Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Marine Geobiology Ocg 502, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Global Ocean Change Ocg 511, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Optical Signatures Of Plankton In The Open Ocean: From Individual Cells To Global Patterns, Nils Haentjens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Marine plankton ecosystems play a major role on Earth, having implications for the global carbon cycle and the food-web structures. Ocean color satellites and networks of autonomous platforms equipped with optical sensors are the primary tools used to study phytoplankton dynamics. They provide long term records while offering a synoptic view of our oceans, enabling to study impact of climate variability on planktonic ecosystems. Interpretation of these observations rely heavily on optical theory and how light propagating through the water is affected by particles who absorb and scatter light (e.g. phytoplankton, sediments). However, the complexity of the optical properties of …

Early Life History Of Tarpon (Megalops Atlanticus) In South Carolina Estuaries: Assessment Of Juvenile Recruitment And Validity Of Aging And Back-Calculation Methods, Garrett M. Elmo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Parametric Model Development For Heterogeneous Atmospheric Conditions, Daniel Paul Greenway

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Contrasting Hydrodynamic Responses To Atmospheric Systems With Different Scales: Impact Of Cold Fronts Vs. That Of A Hurricane, Wei Huang, C. Li

VIMS Articles

In this paper, subtidal responses of Barataria Bay to an atmospheric cold front in 2014 and Hurricane Barry of 2019 are studied. The cold fronts had shorter influencing periods (1 to 3 days), while Hurricane Barry had a much longer influencing period (about 1 week). Wind direction usually changes from southern quadrants to northern quadrants before and after a cold front’s passage. For a hurricane making its landfall at the norther Gulf of Mexico coast, wind variation is dependent on the location relative to the location of landfall. Consequently, water level usually reaches a trough after the maximum cold front …

Fate Of Ayeyarwady And Thanlwin River Sediment: Relative Importance Of Oceanographic And Tectonic Controls - Associated Dataset, Steven Kuehl, Courtney K. Harris

Data

Data set archive associated with Kuehl et al. (2019) collected as part of NSF award OCE-1737221. Core and CTD data are from a two-week oceanographic research cruise which was conducted in December 2017 in the Northern Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, using a locally hired vessel. Overall, we occupied 30 stations and collected ~50 sediment cores (kasten, gravity and box), along with CTD profiles on the shelf and inside the Yangon River estuary. The area covered includes both the western and eastern sides of the delta, almost 250 nm across, and southward across the continental shelf to a major …

Cost-Effective Gnss Hardware For High-Accuracy Surveys And Its Prospects For Post-Processed Kinematic (Ppk) And Precise Point Positioning (Ppp) Strategies, Johnson Olusegun Oguntuase

Dissertations

This dissertation determines for the first time the vertical accuracy achievable with low-cost mass-market multi-frequency, multi-GNSS (LM3GNSS) receivers, and antennas in the context of Ellipsoid Reference Survey (ERS), usually employed in bathymetric operations aboard survey platforms. LM3GNSS receivers are relatively new in the market, and their emergence is driven by the automobile industry and several mass-market applications requiring location-based solutions at high accuracies. It is foreseeable that emerging hydrographic survey platforms such as autonomous surface vehicles, small unmanned aircraft, crowd-sourced bathymetric platforms, and offshore GNSS buoy will find LM3GNSS receivers attractive since they are power- and cost-effective (often less than …

Open Data, Collaborative Working Platforms, And Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Building An Early Career Scientist Community Of Practice To Leverage Ocean Observatories Initiative Data To Address Critical Questions In Marine Science, Robert M. Levine, Kristen E. Fogaren, Johna E. Rudzin, Christopher J. Russoniello, Dax C. Soule, Justine M. Whitaker

Publications and Research

Ocean observing systems are well-recognized as platforms for long-term monitoring of near-shore and remote locations in the global ocean. High-quality observatory data is freely available and accessible to all members of the global oceanographic community—a democratization of data that is particularly useful for early career scientists (ECS), enabling ECS to conduct research independent of traditional funding models or access to laboratory and field equipment. The concurrent collection of distinct data types with relevance for oceanographic disciplines including physics, chemistry, biology, and geology yields a unique incubator for cutting-edge, timely, interdisciplinary research. These data are both an opportunity and an incentive …

Seasonal Variability Of Upwelling And Downwelling Surface Current Patterns Near A Small Coastal Embayment, Nicholas Trautman

Physics

Upwelling in coastal embayments is important to a variety of physical and biological processes. Despite their ubiquity, circulation patterns in small bays (width and length scales ≤ 20 km) in eastern boundary current upwelling systems are relatively understudied compared to their larger counterparts. In this study, we apply a conditional averaging technique to investigate upwelling- and downwelling-driven circulation in a small coastal embayment located in Central California [San Luis Obispo (SLO) Bay]. We also investigate intraseasonal differences in the current patterns in SLO Bay. Conditional averaging reveals distinct intraseasonal differences and features that are obscured by traditional seasonal averages when …

