Digital Commons Network^™

An End-To-End Bi-Objective Approach To Deep Graph Partitioning, Pengcheng Wei, Yuan Fang, Zhihao Wen, Zheng Xiao, Binbin Chen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Graphs are ubiquitous in real-world applications, such as computation graphs and social networks. Partitioning large graphs into smaller, balanced partitions is often essential, with the biobjective graph partitioning problem aiming to minimize both the“cut” across partitions and the imbalance in partition sizes. However, existing heuristic methods face scalability challenges or overlook partition balance, leading to suboptimal results. Recent deep learning approaches, while promising, typically focus only on node-level features and lack a truly end-to-end framework, resulting in limited performance. In this paper, we introduce a novel method based on graph neural networks (GNNs) that leverages multilevel graph features and addresses …

Death By Design: A Biological Approach To Container Security, Alexander Hunter Moomaw

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Microservice architectures are central to modern cloud computing and have become the dominant design pattern for scalable, distributed applications. Kubernetes is often the tool used for rapid deployment and orchestration of microservices. A known issue for large networks clusters is a malicious actor can compromise a vulnerable cluster in minutes. Their ability to quickly compromise vulnerable clusters highlights the urgent need for stronger security. This project views cluster defense through a preemptive security lens, introducing the Cluster Life cycle Management System (CLMS). Inspired by the biological process of apoptosis, CLMS systematically replaces aging containers and services to prevent exploitation of …

Summer Research Fellowship Project Descriptions 2025, Clark Science Center's Summer Research Fellows Program

SURF Abstracts (Women in Science)

A summary of research done by Smith College’s 2025 Summer Research Fellowship (SURF) Program participants. Ever since its 1967 start, SURF has been a cornerstone of Smith’s science education. Supervised by faculty mentor-advisors drawn from the Clark Science Center and connected to its eighteen science, mathematics, and engineering departments and programs and associated centers and units. At summer’s end, SURF participants were asked to summarize their research experiences for this publication.

Metal-Free Photoredox Catalysis For The S-Trifluoromethylation Of Thiols And Investigation Of Ph-Dependent Decontamination Of Dimethyl Chlorophosphate, A Nerve Agent Simulant, Via Hydrolysis With Azoles, Raheemat Rafiu

Doctoral Dissertations

"Organofluorine chemistry plays a critical role in synthetic chemistry due to the unique properties of fluorine. However, the S-trifluoromethylation of thiols remains underexplored, with existing methods often relying on toxic and expensive organometallic catalysts. Given the advantages of S-trifluoromethylated compounds, including enhanced pharmacological activity and improved metabolic stability, we developed a green and cost-effective method for the synthesis of S-CF3 compounds using diacetyl as the organic catalyst and Langloi's reagent as the trifluoromethylating reagent. This reaction, which proceeds under mild conditions using visible light photoredox catalysis, works across various substrate scopes, including aromatic, heteroaromatic, and aliphatic thiols.

Chemical Warfare Agents …

Applications Of Tetramethyl-Guanidine Supported Cationic Transition Metal Sites Towards C─N Bond Construction Methodologies And [3+2] Cycloaddition Reactions, Suraj Kumar Sahoo

Doctoral Dissertations

"We present a family of divalent cationic bipodal and tripodal M(II) reagents (M = Mn, Fe, Co) supported by superbasic tetramethyl-guanidinyl (TMG) residue framework with applications towards C─N bond construction methodologies. These cationic reagents possess unique characteristics since their enhanced Lewis acidity facilitates in situ elaboration of the primary nitrene-transfer product (aziridine). Indeed, further aziridine-ring opening and cycloaddition of several dipolarophiles (nitriles, alkenes, ketones) permits the three-component synthesis of valuable five-membered N-heterocycles, commonly found in pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals.

