Melania Guerra (born June 23, 1978) is a strategy scientist, connecting scientific knowledge and policy making. Guerra's background is in mechanical engineering, research, marine science, and advocating for climate change, ocean conservation and female empowerment. [1]
Melania Guerra was born June 23, 1978, in Costa Rica and grew up as part of a family of four, including her mother, a preschool teacher; her father a computer programmer; and her brother who is today an industrial engineer. [2]
She earned her bachelor's degree in Costa Rica in 2001 and moved to the United States where she earned her Master of Science and Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of California San Diego. Later, Guerra was an Arctic underwater researcher at Cornell and Washington universities, where she specialized in researching acoustic data in the Arctic Ocean. In 2021, Guerra earned her second Master's degree in public policy from Princeton University, specializing in international science policy. [3]
Guerra earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Universidad de Costa Rica in 2001. Afterwards, she moved to the USA in 2002, following an opportunity to work and intern with Don Franklin Chang, a Costa Rican astronaut, at NASA in Houston Texas. [4]
In 2003 Guerra moved to San Diego and the University of California to continue her educational journey. Guerra completed her Master of Science in Oceanography at Scripps institution of Oceanography. She continued at the University of California until earning her Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Oceanography in 2011. [3]
After completing her Ph.D., Guerra was a Postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University at the Bioacoustics Research Program until 2013, then she became a Research Associate at a lab in the University of Washington for two years researching marine mammals and the impact of noise pollution on them. [1] Guerra has specialized in analyzing the impacts of climate change and noise pollution on marine mammals. She used acoustic data to learn about the changes affecting the mammals in the Arctic Ocean. [3] Guerra participated in many research expeditions to the Arctic, Mexico, Alaska, Greenland and along the coasts of California. [4] During her research and listening to underwater voices, Guerra wanted to become a representative and an agent for the oceans and for marine life. Noticing the effects of climate change on the mammals she was researching, combined with the noise pollution they were experiencing encouraged her to speak up and to get involved in policies regarding the safety of the oceans. [5]
In 2018 Guerra was chosen to participate in the Nippon Fellowship of the United Nations. The Nippon fellowship is a prestigious fellowship which is offered to professionals from developing countries that hold knowledge about the oceans and seas. [2] The fellows receive training and knowledge about international legal issues, governance, and practices concerning ocean affairs. The fellows also get an opportunity to conduct their individual research. Graduate fellows are expected to return to their home countries and be vital in designing ocean policy. [6]
Guerra represented Costa Rica in the Homeward Bound expedition in 2019 to Antarctica, which is a global women leadership initiative in the science field. [7] The initiative's intention is to create a women scientists' network and support the leaders in their roles when fighting for sustainability and climate change public policies. [8]
Ocean acoustic tomography is a technique used to measure temperatures and currents over large regions of the ocean. On ocean basin scales, this technique is also known as acoustic thermometry. The technique relies on precisely measuring the time it takes sound signals to travel between two instruments, one an acoustic source and one a receiver, separated by ranges of 100–5,000 kilometres (54–2,700 nmi). If the locations of the instruments are known precisely, the measurement of time-of-flight can be used to infer the speed of sound, averaged over the acoustic path. Changes in the speed of sound are primarily caused by changes in the temperature of the ocean, hence the measurement of the travel times is equivalent to a measurement of temperature. A 1 °C (1.8 °F) change in temperature corresponds to about 4 metres per second (13 ft/s) change in sound speed. An oceanographic experiment employing tomography typically uses several source-receiver pairs in a moored array that measures an area of ocean.
Karin Lochte is a German oceanographer, researcher, and climate change specialist. She was director of German Polar Research Alfred Wegener Institute from 2007 to 2017 as well as chairman of the management committee of Jacobs University Bremen.
Marine chemistry, also known as ocean chemistry or chemical oceanography, is influenced by plate tectonics and seafloor spreading, turbidity currents, sediments, pH levels, atmospheric constituents, metamorphic activity, and ecology. The field of chemical oceanography studies the chemistry of marine environments including the influences of different variables. Marine life has adapted to the chemistries unique to Earth's oceans, and marine ecosystems are sensitive to changes in ocean chemistry.
Cindy Lee Van Dover is the Harvey Smith Professor of Biological Oceanography and chair of the Division of Marine Science and Conservation at Duke University. She is also the director of the Duke University Marine Laboratory. Her primary area of research is oceanography, but she also studies biodiversity, biogeochemistry, conservation biology, ecology, and marine science.
