Ocean productivity, ecosystems and climate change — those topics are big in debates these days among scientists and coastal residents.

Those will be part of the discussion in a “The State of the Oceans” talk by Dr. John McGowan, a leading international authority on the relationship between climate change and the sea in Coos Bay this month.

CoastWatch is sponsoring the free talk at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, in Eden Hall, Room 1, on the Southwestern Oregon Community College campus, 1988 Newmark Ave., Coos Bay.

 McGowan was a professor of oceanography at Scripps Institution of Oceanography for 40 years and is a research professor there, a press release said. His research interests focus on the large-scale interactions between climate and the physics and biology of the ocean.

He is an oft-quoted leader in attempts to understand how ocean productivity and ecosystems are affected by variations in climate and is particularly interested in long-term changes in the California Current and in the North Pacific.  

The talk will focus on the global climate and climate change and its effects on the ocean and its biology. McGowan has studied the topic for more than 25 years and was present at Scripps Institution when the modern version of the intensification of the Greenhouse Effect was developed. He knew the scientists involved in the research.

“They influenced me to begin the study of the biological consequences of climate change and ocean warming due to the enhanced Greenhouse Effect,” he said. “This is a status report on the changing state of ocean ecosystems and fisheries.”

McGowan also happens to be a CoastWatcher, having adopted Mile 113 near his second home in Bandon.

For more information, call Phillip Johnson, CoastWatch director, at (503) 238-4450, or e-mail orshores@teleport.com.