Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Data Improved Models Applied To Essential Oceanographic Processes In Rhode Island Coastal Waters, Ainsley Fruhwirth

Open Access Master's Theses

The Ocean State Ocean Model (OSOM), funded and developed through the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), was designed to simulate the physical dynamics of Rhode Island’s estuaries and shelf waters. However, the model struggled to capture key features of summer circulation in Rhode Island Sound (RIS), most notably the westward flowing coastal current and vertical stratification profile found in May through September. Significant errors in modeled lateral and vertical density gradients indicated that the thermohaline structure, physical mixing parameters, and forcing inputs required comprehensive revision. Using historical datasets from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric …

Linking Phytoplankton Physiology And Ecology To Global Biogeochemical Cycles: A Modeling Approach, Margaret Bernish

Open Access Dissertations

Phytoplankton, or microscopic primary producers, contribute to carbon export through the biological transformation of carbon dioxide into organic molecules. Phytoplankton are responsible for approximately half of global net primary production, while only contributing minimally to total photosynthetic biomass. Despite their important role in the global cycling of nutrients, phytoplankton physiology and ecology are often highly simplified in global biogeochemical models. This dissertation elucidates the role of phytoplankton physiology and ecology within biogeochemical cycles, allowing for better characterization of marine microbial distribution and better representation of nutrient cycling for interpretive and predictive models. The development of formulations that link physiological responses …

Submesoscale Dynamics Of Phytoplankton And Carbon Export Revealed By High-Resolution Airborne And Satellite Remote Sensing Of Currents And Ocean Color, Sarah E. Lang

Open Access Dissertations

Satellites and airborne sensors reveal submesoscale (1 - 10 km) variability in ocean color in the form of filaments, eddies, and patches. The variability in ocean color is closely tied to the physical dynamics that restructure phytoplankton distributions and drive active biological responses like changes in primary productivity and community structure. As the base of the marine food web and a key component of the biological carbon pump, phytoplankton are crucial to the overall health of marine ecosystems and to the ocean's role in climate. This dissertation focuses on the use of airborne and satellite remote sensing to study the …

Impact Of Water Quality And Gear Type On Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica) Growth In Narragansett Bay, Ri, Jacqueline Rosa

Open Access Master's Theses

Oyster aquaculture is expanding in Rhode Island, yet key farming regions in the lower West Passage of Narragansett Bay (WPNB) lack the in-situ, high-temporal resolution monitoring needed to evaluate emerging stressors and support production. At the same time, the industry is undergoing rapid technological development aimed at improving production while reducing labor and overall costs. In recent years, a low-maintenance, alternative surface gear was introduced in WPNB; however, its impact on oyster performance relative to traditional cultivation methods has not been quantified. This study established a 1.5-year continuous water quality time series in WPNB and paired these observations with …

Amino Acid Isotope Dynamics And Associated Ecological Metrics Across Accretionary Tissues Of Marine Fishes, Sofia Piccone

Open Access Master's Theses

Compound-specific isotope analysis of amino acids (CSIA-AA) applied to the organic growth layers of accretionary fish tissues, including eye lenses, otoliths, and scales, has made it possible to reconstruct histories of fish physiology, ecology, and environmental conditions. Yet it remains uncertain whether amino acid isotope values, and the ecological information they contain, are conserved across these archival tissues or if differences in tissue composition, growth, protein structure, and metabolic routing produce tissue-specific offsets that alter inferred carbon sources, d¹⁵N_Baseline, and trophic position. We tested this question with individually paired CSIA-AA of eye lenses, otoliths, and scales …

Metabarcoding-Biomass Relationships And Internal Standards For Quantitative Dna Metabarcoding, Frances Webber

Open Access Master's Theses

DNA metabarcoding has been widely adopted due to its power in investigating the composition of protistan communities, accurately identifying even small and cryptic taxa. However, the compositional nature of DNA metabarcoding results, and the distortion of natural abundances due to variation of the often-used 18S rRNA gene copy number over several orders of magnitude, renders these results semi-quantitative at best, limiting the application of DNA metabarcoding to ecological study. Here, we constructed mock communities from uni-algal cultures of taxonomically diverse phytoplankton and conducted metabarcoding using multiple primer sets and both DNA and cDNA as PCR templates. For each culture, chlorophyll …