There are many effects of climate change on oceans. One of the main ones is an increase in ocean temperatures. More frequent marine heatwaves are linked to this. The rising temperature contributes to a rise in sea levels. Other effects include ocean acidification, sea ice decline, increased ocean stratification and reductions in oxygen levels. Changes to ocean currents including a weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation are another important effect. All these changes have knock-on effects which disturb marine ecosystems. The main cause of these changes is climate change due to human emissions of greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide and methane are examples of greenhouse gases. This leads to ocean warming, because the ocean takes up most of the additional heat in the climate system. The ocean absorbs some of the extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This causes the pH value of the ocean to drop. Scientists estimate that the ocean absorbs about 25% of all human-caused CO2 emissions.
Karen Cope Charles is a beach volleyball and volleyball player from Costa Rica who played the 2006 and 2010 FIVB indoor World Championships and the 2015 World Championships and the 2016 Summer Olympics in beach volleyball.
Erin Christine Pettit is an American glaciologist focusing on climate change. She is an associate professor of geophysics and glaciology at Oregon State University. Her work focuses on ice-ocean interactions, ice-shelf disintegration, sea-level rise and ocean circulation changes.
Sandra Cauffman is a Costa Rican-American specialist in electrical engineering and physics. She is known for her work at NASA in different projects. Her profile has been highlighted by UN Women for being a positive example for women, especially, youth and children. Cauffman worked for 25 years at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD in missions such as the mission to Mars MAVEN, and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite GOES-R. She is currently the Deputy Director of the Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. She served as the Deputy Director for the Earth Science Division from May 2016 - October 2021. She served as Acting Director in the Earth Science Division from February 2019 to June 2020. Cauffman started as a contractor with NASA on February 1, 1988, and became a NASA employee February 11, 1991. Cauffman is the first Costa Rican woman to lead a Mars-related mission.
Human activities affect marine life and marine habitats through overfishing, habitat loss, the introduction of invasive species, ocean pollution, ocean acidification and ocean warming. These impact marine ecosystems and food webs and may result in consequences as yet unrecognised for the biodiversity and continuation of marine life forms.
Jennifer F. Provencher is a Canadian conservation biologist. She is an early-career researcher and a spokesperson for the awareness of plastic contaminants in marine wildlife, pollution and climate change. Many of her work focus on the impact of human activities on the health of Arctic seabirds and marine ecosystems.
Homeward Bound is an organisation based in Australia that holds leadership programs for women in science. Founded in 2015, the leadership program aims to increase the representation of women in leadership roles in science fields.
Marta Estrada Miyares is a Catalan researcher, with a career in oceanography and marine biology. Her most prominent studies are based on the physiological characterization and ecological impact of algae and phytoplankton.
Christine Erbe is a German-Australian physicist specializing in underwater acoustics. She is a professor in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences and director of the Centre for Marine Science and Technology (CMST)—both at Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. Erbe is known for her research on acoustic masking in marine mammals, investigating how man-made underwater noise interferes with animal acoustic communication.
Jennifer Miksis-Olds is an American marine scientist known for her research using acoustics to track marine mammals.
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Sivasankaran Bijoy Nandan is a professor at the Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology & Biochemistry, School of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science & Technology (CUSAT). He currently appointed as Vice Chacellor of Kannur University and holds the office of the Dean, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology. He is also syndicate and senate member of CUSAT. He was served as Head of the department, Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry, CUSAT during 2019-2021 period. He has expertise in teaching, research, and development activities in the broad area of Aquatic Ecosystem Characterisation, Conservation, Restoration and Management, Carbon Dynamics & Community Ecology, Communities Ecology & Biology, Eco-toxicology and Biology of Polar Communities. Recently a new species of deep sea wood boring mollusc collected from eastern Arabian Sea named after Prof. Bijoy Nandan as Xylophaga nandani by team of Researchers from Brazil and India namely, Marcel Velásquez, P.R. Jayachandran & M. Jima. Recently, a crab species discovered along the Kerala coast was named Aniptumnus bijoyi in honor of Bijoy, as recognized by Hari, Hershey, and Mendoza in 2022.
Mary-Louise Elizabeth Timmermans is a marine scientist known for her work on the Arctic Ocean. She is the Damon Wells Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Yale University.
Sue E. Moore is a scientist at the University of Washington known for her research on marine mammals in the Arctic.
Edem Mahu is a Ghanaian marine scientist who is a senior lecturer at the University of Ghana. Her research considers ocean health, oyster fisheries and climate change. She was awarded the 2022 American Geophysical Union Africa Award for Research Excellence in Ocean Sciences.
Stephanie Louise Pfirman is a professor at Arizona State University known for her work on sea ice, pollutants in sea ice, and how sea ice is changing over time. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.