Oceanography Commons^™

Ecosytem Services: Delivering Decision-Making For Salt Marshes, Philine S. E. Zu Ermgassen, Ronald Baker, Michael W. Beck, Kate Dodds, Sophus O. S. E. Zu Ermgassen, Debbrota Mallick, Matthew D. Taylor, R. Eugene Turner

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Variability Of Usa East Coast Surface Total Alkalinity Distributions Revealed By Automated Instrument Measurements, Christopher W. Hunt, Joseph Salisbury, Douglas Vandemark, Steffen Aßmann, Christopher Melrose, Rik Wanninkhof, Kumiko Azetsu-Scott

Faculty Publications

Seawater total alkalinity (TA) is one important determinant used to monitor the ocean carbon cycle, whose spatial distributions have previously been characterized along the United States East Coast via discrete bottle samples. Using these data, several regional models for TA retrievals based on practical salinity (S) have been developed. Broad-scale seasonal or interannual variations, however, are not well resolved in these models and existing data are highly seasonally biased. This study reports findings from the first long duration deployment of a new, commercially available TA titrator aboard a research vessel and the continuous underway surface TA measurements produced. The …

Organic Matter Spatial And Temporal Patterns In Coastal Sands Of Long Bay, South Carolina, Kayla B. Christofferson

Honors Theses

Sandy coastlines serve crucial functions to coastal economies and coastal ecology alike. In the past, organic-poor sands were considered of lower importance than organic-rich muds. Recent studies showed that sands’ low organic matter concentrations are due to high biogeochemical cycling rates, driven by rapid physical exchange, but remain infrequently studied. I present time-series of sand mass-loss-on-ignition (LOI, an organic matter proxy) profiles from February 2017 onwards at multiple sites along Long Bay, South Carolina. LOI profiles exhibit subsurface maximum values, unlike the typical decrease with depth in muddy sediments. I hypothesize that organic matter distribution with depth is affected by …

Isolated Point Discharges Into Coastal Swashes As Nutrient Sources To Coastal Waters, Mary E. Olsen

Honors Theses

Coastal water quality in the Grand Strand of South Carolina is directly influenced by human activities. Nutrient-rich runoff, stemming from numerous anthropogenic sources, finds its way into coastal waters through freshwater inputs often through tidal creeks, termed swashes. In order to better describe the amount of nutrient inputs into Singleton Swash and White Point Swash, we examine anthropogenic runoff from isolated identifiable point discharges and their nutrient concentrations. We report concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN, as the sum of nitrate, nitrite and ammonium) and phosphate in discharge and creek water. We hypothesize that nutrient concentrations of isolated, minor point …

Small-Scale Resuspension And Redistribution Of Surface Sediments In The Northeast Gulf Of Mexico, Austin Harris

Master's Theses

Following the release of ~4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from the Macondo wellhead, a vast area of the seafloor contained recently deposited marine sediments contaminated by the oil spill. The initial deposition of these contaminated marine sediments was likely not the end of the journey for the particles. Downslope gravitational processes and events of increased current speed in the deep ocean setting can result in recently deposited sediments to resuspend and be moved laterally with the current flow, increasing the area effected by the oil spill. Erosion experiments performed in a closed-loop resuspension flume were …

Microplankton Dynamics In The River-Dominated Mississippi Bight, Adam D. Boyette

Dissertations

The Mississippi Bight (MSB) is a river-dominated continental margin influenced by multiple large river systems, including the Mississippi River, Alabama and Tombigbee rivers via Mobile Bay, and numerous smaller rivers, creeks, and bayous. This is part of a biologically-rich ecosystem that supports the second largest fishery industry by volume in the United States. Despite our understanding of the linkages between primary production with higher trophic levels, there remains limited studies quantifying these trophic interactions in this system. Microplankton (µm) community dynamics and trophic connectivity between primary producers and heterotrophic protists represent a critical nexus influencing overall biological productivity in this …

Assessing The Real-Time Lagrangian Predictability Of The Operational Navy Coastal Ocean Model In The Gulf Of Mexico, Lea Kristen Locke

Dissertations

This study quantitatively assesses the drift predictive skill of Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center’s (FNMOC’s) operational ocean models which are used to support a wide range of military and civilian applications. Overall, the findings of this work support the recommendation of spatial filtering for regional-scale ocean model velocity fields used in deep-water drift applications. In conjunction with filtering, the use of a pure particle drift algorithm is suggested for short-term forecasts and a drift algorithm including a sub-grid scale, random flight, parameterization for predictions requiring extended forecast predictions.