Quantifying Links Between Phytoplankton Physiology And The Environment, Gabrielle M. Armin

Open Access Dissertations

Phytoplankton are microscopic, primary producers in aquatic ecosystems worldwide. They are key links in global biogeochemical cycles, converting inorganic compounds into bioavailable nutrients which fuel fisheries. Through photosynthesis, phytoplankton play an essential role in the carbon cycle and marine biological pump, drawing carbon from the atmosphere, which is eventually sequestered in the oceans, regulating our Earth’s climate. Due to their influential role in large scale processes, there have been many efforts to characterize and quantify phytoplankton impacts to ecosystem health and global nutrient cycles. Often, phytoplankton physiology has been highly simplified in global or ecosystem models, limiting their representation to …

Numerical Modeling Study Of Coastal Impacts From Extreme Storms And Sea Level Rise In Southern New England, Deborah Crowley

Open Access Dissertations

Coastal areas in southern New England are vulnerable to a range of impacts from extreme storms and sea level rise. The most frequent extreme storms are extratropical storms, commonly referred to as nor’easters, named for the direction of the strongest winds, though these storms also have strong winds from other directions.

Storm winds generate large waves and push water up along the coast in the form of storm surge. The combined impacts of increased water levels and waves include flooding and morphological change. Sea level rise (SLR) will exacerbate these processes, amplifying the associated impacts, which may pose increasing threats …

A Socio-Ecological Investigation Of Ulithian Spearfishing, Joshua Pi

Open Access Dissertations

Coral reef socio-ecological systems (SESs) characterize the interconnected relationships between coral reef ecosystems and reef-dependent communities. One such SES exists in Ulithi Atoll, Federated States of Micronesia, where Ulithians fish, steward, and govern their reefs through customary marine tenure, traditional ecological knowledge, and cultural taboos. In recent decades, rapid modernization in Ulithi has introduced new fishing technologies, transformed fishing practices, and ultimately reshaped the functioning of Ulithi’s traditional SES. One significant change was the introduction of spearfishing during the mid-20^th century, which is more selective and individualistic compared to other community-centric fishing methods that have existed for generations. This …

Incorporating Time-Varying Parameters And Climate Drivers Into Fisheries Models, Rachel Catherine Marshall

Open Access Dissertations

Commercial fishing is a highly valuable industry in the United States and globally, and as such, managing based on the best available science is necessary to maintain important fish stocks. Some parameters in stock assessment models that are assumed to be constant over age and time may actually vary to an extent that stock assessment modeling results could be improved by allowing the parameters to vary in the models. In the present dissertation, two stock assessment parameters that are typically held constant are explored for potential time or age variance. Potential environmental drivers of nonstationary parameters are also explored. Productivity, …

Coupled Numerical Modeling Of Wave-Current Interactions In Tropical Cyclones, Angelos Papandreou

Open Access Dissertations

This Ph.D. dissertation presents a numerical modeling study of wave-current interactions in tropical cyclones. Chapter 1 focuses on wave-current interaction in shallow water during hurricane landfall, when strong winds often generate severe storm surges that dramatically raise water levels and cause significant damage to human lives and property. Large waves generated by these winds further amplify storm surges, making it necessary to couple storm surge models with wave prediction models. Currently, two-dimensional coupled storm surge-wave models incorporate the effect of waves on the storm surge through the forcing of radiation stress gradients. However, recent studies on wave-current interactions indicate that …

Big Cells, Big Impact: Unravelling Seasonal Patterns Of Net Primary Production In Narragansett Bay, Dominique Jae Lockwood

