Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Florida Coral Reef Damage From Nuclear Submarine Grounding And Proposed Restoration, Kenneth Banks, Richard E. Dodge (Editor), Lou Fisher, David K. Stout, Walter Jaap

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The United States submarine Memphis grounded in approximately 10 m water depth on a tropical coral reef ofT southeast Florida in February, 1993. The grounding caused extensive physical and biological damage to the reef substrate and to the coral community. As part of a claim by the State of Florida against the United States, the impact of the grounding was assessed, and the area of damage was determined through field and photographic studies. A recovery rate for the reef was assigned from literature estimates. The NOAA Habitat Equivalency Model (HEM) was used to calculate the reef area needed to be …

A Near-Surface Microstructure Sensor System Used During Toga Coare. Part I: Bow Measurements., Alexander Soloviev, Roger Lukas, Sharon Decarlo, Jefrey Snyder, A. Arjannikov, Vyacheslav Turenko, M. Baker, Dmitry Khlebnikov

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

High-resolution probes mounted on the bow of the vessel at a 1.7-m depth in an undisturbed region ahead of the moving vessel were used for microstructure and turbulence measurements in the near-surface layer of the ocean during TOGA COARE. The probes measured temperature, conductivity, pressure, three-component fluctuation velocity, and two components of acceleration. Accumulation of large amounts of high-quality nearsurface data poses a difficult challenge, and deployment from the bow of a ship, such as is done with these sensors, requires rugged, well-calibrated, and low-noise sensors. The heaving motion of the ship that causes the sensors to break through the …

Modeling Environmental Effects On Msx Prevalence And Intensity In Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica) Populations, Michelle Christine Paraso

OES Theses and Dissertations

An oyster population model coupled with a model for Haplosporidium nelsoni, the causative agent of the oyster disease MSX, was used with salinity time-series constructed from Delaware River flow measurements to study environmentally-induced variations in the annual cycle of this disease. Simulations with this model were designed to investigate the effect of increased or decreased spring freshwater discharge, the timing of high freshwater runoff, the presence or absence of a fall or late spring phytoplankton bloom, and the occurrence of a warm winter on MSX prevalence and intensity in Delaware Bay oyster populations. Model simulations for the lower Bay site …

Sea Turtle Conservation Program, Broward County, Fl 1998 Report, Curtis M. Burney, William E. Margolis

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

No abstract provided.

Inventory Of Sub-Catchments Within The Wilson Inlet Catchment, B Radys

Resource management technical reports

The release of the "Salinity Action Plan for Western Australia' in December 996 highlighted the need for catchment scale planning and coordinated actions to reverse salinity trends.

A separate report has been produced for each major catchment area. Each report contains and inventory of all sub-catchments. with information on area, degradation risks and group activities with each catchment.

Fall 1998, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

The Extent And Condition Of Us Coral Reefs, Steven Miller, Steven Miller, Michael Crosby

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

No abstract provided.

The Occurrence Of Pcbs And Chlorinated Pesticide Contaminants In Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) In A Resident Community: Comparison With Age, Gender And Birth Order, Kathleen M. Kuss

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Tissue samples from twenty bottlenose dolphins from a stable, residential community of coastal dolphins in the western Gulf of Mexico were analyzed for toxic PCB congeners and chlorinated pesticides. The tissues analyzed (blubber and melon) were from known individuals in a long-term (27⁺ y) study that stranded and were recovered for necropsy. Substantial demographic data were available on these individuals and utilized in the analysis of maternal transfer of organochlorines to young.

The male dolphins in this study were shown to accumulate organochlorine contaminants with age. In female dolphins the organochlorine levels were found to decline with age. These …

Variability In Copepod Hatching Success: Observations On Natural Populations And Experiments On The Role Of Maternal Diet, Carol A. Burkart

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The objectives of this study were (1) to survey the percent hatching success of eggs produced by calanoid copepod species from a variety of ecosystems (i.e., polar, temperate, and sub-tropical), (2) to describe the relationship between egg production, hatching success of Acartia tonsa and the physical and food environments of Florida Bay, and (3) to describe the relationships between hatching success and maternal diet. In order to fulfill the first objective, an incubation system was designed to allow the monitoring of eggs at sea for extended periods of time. The second objective was addressed with a series of egg production …

Age, Growth, And Mortality Of Black Drum, Pogonias Cromis, In The Chesapeake Bay Region, Cynthia M. Jones, Brian Wells