Drift prediction skill is quantified through metrics of in-cloud percentage, distance …

Investigative Study Of Microalgal And Electrochemical Wastewater Treatment Systems And Modeling Of The Wafer-Enhanced Electrodeionization Using Supervised Learning, Humeyra Betul Ulusoy Erol

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Wastewater has a serious impact on environment and public health due to its high concentration of nutrients and toxic contaminants. Without proper treatment, excess nutrients discharged in wastewater can cause a damage to the ecosystem such as undesirable pH shifts, cyanotoxin production, and low dissolved oxygen concentrations.

Main objectives of this dissertation work were to investigate i) the biofuel potential of P. cruentum when grown in swine wastewater, ii) the influence of four most commonly used ion exchange resins on the system efficiency and selectivity for the removal of sodium, calcium, and magnesium ions, and iii) the modeling of wafer-enhanced …

Characterizing The Relationship Between Species Richness And The Seasonal Phenomenon Of Tropical Fish Dispersal In New England Waters, Michael E. O'Neill

Graduate Masters Theses

The Gulf Stream exerts tremendous influence over oceanographic conditions in the Northwest Atlantic as it transports tropical water to higher latitudes. As the Gulf Stream’s path traverses the east coast of North America, there are implications for the biogeography of marine ecosystems within this range and beyond. While the meandering eddies and warm core rings generated by the Gulf Stream persist year-round, the seasonal warming of New England’s coastal waters afford many tropical species transported by the current temporary residence through the summer and fall. Many aspects that shape this phenomenon and its impact on coastal ecosystems remain a mystery. …

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 …

Alexandrium In The Arctic: Are Harmful Algae Spreading As The Arctic Warms?, Sveinn Einarsson, Kate Lowry, Robert Pickart, Karin Ashjian, P. Dreux Chappell

College of Sciences Posters

Alexandrium tamerense is a well-studied dinoflagellate known for its ability to produce the neurotoxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning. Until 1970 Alexandrium tamerense was only found in Europe, North America, and Japan but has been increasingly found all over the globe. Alexandrium is characteristically found in temperate and subtropical regions and as the Arctic warms, there is considerable concern that it may be expanding into the Arctic. We found Alexandrium tamerense during a research expedition to the Alaskan Beaufort Sea shelf to study upwelling. Upwelling events are known to support seasonal blooms of phytoplankton, which are important primary producers at …

Seasonal Variability In Diazotroph Abundance And Gene Expression At A Coastal N2 Fixation Hotspot (Outer Banks, Nc), Katherine Crider, Corday Selden, Kimberly Powell, P. Dreux Chappell

College of Sciences Posters

Marine microbial dinitrogen (N₂) fixation, the conversion of gaseous N₂ to bioavailable species, is the primary source of new oceanic nitrogen (N). N is present in nucleic acids, amino acids, and proteins, and is essential to all life. Long considered to be a primarily oligotrophic ocean process, significant N₂ fixation rates have recently been observed in coastal environments, including along the Cape Hatteras front. To see if elevated N₂ fixation was a persistent feature in this region, N₂ fixation rates and N₂ fixer (diazotroph) abundance and gene expression were investigated through roughly monthly …

Defining The Environmental Niche Of The Two Main Clades Of Trichodesmium: A Study On The West Florida Shelf, Kristina Confesor, Corday Selden, Kimberly Powell, Angela Knapp, Kristen Buck, Laura Donahue, Dreux Chappell

College of Sciences Posters

Dinitrogen (N₂) fixation is the process of taking widely abundant but mostly biologically inaccessible N₂ gas and converting it into more biologically accessible forms of the essential macronutrient nitrogen. Only a small fraction of organisms known as diazotrophs can perform biological N₂ fixation. Trichodesmium is one such genus of N₂-fixing marine cyanobacteria that is commonly observed in waters along the West Florida Shelf (WFS). We hypothesize that the two main Trichodesmium clades (T. erythraeum and T. thiebautii) occupy distinct environmental niches, one being more coastal and one being more oceanic. To test …

Examining Arctic Melt Pond Dynamics Via High Resolution Satellite Imagery, Austin Abbott, Victoria Hill

College of Sciences Posters

The Arctic Ocean is a rapidly changing environment, and a key observational system for monitoring climate change. The Arctic is going under a rapid transition from thicker, multi-year ice, to thinner first-year ice, that may have many potential consequences. As first year Arctic sea ice begins to retreat in the spring and early summer, melting snow and ice form ponds on the surface- “melt ponds”. These melt ponds increase light transmission to the water column, resulting in warming and increased primary production under the ice. Recent advances in high resolution satellite imagery now allow us to monitor the development and …

