Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Spatial Analyses And Repletion Of Gargathy Coastal Lagoon, Loreto Herraiz Gomez

OES Theses and Dissertations

Coastal lagoons and bays vary in shape and size in response to antecedent topography, geologic processes and sea level rise. Variations in shape and environmental conditions of coastal basins are believed to influence the distribution of benthic sub-environments and the exchange of water with the ocean and other adjacent coastal systems. Gargathy Inlet and its coastal lagoon vary spatially from the inlet, where the greatest depths are observed, to the mainland, dominated by shallow intertidal areas, colonized by marsh. Hypsographic and hydro-hypsographic analyses of Gargathy's coastal lagoon were the primary techniques applied to understand the relative distribution of the benthic …

Using Moored Arrays And Hyperspectral Aerial Imagery To Develop Nutrient Criteria For New Hampshire's Estuaries, J. Ru Morrison, Thomas K. Gregory, Shachak Pe'eri, William H. Mcdowell, Philip Trowbridge

PREP Reports & Publications

Increasing nitrogen concentrations and declining eelgrass beds in Great Bay, NH are clear indicators of impending problems for the state’s estuaries. A workgroup established in 2005 by the NH Department of Environmental Services and the NH Estuaries Project (NHEP) adopted eelgrass survival as the water quality target for nutrient criteria development for NH’s estuaries. In 2007, the NHEP received a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to collect water quality information including that from moored sensors and hyper-spectral imagery data of the Great Bay Estuary. Data from the Great Bay Coastal Buoy, part of the regional Integrated Ocean Observing …

Results Of Precipitation Monitoring At Yucca Mountain, N. Mcginnis, Amanda Brandt

Publications (YM)

This is the final report presenting precipitation data collected under task ORD-FYO4-007 “Precipitation Monitoring at Yucca Mountain”. This task acquired data using tipping bucket rain gauges to measure, with known accuracy, the accumulation and timing of precipitation in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain. Operation of the tipping bucket precipitation monitoring network was assumed by the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies (HRC) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in March of 2001. Precipitation monitoring data collection concluded June of 2008. All data presented in this report were collected during that time.

Limnological Assistance For The Lake Mead National Recreation Area In Meeting The Challenge Of The Water 2025 Initiative: Quarterly Report, Period Ending September 30, 2008, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1: Technical input has been provided at eight advisory team meetings attended this quarter. Broad, overarching “Issues of Concern” developed for the Boulder Basin Adaptive Management Plan are currently under review by Drs. David Wong and Shawn Gerstenberger. A Selenium Management Plan is also under review.

Project 2: Data collected by the Southern Nevada Water Authority has been synthesized to summarize bacteria counts in high-use areas of Lakes Mead and Mohave. This information will be documented and interpreted for management use in a formal report in the upcoming quarter.

Project 3: A draft document titled “Suggested Standard Methods for …

U.S. Law Of The Sea Cruise To Map The Foot Of The Slope And 2500-M Isobath Of The U.S. Arctic Ocean Margin. Cruise Report For 2008, Larry A. Mayer, Andy Armstrong

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

USCGC Icebreaker Healy (WAGB-20)

U.S. Law of the Sea cruise to map the foot of the slope and 2500-m isobath of the US Arctic Ocean margin

CRUISES HE-0805

August 14 to September 5, 2008

Barrow, AK to Barrow, AK

Closed-Loop Adaptive Optics Control In Strong Atmospheric Turbulence, Todd M. Venema

Theses and Dissertations

A self-referencing interferometer based closed-loop adaptive optics controller is developed which is designed to operate effectively under strong turbulence conditions. The aberrated optical field is modeled stochastically and then estimates of the state of the system are developed using a steady-state, fixed-gain Kalman filter. The phase of the optical field is considered the state of the system which is wrapped in a limited range of (-π, π]. This phase is unwrapped through the use of a least-squares reconstructor which has been modified to work effectively in the presence of branch points associated with strong turbulence. The conjugate of the optical …

Critical Review Of The Literature On Marine Mammal Population Modelling, Edward O. Keith

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

A comprehensive literature review and modeling effort have been conducted in order to determine which vital rates are most important to determining the growth and sustainability of marine mammal populations. Also addressed are the impacts of life-history, ecological, and genetic variation on vital rates and population sustainability and how much each vital parameter can change before a change in population trend would be expected. Additionally, the influence of ecological energetics and foraging strategies on vital rates and their limits of sustainable change are examined, and the nature of how an increase in sound in the marine environment might influence marine …

Sfa Weather Station-September 2008, Arthur Temple College Of Forestry And Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University

Weather Station Data

No abstract provided.

