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Marine Biology

University of South Florida

Series

2009

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Influence Of Extreme Storm Events On West Florida Shelf Cdom Distributions, Robyn N. Conmy, Paula G. Coble, Jennifer P. Cannizzaro, Cynthia A. Heil Nov 2009

Influence Of Extreme Storm Events On West Florida Shelf Cdom Distributions, Robyn N. Conmy, Paula G. Coble, Jennifer P. Cannizzaro, Cynthia A. Heil

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Colored Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM) distribution and signatures provide vital information about the amount and composition of organic material in aquatic environments. This information is critical for deciphering the sources and biogeochemical pathways of organic carbon, and thus vital to the understanding of carbon cycling and budgets. Waters of the West Florida Shelf are heavily influenced by many river systems on Florida's Gulf Coast that, to the first order, control CDOM distributions on the shelf. Three storm events during 2004 and 2005 (Hurricane Charley, Hurricane Wilma, and a Winter Storm) profoundly altered the typical distribution of CDOM fluorescence and absorption …

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Low-Frequency Exchange Of Mass Between Ocean Basins, Don P. Chambers, Josh K. Willis Nov 2009

Low-Frequency Exchange Of Mass Between Ocean Basins, Don P. Chambers, Josh K. Willis

Marine Science Faculty Publications

We examine the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data and output from an ocean model to quantify mass fluctuations for the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Ocean basins from August 2002 until December 2008. The monthly spatial mean is removed to study interbasin mass exchange. We find a seasonal exchange of mass between the Atlantic and Pacific that is similar to one documented previously, although the amplitude observed by GRACE is about 20% lower than that simulated by an ocean model. There are also significant fluctuations with periods longer than 1 year. We find large interannual exchanges in 2005 and …

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Detecting Marine Hazardous Substances And Organisms: Sensors For Pollutants, Toxins, And Pathogens, O. Zielinski, J. A. Busch, A. D. Cembella, Kendra L. Daly, J. Engelbrektsson, A. K. Hannides, H. Schmidt Sep 2009

Detecting Marine Hazardous Substances And Organisms: Sensors For Pollutants, Toxins, And Pathogens, O. Zielinski, J. A. Busch, A. D. Cembella, Kendra L. Daly, J. Engelbrektsson, A. K. Hannides, H. Schmidt

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Marine environments are influenced by a wide diversity of anthropogenic and natural substances and organisms that may have adverse effects on human health and ecosystems. Real-time measurements of pollutants, toxins, and pathogens across a range of spatial scales are required to adequately monitor these hazards, manage the consequences, and to understand the processes governing their magnitude and distribution. Significant technological advancements have been made in recent years for the detection and analysis of such marine hazards. In particular, sensors deployed on a variety of mobile and fixed-point observing platforms provide a valuable means to assess hazards. In this review, we …

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Mean Dynamic Topography Of The Ocean Derived From Satellite And Drifting Buoy Data Using Three Different Techniques, Nikolai Maximenko, Peter Niiler, Marie-Helene Rio, Oleg Melnichenko, Luca Centurioni, Boris Galperin, Don. P. Chambers, Victor Zlotnicki Sep 2009

Mean Dynamic Topography Of The Ocean Derived From Satellite And Drifting Buoy Data Using Three Different Techniques, Nikolai Maximenko, Peter Niiler, Marie-Helene Rio, Oleg Melnichenko, Luca Centurioni, Boris Galperin, Don. P. Chambers, Victor Zlotnicki

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Presented here are three mean dynamic topography maps derived with different methodologies. The first method combines sea level observed by the high-accuracy satellite radar altimetry with the geoid model of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), which has recently measured the earth’s gravity with unprecedented spatial resolution and accuracy. The second one synthesizes near-surface velocities from a network of ocean drifters, hydrographic profiles, and ocean winds sorted according to the horizontal scales. In the third method, these global datasets are used in the context of the ocean surface momentum balance. The second and third methods are used to improve …

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Evaluation Of Groundwater Storage Monitoring With The Grace Satellite: Case Study High Plains Aquifer, Central United States, Gil Strassberg, Bridget Scanlon, D. Chambers May 2009

Evaluation Of Groundwater Storage Monitoring With The Grace Satellite: Case Study High Plains Aquifer, Central United States, Gil Strassberg, Bridget Scanlon, D. Chambers

