education, public awareness in making policies, management decisions and actions to achieve sustainable use of coastal and marine resources and for achieving sustainable development of the oceans. The theme of the 2009 WOW is “Promoting Marine Ecological Civilization-Island Protection and Sustainable Utilization”. For more information about WOW, please check here.

Xiamen University confers honorary degree on President Harker

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Xiamen University held a grand ceremony to celebrate the Honorary Degree in Management conferred to University of Delaware President Patrick T. Harker on the afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 13. Prof. Chongshi Zhu, president of Xiamen University and chair of the University Academic Board, conferred the honorary degree to President Harker. Prof. Shinong Wu, vice president of Xiamen University, presided over the ceremony.

The University of Delaware has strong ties with Xiamen University, a leading institution in China, with programs of excellence across the academic spectrum. In June 2008, UD and Xiamen University established the Joint Institute for Coastal Research and Management, and additional academic and research collaborations are developing.

For detailed information on this, please check on the Web of UD.

A report from China on the ceremony is also available on the Web of XMU.

Prof. Victor Klemas delivered a talk and lectures in XMU

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Professor Emeritus Victor Klemas, Co-Director of Center for Remote Sensing, CMES, visited MEL/XMU from May 24 to June 6. He gave a talk on “Remote Sensing of Coastal Ecosystems” to faculty and students of XMU, and a short course “Application of Remote Sensing” for graduate students of COE during his visit. The short course consisted of 14 lectures, covering from digital image analysis, land cover change analysis, to thermal infrared applications and radar applications, which could be registered by students for 1 credit. This course was specifically designed to students in majors of oceanography and marine physics, and it was also suitable for graduate and undergraduate students interested in coastal environment, watershed, wetland, and coastal ecology to select. Totally ten students registered for it and several others audited it during the course period.