Open Access Master's Theses

Net primary production is a measurement of available energy, or the amount of biomass that phytoplankton produce during photosynthesis that fuels marine food webs and drives carbon cycling. Despite its ecological importance, net primary production is relatively understudied in comparison to chlorophyll-a, which is often used as a proxy for biomass rather than productivity. In this study, we measured size-fractionated net primary production and chlorophyll-a concentrations in Narragansett Bay over a 14-month period from January 2022 to February 2023. Weekly surface water samples were collected and filtered to distinguish between small (> 10 μm) and large ( …

Investigating Ventilation In The Amundsen Sea, Antarctica Using An Eddy-Permitting Regional Ocean Model, Lauren Kowalski

Open Access Master's Theses

The Amundsen Sea is not a known site of bottom water formation, yet the presence of Winter Water reveals the role of deep winter mixing. In this study, we investigate how the production of Winter Water within the Amundsen Sea leads to ventilation by introducing a surface tracer into a regional configuration of MITgcm with ECCO-constrained forcing conditions for the years from 1998 to 2023. Modeled mixed layer depths routinely reached depths of 300 m or deeper in coastal polynyas and along sea ice divergence zones, driven by changes in salinity from sea ice formation and wind stress. The annual …

Navigating Online Perceptions Of Offshore Wind On Social Media: Facebook Discussions On Recent Whale Strandings, Giselle Hausmann

Open Access Master's Theses

The Biden-Harris administration implemented a goal to achieve 30 GW of offshore wind energy by 2030 (US Department of Interior, 2021). The rapid increase in offshore wind activity on the East Coast, combined with NOAA’s declared unusual mortality event in 2016/2017, has sparked a discussion about offshore wind being a potential cause of whale deaths. This paper aims to analyze the discourse on offshore wind and whales through a content analysis of Facebook comments. Facebook pages from Massachusetts (The New England Aquarium), Rhode Island (Rhode Island DEM), New York (The Atlantic Marine Conservation Society), New Jersey (Marine Mammal Stranding Center), …

Investigating The Effectiveness Of Best Management Practices In Reducing Fecal Bacteria In Narrow River, Rhode Island, Katherine Thompson

Open Access Master's Theses

Fecal bacterial contamination shapes how communities manage and use estuarine waters, with consequences for ecosystem health and public access. In Rhode Island's Narrow River, elevated concentrations of fecal coliforms and enterococci have restricted shellfishing for decades despite ongoing management efforts. From 2004 to 2018, local organizations implemented Best Management Practices (BMPs) to address water quality challenges, yet their effectiveness remains incompletely understood. This study analyzes three decades of monitoring data using linear regression, generalized additive models, and Before After Control Impact methods to evaluate BMP effectiveness and identify key drivers of contamination. Linear regression revealed spatially variable trends, with bacterial …

Semi-Empirical Prediction Of Wave Runup During Nor’Easters In New England, Pranav Sai

Open Access Master's Theses

Wave runup amplifies the impact of storm events on coastal beaches, accelerating erosion and threatening infrastructure. Accurate quantification of extreme runup during storms is critical for improving coastal hazard predictions and informing resilience strategies. Field measurements of wave and water levels enable empirically derived formulas to calculate runup, parameterizing setup, incident swash, and infragravity swash separately. This study predicts extreme runup across Napatree Point, a sandy barrier at Rhode Island’s westernmost point, known for its dissipative beach morphology and exposure to intense storm activity. Using the ADCIRC+SWAN hydrodynamic and wave models, mean sea level and surface wave parameters were simulated …

Impacts Of Multiple Coastal Stressors Across Life-History Stages In The Eastern Oyster, Amaelia Zyck

Open Access Dissertations

Urbanized estuaries are characterized as a complex of biotic and abiotic stressors, which currently challenge marine life and are expected to intensify and become increasingly unpredictable under the ongoing impacts of climate change. The persistence of coastal species that inhabit these stressful environments will ultimately depend on their ability to adapt. Many of these species have complex life cycles, featuring distinct morphological and physiological developmental stages that can exhibit unique responses to environmental pressures. However, since all stages share the same genome, selective pressures acting on one stage can have cascading effects throughout the life cycle. The larval stage, being …