We undertake a more systematic study to unravel parameters that make certain divalent metal sites more suitable as catalysts for the in-situ …

Development Of Ligands And Metal Complexes With Weakly Coordinating Apical Elements And Their Application To Nitrene Insertion And Addition To C‒H And C=C Bonds, Meenakshi Sharma

Doctoral Dissertations

"We present a family of triangular coinage metal M₃Cl₃ complexes [M = Cu (I), Ag (I)] supported by antimony [Sb (III)], and bismuth [Bi (III)]-centered highly basic tetramethyl-guanidinyl [TMG₃trphen-E] (E = Sb, Bi) ligand frameworks with their applications as catalysts toward the construction of C‒N bond through aziridination and amination reaction methodologies.

The [(TMG₃trphen-Sb)Cu₃(µ-Cl)₃] catalyst gives better yields of aziridines with styrenes than [(TMG3trphen-Bi)Cu₃(µ-Cl)₃] with PhINTs as a nitrene source. However, the catalytic reactivity of both catalysts is enhanced by an electrophilic nitrene, PhINTces for …

Parallel Algorithms For Large Scale Dynamic Graph Analysis, Arindam Khanda

Doctoral Dissertations

A complex system of interacting entities in contemporary scenarios, be it biological, technological, or social, can be represented using graphs. Dynamic graphs, unlike their static counterparts, are ones in which the underlying topology changes over time. These networks act as a model for numerous systems, from transportation to social interactions, capturing the ever-evolving nature of real-world phenomena. However, the inherent temporality of these networks presents a unique set of challenges and the traditional static graph algorithms often fall short in efficiency and applicability. In our research, we delve into the complexities presented by large dynamic networks and suggest various methodologies …

Topics On Ai Fairness Preferences In Kidney Transplantation, Mukund Telukunta

Doctoral Dissertations

Modern kidney transplantation incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) decision-support systems which exhibit social discrimination due to biases inherited from training data. Although researchers have proposed various group-based fairness notions to assess biases in AI, it remains uncertain which criterion is most suitable for evaluating biases in such complex healthcare systems. This dissertation explores human perception of fairness to identify the most appropriate fairness criterion for assessing AI tools in kidney transplantation, focusing on the preferences of non-expert (e.g. public, patients) stakeholders. The study examines two distinct AI systems employed in kidney transplantation: a classification model and a regression model. Human subject …

Green Chelation Strategy For Deashing Of Algal Biomass, Agyare Asante, George Daramola, Ryan W. Davis, Sandeep Kumar

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This study investigated a green chelation strategy for deashing algal biomass using nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) and deionized water (DI) to enhance its suitability for biofuel and bioproduct applications. Solid-state algal turf scrubber (SS ATS), green algal turf scrubber (ATS), and Scenedesmus were analyzed, with Scenedesmus selected for detailed evaluation due to its high ash removal efficiency. The objective was to optimize a purification process that minimizes ash and heavy metal content while preserving biochemical integrity. Algal biomass underwent sequential washing with DI, NTA, and NTA+DI under varying temperatures (90-130 °C). Analytical techniques including Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Inductively Coupled …

Biochar For Soil Amendment: Applications, Benefits, And Environmental Impacts, Ujjwal Pokharel, Gururaj Neelgund, Ram L. Ray, Venkatesh Balan, Sandeep Kumar

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The excessive use of chemical fertilizers results in environmental issues, including loss of soil fertility, eutrophication, increased soil acidity, alterations in soil characteristics, and disrupted plant–microbe symbiosis. Here, we synthesize recent studies available from up to 2025, focusing on engineered biochar and its application in addressing issues of soil nutrient imbalance, soil pollution from inorganic and organic pollutants, soil acidification, salinity, and greenhouse gas emissions from fields. Application of engineered biochar enhanced the removal of Cr (VI), Cd²⁺, Ni²⁺, Zn²⁺, Hg²⁺, and Eu³⁺ by 85%, 73%, 57.2%, 12.7%, 99.3%, and 99.2%, …

The Relative Contribution Of Deep And Shallow Benthic Sources To Iron Supply In The Ross Sea, With Specific Emphasis On The Ross Bank, Blair J.W. Greenan, Michael S. Dinniman, Dennis J. Mcgillicuddy Jr., Peter N. Sedwick, Stefanie L. Mack, Walker O. Smith Jr.