Monitoring 2019 Bonnet Carré Spillway Impacts - Final Report, J. Read Hendon, Jerry D. Wiggert, Jill Hendon

Faculty Publications

Due to the multiple and extended openings of the Bonnet Carré Spillway in 2019, the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) was tasked by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources to conduct ecological sampling in the Mississippi Sound and adjacent waters. in an effort to better understand the impacts of the extensive freshwater diversion of Bonnet Carré Spillway operations on Mississippi's coastal and marine resources. The period of performance for this project was June 1, 2019, to August 31, 2019. This technical report summarizes the three months of weekly surveys and analyses, over June - August 2019, conducted by the University …

Assessing The Recalibration Interval For Nearshore Sediment Assemblages After Hurricane Irma: Implications For Developing Long-Term Records Of Overwash Deposits, Stephen Mitchell

Master's Theses

Surface distributions are commonly collected to assist with overwash interpretation; however, many of these are first established immediately after a major overwash event as part of a post-event field survey. This study documents the impacts of Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 storm, on nearshore sediments off the coast of Anegada (British Virgin Islands) using distributions of Homotrema rubra, an encrusting foraminifer with a defined provenance in coral reef ecosystems. Over four sampling intervals spanning 2 years, from six months pre-Hurricane Irma to 18 months post-Hurricane Irma, surface sediment was collected from three shore-perpendicular transects on both the northern and …

Sediment Oxygen Demand And Stoichiometry Of Irl Nutrient Fluxes, Iulia Bibire

Theses and Dissertations

Eutrophication of coastal systems has become a prominent global issue with a variety of detrimental effects, one of these being the shift in the composition of phytoplankton communities often promoting harmful algal blooms (HABs) resulting at least partially from changes to the relative abundance of N:P:Si. This study investigated nutrient fluxes from muck, a fine-grained and organic-rich sediment, and from sand to determine the importance of these sediments with regards to regulating N:P ratios in the water column. Overall sediment oxygen demand (SOD) was used as an indicator of aerobic decomposition and was found to decrease from north to south …

Neogene And Quaternary Events Shaped Diversification And Speciation In Bhutanese Rheophilic Fishes Of The Family Nemacheilidae (Cypriniformes) And Sisoridae (Siluriformes), Karma Wangchuk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biogeography of the Himalayan region [to include the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP)] evolved over a ~30M year span, catalyzed by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates. The resulting uplift produced major ecological and climatic effects, that in turn drove the diversification of biodiversity. As a result, the QTP is designated as a global biodiversity hotspot particularly vulnerable to cumulative climatic effects, including shrinking distributions, declining numbers, and local extinctions. Understanding how the biodiversity within the Himalaya/ QTP was established and maintained is a necessary first step in prioritizing conservation efforts.

Fishes in global montane regions, such as the Himalaya, …

In The Margins: Reconsidering The Range And Contribution Of Diazotrophs In Nearshore Environments, Corday R. Selden

OES Theses and Dissertations

Dinitrogen (N₂) fixation enables primary production and, consequently, carbon dioxide drawdown in nitrogen (N) limited marine systems, exerting a powerful influence over the coupled carbon and N cycles. Our understanding of the environmental factors regulating its distribution and magnitude are largely based on the range and sensitivity of one genus, Trichodesmium. However, recent work suggests that the niche preferences of distinct diazotrophic (N₂ fixing) clades differ due to their metabolic and ecological diversity, hampering efforts to close the N budget and model N₂ fixation accurately. Here, I explore the range of N₂ fixation …

A Modeling Study On The Influence Of Sea-Level Rise And Channel Deepening On Estuarine Circulation And Dissolved Oxygen Levels In The Tidal James River, Virginia, Usa, Ya Wang, Jian Shen

VIMS Articles

The impact of channel deepening and sea-level rise on the environmental integrity of an estuary is investigated using a three-dimensional hydrodynamic-eutrophication model. The model results show that dissolved oxygen (DO) only experienced minor changes, even when the deep channel was deepened by 3 m in the mesohaline and polyhaline regions of the James River. We found that vertical stratification decreased DO aeration while the estuarine gravitational circulation increased bottom DO exchange. The interactions between these two processes play an important role in modulating DO. The minor change in DO due to channel deepening indicates that the James River is unique …

Connections In The Underworld: A Morphological And Molecular Study Of Diversity And Connectivity Among Anchialine Shrimp., Robert Eugene Ditter

