Joanie Kleypas

Senior Scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and Founder of Raising Coral Costa Rica

Joanie Kleypas is a marine ecologist/geologist that focuses on how coral reefs and other marine ecosystems are affected by changes in the Earth's atmosphere and climate. She has worked on coral reefs for more than 30 years, including trying to understand how climate change and ocean acidification will shape the future state of coral reefs. She has worked for years with oceanographic modelers to look for “climate refugia” for coral populations. She continues to pursue that work, but the refugia are getting smaller and it’s clear that traditional ways to conserve coral reefs will not be enough. So she recently started an active reef restoration project on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Getting back in the water has been a positive and practical way to work on solutions for coral reefs. The project is also proving to be surprisingly effective in communicating about climate change with the public.