Urban Seas – “Marginal Seas that Influence the Global Ocean”
Many marginal seas of the world are urban seas – regions where large culturally diverse populations, industry, transportation hubs, and academic and research institutes exist. These regions are often the most polluted and anthropogenically impacted places on earth with the potential to negatively influence the global ocean. Natural hazards in combination with long term human induced alterations define urban seas and need to be comprehensively understood if the economy, energy potential, physical environment, ecology, education, and cultural empathy (e6) of these regions are to be improved and sustained. To meet this challenge, new and bold concepts that incorporate technological advancements designed to monitor and predict change are necessary. Much can be learned by classifying and comparing many of the marginal urban seas that connect with the global ocean.
We present the Salish Sea, located in the Pacific Northwest of the North American Continent, as an exemplar of potential urban seas study. While e6 for the Salish may differ from other marginal urban seas, contrasting these elements between seas can benefit global ocean problem solving and may provide information relevant to the study of other urban seas. For example, the threat of geohazards (e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, mass wasting, floods, forest fires) of the Salish tectonically active region, increased pollution and debris loading from the Salish watershed, global warming, sea level rise, declines in fisheries and wildlife, renewable alternative energy potential (e.g., wind, tidal, OTEC), and the development of more earth friendly industries will affect the global ocean. Using “digital twin” technology to provide open-sourced, real-time data sets for evaluating environmental conditions will lead to rapid prevention or mitigation.
The Salish Sea region is in an ideal geographic and geologic setting for the implementation of seafloor, coastal, and areal robotic vehicles and instruments that can facilitate sophisticated data collection. With the potential increase in shipping and larger vessels it is imperative that maritime traffic be closely monitored, and the use of digital twin technology makes this possible. In addition, predictable and continuous tidal turbine networks can be established to provide clean energy at the community level. Monitoring environmental parameters will provide invaluable data useful in ecological assessments and mediation follow up. With all of this, (e6), we envision independent urban seas that are less dependent upon the grid for energy, able to disconnect from the internet or screen the region from internet and power interruptions, thus becoming more secure in a world of environmental and geopolitical turmoil.