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the distribution and population structure of crustaceans, endemic to anchialine systems in the tropical western Atlantic focusing on cave-dwelling shrimp from the family Barbouriidae. Taxonomic and molecular tools (genetic and genomic) are utilized to examine population dynamics and the presence of phenotypic hypervariation (PhyV) of the critically endangered species Barbouria cubensis (von Martens, 1872). The presence of PhyV and its geographic distribution is investigated among anchialine populations of B. cubensis from 34 sites on Abaco, Eleuthera, and San Salvador, Bahamas. Examination of 54 informative morphological characters revealed PhyV present in nearly 90% (n=463) of specimens with no …

S3e8: What’S So Cool About Cold-Water Corals?, Ron Lisnet, Rhian Waller

The Maine Question

When people think of coral reefs, they might imagine snorkeling in warm Caribbean waters. But corals also live in the Gulf of Maine and in some of the most extreme environments on Earth, including the Arctic and Antarctic.

Rhian Waller, associate professor of marine sciences and a National Geographic Explorer, dives deep in near-freezing water around the world to learn about what she calls the rainforests of the ocean. She examines how climate change, fishing and oil exploration affect their ecology and reproduction. And she studies the effects that their altered life cycle might have on the marine ecosystem and …

A Database Of Ocean Primary Productivity From The 14c Method, J. F. Marra, R. T. Barber, (...), Walker O. Smith Jr., L. Zoffli

VIMS Articles

The database on ocean primary productivity comprises over two decades (1985–2008) of data that the authors have participated in collecting, using the assimilation of inorganic ¹⁴C through photosynthesis, in incubations carried out in situ. The dataset is perhaps unique in that it uses, overwhelmingly, consistent methodology while covering a wide geographic range. Ancillary data are included. Using the database, it is hoped that investigators can test for the relationships among the environmental drivers for ocean productivity, the meaning of the ¹⁴C method in terms of phytoplankton physiology and the dynamics in the water column, and as a resource …

The Importance Of Organic Content To Fractal Floc Properties In Estuarine Surface Waters, Insights From Video, Lisst, And Pump Sampling: Supporting Data, Kelsey A. Fall, Grace M. Massey, Carl T. Friedrichs

Data

The linked folders and associated data files contain the observations utilized in Fall, K.A., Friedrichs, C.T., Massey, G.M., Bowers, D.G., and Smith, S.J. (2021). The importance of organic content to fractal floc properties in estuarine surface waters: Insights from video, LISST, and pump sampling. JGR Oceans.

The file “Description of Data Files.pdf” outlines the content of the ten data folders, each of which is associated with a data set collected on an individual one-day cruise in the York River estuary.

Under-Ice Phytoplankton Blooms: Shedding Light On The "Invisible" Part Of Arctic Primary Production, Mathieu Ardyna, C. J. Mundy, Nicolas Mayot, Lisa C. Matthes, Laurent Oziel, Christopher Horvat, Eva Leu, Philipp Assmy, Victoria Hill, Patricia A. Matrai, Matthew Gale, Igor A. Melnikov, Kevin R. Arrigo

OES Faculty Publications

The growth of phytoplankton at high latitudes was generally thought to begin in open waters of the marginal ice zone once the highly reflective sea ice retreats in spring, solar elevation increases, and surface waters become stratified by the addition of sea-ice melt water. In fact, virtually all recent large-scale estimates of primary production in the Arctic Ocean (AO) assume that phytoplankton production in the water column under sea ice is negligible. However, over the past two decades, an emerging literature showing significant under-ice phytoplankton production on a pan-Arctic scale has challenged our paradigms of Arctic phytoplankton ecology and phenology. …

Potential Virus-Mediated Nitrogen Cycling In Oxygen-Depleted Oceanic Waters, M. Consuelo Gazitúa, Dean R. Vik, Simon Roux, Ann C. Gregory, Benjamin Bolduc, Brittany Widner, Margaret R. Mulholland, Steven J. Hallam, Osvaldo Ulloa, Matthew B. Sullivan

OES Faculty Publications

Viruses play an important role in the ecology and biogeochemistry of marine ecosystems. Beyond mortality and gene transfer, viruses can reprogram microbial metabolism during infection by expressing auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) involved in photosynthesis, central carbon metabolism, and nutrient cycling. While previous studies have focused on AMG diversity in the sunlit and dark ocean, less is known about the role of viruses in shaping metabolic networks along redox gradients associated with marine oxygen minimum zones (OMZs). Here, we analyzed relatively quantitative viral metagenomic datasets that profiled the oxygen gradient across Eastern Tropical South Pacific (ETSP) OMZ waters, assessing whether OMZ …

Ocean_Data_Tools: A Matlab Toolbox For Interacting With Bulk Freely-Available Oceanographic Data, Laur Ferris

