Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Leachate Monitoring In Naturally Saline Groundwater Chesapeake Landfill Chesapeake Virginia, T. Britt Mcmillan

OES Theses and Dissertations

Groundwater chemistry around the Chesapeake municipal landfill was monitored over a one year period. Ten sample sites as well as two surface water sites were used to monitor water quality. Two wells, one at 3 m and the other at 10 m were located at each site. Surface water samples were taken from the Elizabeth River, north of the landfill, and a tidal channel, west of the landfill. Seven groundwater sites were downgradient of the landfill and three sites were upgradient (control sites).

The landfill overlies a tidal marsh, approximately 100 m south of the intracoastal waterway (Elizabeth River). Dredge …

Comparison Of An Improved Plankton Sampler To The Standard Conical Plankton Net, Ronald S. Schmidt

OES Theses and Dissertations

A comparison of field and tank tests between the standard conical plankton net and an improved version of a plankton sampler is presented. The improved sampler was shown to filter larger quantities of water than the standard net without having the filtration efficiency reduced below 85%. The improved sampler was also shown to capture an increased number of plankton per volume sampled, as a result of eliminating increased avoidance activity by zooplankton. It was not shown that. the improved sampler capture either larger maximum sizes of zooplankton or additional species.

Investigation Of Eddy Population And Motion In The Southern International Ice Patrol Operations Area (40°-47°N By 40°-55°W), Frank J. Williams

OES Theses and Dissertations

A study of the eddy population in the Newfoundland Basin region over the period from November 1981 to December 1984 was conducted. The study was undertaken to demonstrate the importance and basic character of eddy motion in the area patrolled by the International Ice Patrol. This is a descriptive study and no rigorous mathematical solutions are attempted. Data was collected on the number of eddies in the area, their average duration and size, formation, migration and deterioration patterns and rotational velocity. Satellite infrared imagery maintained by National Weather Service and Naval Eastern Oceanographic Center, Canadian Forces METOC Center sea surface …

The Apparent Dissociation Constants Of Carbonic Acid In Low Salinity Waters, Ching-Hui Hsu

OES Theses and Dissertations

The first and second apparent dissociation constants of carbonic acid in artificial seawater and diluted artificial seawater, K₁ ' and K₂ 1 were determined at selected combinations of temperatures and salinities between 2 to 30° C and 0 to 35 o/oo with special attentions to waters with salinities below 20 o/oo at atmospheric pressure by measuring K₁ ' and the product of K₁ ' and K₂.

The results can be expressed as functions of temperature and salinity by the following equations, pK₁ '=3360.206T^-1 +0. 033331 T-14.8303-0.09633x (Cl^1/2) pK₂ '=14911.671 …

Foraminiferal Paleoenvironments Of The Eastover Formation (Upper Miocene Virginia), Joann H. Goshorn

OES Theses and Dissertations

Sixty-two taxa representing 29 genera from 39 foraminiferal sample pairs have been documented and analyzed in a paleoenvironmental study of the Eastover Formation in southeastern Virginia. The Eastover Formation consists of a lower Claremont Manor Member, a silt fine-grained sand and an upper Cobham Bay Member, a shelly fine grained sand. Planktonic specimens were rare and indicated a late Miocene to early Pliocene age for the Eastover Formation. Benthics were used to interpret paleoenvironments by comparison with data from the distribution of Recent foraminifera, species diversity, planktonic to benthic ratios, and sediment analyses. The foraminifera indicate that the Eastover Formation …

Effects Of El Nino On Local Hydrography And Growth Of The Giant Kelp, Macrocystis Pyrifera, At Santa Catalina Island, California, Richard C. Zimmerman, Deborah L. Robertson

OES Faculty Publications

Deepened isotherms associated with El Niño resulted in severe nutrient limitation and very low kelp productivity during the last half of 1983. Frond growth rates were so low that terminal blades formed before reaching the surface, eliminating the canopy. Frond initiation rates were also extremely low, resulting in significant reductions in mean plant size. Plants growing above 10m were more severely affected than plants at 20m. Nutrient pulses associated with internal waves are thus critical for survival of Macrocystis pyrifera in nutritionally marginal habitats in Southern California.