OES Faculty Publications

We used otolith ageing to describe the population dynamics of black drum, Pogonias cromis, collected over a three-year period from the Chesapeake Bay region's commercial and recreational fisheries. Black drum average age, total length, and weight were 26 years, 109.5 cm, and 22.1 kg respectively. The oldest fish was 59 years and fish older than 50 years were present in the catch from 1990 to 1992. Growth in length slowed by age 20, whereas growth in weight did not slow until age 45. A von Bertalanffy growth function was fitted to our data (L(infinity) = 117.3 cm, …

The Biogeochemical Cycling Of Dissolved Organic Nitrogen In Estuarine Sediments, David J. Burdige, Shilong Zheng

OES Faculty Publications

Benthic fluxes and pore-water profiles of dissolved organic nitrogen and carbon (DON and DOC, respectively) were determined in seasonal studies at contrasting sites in Chesapeake Bay. Pore-water dissolved organic matter (DOM) concentrations were elevated over bottom-water values, generally increased with depth, and ranged from 15 to similar to 160 μM for DON and ~200-2000 μM for DOC. Pore-water DOM concentrations and the C:N ratio of this material showed spatial (depth) and temporal changes that varied among the sites studied. These trends appeared to be related to differences in the types of sediment organic matter (SOM) undergoing remineralization, as well as …

Iron In Ice Cores From Law Dome, East Antarctica: Implications For Past Deposition Of Aerosol Iron, R. Edwards, Peter N. Sedwick, Vin Morgan, C. F. Boutron, S. Hong

OES Faculty Publications

Total-dissolvable iron has been measured in sections of three ice cores from Law Dome, East Antarctica, and the results used to calculate atmospheric iron deposition over this region during the late Holocene and to provide a preliminary est. of aerosol iron deposition during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Ice-core sections dating from 56-2730 BP (late Holocene) and ∼18 000 BP (LGM) were decontaminated using trace-metal clean techniques, and total-dissolvable iron was determined in the acidified meltwaters by flow-injection analysis. Our results suggest that the atmospheric iron flux onto the Law Dome region has varied significantly over time-scales ranging from seasonal …

Trace Element Signatures In Otoliths Record Natal River Of Juvenile American Shad (Alosa Sapidissima), Simon R. Thorrold, Cynthia M. Jones, Steven E. Campana, James W. Mclaren, Joseph W. H. Lam

OES Faculty Publications

The elemental composition of fish otoliths may represent a permanent record of the environmental conditions an individual has experienced as trace elements, incorporated into the growing surface of the otolith, reflect the physical and chemical characteristics of the ambient water. We tested the utility of trace element signatures in otoliths as natural tags of the river of origin of juvenile American shad (Alosa sapidissima) collected from the Connecticut, Hudson and Delaware Rivers in August and October 1994. Four elements (K, Mn, Sr, and Ba) showed significant variability among sites within rivers in August, although only Mg showed a …

Fall 1998, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Winter 1998, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Success And Failure Of Oyster Populations: The Importance Of Sampled Variables And Sample Timing, Thomas M. Soniat, Eric N. Powell, Eileen E. Hofmann, John M. Klinck

CCPO Publications

One of the primary obstacles to understanding why some oyster populations are successful and others are not is the complex interaction of environmental variables with oyster physiology and with such population variables as the rates of recruitment and juvenile mortality. A numerical model is useful in investigating how population structure originates out of this complexity. We have monitored a suite of environmental conditions over an environmental gradient to document the importance of short time-scale variations in such variables as food supply, turbidity, and salinity. Then, using a coupled oyster disease population dynamics model, we examine the need for short rime-scale …

Non-Volatile Dissolved Organic Iodine In Marine Water, Xianhao Cheng

OES Theses and Dissertations

An analytical scheme for the determination of marine DOI has been established. The concentration of DOI is estimated as total iodine (TI) minus total inorganic iodine (TII). The concentration of total iodine is determined as [special characters omitted] after DOI has been oxidized to inorganic iodine quantitatively by intensive UV-irradiation and all the inorganic iodine in the samples had been converted to [special characters omitted] by the addition of NaClO.