Bioaccumulation Of Legacy And Novel Pfas In The Environment, Hesham Taher, Rainer Lohmann

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The bioaccumulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), both legacy and novel, in the environment presents significant ecological and health risks. PFAS are a diverse group of synthetic chemicals known for their persistence and bioaccumulation, which can cause widespread environmental contamination and health risks. Strong carbon-fluorine bonds give these compounds unparalleled stability, preventing them from degrading and enabling them to endure in a range of environmental matrices, including water, soil, and biota. Legacy PFAS, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), have been extensively studied and regulated, resulting in lower concentrations in some environmental media. However, novel PFAS, …

Corporate ‘Capture Strategies’ Impacting Human And Ecosystem Health, Alex T. Ford, Marlene Ågerstrand, Michael G. Bertram, Miriam L. Diamond, Rainer Lohmann, Andreas Schäffer, Martin Scheringer, Gabriel Sigmund, Anna Soehl, Maria Clara V.M. Starling, Noriyuki Suzuki, Marta Venier, Penny Vlahos

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The concept of regulatory capture has been extensively studied in academic literature, primarily within the social sciences. This phenomenon has been increasingly discussed in the environmental sciences as the impacts of regulatory capture on human and ecosystem health have become increasingly apparent. Regulatory capture is just one tactic employed by vested interests in the strategy of delaying, weakening, or abolishing policies designed to protect the public interest. Here, we define capture strategies as ‘the act of influencing individuals, organizations, or governments to prioritize corporate interests over those of human and ecosystem health’. Similar to the evolution of terms like whitewashing …

A Step Toward Reconstructing Climate Variability Druing The Last Ice Age Cycle In The Northeast Pacific Region, Blaine Lynch-Gadaleta

Senior Honors Projects

This study is designed as a step toward reconstructing the climate variability in the Northeast Pacific during the last ice age cycle, including the glacial and deglacial transitions. Reconstruction may also contribute to the regional picture of climate change and potentially provide new insights into the pattern of variability in the Northeast Pacific. Deep-sea sediment core AT26-19 09PC was collected west of the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. Samples were analyzed in 1 cm intervals, representing approximately 300-year resolution. The abundance of mineral grains, planktonic foraminifera, and the polar foraminifera N.pachyderma was quantified using split aliquots …

Understanding The Public Perception Of Available Scientific Resources In Coastal Southern Maine, James Gallagher

Senior Honors Projects

I have focused my education as an undergrad towards the effective communication of scientific fact to non-scientific groups. This area of study has recently been dubbed Science Communication and it encompasses the effective articulation, communication, and education of scientific topics to people who haven’t dedicated their lives to scientific study. A major component of effective Scientific Communication is understanding your audience and what kind of communication strategies are best for a chosen demographic.

I grew up in Ocean Park Maine, a small town on the coast of Southern Maine which drove my interest in Marine Science. With my experience in …

Environmental Isotope Geochemistry Ocg 550, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Hacking 4 Environment: Oceans Ocg 503, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Biological Oceanography Laboratory Ocg 562, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Marine Geobiology Ocg 5xx, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Global Ocean Change Ocg 511, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Marine Geobiology Ocg 502, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Global Ocean Change Ocg 5xx, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Ocean Resilience Ocg 601, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Flow Model Of Offshore Input Of Nitrogen Into The Narragansett Bay, Christopher M. Sireci

Senior Honors Projects

Nitrogen is an important nutrient in ecosystems, as it is used in many biological processes, including the creation of DNA and RNA. However, excess nitrogen in an ecosystem can have adverse effects, such as triggering algal blooms, which limit sunlight penetration to bottom growth, and create anoxic zones. Large scale strategies to remove excess nitrogen from wastewater treatment plants have been utilized, but they are expensive and can potentially remove too much, while increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, it is essential that we understand the accurate full nitrogen budget for an estuary.

Narragansett Bay, an important coastal marine ecosystem that …