Microbial Manganese Reduction By Enrichment Cultures From Coastal Marine Sediments, David J. Burdige, Kenneth H. Nealson

OES Faculty Publications

Manganese reduction was catalyzed by enrichment cultures of anaerobic bacteria obtained from coastal marine sediments. In the absence of oxygen, these enrichment cultures reduced manganates when grown on either lactate, succinate, or acetate in both sulfate-free and sulfate-containing artificial seawaters. Sodium azide as well as oxygen completely inhibited microbial manganese reduction by these enrichment cultures, whereas molybdate had no effect on them. The addition of nitrate to the medium slightly decreased the rate of Mn²⁺ production by these enrichment cultures. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the manganese-reducing organisms in these enrichment cultures use manganates as terminal …

The Effects Of X-Irradiation On The Metamorphosis And Budding Of Aurelia Aurita, Michael John Prokopchak

OES Theses and Dissertations

With the aid of the Aurelia Metamorphosis Test System, the acute or subtle morphological and behavioral effects of irradiation on the Norfolk Aurelia aurita were described and the sensitivity to X-irradiation of those organisms receiving thyroxine and those not receiving thyroxine was compared. Levels of radiation were 0 (control), 5,000, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 and 40,000 rads. Morphology of the ephyrae, statolith and rhopalia numbers were recorded using the light microscope, Developmental abnormalities of the scyphistomae and ephyrae were recorded with the scanning electron microscope and light microscope. Two major findings from this investigation were the absence of rhopalia and statoliths …

Numerical Experiments With The Quasigeostrophic Potential-Vorticity Equation, Peter L. Spence

OES Theses and Dissertations

A method is developed to model the circulation of a barotropic, 8-plane ocean under an imposed steady wind stress. The model includes the effect of both horizontal and vertical friction along with nonlinear advection of vorticity. Implementing the method involves solving the unsteady quasigeostrophic potential-vorticity equation using a compact finite difference scheme (Gatski, Grosch, and Rose, 1982).

Once developed, this model is used in four separate numerical experiments. In each experiment, a model ocean with an initial flow field is driven to a steady state solution. Vertical viscosity is held constant in the first three experiments while lateral viscosity is …

Fourier Series Analysis Of The Relationship Of Morphologic Variations And Bathymetry In Recent Bolivina (Foraminiferida) From The Northwestern Gulf Of Mexico, Anthony Cavedo Gary

OES Theses and Dissertations

Automated video digitization and closed-form Fourier series analysis were used to investigate the applicability of benthic foraminiferal test morphology for paleo-bathymetric/paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Sample relationships and harmonics with the greatest power for discriminating between samples were determined using canonical discriminant analysis. Samples were eleven short cores obtained from the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. Three species of Bolivina were analyzed, B. albatrossi, B. lowmani, and B. subspinescens.

Results show populations of Bolivina albatrossi from the upper bathyal and upper-middle bathyal zones to have more triangular tests and lobulate chambers than lower-middle and lower bathyal zone populations. Specimens of Bolivina subspinescens …

The Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of The Larvae Of Sympatric Pagurid Hermit Crabs (Decapoda, Anomura) In Virginian Estaurine And Coastal Waters, Philip Wesley Sadler

OES Theses and Dissertations

Thirteen stations were occupied at two - week intervals from May through September 1980 within the York River, lower Chesapeake Bay depths encompassing the entire water column.

Three species of pagurids were identified: Pagurus longicarpus, P. pollicaris, and P. annulipes. The larvae of P. annulipes had not been previously identified from Virginian waters. The shapes of the antennae of P. pollicaris and P. annulipes weredistinctive, allowing rapid identification of these larvae. The shapes of the uropods were found to be useful in distinguishingthe glaucothoe· of P. longicarpus from P. annulipes. The larvae of these species …

A High-Resolution Bathymetry Map For The Marguerite Bay And Adjacent West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf For The Southern Ocean Globec Program, S. T. Bolmer, R. C. Beardsley, C. Pudsey, P. Morris, P. Wiebe, Eileen E. Hofmann, J. Anderson, A. Maldonado