VIMS Articles

ocean_data_tools simplifies the process of extracting, formatting, and visualizing freely-available oceanographic data. A wealth of oceanographic data (from research cruises, autonomous floats, global ocean models, etc.) is accessible online. However, many oceanographers and environmental scientists (particularly those from subdisciplines not accustomed to working with large datasets) can be dissuaded from utilizing this data because of the overhead associated with determining how to batch download data and format it into easily-manipulable data structures. ocean_data_tools solves this problem by allowing the user to transform common oceanographic data sources into uniform structure arrays, call general functions on these structure arrays, perform custom calculations, …

Climate-Induced Variability In South Atlantic Wave Direction Over The Past Three Millennia, A. P. Silva, A. H. F. Klein, A. F. H. Fetter-Filho, Christopher J. Hein, Et Al

VIMS Articles

Through alteration of wave-generating atmospheric systems, global climate changes play a fundamental role in regional wave climate. However, long-term wave-climate cycles and their associated forcing mechanisms remain poorly constrained, in part due to a relative dearth of highly resolved archives. Here we use the morphology of former shorelines preserved in beach-foredune ridges (BFR) within a protected embayment to reconstruct changes in predominant wave directions in the Subtropical South Atlantic during the last ~ 3000 years. These analyses reveal multi-centennial cycles of oscillation in predominant wave direction in accordance with stronger (weaker) South Atlantic mid- to high-latitudes mean sea-level pressure gradient …

Anthropogenic Change On The Distribution Of Marine Megafauna And Their Prey, Baylie Fadool

Honors Theses

Anthropogenic change is impacting the distribution and survival of marine megafauna and their prey. Humans are changing every aspect of the marine environment, with effects reaching as large as changing the composition of marine environments to directly overexploiting species through the fishing industry. The role that marine megafauna play in balancing ecosystems, including as top apex predators, leads to detrimental results in the absences and population declines of these species. Migrations and declines due to threats on marine apex predator species will alter their environments by causing mesopredator release and changes in community structure, which is often associated with reduced …

Odu Professor Co-Authors Study Of The Sources Of Sea Level Rise Since 1900, Tiffany Whitfield

News Items

No abstract provided.

Escolar (Lepidocybium Flavobrunneum) Neurocranium, Meredith M. Pratt, Katerina D. Sawickij, David W. Kerstetter

All Scans: Kerstetter Fisheries and Avian Ecology 3D Scan Series

Neurocranium prep of escolar Lepidocybium flavobrunneum obtained from longlining vessel.

The Life History And Population Dynamics Of Southern Flounder, Kenneth A. Erickson

LSU Master's Theses

Southern Flounder, Paralichthys lethostigma, are a coastal, estuarine-dependent flatfish species that inhabits the Southeastern US Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Throughout their range, Southern Flounder are exploited by both commercial and recreational fisheries. Recently, numerous sources have expressed concerns about Southern Flounder populations, with stock assessments indicating declines in spawning stock biomass and recruitment. To estimate life history traits needed for informed management, such as age, growth, and maturity, I collected 327 Southern Flounder from Louisiana and obtained 14,184 historical records from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Using a von Bertalanffy growth equation in a Bayesian …

Effects Of Seawater Exchange On Water Chemistry Among Coastal Lakes With Intermittent Connections To The Sea, A. Challen Hyman, Dana Bigham Stephens

VIMS Articles

Intermittently closed and open lakes and lagoons (ICOLLs) are a dynamic class of coastal waterbodies with the unique feature of intermittently connecting to the sea. Understanding the functioning and potential threats of these globally rare systems is important to their preservation and protection. Coastal dune lakes of northwest Florida are one example of an understudied group of ICOLLs which connect with the Gulf of Mexico for brief periods of time. Using a 17-year, monthly water chemistry dataset, we analyzed long-term patterns in water chemistry among 16 coastal dune lakes. Using salinity as a proxy for frequency of seawater inflows, principal …

Tidal And Storm Impacts On Hydrodynamics And Sediment Dynamics In An Energetic Ebb Tidal Delta, Kehui Xu, P. Ansley Wren, Yanxia Ma

Faculty Publications

Bottom-mounted instrumentation was deployed at two sites on a large sandy shoal of an ebb tidal delta offshore of the Port Royal Sound of South Carolina of USA to collect hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics data. One site ("borrow site") was 2 km offshore in a dredge pit for nearby beach nourishment and the other site ("reference site") was 10 km offshore. In situ time-series data were collected during two periods after the dredging: 15 March-12 June (spring) and 18 August-18 November (fall) of 2012. Data at the reference site indicated active migrating bedforms from centimeters to decimeters tall, and sediment …