About OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center: The center is a research and teaching facility located in Newport, Ore., on the Yaquina Bay estuary, about one mile from the open waters of the Pacific Ocean. It plays an integral role in programs of marine and estuarine research and instruction, as a laboratory serving resident scientists, as a base for far-ranging oceanographic studies and as a classroom for students. In addition to Oregon State researchers and students, its campus includes research activities and facilities from five different state and federal agencies.

New Oregon license plate featuring gray whales available beginning Feb. 1

A new Oregon license plate, with the image of a gray whale mother and her calf, will be available at Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles offices throughout the state beginning on Feb. 1.

Sidebar: Floating glass, plastic reveal new red algal genera and species, possibly from tsunami

An Oregon State University researcher analyzing debris from the 2011 Japanese tsunami has discovered two new species of red algae – one that attaches to plastic debris, the other is found only on glass.

Algae from Japanese tsunami debris hasn’t taken a foothold, though many were “global invaders”

Researchers have identified 84 species of marine algae and cyanobacteria that arrived in the Northwest via debris from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and, to date, none have gained a foothold in U.S. coastal waters.

Researchers discover deepest known underwater volcanic eruption

A team of researchers has documented a recent volcanic eruption on the Mariana back-arc in the western Pacific Ocean that is about 2.8 miles below the ocean surface, making it the deepest known eruption on Earth.

Study: Unmanned “drones” give scientists new insights into gray whale behavior

Scientists using drones have discovered new behaviors by gray whales off the West Coast, including headstands and swimming upside down.

OSU, NOAA researchers document widespread methane seeps off Oregon coast

Over the past two years scientists from OSU and NOAA have documented hundreds of new methane seep sites off the Northwest coast.

 

New study shows New Zealand has its own population of blue whales

A group of blue whales that frequent the South Taranaki Bight (STB) between the North and South islands of New Zealand appears to be part of a local population that is genetically distinct from other blue whales in the Pacific Ocean and Southern Ocean, a new study has found.

 

 

 

Researchers use “environmental DNA” to identify killer whales in Puget Sound

When endangered killer whales swim through the sheltered waters of Puget Sound, they leave behind traces of “environmental DNA” that researchers can detect as much as two hours later, a new study has found.

Oregon’s new gray whale license plate closer to reality after 3,000th voucher sold

It appears that Oregon will have a new license plate with the image of a gray whale mother and her calf after the Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute sold its 3,000th voucher for the plates earlier this week.

Talk on whale entanglement set Sunday, April 15, at Hatfield Marine Science Center

Doug Sandilands will give a free public talk this Sunday, April 15, on “Large Whale Entanglement in Pacific Northwest Fishing Gear.”

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