OES Faculty Publications

One objective of the U.S. Southern Ocean Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (SO GLOBEC) program is to gain a better understanding of the sea floor bathymetry in the program study area. Much of Marguerite Bay and the adjacent shelf west of the Antarctic Peninsula were poorly charted when the SO GLOBEC program started in 2000. Before the first SO GLOBEC cruise, an improved local area version (ETOPO8.2A) was created from the Smith and Sandwell (1997) topo_8.2.img 2-minute digital gridded bathymetry for the study area. The first SO GLOBEC mooring cruise on the R/V Lawrence M. Gould (March 2001) showed that the …

Fundy Tidal Power Development : Preliminary Evaluation Of Its Environmental Consequences To The Resources Of The State Of Maine, Bigelow Laboratory For Ocean Sciences

Maine Collection

Fundy Tidal Power Development : Preliminary Evaluation of Its Environmental Consequences to the Resources of the State of Maine

A Report to the Maine State Planning Office by the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, April, 1984.

"Technical Report No. 35 - Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, West Boothbay Harbor, Maine - A Division of Northeastern Research Foundation, Inc."

Contents: Executive Summary / Introduction / Methods / Physical and Biological Consequences / Socio-Economic Consequences / Research Needs / Bibliography / Appendix I. Written Comments on Greenberg Model

An Intraseason Forecasting System For Commercial Marine Fisheries, Erik J. Barth

OES Theses and Dissertations

The reliability of an intraseason yield estimation technique which is commonly used by Pacific salmon harvest managers is evaluated for applicability to a variety of commercial finfish and crustacean fisheries. The estimation technique is known as the average timing or the average performance model. The method is not easily related to standard statistical models, but does show some similarity to both a single parameter linear regression model and the ratio estimator of sampling theory. A comparison of these models, a two parameter linear model, and a regression estimator is made to determine if the precision of forecasts of performance can …

Analysis Of Central Equatorial Pacific Water Masses By Method Of Principal Components, Ross Tuxhorn

OES Theses and Dissertations

The distribution of Antarctic Intermediate Water at the extent of dispersion in the equatorial Pacific Ocean was investigated by means of multivariate analysis. Interrelationships among the upper intermediate water masses at this location are proposed.

Oceanographic data contained in seven cruise legs measured during the 1979-80 Hawaii to Tahiti Shuttle Experiment formed the basis of this study. Six parameters -- temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, phosphate, silicate and nitrate -- were used in the method of principal component analysis to classify water masses between the sea surface and 1000m. The derived water masses were compatible with previously described oceanographic features of …

An Examination Of The Variability Of Migratory Timing Statistics Estimated From Catch And Effort Observations, Arthur J. Butt

OES Theses and Dissertations

The estimate of the mean arrival time based on catch or CPUE of fishes migrating into a fixed harvest area is a function of the number of days fished. Simulation studies using chinook salmon catch and effort data from the Yukon River delta, Alaska indicate that fishing effort concentrated at the tails of the migratory distribution which would tend to erroneously weigh the estimated mean arrival time in the direction of the sample, away from the true mean, is only a significant problem when the number of days open to fishing is small, covering less than 12% of the total …

A Method For Determining Creosote Contamination Of Sediment From The Elizabeth River, Norfolk, Va, Elizabeth G. Merrill

OES Theses and Dissertations

Hydrocarbon input sources to the Elizabeth River were investigated. Carbonized coal products (creosote, coal tar, and roof tar), petroleum products (Kuwait Crude Oil, No. 2 Fuel Oil, and a fuel oil spill sample) and soot (woodstove and diesel engine) have unique hydrocarbon distributions. Elizabeth River sediment hydrocarbon distributions indicate that they are contaminated with both carbonized coal and petroleum products. Using a simple two member mixing model, greater than 65 percent of Elizabeth River sediments' resolved aromatic compounds were determined to originate from carbonized coal products. These aromatic hydrocarbons include the EPA priority pollutant polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons which are known …

A Description And Analysis Of The Timing Of Virginia's Weakfish Fishery, Bruce William Hill

OES Theses and Dissertations

The seasonality of Virginia's weakfish fishery is quantitatively defined by providing a mean time of catch and variance of catch for the years 1960 - 1981. On the average. the central half of the population is available for harvest from mid-May through September in all of Virginia's waters and the mean date of harvest is July 20th • The 22 year average variance of catch for Virginia's waters is 3.97. In Virginia's Chesapeake Bay tributaries the mean date of harvest is July 17th and the 22 year average variance of catch is 2.50. There is evidence for an inverse relationship …

Determinants For The Timing Of Escapement From The Sockeye Salmon Fishery Of The Copper River, Alaska: A Simulation Model, Howard A. Schaller

OES Theses and Dissertations

A model to estimate determinants for migratory timing of catch and escapement in a terminal salmon fishery is presented. A method was developed to estimate average seasonal migration rates of salmon through a harvest area from catch and escapement data. The time series for the total population of Copper River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) was reconstructed in the reference frame of the commercial harvest area from catch and escapement data.

