Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Obscuration Analysis Of Camera Imagery For Aviation Applications, Patrick James Roelant

Theses and Dissertations

Image feature detection is a potent tool with many applications, such as fog identification, roadway conditions, etc. As part of the recent surge in machine learning applications, cloud detection has also become an increasingly engaged area of research. Identifying low clouds is especially useful with respect to aviation, particularly in regions of complex topography prone to visibility-related hazards such as haze or fog. To address this issue, a threshold-based semi-automated algorithm was developed and tested to determine whether or not an image is obscured by fog or haze. Images were obtained from a ground-based camera network in Southern California, the …

Using Asos Ceilings And Mesonet Relative Humidity To Improve General Aviation Flight Planning And Decision Making In Complex Terrain, Connor Hayden Welch

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the increasing availability of weather products and access to data, the issue of weather representativeness, especially in relation to terrain, persists in the aviation industry. Data-sparse regions pose a particular challenge, requiring focused research efforts to address this issue and reduce accident and fatality rates within the general aviation (GA) community. This thesis aims to tackle the specific problem of representing visibility conditions, with a focus on obscuration conditions in elevated terrain.

To achieve this goal, data from Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) ceilometers and nearby mesonet relative humidity (RH) were analyzed to establish a relationship between the lowest …

Upwelling, Climate Change, And The Shifting Geography Of Coral Reef Development, Richard Aronson, Victor Rodriguez-Ruano, Lauren T. Toth, Ian C. Enochs, Carly J. Randall

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The eastern tropical Pacific is oceanographically unfavorable for coral-reef development. Nevertheless, reefs have persisted there for the last 7000 years. Rates of vertical accretion during the Holocene have been similar in the strong-upwelling Gulf of Panamá (GoP) and the adjacent, weak-upwelling Gulf of Chiriquí (GoC); however, seasonal upwelling in the GoP exacerbated a climate-driven hiatus in reef development in the late Holocene. The situation is now reversed and seasonal upwelling in the GoP currently buffers thermal stress, creating a refuge for coral growth. We developed carbonate budget models to project the capacity of reefs in both gulfs to keep up …

The Potential For Coral Reef Restoration To Mitigate Coastal Flooding As Sea Levels Rise, Richard Aronson, Lauren T. Toth, Curt D. Storlazzi, Ilsa B. Kuffner, Ellen Quataert, Johan Reyns, Robert Mccall, Anastasios Stathakopoulos, Zandy Hillis-Starr, Nathaniel Hanna Holloway, Kristen A. Ewen, Clayton G. Pollock, Tessa Code

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The ability of reefs to protect coastlines from storm-driven flooding hinges on their capacity to keep pace with sea-level rise. Here, we show how and whether coral restoration could achieve the often-cited goal of reversing the impacts of coral-reef degradation to preserve this essential function. We combined coral-growth measurements and carbonate-budget assessments of reef-accretion potential at Buck Island Reef, U.S. Virgin Islands, with hydrodynamic modeling to quantify future coastal flooding under various coral-restoration, sea-level rise, and storm scenarios. Our results provide guidance on how restoration of Acropora palmata, if successful, could mitigate the most extreme impacts of coastal flooding …

Internal Waves Of Port Everglades: Experimental And Numerical Studies To Characterize Ambient Magnetic Signals, Johanna Riley Evans

Theses and Dissertations

Ocean dynamics are an important contributing factor to measurable environmental magnetic noise. Seawater is conductive and as an internal wave oscillates across Earth’s magnetic field, a small yet detectable induced magnetic field develops. A significant source of underwater magnetic noise off the southeast coast of Florida comes from internal waves. Characterizing the magnetic signals present required a combination of computational modeling effort and field experiments. For this research, undersea sensors were monitored as a continuous field experiment and a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) model was customized to simulate internal wave-induced magnetic fields at the site. I developed the …

