Mapping our Oceans: The Role of Science and Technology in Sustaining Ocean Ecosystems

Advancing technologies for visualizing and mapping our ocean planet are rapidly breaking down past barriers to both our understanding of ocean ecosystems and ocean resource use. Increased human uses of the oceans will likely be the largest area of new growth in the Anthropocene.

Sustainable governance and management of our oceans and the emerging Blue Economy will require continued reliance on our ability to observe, measure and monitor ocean resources, human uses and ecosystem dynamics into the future. Future trends in our capabilities to visualize and map the oceans will affect all aspects of ocean use and management into the future.

This overview will use mapping and visualization as a lens to introduce a range of broad ocean management topics and trends that underpin the emerging Oceans @ Duke initiative. This continuing series will drill into more detail into a wide range of emerging ocean science, management and governance issues.

• Professor Patrick Halpin, director, Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab at the Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University
• Gabrielle Carmine, PhD Student, Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment in the Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab
• Dr. Guillermo Ortuño Crespo, Stockholm Resilience Center