Joanie Kleypas

General Information

Contact Information:
PO Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000
Office: ML - 575a
Telephone: 303-497-8111
Email: kleypas@ucar.edu
Home Page - Vita

Research Focus FY08:

Coral Reef Studies - Joanie Kleypas

Joanie Kleypas is a marine ecologist/geologist that focuses on how coral reefs and other marine ecosystems are affected by changes in the Earth's atmosphere and climate. Her work in TIIMES considers two aspects of increasing atmospheric CO2 on coral reefs: ocean warming and ocean acidification. This work has revealed that the vulnerability of reef ecosystems to coral bleaching events (the loss of symbiotic algae from coral tissues) varies with not only regional differences in the exposure of reefs to increased temperature extremes, but with differences in coral sensitivity to those extremes. For example, while the western Pacific warm pool (WPWP) has experienced relatively minor increases in temperature, WPWP coral bleaching events have been triggered by smaller temperature increases than in other regions. These findings are being used with CCSM temperature projections to predict the frequency of future bleaching events. Kleypas also continues to lead planning efforts to conduct ocean acidification research at both national and international levels, and has just completed a pilot study to test various methods for augmenting NOAA's Integrated Coral Observing Network (ICON) stations with autonomous seawater carbonate chemistry measurements.

In the News:

Leopold Leadership Program (19 March 2008)

Based at Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment, the Leopold Leadership Program was founded in 1998 and is funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Each year the program selects up to 20 mid-career academic environmental scientists as fellows, who receive intensive communication and leadership training to help them deliver scientific information more effectively to journalists, policymakers, business leaders and the public. One of the 19 includes Joan Kleypas, scientist II, Institute for the Study of Society and Environment, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Research: ocean acidification and the effects of climate change on coral reefs.... more

East Pacific Coral Reefs Provide Insight into Ocean Acidification

Coral reefs in the Eastern Pacific are considered marginal in terms of the ability of the coral communities to build large wave-resistant coral structures. The strong upwelling in the region has always been thought to be a factor in their poor development, because the upwelled waters are cold, which slows coral growth, but also nutrient rich, which stimulates phytoplankton production and thus reduces water transparency. Joanie Kleypas (ISSE and RAL/TIIMES) was part of a team of researchers from NOAA, University of Miami, and the University of Colorado, to take a closer look at reef development in this area. Compared to well-developed reefs in the Bahamas, reefs of the Eastern Pacific, particularly those of the Galapagos Islands, are very poorly cemented. Furthermore, the degree of cementation correlates well with the carbonate chemistry of the upwelled water, which is enriched with CO2 to levels equivalent to what is expected by the end of this century. This research indicates that if the high susceptibility of the Eastern Pacific reefs to bioerosion is indeed related the the naturally-high CO2 upwelled waters, that reef growth of the future may be compromised by ocean acidification in yet another way.

Additional Articles:

Eastern Pacific reveals coral reefs' future - Envrionmental Research Web (July 29, 2008)
Pacific region may show the future of corals reefs in more acidic oceans - New York Times - Henry Fountain (July 29, 2008)
Study: High CO2 environment damages reefs - Science News (July 28, 2008)

NCAR Field Guide to: Climate's Impact on Coral & Reef Systems
Natural Ocean Thermostat Helps Protect Pacific Ocean Coral Reefs - National Science Foundation (NSF)
Ocean thermostat can save coral - BBC News (8 February 2008)
NCAR study: Coral reef may be spared - Daily Camera by Steve Graff (12 February 2008)
Coral Reefs May Be Protected By Natural Ocean Thermostat - Climate Shifts by OveHG (8 February 2008)
Coral reefs may be protected by natural ocean thermostat - Nature Comments (8 February 2008)
Ocean thermostat can save coral - Flickr - Environmental News (8 February 2008)
Coral Reefs May Be Protected By Natural Ocean Thermostat - LearnFreely.net (February 2008)
Ocean thermostat can save coral - Tehran Times (10 February 2008)

Community Service FY08:

Editor - Climate Research
International Advisory Panel, CARBOOCEAN - EU program on marine carbon sources and sinks
Scientific Steering Committee, Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry, Inter-agency working group on ocean carbon
Chair - Subcommittee on Ocean Acidification, Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry
International Scientific Advisory Panel, EPOCA (European Program on Ocean Acidification)
Graduate Advisor & Thesis Committee - Derek Manzello, PhD, Univ. Miami, Miami, FL USA
Undergraduate Mentoring - Bridget Molloy, University of Colorado

Scientific Talks FY08:

Ocean Acidification. Invited, EUR-OCEANS Open European Conference on "Global Change and Marine Ecosystems" Rome, Italy (25-27 Nov 2008)
Poorly cemented coral reefs of the eastern tropical Pacific: possible insights into reef development in a high-CO2 world. (with Derek Manzello) The Ocean in a High-CO2 World, Monaco (6-9 Oct 2008)
Coral reef vulnerability in light of the ocean thermostat and ocean acidifiation and implications for conservation. Invited, The Nature Conservancy workshop on ocean acidification, Kaneohe, HI (Aug 2007)
Mission possible: Helping coral reefs through the climate crisis. (invited plenary) 11th Int. Coral Reef Symp., Ft. Lauderdale FL (Jul 2008) [view ISRS President Rich Aronson in Coral Reef Mission Impossible Video - about 2.5 minutes]
New insights into the exposure and sensitivity of coral reefs to ocean warming. (with Patrick Boylan) 11th Int. Coral Reef Symp., Ft. Lauderdale FL (Jul 2008)
Testimony on The Federal Ocean Acidification Reserch and Monitoring Act (FOARAM) before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Energy and Environment (Science and Technology Committee), Washington DC (05 Jun 2008)
Testimony on Global Warming's Impact on the Oceans before the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, Washington DC (29 Apr 2008)
Ocean acidification: Effects on marine ecosystems and research challenges for the coming decade. NCAR, Boulder CO (Mar 2008)
The ocean thermostat and coral reef bleaching. NCAR, Boulder CO (Mar 2008)
Ocean acidification and coral reefs -- why it matters. Invited public talk, Queensland Museum, Townsville, Australia (Mar 2008)
Thoughts on a Great Barrier Reef ocean acidification program. Invited, Australian Inst. Mar. Sci., Townsville, Australia (Mar 2008)
Potential role of thermostatic mechanisms in determining regional differences in coral reef bleaching events. (with Gokhan Danabasoblu and Janice Lough) Ocean Sciences, Orlando FL (Feb 2008)
Doomsday (or not) for coral reefs. Invited informal seminar, NOAA, Boulder CO (Jan 2008)
Coral reefs and the global CaCO3 budget. Invited, NOAA 4th Annual Combined Effects Think Tank to Support CREWS Modeling, Little Cayman Island (Dec 2007)
How ocean acidification affects corals, coral communities, and reefs. Invited, Nat. Acad. Sci. Kavli Frontiers in Science, Irving CA (Nov 2007)

Publications FY08:

Boylan, P and J Kleypas, (submitted): New insights into the exposure and sensitivity of coral reefs to ocean warming. Proc. 11th Int. Coral Reef Symp., Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, 7-11 July 2008.

Fortier, L, S Hawkins, J Kleypas, H-O Poertner, and Y Shirayama, Eds., (in press): Effects of Climate Change on Marine Ecosystems, Special Issue in Climate Research.

Feely RA, JC Orr, VJ Fabry, JA Kleypas, CL Sabine and C Langdon, (in press): Present and future changes in seawater chemistry due to ocean acidification. AGU Monograph on The Science and Technology of Carbon Sequestration.

Doney, SC, VJ Fabry, RA Feely, and JA Kleypas, (in press): Ocean acidification: The other CO2 problem. Ann. Rev. Mar. Sci. [link to online publication at Annual Reviews]

Dodge, RE, C Birkeland, M Hatziolos, J Kleypas, SR Palumbi, O Hoegh-Guldberg, R Van Woesik, JC Ogden, RB Aronson, BD Causey, and F Stuab, 2008: A call to action for coral reefs, Science, 322, 189-190.

Manzello, DP, JA Kleypas, D Budd, CM Eakin, P.W. Glynn, and C Langdon, 2008: Poorly cemented coral reefs of the eastern tropical Pacific: Possible insights into reef development in a high-CO2 world, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 105, 10450-10455 (doi:10.1073/pnas.0712167105).

Kleypas, JA, G Danabasoglu, and JM Lough, 2008: Potential role of the ocean thermostat in determining regional differences in coral reef bleaching events. Geophys. Res. Lett., 35:L03613, doi:10.1029/2007GL032257. PDF

Fabry, VJ, C Langdon, WM Balch, A Dickson, R Feely, B Hales, D Hutchins, J Kleypas, and C Sabine, 2008: Present and future impacts of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles (workshop report), Eos Trans. Am. Geophys. Soc., 89, 143-144.

Kleypas, JA, and O Hoegh-Guldberg, 2008: Coral reefs and global climate change, Status of Caribbean Coral Reefs after Bleaching and Hurricanes in 2005, C Wilkinson, Ed., Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, pp. 19-29. PDF [link to full GCRMN Status Report]

Hendee, JC, L Gramer, JA Kleypas, D Manzello, M Jankulak, and C Langdon, 2007: The integrated coral observing network: Sensor solutions for sensitive sites, ISSNIP 2007: Proc., 3rd Int. Conf., Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks, and Information Processing, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 669-673. PDF

Caldeira K, D Archer, JP Barry, RGJ Bellerby, PG Brewer, L Cao, AG Dickson, SC Doney, H Elderfield, VJ Fabry, RA Feely, J-P Gattuso, PM Haugan, O. Hoegh-Guldberg, AK Jain, JA Kleypas, C Langdon, JC Orr, A Ridgwell, CL Sabine, BA Seibel, Y Shirayama, C Turley, AJ Watson, RE Zeebe, 2007: Comment on "Modern-age buildup of CO2 and its effects on seawater acidity and salinity" by Hugo A. Lo\'87iciga, Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L18608, doi:10.1029/2006GL027288.

Joanie Kleypas Research Catalog