Cloud Image Classification Using Machine Learning, Marcus Peter Cote

Theses and Dissertations

Machine learning is a rapidly expanding technology that has proven to be highly useful for image classification. Ground-based camera networks are an emerging resource for aviation weather information with near real-time imagery available online for public viewing and download. While raw web camera imagery can be analyzed by aviators, high pilot workload motivates the use of machine learning to autonomously interpret cloud type information from images that is relevant to aviation weather hazards. In particular, transfer learning is a machine learning approach by which elements of a pre-trained machine learning model are refitted for new tasks. By employing transfer learning …

Understanding Ecological Relationships To Improve Biofouling Management Practices In The Marine Environment, Ann Catherine Wassick

Theses and Dissertations

Biofouling, the growth of benthic invertebrates on anthropogenic surfaces, impacts many industries and is a major vector of non-native species worldwide. Understanding the ecological relationships between biofouling organisms and their environment is necessary to assist management practices. This study investigates the biofouling communities at Port Canaveral, Florida, in order to potentially refine biofouling mitigation practices. Recruitment panels were used to document the temporal changes in community composition, biofouling pressure, recruitment, and growth rates. These factors were also used to assess relationships with temperature and salinity. A second component of this work provided documentation on the variation in non-native species abundance …

Modeling Settlement And Filtration Of The Indian River Lagoon Benthic Community, With An Emphasis On Living Dock Restoration Mats, Sandra Lisette Rech

Theses and Dissertations

The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) is one of the most biologically diverse estuaries in North America. An increase in population and anthropogenic effects have led to eutrophication, a decline in water quality, and overall degradation. The Living Docks program is a citizen science initiative started at the Florida Institute of Technology for lagoon restoration. In this program, public and private docks are volunteered to become Living Docks, where oyster mats made of plastic mesh and dead, dried oyster shells are attached to dock pilings in an effort to provide a natural substrate for benthic organism growth. The community which develops …

Climate Adaptation And Risk Preparedness In Florida’S East Coast Cities: Views Of Municipal Leaders, Sheila A. Young, Kenyon C. Lindeman, Samantha R. Fowler

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Cities along Florida’s Atlantic coastline are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, posing significant challenges for city planners. How cities see themselves in terms of developing or implementing their climate change adaptation action plans depends, in part, on the extent to which they perceive climate-related events as risks, and their city size. Data were obtained from city leaders (i.e. mayors, city/town managers, or their designees) from 86 cities along Florida’s Atlantic Coast from January to May 2021 to quantitatively assess factors influencing city adaptation planning. Validity and reliability were obtained for the survey. Multiple regression analyses showed significant …

Vibration Control Of Submerged Floating Tunnel In Waves And Earthquakes Through Tuned Mass Damper, Chungkuk Jin, Sung-Jae Kim, Moohyun Kim

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

In this study, a passive Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) is investigated to dampen resonant motions of a Submerged Floating Tunnel (SFT) in waves and earthquakes. TMD is adopted to control resonant lateral motion. A time-domain dynamics simulation model that considers the elasticity of the tunnel and mooring lines is first established, which is based on the lumped mass method and Morison equation, and the SFT-TMD interaction is considered through springs and dampers. Next, by using the Harmony Search (HS) algorithm, TMD's spring and damping coefficients are optimized; the dynamics simulations under white noise seismic excitations are continuously carried out with …

Water Quality Correlations With Phytoplankton Community Composition In A Polluted Shallow Subtropical Estuary, Connor Joseph Wong

Theses and Dissertations

The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) estuary has experienced eutrophication and degraded water quality due to high nutrient input, urbanization, and anthropogenic stressors. High nutrient input and restricted estuarine hydrology promotes algal blooms. Algal blooms or harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a global concern as they can cause negative ecological and economic impacts. The frequency and range of HABs is expected to be exacerbated by climate change and altered oceanic and estuarine conditions. Research on the formation and frequency of HABs is an ongoing global effort, but algal blooms are often dynamic and patchy making them difficult to study. This study …

Testing The Efficacy Of Uvc Leds For Biofouling Control, Margaret Jeannette Giggie

