“How are the coastal and estuarine ocean and their ecosystems influenced by the global hydrologic cycle, land use, and upwelling from the deep ocean?”
The effects of human activities are heavily focused on the coastal and estuarine ocean, in part because runoff and associated sediment, nutrients, and pollutant fluxes can dramatically alter marine ecosystems and result in habitat loss. It is imperative that societies understand how the inherently dynamic marine environments on the edges of the ocean respond to ongoing changes.