Mapping Coral Reef Habitats In Southeast Florida Using A Combined Technique Approach, Brian K. Walker, Bernhard Riegl, Richard E. Dodge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

To create maps of nearshore benthic habitats of Broward County, Florida, from 0 to 35 m depth, we combined laser bathymetry, acoustic ground discrimination, subbottom profiling, and aerial photography data in a geographic information system (GIS). A mosaic of interpolated, sun-shaded, laser bathymetry data served as the foundation upon which acoustic ground discrimination, limited subbottom profiling and aerial photography, and groundtruthing data aided in interpretation of habitats. Mapping criteria similar to NOAA biogeographic Caribbean mapping were used to allow for a comparable output. Expert-driven visual interpretation outlined geomorphological features at a scale of 1 : 6000 with a minimum mapping …

Enhanced Secondary Organic Aerosol Formation Due To Water Uptake By Fine Particles, Stephen R. Hennigan, M Bergin, Jack E. Dibb, Rodney J. Weber

Earth Sciences

This study characterizes the partitioning behavior of a significant fraction of the ambient organic aerosol through simultaneous measurements of gas and particle watersoluble organic carbon (WSOC). During the summer in Atlanta, WSOC gas/particle partitioning showed a strong RH dependence that was attributed to particulate liquid water. At elevated RH levels (>70%) a significant increase in WSOC partitioning to the particle phase was observed and followed the predicted water uptake by fine particles. The enhancement in particle-phase partitioning translated to increased median particle WSOC concentrations ranging from 0.3 –0.9 mgCm3 . The results provide a detailed overview of the WSOC …

The Contribution Of Advective Fluxes To Net Ecosystem Exchange In A High-Elevation, Subalpine Forest, Chuixiang Yi, Dean E. Anderson, Andrew A. Turnipseed, Sean P. Burns, Jed P. Sparks, David I. Stannard, Russell K. Monson

Publications and Research

The eddy covariance technique, which is used in the determination of net ecosystem CO₂ exchange (NEE), is subject to significant errors when advection that carries CO₂ in the mean flow is ignored. We measured horizontal and vertical advective CO₂ fluxes at the Niwot Ridge AmeriFlux site (Colorado, USA) using a measurement approach consisting of multiple towers. We observed relatively high rates of both horizontal (F_hadv) and vertical (F_vadv) advective fluxes at low surface friction velocities (u_*) which were associated with downslope katabatic flows. We observed that F_hadv was confined to …

Lsuhsc Facilities Daily Update: September 2008, Lsuhsc Property And Facilities Management

LSUHSC Facilities Daily Updates: 2008

LSUHSC Dailly Facilities Updates from September 2008. These updates describe damage and a timeline of repairs at the LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans campus due to Hurricane Katrina which made landfall August 29, 2005.

Lsuhsc Facilities Biweekly Update: September 2008, Lsuhsc Property And Facilities Management

LSUHSC Facilities Biweekly Updates: 2008

LSUHSC Facilities Biweekly Update from September 26, 2008.

These updates describe damage and a timeline of repairs at the LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans campus due to Hurricane Katrina which made landfall August 29, 2005.

Deep Sea Underwater Robotic Exploration In The Ice-Covered Arctic Ocean With Auvs, Clayton Kunz, Chris Murphy, Richard Camilli, Hanumant Singh, John Bailey, Ryan M. Eustice, Chris Roman, Michael Jakuba, Claire Willis, Taichi Sato, Ko-Ichi Nakamura, Robert A. Sohn

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The Arctic seafloor remains one of the last unexplored areas on Earth. Exploration of this unique environment using standard remotely operated oceanographic tools has been obstructed by the dense Arctic ice cover. In the summer of 2007 the Arctic Gakkel Vents Expedition (AGAVE) was conducted with the express intention of understanding aspects of the marine biology, chemistry and geology associated with hydrothermal venting on the section of the mid-ocean ridge known as the Gakkel Ridge. Unlike previous research expeditions to the Arctic the focus was on high resolution imaging and sampling of the deep seafloor. To accomplish our goals we …

Precipitation Rates And Atmospheric Heat Transport During The Cenomanian Greenhouse Warming In North America: Estimates From A Stable Isotope Mass-Balance Model, David F. Ufnar, Greg A. Ludvigson, Luis González, Darren R. Gröcke