OES Faculty Publications

Summer primary productivity in the Ross Sea is limited by the availability of dissolved iron (DFe) in the euphotic zone. Previous studies have suggested that benthic sources dominate the supply of DFe to the upper water column in the southern Ross Sea polynya. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether these benthic sources are derived from shallow banks or deeper areas of the continental shelf. Our study combines analysis of in situ observations near Ross Bank with a physical ocean model simulation in an overlapping summertime period to investigate the vertical supply of DFe. Two passive tracer dyes …

Organic Carbon Decay Mediated By A Mesopelagic Microbial Community: The Relevance Of Carbon Pools And Broad Biochemical Composition, Noah J. Craft, Alexander B. Bochdansky

OES Faculty Publications

The mesopelagic zone is a site of strong microbially driven particle attenuation with depth and thus plays a crucial role in controlling the transfer efficiency of the ocean's biological pump. However, little quantitative information exists on the dependency of decay processes on the source material. Here we followed the decay of ¹⁴C-labeled dead particulate organic carbon (POC) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from three different phytoplankton species, and two incubations of live diatoms, in mesopelagic water over 3 months. Commonly used first-order kinetics failed to adequately describe the decay of organic material as rate constants varied from day to day. …

Pygoscelis Penguins Prefer Different Oceanographic And Terrestrial Habitats During The Austral Summer, Katherine L. Gallagher, Rachel Herman, Katherine Walton, Michael S. Dinniman, Heather J. Lynch

OES Faculty Publications

Pygoscelis penguins interact with both terrestrial and marine environments, especially during the austral summer when they raise their chicks. Accessible ice-free ground spaces serve as locations for penguins to build colonies and successfully raise chicks while the surrounding marine environment serves as the foraging grounds for adult birds. Penguins must be able to navigate through the waters around their colonies to forage for Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), their primary prey during the austral summer. Krill, whose distributions are driven partially by the surrounding physics and partially by their behaviors, must also be plentiful in the waters near the …

Dust Deposition To The Sargasso Sea: A Comparison Of Estimates Using Aluminum In The Surface Ocean Versus Aerosols And Rainwater, T. E. Williams, P. N. Sedwick, B. M. Sohst, K. N. Buck, S. Caprara, R. J. Johnson, D. C. Ohnemus, J. A. Resing, L. E. Sofen, A. Tagliabue, B. S. Twining

OES Faculty Publications

As a major component of mineral aerosol that partially dissolves in seawater, aluminum (Al) has been used to estimate time-averaged dust fluxes to the ocean, based on dissolved aluminum (DAl) concentrations and an assumed replacement time of DAl (tau DAl) in the surface mixed layer, along with the fractional solubility (Als) and mass abundance of Al in dust. We apply this method in the Bermuda region using seasonal water-column DAl concentrations, and compare our results with fluxes estimated from Al measured in Bermuda aerosols and rain. Inventories of DAl over the maximum mixed-layer depth of 200 m and empirically derived …

The Δ¹³C Signature Of Dissolved Organic And Inorganic Carbon Reveals Complex Carbon Transformations Within A Salt Marsh, Meagan J. Eagle, Kevin D. Kroeger, John W. Pohlman, Joseph J. Tamborski, Zhaohui Aleck Wang, T. W. Brooks, Jennifer O. Keefe Suttles, Adrian Mann

OES Faculty Publications

Coastal wetlands have high rates of atmospheric CO₂ uptake, which is subsequently respired back to the atmosphere, stored as organic matter within flooded, anoxic soils, or exported to the coastal ocean. Transformation of fixed carbon occurs through a variety of subsurface aerobic and anaerobic microbial processes, and results in a large inventory of dissolved carbon. Carbon source and the roles of aerobic respiration, sulfate reduction, and methane cycling were evaluated within salt marsh peat and the underlying sandy subterranean estuary. There is a large increase in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC, 7,350 ± 3,900 μmol L^-¹), dissolved organic carbon …

