In the Media

November 7, 2021, The Orange County Register. Dr. James Fawcett, USC Sea Grant's Marine Transportation and Seaport Specialist, was featured in a recent Register article discussing the recent oil spill in Orange County. Dr. Fawcett discusses topics such as how charts are made, modified, and amended; how anchorages work; which state and federal agencies govern pipeline installation; and the importance of having regulators weigh into the situation. 

November 2, 2021. AirTalk with Larry Mantle. On this episode of AirTalk, Larry talks with Melodie Grubbs, science, research & policy specialist at the University of Southern California’s Sea Grant program, Gary Griggs, distinguished professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UC Santa Cruz and Sara Aminzadeh, California coastal commissioner about the science behind rising sea levels, where we stand now, what policy changes have been implemented and what the future may hold for coastal communities and beyond.

June 2021. Los Angeles CBS 2/KCAL9. Melodie Grubbs, USC Sea Grant's Science, Research & Policy Specialist, was recently featured in a Los Angeles CBS local affiliate news story on high tides. Grubbs provided expertise on the future of high tides and coastal flooding in response to the high tides that occurred across Southern California at the end of last month. Click here to watch the story

February 18, 2019. Del Norte Triplicate. Marine and environmental biology professor David A. Hutchins and his laboratory at the University of Southern California have studied how ocean acidification and high concentrations of carbon dioxide affect Pseudo-nitzschia, the organism that produces domoic acid. The study was funded by USC Sea Grant. “If you warm up Pseudo-nitzschia out of their normal range, they also produce a lot more toxins. It seems like toxin production is something of a stress response. They do it when the acidification stresses them out and (warmer conditions) stresses them and lower nutrient levels stress them. When you get all these things working hand in hand, they magnify each other. Blooms are going to get more destructive and bigger in the future.” Read more...

January 3, 2019. Univision. USC Sea Grant's Science, Research, and Policy Specialist Dr. Marika Schulhof, describes the role of plankton in toxic algal blooms. See video... 

October 16, 2018. NBC Los Angeles Newscast. USC Sea Grant's Associate Director, Phyllis Grifman, talks with NBC's Anthony Yanez about some of the positive changes we've seen inside California's marine protected areas. View video...

September 25, 2018. Long Beach Press Telegram. A new UCLA study, with funding from USC Sea Grant, is helping to find out just how funky Southern California’s ocean water might be. The study uses surfers as test subjects to see whether they are showing evidence of potentially dangerous MRSA, a “superbug” that can be tough to tackle even with potent antibiotics. And so far, some areas of the coastline showed “surprising” results for the Surfer Resistance Project. Read more...

August 27, 2018. A new study, released today as part of California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment, provides a snapshot of the current state of coastal adaptation across California. Sea-level rise has emerged as the dominant present-day coastal management concern across California. The study, Growing Effort, Growing Challenge: Findings from the 2016 California Coastal Adaptation Needs Assessment, was conducted by USC Sea Grant, U.S. Geological Survey, and Susanne Moser Consulting. Read more...

August 17, 2018. Offshore Insights Podcast. USC Sea Grant's Science, Research, and Policy Specialist, Nick Sadrpour, speaks about environmental conservation work, citizen science and the integral relationship between public, private and governmental sectors that is necessary to making lasting environmental policies. Listen to podcast...

April 20, 2018. NBC Los Angeles Newscast. USC Sea Grant's Associate Director, Phyllis Grifman, talks with NBC's Fritz Coleman about king tides, sea level rise, what to expect in Los Angeles, and how we can plan for a resilient future. View video...

January 24, 2018. City of Santa Monica. Following two years of community outreach and preparation, the City released a draft of the first update to the LCP Land Use Plan (LUP) since it was certified by the California Coastal Commission in 1992.  The draft document is now available for public review at smgov.net/localcoastalplan. The City collaborated with USC Sea Grant to develop and analyze user input from the Owl, and the LUP includes the full report. Read more...

January 10, 2018. The California Ocean Protection Council (OPC), in partnership with the University of Southern California Sea Grant Program (USC Sea Grant) and California Sea Grant Program is initiating a competitive grant program to implement scientific research projects that directly support the stewardship and management of California’s ocean and coastal resources. USC Sea Grant has been awarded a key role in administering the multi-year grant program.  