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Water scarcity is a critical issue in semiarid regions; however, regional groundwater monitoring is extremely limited. This study evaluates the ability of the GRACE satellites to monitor groundwater storage in the semiarid High Plains aquifer, United States (450,000 km2 area), which is subjected to intense irrigation. GRACE-derived terrestrial water storage (TWS) is highly correlated with the sum of soil moisture (SM) and groundwater storage (GWS) (R = 0.96 for in situ measured SM from 78 stations and R = 0.95 for simulated SM with the Noah land surface model with root-mean-square difference of 38 mm and 36 mm, …

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Fish Effects On Ocean Current Observations In The Cariaco Basin, Jyotika I. Virmani, Robert H. Weisberg Mar 2009

Fish Effects On Ocean Current Observations In The Cariaco Basin, Jyotika I. Virmani, Robert H. Weisberg

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Multiple years of moored current meter observations from the Cariaco Basin show low‐frequency variations along with near‐inertial waves and further imply the persistent diurnal movement of fish species known to populate the basin. In agreement with short‐term observations from 1979, the more recent observations with acoustic Doppler current profilers provide evidence of the multidecadal presence and behavior of these species. An unwanted corollary, however, is a bias in both the vertical and horizontal components of velocity due to the fish movements. Removal of this fish bias results in large data loss (approximately 72%); however, an interpolated, non‐biased data set is …

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The Surface Circulation Of The Caribbean Sea And The Gulf Of Mexico As Inferred From Satellite Altimetry, Aida Alvera-Azcarate, Alexander Barth, Robert H. Weisberg Mar 2009

The Surface Circulation Of The Caribbean Sea And The Gulf Of Mexico As Inferred From Satellite Altimetry, Aida Alvera-Azcarate, Alexander Barth, Robert H. Weisberg

Marine Science Faculty Publications

The surface circulation of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico is studied using 13 years of satellite altimetry data. Variability in the Caribbean Sea is evident over several time scales. At the annual scale, sea surface height (SSH) varies mainly by a seasonal steric effect. Interannually, a longer cycle affects the SSH slope across the current and hence the intensity of the Caribbean Current. This cycle is found to be related to changes in the wind intensity, the wind stress curl, and El Niño–Southern Oscillation. At shorter time scales, eddies and meanders are observed in the Caribbean Current, and …

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Grace-Based Estimates Of Terrestrial Freshwater Discharge From Basin To Continental Scales, Tajdarul H. Syed, James S. Famiglietti, Don Chambers Feb 2009

Grace-Based Estimates Of Terrestrial Freshwater Discharge From Basin To Continental Scales, Tajdarul H. Syed, James S. Famiglietti, Don Chambers

Marine Science Faculty Publications

In this study, new estimates of monthly freshwater discharge from continents, drainage regions, and global land for the period of 2003–05 are presented. The method uses observed terrestrial water storage change estimates from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and reanalysis-based atmospheric moisture divergence and precipitable water tendency in a coupled land–atmosphere water mass balance. The estimates of freshwater discharge are analyzed within the context of global climate and compared with previously published estimates. Annual cycles of observed streamflow exhibit stronger correlations with the computed discharge compared to those with precipitation minus evapotranspiration (P − E) in …

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Dynamically Constrained Ensemble Perturbations: Application To Tides On The West Florida Shelf, Alexander Barth, Aida Alvera-Azcarate, J. M. Beckers, Robert H. Weisberg, L. Vandenbulcke, F. Lenartz, M. Rixen Jan 2009

Dynamically Constrained Ensemble Perturbations: Application To Tides On The West Florida Shelf, Alexander Barth, Aida Alvera-Azcarate, J. M. Beckers, Robert H. Weisberg, L. Vandenbulcke, F. Lenartz, M. Rixen

Marine Science Faculty Publications

A method is presented to create an ensemble of perturbations that satisfies linear dynamical constraints. A cost function is formulated defining the probability of each perturbation. It is shown that the perturbations created with this approach take the land-sea mask into account in a similar way as variational analysis techniques. The impact of the land-sea mask is illustrated with an idealized configuration of a barrier island. Perturbations with a spatially variable correlation length can be also created by this approach. The method is applied to a realistic configuration of the West Florida Shelf to create perturbations of the M2 tidal …

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