Characterization Of Microbial Biofilms On Marine Plastics: Community Development And Density Implications For Vertical Transport Dynamics, Gregory M. Joern, Rut Pedrosa-Pàmies, Xiangtao Jiang, Zhanfei Liu, Alexander B. Bochdansky

OES Faculty Publications

Marine plastic pollution poses a significant and escalating threat to ocean ecosystems, with microbial colonization on plastics playing a critical role in determining their environmental fate. Despite the recognized importance of microbial biofilms, their composition, dynamics, and functional contributions on buoyant plastics remain poorly understood. In this study, we leveraged a novel integrative approach by simultaneously employing 16S, 18S, and ITS sequencing alongside microscopy, lipidomics, pigment analysis, adenosine triphosphate and biogenic silica quantification. This comprehensive methodology allowed for a thorough characterization of microbial growth and community dynamics on plastic debris in a mid-latitude, tidal sub-estuary. Our analyses consistently identified diatoms, …

From Wind To Whales: Potential Hydrodynamic Impacts Of Offshore Wind Energy On Nantucket Shoals Regional Ecology, Eileen E. Hofmann, Jeffrey R. Carpenter, Qin J. Chen, Josh T. Kohut, Richard L. Merrick, Erin L. Meyer-Gutbrod, Douglas P. Nowacek, Kaustubha Raghukumar, Nicholas R. Record, Kelly Oskvig

OES Faculty Publications

The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a committee in June 2023 to assess the potential hydrodynamic and ecological impacts from offshore wind energy development in the Nantucket Shoals region, with particular attention to impacts on the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) that forages on zooplankton aggregations in the region. The assessment suggested that the effects of offshore wind energy development will be difficult to distinguish from the effects of natural variability and climate change in this region. The Consensus Study Report recommendations highlight observational and modeling studies that will advance understanding of …

Ensemble Machine Learning Approaches For Bathymetry Estimation In Multi-Spectral Images, Kazi A. Islam, Omar Abdul-Hassan, Hongfang Zhang, Victoria Hill, Blake Schaeffer, Richard Zimmerman, Jiang Li

OES Faculty Publications

Traditional bathymetry measures require a large number of human hours, and many bathymetry records are obsolete or missing. Automated measures of bathymetry would reduce costs and increase accessibility for research and applications. In this paper, we optimized a recent machine learning model, named CatBoostOpt, to estimate bathymetry based on high-resolution WorldView-2 (WV-2) multi-spectral optical satellite images. CatBoostOpt was demonstrated across the Florida Big Bend coastline, where the model learned correlations between in situ sound Navigation and Ranging (Sonar) bathymetry measurements and the corresponding multi-spectral reflectance values in WV-2 images to map bathymetry. We evaluated three different feature transformations as inputs …

The Effect Of Temperature And Salinity On Margalefidinium Polykrikoides Group Iii Va, Usa Strain Growth, Eduardo Pérez-Vega, Margaret R. Mulholland, Katherine E. Crider, Kimberly E. Powell, P. Dreux Chappell, Alexander Bochdansky

OES Faculty Publications

Margalefidinium polykrikoides is a cosmopolitan dinoflagellate that blooms in coastal waters. Despite genomic evidence that it belongs to Group III and so closely related to isolates from Puerto Rico, Malaysia, North America, and Central America, M. polykrikoides blooms in the Chesapeake Bay at warmer temperatures and lower salinities than in coastal ecosystems occupied by its closest relatives. In this study, the effect of temperature and salinity on the growth rate and total cell yield of an M. polykrikoides VA culture isolate were examined and compared with environmental observations made during M. polykrikoides blooms in the Chesapeake Bay. M. polykrikoides group …