“This is an opportunity to advance innovative scientific research and translate those results into action across communities and government,” said Linda Duguay, Director of USC Sea Grant. “The state’s investment will enable smart decisions as we plan for a changing future.”  
Read more...

July 11, 2017. Buzzfeed. Along with other prominent scientists, USC Sea Grant's Director Linda Duguay comments on the EPA's idea to host a public climate change debate. "The overwhelming consensus of the scientific community and the great majority of nations around the world that signed the [Paris climate agreement] accept it as a reality," Duguay said. 
Read more...

July 5, 2017. The Argonaut. Sea level rise has complex ramifications for the entire Los Angeles coastline, “What works in Malibu isn’t going to work for Venice; what works for Venice isn’t going to work for Long Beach,” said Nick Sadrpour, Science and Policy Specialist at USC Sea Grant. “Those really local decisions are going to have to be made by those communities.”
Read more...

March 6, 2017. USC Annenberg Media. The program faces elimination under a budget proposal from the Trump administration that includes deep cuts to NOAA. Sea Grant serves as a connection between science and policy, allowing research to reach policymakers and vice versa. "Science is a resource for everyone, and Sea Grant addresses local priorities," said Holly Rindge, the communications manager for USC Sea Grant. Read more...

March 4, 2017. Laws & Nature.  At USC, Sea Grant employs eight people and funds research for 15 more scientists in the region, says the program’s director, Phyllis Grifman. “Cuts to Sea Grant would mean that many of the problems of managing coastal resources and populations on the urban coast would go unresolved and unstudied,” she says. “Science education would suffer.” Read more...

Febuary 14, 2017. The Orange County Register. "The technology that’s re-shaping computer gaming and entertainment...is the hot new tool for scientists who explain to non-scientists the consequences of human behavior on the atmosphere. That’s why scientists from a variety of institutions and disciplines are turning to virtual reality to help turn a huge idea into something that regular people can think about. “VR is bridging the gap,” said Nick Sadrpour, a science, research and policy specialist with the Sea Grant program at USC. The technology, Sadrpour explained, is helping make the link “between climate change being a remote impact for folks, to being something a little more personal.” Read the article...

November 18, 2016. LAist. Tuesday launched a virtual reality installation on the Santa Monica Pier that shows visitors the projected future of Santa Monica Beach, and the rising creep of the sea level towards PCH. "While we can't stop the inexorable changes to our beaches, we do have cutting-edge science that helps us plan today and adapt to the future," said Phyllis Grifman, associate director at USC Sea Grant. "It's important to have a community-based discussion about how to adapt, and the Owl helps start this conversation." Read more...

November 17, 2016. KPCC & KQED.  A new virtual reality experience on the Santa Monica Pier shows people what a century of climate change is likely to do to the coastline along Santa Monica Beach. A pair of binocular viewfinders unveiled Wednesday give a 360 degree view of the iconic beach and show what it's predicted to look like as sea levels rise by six feet and storms flood the area. "We want people to get an idea of what they face going forward so wise decision-making can take place," said Phyllis Grifman. Read more...

November 17, 2016. LA Weekly. A few decades from now, your favorite sunning spot along the beach in Santa Monica could succumb to the fish as a result of global warming and an expected rise in sea level. It sounds like the plot of a summer blockbuster, but a group of scientists is using technology to visualize this potential real-life scenario. "People think of climate change as from the future," says Phyllis Grifman, "It isn't. Read more...

November 16, 2016. USC News. If climate change patterns hold, the “World Famous Santa Monica Pier” might begin to resemble the lost city of Atlantis in 30 years. But why tell about it when you can show it? That’s what USC Sea Grant, in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey and the city of Santa Monica, started today with the formal launch of a virtual reality installation called “the Owl” at the Santa Monica Pier. Read more...

September 28, 2016. The Malibu Times.  Honoring the ocean was the message — and name — of a celebratory event held Saturday at Zuma Beach. In the first event of its kind, the Los Angeles Marine Protected Area (LA MPA) Collaborative brought a number of local environmental stewards together in what was described as a celebration of the “underwater parks” of Los Angeles. Read more...