Faculty Publications

Stable isotope mass-balance modeling results of meteoric δ¹⁸O values from the Cenomanian Stage of the Cretaceous Western Interior Basin (KWIB) suggest that precipitation and evaporation fluxes were greater than that of the present and significantly different from simulations of Albian KWIB paleohydrology. Sphaerosiderite meteoric δ¹⁸O values have been compiled from the Lower Tuscaloosa Formation of southwestern Mississippi (25°N paleolatitude), The Dakota Formation Rose Creek Pit, Fairbury Nebraska (35°N) and the Dunvegan Formation of eastern British Columbia (55°N paleolatitude). These paleosol siderite δ¹⁸O values define a paleolatitudinal gradient ranging from − 4.2‰ VPDB at 25°N …

Dispersal Limitation And Climate-Related Environmental Gradients Structure Microcrustacean Composition In Freshwater Lakes, Ellesmere Island, Canada, Angela L. Strecker, Rebecca Milne, Shelley E. Arnott

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Dramatic environmental change is expected in the Arctic, yet little is known about the occurrence and community composition of microcrustaceans in Arctic lakes and how this will be influenced by future environmental change. We sampled and calculated relative abundances of microcrustacean species in 54 lakes on Ellesmere Island, Canada. New species records on Ellesmere Island included Daphnia umbra, Tachidius discipes, and Artemeopsis stefanssoni. Daphnia middendorffiana/tenebrosa was the most common taxon and often dominated microcrustacean assemblages, likely a result of its pigmentation, which offers resistance to ultraviolet radiation. Species richness was positively associated with nutrients, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), temperature, calcium, …

National Clean Energy Summit Midday Keynote, Jon Huntsman

National Clean Energy Summit

Midday keynote

Assessment Of Coliform Bacteria From Point And Nonpoint Sources In The Las Vegas Wash, Susan O'Neill, Kumud Acharya

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

This project focuses on an assessment of coliform bacteria from point and non point sources in Las Vegas Wash. Correlations between land use related runoffs, nutrients and organic matter loading and total coliform will be studied. Data will be collected for both daily low and high flow events. Sampling locations will cover all major land use types such as golf course, hotels, hospitals, residential areas, etc., at both the main Wash and its tributaries.

Sfa Weather Station-August 2008, Arthur Temple College Of Forestry And Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University

Weather Station Data

No abstract provided.

Geology And Hydrology Of Karst In West-Central And North-Central Florida, Lee J. Florea

Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences Faculty Publications

The state of Florida is blessed with the highest density of large springs in North America and hundreds of smaller springs where the water from limestone aquifers returns to the surface (Scott et al., 2004). Spectacular underwater caves supply water to these springs. Lesser known are the equally fantastic air-filled caves of Florida and South Georgia (Florea, 2006; Lane, 1986). This paper features these underwater and airfilled caves, explores the impact of changes in sea level on karst in this near-coastal environment, and establishes several geologic and hydrologic characteristics that distinguish karst in the limestones of the southeast from karst …

Summer 2008, Nsu Oceanographic Center

Currents

No abstract provided.

The Mayan Ice Cap: Glacial Geology And Paleoclimate Of The Northern Guatemalan Highlands, Alex Joseph Roy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Sierra de los Cuchumatanes region of the northern Guatemalan highlands supported a large plateau ice cap with an area of -40 km2 along with a group of 5 cirque glaciers -1 to 2 km2 during the local last glacial maximum (LLGM). A comprehensive mapping reconstruction of the northern Guatemalan highlands is presented here, including glacial geology and an estimate of maximum ice limits from physical evidence and computer modeling. The glacial geologic map was produced via field mapping with global positioning system (GPS) surveying combined with aerial stereo photographic and topographic map analysis. This new field work on moraine …

Lsuhsc Facilities Biweekly Update: August 2008, Lsuhsc Property And Facilities Management

LSUHSC Facilities Biweekly Updates: 2008

LSUHSC Facilities Biweekly Updates from August 1, 15 and 29, 2008.

These updates describe damage and a timeline of repairs at the LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans campus due to Hurricane Katrina which made landfall August 29, 2005.

Lsuhsc Facilities Daily Update: August 2008, Lsuhsc Property And Facilities Management

LSUHSC Facilities Daily Updates: 2008

LSUHSC Dailly Facilities Updates from August 2008. These updates describe damage and a timeline of repairs at the LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans campus due to Hurricane Katrina which made landfall August 29, 2005.