Optimizing An Image Analysis Protocol For Ocean Particles In Focused Shadowgraph Imaging Systems, Huanqing Huang, Alexander B. Bochdansky

OES Faculty Publications

A variety of imaging systems are in use in oceanographic surveys, and the opto-mechanical configurations have become highly sophisticated. However, much less consideration has been given to the accurate reconstruction of imaging data. To improve reconstruction of particles captured by Focused Shadowgraph Imaging (FoSI)—a system that excels at visualizing low-optical-density objects, we developed a novel object detection algorithm to process images with a resolution of ~ 12 μm per pixel. Suggested improvements to conventional edge-detection methods are relatively simple and time-efficient, and more accurately render the sizes and shapes of small particles ranging from 24 to 500 μm. In addition, …

Microbial Mats In Dinosaur Ichnocoenoses, Nora Noffke, Paul C. Murphey, Roger C. Buntin, Martin G. Lockley

OES Faculty Publications

Until now, the significance of microbial mats in preservation of dinosaur tracks and in reconstructing the palaeoenvironment in which dinosaurs roamed was rarely studied. Dinosaur tracks are commonly found close to ancient aquatic bodies where moist sediment had once allowed footstep registration. At such sites, epibenthic or endobenthic microbial mats may have developed as well and may have led to exquisite track preservation. Microbial mats in coastal, lacustrine or flood plain environments cause ‘microbially induced sedimentary structures—MISS’, which are micobialites found in sandy or evaporitic settings. The microbial structures record environmental parameters including meteorological conditions that existed at the time …

Dynamics Of Water Mass Exchange Across The Central Ross Sea Slope, Yuanjie Chen, Zhaoru Zhang, Pasquale Castagno, Xianxian Han, Michael S. Dinniman, Zhiqiang Liu, Chuning Wang

OES Faculty Publications

The central Ross Sea slope (CRSS) is a critical region for water mass exchange, significantly influencing the physical and biological processes of the Ross Sea shelf and the global overturning circulation. This study utilizes a high-resolution ocean-ice shelf-sea ice coupled model to investigate the mechanisms driving this exchange, involving the onshore transport of circumpolar deep water (CDW) and the offshore transport of dense shelf water (DSW). Combining numerical simulations and mooring observations, this work reveals high-frequency oscillations with a periodicity of ∼32 hr in CDW transport induced by Topographic Rossby Waves and DSW transport induced by cyclonic eddies. These findings …

A Century Of Sediment Metal Contamination Of Mar Menor, Europe's Largest Saltwater Lagoon, Irene Alorda-Montiel, Valentí Rodellas, Ariane Arias-Ortiz, Albert Palanques, Andrea G. Bravo, Júlia Rodriguez-Puig, Aaron Alorda-Kleinglass, Carlos Green-Ruiz, Marc Diego-Feliu, Pere Masqué, Javier Gilabert, Jordi Garcia-Orellana

OES Faculty Publications

Coastal enclosed ecosystems, such as lagoons, are vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts because they favor the accumulation of contaminants from the surrounding watersheds, particularly in their sediments. Europe's largest saltwater lagoon, the Mar Menor (SE, Iberian Peninsula), is a highly impacted ecosystem and the first in the continent to be granted personhood rights. Based on a high-resolution spatial and temporal dataset, we present the historical reconstruction of metal contamination in this ecosystem during the last century. Our results highlight that sediment metal contamination has been mainly driven by the development of the mining industry in the nearby Sierra Minera de Cartagena-La …

Successful Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica) Recruitment On Intertidal Artificial Substrates In Virginia, Usa, Rochelle D. Seitz, Kathleen E. Knick, Emily Suchonic, Amanda Pysher