September 1, 2016. Signal Tribune. Based on recent samplings of kelp from sites from Alaska to San Diego and locally from Long Beach, researchers from the scientific campaign Kelp Watch 2015 have confirmed that no detectable Fukushima radiation entered the kelp ecosystem along the West Coast. USC Sea Grant provided some funding for this project. Read more... 

August 5, 2016. The Hollywood Reporter.  What alarms climate researchers for L.A. is the possibility of a one-two punch of a major winter storm — known as a 100-year storm — and sea-level rise. Temporary flooding could devastate much larger areas of the city, even with three feet of sea-level rise, which scientists predict could happen only 40 years from now. "The scientific community is really, really concerned about this," says Phyllis Grifman of USC's Sea Grant program. In that scenario, parts of Venice, Marina del Rey, Santa Monica and Malibu would be swamped. Read more...

April 21, 2016. USC Dornsife. “What’s fantastic about this project is that it provides a partnership for the schools to work with USC and take those next steps forward and apply next-generation science standards,” said Linda Chilton, education programs manager for the USC Sea Grant Program, who also develops the curriculum for Food for Thought. “But it also addresses issues of the community like access to sustainable and healthy food.” Read more...

March 23, 2016.  World Policy Institute blog. USC Sea Grant's Dr. Juliette Finzi Hart co-authors this piece about the power of subnational government's to advance climate adaptation. "Cities are where the action is." Read more...

January 23, 2016. Long Beach Press-Telegram. About 200 Long Beach residents got a close look at how climate change is affecting the local area. Dr. Juliette Hart with USC Sea Grant said El Niño is already showing the Los Angeles area what about 20 centimeters more water looks like. “We’re lucky we have these broad, sandy beaches, but we need to maintain those beaches,” she said. Read more...

January 22, 2016. KPBS San Diego (radio + web story). USC Sea Grant leads a beach walk and training in La Jolla Shores for 20 volunteers to participate in the Urban Tides Community Science Initiative. Read more...

January 15, 2016. The Hollywood Reporter. The well-documented erosion issues facing Malibu's Broad Beach are "a harbinger of what sea-level rise might look like in the future," says Phyllis Grifman, associate director of the Sea Grant Program for ocean studies at the University of Southern California. "Now and going forward we are going to see damage." Read more...

January 8, 2016. Fox TV News. Dr. Sarah Giddings with Scripps Institution of Oceanography talks about her partnership with USC Sea Grant and the Urban Tides Community Science Initiative. Researchers need images of El Niño and high tides. Watch the story...

January 1, 2016. Santa Monica Daily Press. A USC Sea Grant funded study on sea level rise in Santa Monica and the surrounding areas has already made great progress toward developing a highly sophisticated model for forecasting the potential impacts of sea level rise, more frequent, higher intensity storm events, and cliff erosion that in the Los Angeles region.  
Read more...

November 28, 2015. Education Programs Manager Linda Chilton talks with ABC News about our new Urban Tides Community Science Initiative.  View video...

October 16, 2015. Heal the Bay blog.  Locally we have several communities that are particularly susceptible to coastal flooding and erosion. Venice Beach, San Pedro, and Wilmington are some of the most vulnerable local communities to flooding, according to a USC Sea Grant study examining sea level rise impacts for coastal communities in the City of Los Angeles.
Read more...

October 6, 2015. SailSFBay.org. We are part of a team developing a new sea level rise curriculum for high school students.  We’re looking for a few Bay Area science teachers to partner with us and pilot the project in their classrooms during the 2015 – 2016 school year.  This is a great opportunity for you to educate, engage, and empower your students to be part of climate change solutions in their own communities! Read more...

September 22, 2015. KPCC.  “It’s really not very clear that a sewage spill this size will have longer-term impacts," Grifman said. "In the short term, there can be acute toxicity to animals. In the long term, those are probably sub-lethal. The reasons for the beach closures don’t have to do so much with marine life as with the health hazards to people.” Read more...

July 21, 2015. Santa Ynez Valley News.  "There's no question, they're going to solve the questions we don't even know we have yet. They are going to be explorers and discoverers," said Linda Chilton from USC Sea Grant. Read more...