Theses and Dissertations

The use of ultraviolet-C (UVC) light as a biofouling preventative has been successfully demonstrated using mercury-based lamps. However, these lamps have several limitations (such as fragility and use of mercury), and the use of UVC LEDs (light-emitting diodes) has been suggested as an alternative. Several experiments were conducted to assess the efficacy of LED strips (29 W, 270 nm, emittance angle of 130º) for biofouling control, as well as to compare them to a classic lamp (25 W, 254 nm, emits UVC light at 360º). Experiment #1 assessed the biofouling abundance and community composition on test panels exposed to either …

Development And Optimization Of A Denitrification System To Promote Biological Nutrient Removal In A Subtropical Estuary, Abigail Gering

Theses and Dissertations

Eutrophication impacts coastal ecosystems globally and triggers phytoplankton and algal blooms, leading to an increase in oxygen demand in the water column and sediments due to various biogeochemical processes. Naturally, biological nitrification, denitrification and anammox processes help to remove nitrogen predominately by nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria in the sediments. Eutrophic systems have increased nutrient and organic matter loading and are prone to the accumulation of ‘muddy’, fine-grained, organic-rich sediments (locally termed ‘muck’) that may not be able to support high enough populations of these bacteria, and therefore, may not adequately support nitrification/denitrification processes that would otherwise remove nitrogen. To decrease …

Changes In The Abundance And Distribution Of Benthic Mollusks In Polluted Sediments Of A Shallow Subtropical Estuary, Rachael Holtsberg Stark

Theses and Dissertations

The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) has been degraded by decades of eutrophication, and has accumulated an abundance of fine-grained, organic-rich sediments (muck). To quantify the impacts of organic sediments and environmental dredging, benthic mollusks were chosen to serve as bioindicators of environmental change, sediment health, and water quality. Data on species richness, biodiversity, and abundances was collected alongside sediment and water quality data before, during and after dredging. Organic sediment content was found to have an inverse logarithmic relationship benthic mollusk biodiversity, species richness, and abundance. Sediments low in percent organic content (0.7% to 6.1%) were located near the adjacent …

A Biological Assessment Of Oyster Restoration Mats Throughout The Indian River Lagoon: Changes In Community Composition And Filtration Capacity Of Living Docks, Morgan Katherine Gilligan

Theses and Dissertations

Like many estuaries worldwide, the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), has seen a decline in resources and overall water quality due to human activities. There is a growing interest in implementing ecological engineering methods to restore water quality. One such method is the construction and deployment of oyster restoration mats on dock pilings, known as the Living Docks program. This community driven program was founded at Florida Tech with the goal of promoting the growth of filter feeding benthic organisms to improve local water quality. Since 2013, twelve docks have been deployed in the central IRL, spanning from Cape Canaveral (28º …

A Glint Contaminated Pixel Correction Algorithm And Potential Application For Estimating Water Visibility, Andrea Taggart

Theses and Dissertations

Glint in satellite reflectance images contaminates pixels making it difficult to ascertain what lies beneath the water surface. An algorithm was created to correct glint contaminated pixels using a nearest neighbor non-glint pixel search algorithm written in Python. The results of the glint corrected pixels were then analyzed using an algorithm to estimate water visibility using light attenuation depths and second derivative estimators based upon glint corrected satellite reflectance using channels from a WorldView-3 (WV-3) image. The above was accomplished for sand, mud, and seagrass bottom types. The results suggest that estimated attenuation depths (a measure of water visibility) is …

Studies On How Grooming Can Improve The Performance Of Fouling Control Coatings, Lauren Elizabeth Foy

Theses and Dissertations

Biofouling is the accumulation of unwanted organisms on a submerged surface. This can be a major issue to most marine activities. The most common approach to biofouling prevention on ship hulls is the application of fouling control coatings (FCC), which can be categorized as biocidal and biocide-free. Grooming has been proposed as a proactive method to maintain these coatings and extend their working lives. In 2010, Tribou first defined grooming as the systematic, gentle, and mechanical disruption and removal of fouling on a ship hull. For biocidal coatings, grooming maintains the active biocide contained in the coating, preventing organism attachment. …

Cathodically Protected Steel Mesh As An Environmentally Friendly Material For Oyster Reef Restoration, Afanasy Melnikov

