When carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere, roughly 30% of it is absorbed by our oceans, a process called ocean acidification. Tessa Hill, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences and resident at the Bodega Marine Laboratory, studies this phenomenon and its effects on California coastal environments.
As an oceanographer, Tessa Hill has logged many hours bent over shellfish and wading in seagrass beds, trying to understand ocean acidification, climate change and impacts to marine life and coastal communities.