Kimberly Yates
Research Oceanographer
St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
The U.S. Geological Survey
United States Virgin Islands
Biography
Dr. Kimberly Yates is a senior research oceanographer at the U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Center for Coastal and Marine Science (SPCMSC). She is also a member of the U.S. Interagency Work Group on Ocean Acidification (IWG-OA), the Executive and founding Steering Committees of the Southeast Ocean and Coastal Acidification Network (SOCAN), and served as Co-Chair of the Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry – Ocean Acidification Subcommittee (OCB-OA). She specializes in integrated science studies that examine how changes in coastal ecosystem processes may impact or mitigate risks from coastal hazards, using a whole system perspective that considers the interactions and linkages among chemistry, biology and the physical environment. Much of her recent work has focused on how coral reef seafloor erosion changes risks from sea level rise, waves and storms; impacts on coral reefs and estuaries from coastal and ocean acidification; and identifying and characterizing coastal climate change refuges.
Research Interest
Oceanography
Publications
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Divergence of seafloor elevation and sea level rise in coral reef ecosystems
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Vulnerability of coral reefs to bioerosion from land-based sources of pollution