Theses and Dissertations

Plastic mesh is widely used in oyster reef restoration efforts worldwide, including the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) estuary in Florida. Plastic degrades overtime, releasing microplastics and nanoplastics particles into the environment and causing harm to the marine ecosystem. Thus, there is an ongoing need to find an alternative eco-friendly material. Cathodically protected steel, a possible alternate substrate for such restoration, involves an electrical current running through steel to create an impressed cathodic system. This results in the formation of chalk on the steel, similar to the limestone (calcium carbonate) base of reefs. A benefit of this process is that the …

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 …

Using Disruptive Coloration And Ultraviolet Light To Prevent Barnacle Settlement, Kailey Nicole Richard

Theses and Dissertations

Biofouling or the accumulation of unwanted micro and macro organisms is problematic for the shipping industry. Barnacles are one of the most abundant fouling organisms and their settlement on ship hulls can result in costly damage. Several methods have been developed to prevent the formation of biofouling, including antifouling coatings and mechanical techniques, but the search for more effective and environmentally friendly solutions is still ongoing. This thesis investigated two methods aimed at barnacle prevention: color patterning and the application of ultraviolet light. The first method utilized disruptive coloration, a common mechanism observed in nature by terrestrial organisms (i.e. butterflies) …

Organic Sediment Impacts On Seagrasses And Their Associations With Benthic Fauna, Sean Matthew Crowley

Theses and Dissertations

Human-population growth and rapid rates of urbanization have led to eutrophic conditions in estuaries throughout the world. Effects often include severe algal blooms, decreased dissolved oxygen levels, and the accumulation of fine-grained organic-rich sediments. One frequent negative consequence of eutrophication is the decline of seagrasses, a vital component of coastal ecosystems. Seagrasses provide shelter from predation, serve as nursery habitat, stabilize sediments, act as a sink for excess carbon, produce oxygen, and are a food source for many herbivores. Seagrasses are also sensitive to environmental changes, such as declining water quality and increased sedimentation rates. This study examines the impacts …

Gut Content Analysis Of Benthic Foraging Fish Compared To Invertebrate Infauna Distributions In Dredged Vs. Undredged Habitats, Danielle Louise Juzwick

Theses and Dissertations

The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) has experienced a loss in seagrasses due to organic sediment accumulation and harmful algal blooms. Seagrasses are an essential nursery habitat for many fishes and benthic invertebrates. IRL fish known to utilize benthic habitat and feed on invertebrates include Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulates), juvenile Red Drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), and Mojarra (Eucinostomus spp.). The most abundant major infaunal taxa of the IRL are crustaceans, polychaetes, and mollusks. Environmental dredging in the IRL’s Turkey Creek is intended to improve water quality, remove harmful sediments and restore benthic habitat. Such dredging may impact benthic invertebrate populations and, indirectly, …

Measurements And Synthetic Imaging Of Water Surface Gravity Waves Using Optical Techniques, Jennifer Closson

Theses and Dissertations

Remote sensing technologies are useful tools when gathering spatial and temporal information about dynamic coastal regions. A method is proposed using an in-situ space-time imaging technique for evaluating wave periods and wavelengths of surface water waves in shallow urban coastal water environments. Video imagery of shallow water waves was acquired using high definition video cameras. Video imagery records of surface water waves using staff gauges and simultaneously deployed targets were used to determine wave periods, wavelengths and wave amplitudes. Time series analyses is applied to the video derived time series. Wave energy spectrums are extracted and used to simulated synthetic …

The Effect Of Environmental Muck Dredging On Abundance And Community Richness Of Benthic Amphipods In The Indian River Lagoon, Nayan Mallick

Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic eutrophication has polluted and degraded estuarine ecosystems throughout the world. The Indian River Lagoon (IRL), a diverse North American estuary, has accumulated an abundance of Fine-Grained Organic-Rich Sediments (FGORS or “muck”) due to eutrophication. Muck creates stressful, sometimes uninhabitable conditions for benthic flora and fauna, with far-reaching ancillary ecosystem impacts. In an attempt to ameliorate negative ecosystem impacts, muck deposits in Turkey Creek were dredged by Brevard County Natural Resources (Florida). One month after the dredging, mean abundance of amphipods rose to 110±90 individuals m-2 from 0±0 individuals m-2 in the dredged muck sites. Four amphipod species colonized muck …

