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Providential Tides: The Double Low Water Of Narragansett Bay, D. G. Bowers, J. M. Brubaker May 2020

Providential Tides: The Double Low Water Of Narragansett Bay, D. G. Bowers, J. M. Brubaker

VIMS Articles

We investigate a mechanism for producing double-lows and double-highs in the semi-diurnal tide by selective amplification of higher harmonics in a resonant gulf. A double low water is observed at Providence, RI, near the head of Narragansett Bay on days when there is a flattening of the low water tidal curve at Newport, at the mouth of the bay. The flattening is caused by an unusually large quarter-diurnal component to the tide at Newport. The quarter diurnal component has the right phase (a maximum close to the time of the minimum in the semi-diurnal tide) to produce a prolonged flattening …


Scientific Considerations For Acidification Monitoring In The Us Mid-Atlantic Region, Ka Goldsmith, S Lau, Et Al, Eh Shadwick, Et Al Sep 2019

Scientific Considerations For Acidification Monitoring In The Us Mid-Atlantic Region, Ka Goldsmith, S Lau, Et Al, Eh Shadwick, Et Al

VIMS Articles

Coastal and ocean acidification has the potential to cause significant environmental and societal impacts. Monitoring carbonate chemistry parameters over spatial and temporal scales is challenging, especially with limited resources. A lack of monitoring data can lead to a limited understanding of real-world conditions. Without such data, robust experimental and model design is challenging, and the identification and understanding of episodic acidification events is nearly impossible. We present considerations for resource managers, academia, and industry professionals who are currently developing acidification monitoring programs in the Mid-Atlantic region. We highlight the following considerations for deliberation: 1) leverage existing infrastructure to include multiple …


Symbiotic Unicellular Cyanobacteria Fix Nitrogen In The Arctic Ocean, K. Harding, K. A. Turk-Kubo, Rachel E. Sipler, M. M. Mills, D. A. Bronk Dec 2018

Symbiotic Unicellular Cyanobacteria Fix Nitrogen In The Arctic Ocean, K. Harding, K. A. Turk-Kubo, Rachel E. Sipler, M. M. Mills, D. A. Bronk

VIMS Articles

Biological dinitrogen (N2) fixation is an important source of nitrogen (N) in low-latitude open oceans. The unusual N2-fixing unicellular cyanobacteria (UCYN-A)/haptophyte symbiosis has been found in an increasing number of unexpected environments, including northern waters of the Danish Straight and Bering and Chukchi Seas. We used nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (nanoSIMS) to measure 15N2 uptake into UCYN-A/haptophyte symbiosis and found that UCYN-A strains identical to low-latitude strains are fixing N2 in the Bering and Chukchi Seas, at rates comparable to subtropical waters. These results show definitively that cyanobacterial N2 fixation is not constrained to subtropical waters, challenging paradigms and …


Preliminary Estimate Of Contribution Of Arctic Nitrogen Fixation To The Global Nitrogen Budget, Rachel E. Sipler, Donglai Gong, Se Baer, Mp Sanderson, Qn Roberts, M Mulholland, Da Bronk Jan 2017

Preliminary Estimate Of Contribution Of Arctic Nitrogen Fixation To The Global Nitrogen Budget, Rachel E. Sipler, Donglai Gong, Se Baer, Mp Sanderson, Qn Roberts, M Mulholland, Da Bronk

VIMS Articles

Dinitrogen (N-2) fixation is the source of all biologically available nitrogen on earth, and its presence or absence impacts net primary production and global biogeochemical cycles. Here, we report rates of 3.5-17.2 nmol N L-1 d(-1) in the ice-free coastal Alaskan Arctic to show that N-2 fixation in the Arctic Ocean may be an important source of nitrogen to a seasonally nitrogen-limited system. If widespread in surface waters over ice-free shelves throughout the Arctic, N-2 fixation could contribute up to 3.5 Tg N yr(-1) to the Arctic nitrogen budget. At these rates, N-2 fixation occurring in ice-free summer waters would …


Interactive Effects Of Elevated Temperature And Co2 On Nitrate, Urea, And Dissolved Inorganic Carbon Uptake By A Coastal California, Usa, Microbial Community, Jl Spackeen, Rachel E. Sipler, K Xu, Et Al, Da Bronk Jan 2017

Interactive Effects Of Elevated Temperature And Co2 On Nitrate, Urea, And Dissolved Inorganic Carbon Uptake By A Coastal California, Usa, Microbial Community, Jl Spackeen, Rachel E. Sipler, K Xu, Et Al, Da Bronk

VIMS Articles

Average global temperatures and carbon dioxide (CO2) levels are expected to increase in the coming decades. Implications for ocean ecosystems include shifts in microbial community structure and subsequent modifications to nutrient pathways. Studying how predicted future temperature and CO2 conditions will impact the biogeochemistry of the ocean is important because of the ocean’s role in regulating global climate. We determined how elevated temperature and CO2 affect uptake rates of nitrate, urea, and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) by 2 size classes (0.7-5.0 and >5.0 µm) of a microbial assemblage collected from coastal California, USA. This microbial community was incubated for 10 …


A Carbon Budget For The Amundsen Sea Polynya, Antarctica: Estimating Net Community Production And Export In A Highly Productive Polar Ecosystem, Pl Yager, Rm Sherrell, Et Al, Rachel E. Sipler, Et Al Jan 2016

A Carbon Budget For The Amundsen Sea Polynya, Antarctica: Estimating Net Community Production And Export In A Highly Productive Polar Ecosystem, Pl Yager, Rm Sherrell, Et Al, Rachel E. Sipler, Et Al

VIMS Articles

Polynyas, or recurring areas of seasonally open water surrounded by sea ice, are foci for energy and material transfer between the atmosphere and the polar ocean. They are also climate sensitive, with both sea ice extent and glacial melt influencing their productivity. The Amundsen Sea Polynya (ASP) is the greenest polynya in the Southern Ocean, with summertime chlorophyll a concentrations exceeding 20 μg L−1. During the Amundsen Sea Polynya International Research Expedition (ASPIRE) in austral summer 2010–11, we aimed to determine the fate of this high algal productivity. We collected water column profiles for total dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and …


Mid‐Level Intrusions At The Continental Shelf Edge, Christopher S. Welch Nov 1981

Mid‐Level Intrusions At The Continental Shelf Edge, Christopher S. Welch

VIMS Articles

Observations across the continental shelf offshore from New Jersey in late summer 1976 show an intrusion of saline water at the mid level of the water column across the shelf edge front, which appears in density only as an offshore thickening of the pycnocline. This internal density field produces horizontal pressure gradient forces within the pycnocline in the onshore direction. These forces, in the linearized equation of motion with a constant eddy viscosity, drive a circulation which resembles a double Ekman spiral for internal pressure vertical distributions which are thin with respect to the Ekman depth. For thick pressure distributions, …