Production of DOI in seawater can be via both non-phytoplankton and phytoplankton related processes. In the former, iodide is converted to DOI. In the latter, most likely, iodate is converted …

Port Everglades Macroinvertebrate Monitoring: Monitoring Of Benthic Macroinvertebrate Assemblages At The Southport Turning Basin And Adjacent Areas Of John U. Lloyd State Recreation Area: Final Report, Charles G. Messing, Richard E. Dodge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

Monitoring of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in the vicinity of Port Everglades Southport began in September 1988 in anticipation of dredging of the Southport Turning Notch and concomitant mitigation of mangrove habitats at adjacent areas of John U. Lloyd State Recreation Area. Twice-yearly surveys were carried out from September 1988 to January 1991 by Sheldon Dobkin (Florida Atlantic University), and subsequently, from August 1991 to January 1997, under the supervision of Charles G. Messing and Richard E. Dodge (Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center). From 1990 onward, surveyed sites consisted of 11 Ponar grab stations, 11 mangrove crab census stations, and three …

Systematics Of The Freshwater Amphipod Genus Crangonyx (Crangonyctidae) In North America, Jun Zhang

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The systematics of the amphipod genus Crangonyx of North America (north of Mexico) is revised, based on available collections (ca. 2240) and literature dealing with the genus. A grand total of 42 North America species of Crangonyx are recognized in the present study, 24 of them new to science. All species are described or redescribed and figured, utilizing external morphological features. Keys to both species groups and individual species are given. Phylogenetic trees are built using computer programs (PAUP, Hennig86, MacClade) based on 26 characters. Wagner parsimony produced 18 parsimonious trees and Fitch parsimony produced 45 trees. The consensus tree …

Use Of Fluorescence Microscopy In An Assay Of Sperm Density For The Gorgonian Coral, Plexaura Kuna, Timothy D. Swain, K. Kim, H. R. Lasker

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

The density of sperm in the water column during the broadcast spawning events of marine invertebrates is often undetermined or reported in terms of fertilization potential. The density of sperm during such events can be determined by directly counting numbers of spermatozoa using a modification of the acridine orange direct count (AODC) technique for enumerating bacteria. A number of variables in the handling and processing of samples may bias estimates. Sample collection in glass and rapid fixation and filtration are necessary for reproducible estimates. Once filtered, samples are stable for many months, and counts on filters that were poorly stained …

Observation Of Large Diurnal Warming Events In The Near-Surface Layer Of The Western Equatorial Pacific Warm Pool, Alexander Soloviev, Roger Lukas

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Because of the relatively calm winds which prevail over the western Pacific warm pool, the diurnal cycle of temperature in the near-surface layer of the ocean is often quite pronounced. During the TOGA Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE), very high resolution measurements of near-surface thermohaline and turbulence structures were made using bowmounted probes and a free-rising profiler. Experimental data demonstrate a strong dependence of near-surface thermal structure on weather conditions, In calm weather, SST was observed to exceed 33.25°C; this was associated with a diurnal warming of more than 3°C in the top I m of the ocean. A 1-D …

Sharp Frontal Interfaces In The Near-Surface Layer Of The Ocean In The Western Equatorial Pacific Warm Pool, Alexander Soloviev, Roger Lukas

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

During the TOGA COARE rich horizontal temperature and salinity variability of the near-surface layer of the ocean in the western Pacific warm pool was observed. High-resolution measurements were made by probes mounted on the bow of the vessel in an undisturbed region at ~1.7-m depth during four COARE cruises of the R/V Moana Wave. The authors observed several tens of cases of periodic sharp frontal interfaces of width 1– 100 m and separation 0.2–60 km. The sharp frontal interfaces were often found in frontal regions and on the periphery of freshwater puddles. Maneuvers of the ship were conducted to determine …

Port Everglades Macroinvertebrate Monitoring: Monitoring Of Benthic Macroinvertebrate Assemblages At The Southport Turning Basin And Adjacent Areas Of John U. Lloyd State Recreation Area: August 1996 (Including A Summary Of Previous Survey Results, 1991-1996), Charles G. Messing, Richard E. Dodge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

This report documents the August 1996 monitoring of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in the Port Everglades Southport turning basin vicinity and adjacent areas of John U. Lloyd State Recreation Area. This is the eleventh monitoring effort of the series carried out by Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center. Samples were taken chiefly during the first two weeks of August although some sampling of crab stations was delayed until late September/early October.