Observations Of High Frequency, Long Range Acoustic Propagation In A Harbor Environment, Michelle Weirathmueller, Thomas C. Weber, Larry A. Mayer

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

The positioning and navigation of AUV's in harbor environments using underwater acoustics is complicated by shallow waters, long propagation distances, and complex oceanographic features. This paper reports on high frequency (40 kHz) acoustic measurements made in Portsmouth Harbor, NH, USA, which is an estuary containing several riverine inputs and a strong tidal flow (2+ knots). A one-way propagation experiment was conducted at the mouth of the harbor for propagation distances up to 100 water depths. Strong signatures of a variety of phenomenon were observed in the acoustic signal levels, including tidal heights and currents, turbulent mixing, and wind/wave action. The …

Ice-Rafted Detritus Events In The Arctic During The Last Glacial Interval, And The Timing Of The Innuitian And Laurentide Ice Sheet Calving Events, Dennis A. Darby, Paula Zimmerman

OES Faculty Publications

Ice-rafted detritus (IRD) layers in the Arctic Ocean not only indicate the source of this detrital sediment, but give insights into the ice drift and ice sheet history. Detrital sand-sized FE oxide mineral grains that are matched to precise sources using the microprobe chemical fingerprint of each grain, along with elevated coarse IRD abundance and radiocarbon ages, are used to define IRD peaks from the Innuitian and Arctic portions of the Laurentide ice sheets. Because grains from these two areas can be entrained by sea ice from the shelves just offshore of the calving areas, peaks in these grains must …

Spatial And Temporal Patterns In The Microbial Diversity Of A Meromictic Soda Lake In Washington State, Pedro A. Dimitriu, Holly C. Pinkart, Brent M. Peyton, Melanie R. Mormile

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

The microbial community diversity and composition of meromictic Soap Lake were studied using culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches. The water column and sediments were sampled monthly for a year. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA genes showed an increase in diversity with depth for both groups. Late-summer samples harbored the highest prokaryotic diversity, and the bacteria exhibited less seasonal variability than the archaea. Most-probable-number assays targeting anaerobic microbial guilds were performed to compare summer and fall samples. In both seasons, the anoxic samples appeared to be dominated by lactate-oxidizing sulfate-reducing prokaryotes. High numbers of lactate- and acetate-oxidizing …

Deep-Pelagic Fishes And The Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Interactions And Vectoring Of Gelatinous Carbon To Higher Trophic Levels?, Tracey Sutton, F. M. Porteiro, C. I. H. Anderson, J. Horne

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

The assemblage structure and vertical distribution of deep-pelagic fishes relative to a mid-ocean ridge system is described from an acoustic and discrete-depth trawling survey conducted as part of the international Census of Marine Life field project MAR-ECO. A survey along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR), covering the full depth range (0 to >3000 m) with a combination of gear types, was conducted to understand the role of the pelagic fauna in ecosystem dynamics. A total of 205 fish species were collected by midwater sampling. Depth was by far the primary assemblage composition determinant, with ridge section secondary. The dominant ichthyofaunal component …

Variable Morphologic Expression Of Volcanic, Tectonic, And Hydrothermal Processes At Six Hydrothermal Vent Fields In The Lau Back-Arc Basin, Vicki Lynn Ferrini, Margaret K. Tivey, Suzanne M. Carbotte, Fernando Martinez, Chris Roman

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Ultrahigh-resolution bathymetric maps (25 cm grid) are used to quantify the physical dimensions of and spatial relationships between tectonic, volcanic, and hydrothermal features at six hydrothermal vent fields in the Lau back-arc basin. Supplemented with near-bottom photos, and nested within regional DSL-120A side-scan sonar data, these maps provide insight into the nature of hydrothermal systems along the Eastern Lau Spreading Center (ELSC) and Valu Fa Ridge (VFR). Along-axis transitions evident in localized volcanic morphology and tectonic characteristics include a change from broad low-relief volcanic domes (hundreds of meters wide,tall) that are dominated by pillow and lobate lava morphologies and are …

A Comparison Of Scleractinian Coral Abundance Between Natural And Artificial Substrata In A High-Latitude Environment Off Broward County, Florida, Usa, Deron James Bauer

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The Dania Beach Erojacks Artificial Reef was deployed off the coast of Broward County, Florida on December 31, 1967 as a way to help combat beach erosion. Over the last forty years, the linear pile of concrete hexapods has become an important habitat, for scleractinian corals, octocorals, algae, crustaceans, mollusks, and fish. This study focuses on the density and size of the scleractinian corals found on this artificial reef and how it compares to that of the nearby natural reef. In addition, the impact of two hurricanes on the shallow portion of the artificial reef was documented. In the 2-year …