OES Faculty Publications

Declines of eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) populations and scarcity of natural oyster shell necessitate quantifying the effectiveness of artificial oyster reef substrates over varying environmental conditions. Oyster castles are often used in intertidal areas with moderate wave energy; however, new concrete, natural-looking substrates, GROW Reef Tiles, are now available. Eastern oyster recruitment and size on oyster castles (OC) and GROW Reef Tiles (GT), with 27% higher surface area on OC, were assessed three times over 25 months in locations with varying salinity. Four sites in the Chesapeake Bay region were examined: Cherrystone Inlet, Mockhorn Bay, Elizabeth River, and …

Elucidating The Role Of Marine Benthic Carbon In A Changing World, Cristina Schultz, Jessica Y. Luo, Damian C. Brady, Robinson W. Fulwiler, Matthew H. Long, Colleen M. Petrik, Jeremy M. Testa, Heather M. Benway, David Burdige, Marta M. Cecchetto, Isa Elegbede, Natalya Evans, Alexandra Frenzel, Kayla Gillen, Lisa C. Herbert, Heidi K. Hirsh, Gennadi Lessin, Lisa Levin, Kanchan Maiti, Sairah Malkin, Sarah L. Mincks, Stanley Nmor, Anh Pham, James Pinckney, Christophe Rabouille, Shaily Rahman, Subhadeep Rakshit, Nicholas E. Ray, Dalton K. Sasaki, Samantha A. Siedlecki, Christopher Somes, Aron Stubbins, Olivier Sulpis, Cleuza Trevisan, Yiyang Xu, Hang Yin

OES Faculty Publications

The ocean plays a major role in controlling atmospheric carbon at decadal to millennial timescales, with benthic carbon representing the only geologic-scale storage of oceanic carbon. Despite its importance, detailed benthic ocean observations are limited and representation of the benthic carbon cycle in ocean and Earth system models (ESMs) is mostly empirical with little prognostic capacity, which hinders our ability to properly understand the long-term evolution of the carbon cycle and climate change-related feedbacks. The Benthic Ecosystem and Carbon Synthesis (BECS) working group, with the support of the US Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry Program (OCB), identified key challenges limiting our …

High Antarctic Coastal Productivity In Polynyas Revealed By Considering Remote Sensing Ice-Adjacency Effects, Hilde Oliver, Jessica S. Turner, Alexandre Castagna, Henry Houskeeper, Heidi Dierssen

OES Faculty Publications

Ocean color-based estimates of Antarctic net primary productivity (NPP) have indicated low nearshore productivity in ice-adjacent waters, contrasting with coupled physical–biogeochemical models. To understand this discrepancy, we assessed satellite records of polynya NPP by comparing field data with two satellite imagery datasets derived using different processing schemes. Our results indicate historical underestimation of chlorophyll a for imagery obtained using default atmospheric correction processing within approximately 100 km of ice-covered coastlines due to adjacency effects. Using radiative transfer modeling, we find that biases in ocean color polynya observations due to adjacency effects correspond to the high albedo of ice and snow. …

Organic Geochemical Evidence For Life In Archean Rocks Identified By Pyrolysis-Gc-Ms And Supervised Machine Learning, Michael L. Wong, Anirudh Prabhu, Conel O'D. Alexander, H. James Cleaves Ii, George D. Cody, Grethe Hystad, Marko Bermanec, Wouter Bleeker, C. Kevin Boyce, Andrea Corpolongo, Andrew D. Czaja, Souvik Das, Robert R. Gaines, Daniel D. Gregory, John A. Jaszczak, Emmanuelle J. Javaux, Jaganmoy Jodder, Andrew H. Knoll, Martin Van Kranendonk, Katie M. Maloney, Nora Noffke, Robert Rainbird, Emersyn Slaughter, Eva E. Stüeken, Roger E. Summons, Frances Westall, Jasmina Wiemann, Shuhai Xiao, Robert M. Hazen