The catchability coefficients (q), derived from the reconstructed populations were found to vary within season and between seasons. The relation between q and effort was attributed to a …

Timing Of The Blue Crab Fisheries Of Virginia And Its Application To Harvest Management, J. Dale Shively

OES Theses and Dissertations

The timing of a fishery is a quantitative expression of the composite behaviors of harvesters, markets, animals and climatic events. A quantitative description of the timing of the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) fisheries of Virginia was established using the time density model of Mundy (1979). Blue crab catch statistics supplied by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Virginia Marine Resource Commission were divided into two fisheries based on gear type; the summer and winter fisheries. Average performance curves were then constructed using average cumulative proportions of catch. Annual yield estimates were also made and timing in five …

Algal Problems Of The Estuary, E. P. Hodgkin, P. B. Birch

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The Peel-Harvey esturine system study began in 1976 because people living near Peel Inlet complained about the accumulation of water weeds and algae on the shores and the smell of hydrogen sulphide (rotton egg gas) that resulted from their decomposition. From 1974 efforts had been made to control this 'algal problem' by raking up the weed with tractors and carting it away. This 'cosmetic activity had little impact on the problem.

The immediate cause was obvious: a carpet of green algae covering about 20square kilometres of the bottom of Peel Inlet. From time to time this 'goat weed' floated to …

The Marine Biogeochemistry Of Selenium: A Re-Evaluation, Gregory A. Cutter, Kenneth W. Bruland

OES Faculty Publications

Vertical and horizontal profiles from the North and South Pacific Oceans demonstrate the existence of three species of dissolved selenium: selenite, selenate, and organic selenide (operationally defined). In surface waters, organic selenide makes up about 80% of the total dissolved selenium, selenite concentrations are uniformly low, and selenate concentrations rise with increased vertical mixing. The organic selenide maximum (thought to consist of seleno-amino acids in peptides) coincides with the maxima of primary productivity, pigments, bioluminescence, and dissolved free amino acids. Deep ocean waters are enriched in selenite and selenate, while organic selenide is nondetectable. In suboxic waters of the tropical …

Episodic Nutrient Supply To A Kelp Forest Ecosystem In Southern California, Richard C. Zimmerman, James N. Kremer

OES Faculty Publications

Temporal patterns of nutrient input into a Southern California kelp forest were measured using traditional hydrocast sampling coupled with high frequency temperature profiling. Patterns of nutrient input were related to growth rates of Macrocystis pyrifera located in an adjacent kelp forest. There were 2 distinct components to the pattern of nutrient availability. The long term, or seasonal, component was consistent with large-scale storm-induced mixing and horizontal advection during winter months. In addition, vertical motions of the thermocline, bringing nutrients into the kelp forest, occurred throughout the year with a frequency of about 2 per day and were strongest during the …

Changes In The Lower Chesapeake Bay Food-Chain In Presence Of The Sea Nettle Chrysaora-Quinquecirrha (Scyphomedusa), David Feigenbaum, Michael Kelly

OES Faculty Publications

The abundance of 4 levels of the lower Chesapeake Bay food chain (Chlorophyll a, herbivores, ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi, and Scyphomedusa Chrysaora quinquecirrha) were moni­tored twice weekly at 4 stations from May 10 through Sep 30, 1982 in the Lafayette and Elizabeth Rivers (Virginia). The herbivore standing stock, largely copepods, declined sharply in late May when M. Jeidyi appeared, but rebounded a month later when C. quinquecirrha medusae reduced the ctenophore population. Despite the additional presence of Aurelia aurita (Scyphomedusa) from Jul onward, herbivore abundance remained at moderate levels until the end of the study period. Phytoplankton abundance fluctuated …