Coastal Circulations Driven By River Outflow, Shuliang Zhang

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Variable-density, 1^1/2- and 2^1/2- layer models are used to examine the behavior of plumes resulting from a fresher outflow of transport M_r and salinity S_r into a pre-existing oceanic layer of initial thickness H₁ and salinity S₁. It is found that the plumes exhibit a variety of features depending on conditions of the outflow, the situation of the ambient ocean, and external forcing. Perhaps the most interesting feature is that the plume can flow along the upstream (to the left of the river mouth, looking seaward in the northern hemisphere) coast …

234Th And 210Pb Evidence For Rapid Ingestion Of Settling Particles By Mobile Epibenthic Megafauna In The Abyssal Ne Pacific, L. M. L. Lauerman, J. M. Smoak, Timothy J. Shaw, W. S. Moore, K. L. Smith Jr.

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Las Vegas Wash Water Quality Monitoring Program: 1996 Report Of Findings, Richard A. Roline, James J. Sartoris, U.S. Bureau Of Reclamation, U.S. Geological Survey

Publications (WR)

Las Vegas Wash, a natural wash east of the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, carries stormwater, groundwater drainage, and sewage effluent from three sewage treatment plants to Lake Mead. The Wash provides nearly the only surface water outlet for the entire 2,193 mi² of Las Vegas Valley. A drainage area of 1,586 mi² contributes directly to the Wash through surface flow which is channeled to Las Vegas Bay of Lake Mead, while drainage of the remaining 607 mi² is presumably subsurface and may drain toward Las Vegas Wash.

In the 1930's and 1940's, sewage treatment plants were …

Isotope Ratio Studies Of Marine Mammals In Prince William Sound, Donald M. Schell, Amy Hirons

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

This project consists of two components: (1) provision of analytical services for the stable isotope ratio investigations associated with Exxon Valdez oil spill projects, and (2) an investigation of food web relationships and trophic interactions of harbor seals and other top consumers of Prince William Sound (PWS). Through the use of harbor seal tissues collected from native harvested animals and tagging programs, seasonal and migrational information has been obtained with regard to prey utilization and trophic status at differing locations within the sound and the adjacent Gulf of Alaska. Preliminary results indicate that within PWS, harbor seals fall at the …

Ecology Of The Early Life History Of The Caribbean Spiny Lobster, Panulirus Argus: Recruitment, Predation, And Habitat Requirements, Charles A. Acosta

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Recruitment variability of the early life history stages of marine benthic organisms can have profound consequences on population dynamics. I studied factors affecting recruitment success of postlarvae and early juveniles of the Caribbean spiny lobster. I examined patterns in postlarval supply, investigated wind forcing as a potential transport mechanism for recruiting postlarvae, and quantified predation on postlarvae in south Florida, USA. In an eight-year time series, spiny lobster postlarval supply occurred year-round between the new and first quarter lunar phases. The major annual peak occurred around March corresponding to spawning activity ten months earlier, and a smaller non-seasonal peak occurred …

Microzooplankton Dynamics In Lower Chesapeake Bay And Its Major Tributaries, Gyung Soo Park

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

This study identified the temporal and spatial variability of microzooplankton density and biomass at 14 stations located within Chesapeake Bay and four rivers. Microzooplankton are defined as those heterotrophic organisms which range from 20 to 200 $\mu$m in size, and in this study were mainly composed of copepod nauplii, rotifers, and ciliates. Ciliates were the most abundant microzooplankton, comprising more than 90% of the total density, with copepod nauplii representing approximately 50% of the total microzooplankton biomass (carbon content). Rotifers contributed less than 5% for both density and biomass of the total microzooplankton.

Maximum ciliate abundance occurred from spring to …

Influence Of Physics On The Distribution Of Ichthyoplankton Across The Chesapeake Bay Plume, Christian S. Reiss

OES Theses and Dissertations

Most marine fish have retained pelagic larval stages that are spawned away from juvenile habitats. Physical and biological processes on a number of scales may affect larval survival. Mesoscale features like estuarine or riverine plumes and fronts are thought to affect larval survival by transporting larvae to juvenile habitats or by retaining larvae in favorable developmental habitats. It is likely that these features are major contributors in the regulation of shelf-spawned estuarine-dependent taxa.

This study examined how physical oceanographic features affected the spatial distribution of ichthyoplankton across the Chesapeake Bay Plume. Larval surveys were conducted across the shelf and within …