A Probabilistic Approach To Generating Representative Wind Forcing And Wave Heights Within An Estuarine Environment, Vanessa Maria Haley

Theses and Dissertations

While wind driven waves affect erosion, sediment resuspension, and flow in shallow estuaries like the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), neither winds nor waves are well observed in this environment. In order to calculate accurate significant wave heights, the winds used for the calculation must be consistent with the observed winds over the lagoon. Given the complex land/water geometry and subsequent limited fetch, a probabilistic approach is used to produce a representative wind field over the IRL. Observed winds, near the IRL, are used to sample wind distributions obtained from 180 high resolution atmospheric model simulations in order to generate a …

Ecological Responses To Eutrophication And Restoration In A Shallow Subtropical Estuary, Xiao Ma

Theses and Dissertations

Like many other estuaries in the world, the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) is experiencing serious environmental health challenges in recent years. Ecosystem challenges include the connected phenomena of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) due to eutrophication and accumulation of fine-grained organic-rich sediments on the benthos. Fine-grained organic-rich sediments, referred to as “muck”, is a source of nutrients and fuels algal blooms in the water column, and excess particles associated with algal blooms sink to bottom and contribute to muck. This dissertation aims to better understand these problems by addressing two main objectives: first, to determine whether key herbivorous mesozooplankton have the …

Wind-Driven Setup, Roughness, And Drag Over A Depth- And Fetch-Limited Coastal Estuary, Jeffrey Allen Colvin

Theses and Dissertations

The understanding of the momentum exchange across the air-sea interface is critical to accurately model and forecast wind speed, wave properties, setup, and circulation. This is particularly true for a restricted estuary, such as the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), where wind is the driving force behind water movement due to the limited number of direct ocean connections. Current atmospheric and hydrodynamic models use formulations of the drag coefficient and/or roughness length based on open ocean studies in which wave properties are not considered. This dissertation develops two parameterizations – one for wind setup and one for the drag coefficient – …

Lighting A Path To Biofouling Prevention: Investigating The Effect Of Ultraviolet Light On Biofouling, Cierra Rose Braga

Theses and Dissertations

Ultraviolet light (UV) is considered an environmentally friendly antifouling method because it disrupts biological growth without the release of harmful toxins. The application of UV for the marine shipping industry is a relatively new concept, and there still remains many unknowns before it can be fully implemented. This research investigated several aspects of applying UVC for the control of fouling. A novel method of using embedded UV LEDs within a silicone coating for fouling control proved to be very effective at preventing fouling. The research also investigated the effect of using an external UVC light treatment to control fouling on …

Keeping Up With Sea-Level Rise: Carbonate Production Rates In Palau And Yap, Western Pacific Ocean, Robert Van Woesik, Christopher William Cacciapaglia

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Coral reefs protect islands from tropical storm waves and provide goods and services for millions of islanders worldwide. Yet it is unknown how coral reefs in general, and carbonate production in particular, will respond to sea-level rise and thermal stress associated with climate change. This study compared the reef-building capacity of different shallow-water habitats at twenty-four sites on each of two islands, Palau and Yap, in the western Pacific Ocean. We were particularly interested in estimating the inverse problem of calculating the value of live coral cover at which net carbonate production becomes negative, and whether that value varied across …

Morphologic Evolution Of A Nearshore Berm: One Year Monitoring At Ft. Myers Beach, Florida, Kristopher Jason Enfinger

Theses and Dissertations

Nourishment in the form of a nearhsore berm has become an important alternative method to protecting shorelines and introducing sediment back into the littoral system. In 2009, a nearshore berm was constructed at Ft. Myers Beach, Florida by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers through maintenance dredging of a nearby navigational channel at Matanzas Pass. Constructed in the form of a nearshore bar, the berm was one of the shallowest placements in a low-wave energy setting. The Coastal Research Lab at the University of South Florida (USF-CRL) conducted field monitoring for the first four years after the construction. This project …