OES Faculty Publications

Throughout Earth’s history, organic molecules from both abiogenic and biogenic sources have been buried in sedimentary rocks. Most of these organic molecules have been significantly altered by geologic processes through deep time. Nonetheless, the nature and distribution of those ancient fragmentary organic remains have the potential to reveal diagnostic biomolecular information after billions of years of burial. Here, we analyzed 406 fossil, modern biological, meteoritic, and synthetic samples using pyrolysis gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. We explored these analytical data via supervised machine-learning methods to discriminate samples of biogenic vs. abiogenic origin, plant vs. animal phylogenetic affinity, and photosynthetic vs. …

Unveiling Hidden Mercury And Methylmercury Sources: The Role Of Submarine Groundwater Discharge In Coastal Lagoons, Céline Lavergne, Júlia Rodriguez-Puig, Clara Ruiz-González, Maria Montero-Curiel, Gemma Casas, Daniel Romano-Gude, Irene Alorda-Montiel, Júlia Dordal-Soriano, Aaron Alorda-Kleinglass, Marc Diego-Feliu, Javier Gilabert, Alex Campillo-De La Maza, Cristina Romera-Castillo, Natalia Torres-Rodriguez, Lars-Eric Heimbürger-Boavida, Jordi Garcia-Orellana, Valenti Rodellas, Andrea G. Bravo

OES Faculty Publications

Mercury loads from Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD) may represent an overlooked source of methylmercury (MeHg) to the ocean, affecting human and ecosystem health. The SGD process involves the flow of fresh, saline, or mixed groundwater from coastal aquifers into the oceans classified in different components. Existing studies rarely report the fluxes supplied by the different SGD components; therefore, the relevance of SGD as a source of mercury remains unclear. We aimed to quantify SGD-driven mercury/methylmercury fluxes to the coast, focusing on the largest coastal lagoon in the western Mediterranean. We measured total dissolved mercury and MeHg in surficial and porewaters …

Yucatan Hurricane Activity Highlights Common Era Tropical Cyclone Dipole, Richard M. Sullivan, Peter J. Van Hengstum, Elizabeth J. Wallace, Sloan Coats, Jeffrey P. Donnelly, Robert Korty, Shawna N. Little, Martin G. Maas Vargas, Luis Mejia-Ortiz, Eduard G. Reinhardt, Courtney Schumacher, Anne E. Tamalavage, Tyler S. Winkler

OES Faculty Publications

Tropical cyclone (TC) impacts along the western Atlantic and Caribbean margin are not spatially uniform. Proxy based reconstructions of Common Era TC activity highlight this non-uniform distribution at centennial-millennial timescales. However, the sparse geographic scope of these reconstructions impedes our assessment of TC landfalls across broader spatial domains. This work presents a compilation of new and existing TC reconstructions from the Yucatan Peninsula for comparison with a contemporaneous compilation from New England, showing that these regions occupy distal nodes of a low-frequency TC dipole. Increased Yucatan (New England) storminess is closely linked to intervals of Northern Hemisphere warming (cooling) and …

Common Era Time-Transgressive Forcing Of Caribbean Water Balance, Peter J. Van Hengstum, Shawna N. Little, Richard M. Sullivan, Jeffrey P. Donnelly, Tyler S. Winkler, Anne E. Tamalavage, Patricia A. Beddows, Patricia L. Fall, Jiabi Du, Kaustubh Thirumalai, Nancy A. Albury, Sloan Coats

OES Faculty Publications

Tropical North Atlantic sea surface temperatures and low-latitude rainfall covary, but prehistoric subtropical rainfall records are often misaligned. Here, a submarine groundwater discharge record from the northern Bahamas archives regional water balance in the northeastern Atlantic Warm Pool. We compare the reconstruction to the tropical North Atlantic seasonal temperature gradient, which can help inform how northeastern Caribbean rainy seasons are influenced by the Atlantic Warm Pool. A positive water balance in the northern Bahamas aligned with a ~0.9 °C seasonal temperature gradient from 0 to 950 CE, with both covarying on multi-decadal timescales. Aridity began at ~950 CE when a …