May 23, 2015. NPR Weekend Edition.  The long-term environmental impacts of this week's oil spill in California may not be clear for some time. Meantime, the spill has reignited a fierce local debate over off-shore oil drilling.  Read more...

May 22, 2015. The Guardian. Scientists are warning of long-term environmental damage to California’s coast caused by this week’s oil spill, despite a ramped-up effort to contain and clean up a leak which now stretches over 11 miles of coastline. “The consequences of what you can’t see are as important as what you can see,” Phyllis Grifman commented. Read more...

May 21, 2015. Los Angeles Times. "They'll clean the beaches, everything that's visible, but there will be organisms that take up oil, there will be oil under the rocks and oil that percolates down into the sand and sediment, and the state should monitor that for long-term effects," said Phyllis Grifman, associate director of the USC Sea Grant Program. Read more...

February 13, 2015. KPCC. Sure, the moon and the sun have been pulling on tides for millennia. But these groups say the current highest highs and lowest lows are good proxies for what sea level rise will look like. Climate-driven sea level rise will bring with it higher swells. More extreme storm events will worsen waves. Read more...

January 6, 2015. NPR Morning Edition. Each year, sport fishermen unintentionally kill millions of deep-water fish they don't want or can't keep. These fish die even though they are handled gently and released quickly. USC Sea Grant funded research that is helping anglers save millions of fish. Read more...

January 4, 2015. NBC Nightly News. There have been record numbers of grey whale sightings off the Southern California coast. A shift in migratory patterns brings a variety of whales closer to shore and provides whale watchers with close encounters and spectacular views. NBC Nightly News interviews USC Sea Grant's Climate Scientist Dr. Juliete Finzi Hart. See the story...

January 1, 2015. Long Beach Press Telegram. For the Seal Beach Winter Storm Beach and Wave Monitoring Project, which began in late November, researchers are tracking effects of storms on the coastline by measuring waves, tides, water levels and the evolution of sand levels throughout the winter storm period. Read more...

November 19, 2014. Researchers at the University of Southern California and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, will track the effects of wintertime storms and assess the effectiveness of coastal protection projects in two concurrent studies beginning Nov. 19. Read more...

November 3, 2014. USC Sea Grant is pleased to welcome Holly Rindge to her new position as Sea Grant Communications Manager. Rindge joins the team with a strong background in the interplay of marine science, policy, and communications. Read more...

May 23, 2014. USC News. Sailing across the Red Sea, Douglas Capone and Linda Duguay hoped to get an up-close view of the reddish blooms created by cyanobacteria, which give the water its distinctive, eponymous hue. A joint research cruise in October 2014 focused on food chain processes, including rates of primary production and nitrogen fixation. Read more...

February 27, 2014. Al Jazeera America. The city commissioned a 270-page study — released in January by the University of Southern California Sea Grant Program — that maps out L.A.’s oceanfront assets and makes the most detailed assessment yet of what areas are at risk when sea-level rise combines with storm surges and high tides. The new research could help the city anticipate the impact of rising sea levels on its beaches and neighborhoods and will allow Los Angeles to begin updating its emergency response plans and weighing its options for flood control. Read more...

February 17, 2014. The Beach Reporter. The small seaside community of Hermosa Beach is making big waves when it comes to analyzing the coastline to better plan for the future. The city was recently awarded two grants and will also join other cities along the Santa Monica Bay to study ocean-level rise and coastal erosion. USC Sea Grant's role... Read more...

February 12, 2014. San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Flooding due to sea level rises will hit coastal areas more often and with greater intensity, said Phyllis Grifman, associate director of the USC Sea Grant program. Grifman and other scientists from USC released a study last month to help leaders in Los Angeles prepare for oceanic effects of climate change. Read more...

January 7, 2014. Los Angeles Times. Major storms will be more destructive to coastal areas of Los Angeles as sea level rise accelerates over the century, according to a new study the city of Los Angeles commissioned to help it adjust to climate change. The study by USC took inventory of the city's coastal neighborhoods, roads, its port, energy and water infrastructure to evaluate the damage they would face from a storm under sea level rise scenarios anticipated for mid-century and 2100. Read more...