Fission Track Dating Of Detrital Zircons From The Scotland Sandstones, Barbados, West Indies, Suzanne Louise Baldwin

Geology Theses and Dissertations

Results of fission track dating of detrital zircons from the Scotland sandstones, Barbados, yield a mixture of ages with several strong groupings from 20-80 Ma, 200-350 Ma, and greater than 500 Ma. Metamict grains were assumed to fall into the greater than 500 Ma population.
The youngest population indicates that the Scotland beds, previously dated by paleontologic methods as Eocene, may actually be as young as late Oligocene. These ages better constrain the timing of deposition for these sediments and support the proposal that the late middle Eocene - early Oligocene Oceanic Fm has overthrust the Scotland beds. This population …

The Influence Of Oceanic Transform Boundaries On The Generation And Evolution Of Oceanic Lithosphere, David G. Gallo

Geology Theses and Dissertations

The first-order geologic and morphologic relationships at, along and proximal to ridge-transform-ridge plate boundaries are used to construct an empirical and speculative tectonic model. The geometry of a ridge-transform intersection necessitates the juxtaposition of relatively cold, thick lithosphere against the truncated end of an accreting plate boundary. The cold face of lithosphere cools the adjacent wedge of asthenosphere rising beneath the axis of accretion and restricts the amount of partial melting thus attenuating the amount of basaltic melt segregated from the asthenosphere per unit time. The manifestation of this cold edge effect is a thinner oceanic crust. At depth, upper …

Review Of Upwelling Off The Southeastern United States And Its Effect On Continental-Shelf Nutrient Concentrations And Primary Productivity, Larry P. Atkinson, James A. Yonder, Thomas N. Lee

CCPO Publications

Gulf Stream induced upwelling occurs along the length of the southeastern United States continental shelf break. Upwelling events are produced by northward propagating Gulf Streams frontal meanders and eddies and travel northwards with these features. Meanders and eddies occur throughout the year in a period band of 2-14 days; however, resultant upwellings can affect the shelf quite differently. During fall, winter, and spring, upwelling is restricted to the outer shelf by cross-shelf density distributions, but in the summer upwelled water may penetrate across as a subsurface intrusion if aided by upwelling-favorable winds. If water does penetrate across the shelf, it …

Coastal Upwelling Off The Rias Bajas, Galicia, Northwest Spain I: Hydrographic Studies, J. O. Blanton, L. P. Atkinson, F. Fernandez De Castillejo, A. Lavin Montero

CCPO Publications

Coastal upwelling occurs off the Rias Bajas of Spain between April and October. Superimposed on large-scale upwelling is a mesoscale regime of enhanced upwelling induced by topographic influences. We show that the region surrounding Cape Finisterre has intensified topographically induced upwelling.

The rias have a relatively unobstructed connection with the open ocean. Upwelling of high nitrate water on the continental shelf by Ekman transport sets up pressure gradients at the mouth of the rias that induce upwelled water to flow into the rias. Deep water in the rias responds directly to cycles of upwelling and downwelling on the continental shelf.

Underwater Acoustic Wavefront Phase Fluctuations, George L. Vojtech Jr.

OES Theses and Dissertations

In conventional underwater acoustics sound propagation is generally modeled and applied as a coherent or incoherent process. This paper addresses a relatively new theory, that of a range driven increasingly incoherent ray propagation through a real ocean environment, Possible mechanisms are discussed and experimental data presented to reinforce the theory.

The Effect Of Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons On The Fecundity Of Acartia Tonsa (Calanoid Copepoda), Juanita Y. Grabarczyk

OES Theses and Dissertations

The concentrations of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PNAHs) were determined for several stations in the Elizabeth River. Thirteen PNAHs of the sixteen EPA priority pollutant PNAHs were present in the particulate fraction. The concentrations ranged from 10.0 ng/1 to 1000 ng/1. Ten of the sixteen EPA priority pollutant PNAH were present in the dissolved phase. Concentrations ranged from 2.0 ng/1 to 100 ng/1.

The environmental PNAHs concentrations were used to determine test concentrations. Bioassays were conducted to determine the effects of indigenous concentrations of seven predominant PNAHs (0.01 mg/1 to 2.4 mg/1 concentrations) on the fecundity of Acartia tonsa (calanoid Copepoda). …