Taxonomic Annotation Of Near-Coral Seawater Microbiota In Kilifi, Kenya, Megan Ruoff

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The general objective of this study was to analyze the microbiome of seawater above a coral reef in Kilifi, Kenya. Specific objectives included establishing a baseline microbiota profile, classifying the identified organisms at various taxonomic levels, and conjecturing about reef health from the presence or absence of bioindicator species including Vibrio bacteria. Sequenced 16S rRNA gene sequences from seawater samples at Kuruwitu Conservancy in Kilifi, Kenya were taxonomically classified by exact matching employing the Dada2 software package and the naïve Bayesian classifier method with 97% similarity cut off. The seawater microbiota contained mostly Proteobacteria (73.28%), followed by Bacteroidetes (14.08%) and …

Eas 250: Oceanography, Cuny School Of Professional Studies

Open Educational Resources

Oceanography is an interdisciplinary field studying the processes and interrelationships of geology, chemistry, geography, geophysics, meteorology, and biology. This course focuses on how scientific processes and scientific understanding are applied to questions such as: Which factors control life in the ocean? How do we know what we know about the ocean? What's at the bottom of the ocean? How does the water in the ocean move? How are human activities and climate change altering the ocean? Oceanographic data is used to understand the ocean and its interactions with the rest of the planet.

This course is based in part upon …

An Assessment Of Terrestrial Decapoda Diversity Across Three Ecological Zones In Mida Creek, Kenya, Reese Yount

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mangroves make up one of the most effective natural remedies at combating climate change today. They represent great commercial interest worldwide and yet, are being degraded at an unsustainable rate. If successful mangrove conservation plans are to be implemented for our posterity, mangrove ecosystems need to be better understood at the community level. Mangrove crabs make up the most diverse and populace mangrove inhabitants. They are classified as ecosystem engineers and their potential for being used as bioindicators makes them integral to assessing mangrove health. Yet, their diversity and distribution patterns are not well understood. The aim of this study …

Understanding The Effect Of Internal Climate Variability On 20th Century Indian Ocean Sea Level: Results From Newly Reconstructed Sea Level Data, Praveen Kumar

OES Theses and Dissertations

Densely populated low-lying coastal zones of countries that border the Indian Ocean are at risk due to sea level rise. However, sea level change in the Indian Ocean is poorly understood primarily due to short and sparse tide gauge observations. Although satellite altimetry provides accurate basin-wide sea level measurements, trends computed from its relatively short (~27-year) data record are heavily influenced by interannual to multi-decadal variability. To accurately project future Indian Ocean sea level trends using altimeter data it is imperative that trends associated with fluctuating internal variability (interannual-decadal) be identified and extracted, which in turn requires long (~100-year) data. …

Waves, Mixing, And Resuspension In An Urban Subtropical Lake: Restoration Implications, Noel Dudeck

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Implications Of Increased Sst On Sula Dactylatra In Rapa Nui Marine Park, Flavia Soctto D'Antuono, Hayden E. Dubniczki

Student Publications

Marine protected areas are a relatively new conservation tool intended to remove harmful anthropogenic practices and influences to enable ecological processes to occur normally, but they cannot protect ecosystems from global impacts like climate change. One such MPA, Rapa Nui Marine Park in Chile, is home to the Masked Booby, Sula dactylatra. Though not currently endangered, their population numbers decrease annually, and seabirds are among the most threatened species in the face of climate change. This study seeks to examine the spatial ecology of the Sula dactylatra against the context of the MPA and examines whether increasing sea surface temperatures …

Thermoelectric Generation And Thermophysical Properties Of Metal Oxide Nanofluids, Xinran Hou, Rong-Tsu Wang, Shaowen Huang, Jung-Chang Wang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This study describes the comprehensive characterization of the diverse water-based nanofluids involving aluminum oxide, titanium dioxide, and zinc oxide nanoparticles, which were prepared through the two-step synthesis method assisted by a microemulsion ultrasound skill with effects of both weight-percent concentration (wt.%) in the range of 1.0% and 5.0% and between 20 ^oC and 40 ⁰C. The mean cluster size, zeta potential, pH value, viscosity, thermal conductivity, absorbance, light absorption, and electrical charge density of the various nanofluids were surveyed by relative experiments. The results showed that the 2 wt.% Al₂O₃, 2 wt.% TiO_{2 …}

Wireless Sensor Network-Based Monitoring Of Bridge Pile Foundations For Detecting Scouring Depth, Han-Tang Huang, H. Ping Tserng, Ruei-Yu Hou, Mirosław Skibniewski

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Climate change brings about unprecedented increases in the occurrence of storms and flooding. In response to increased risk of bridge pier scouring, there is a need for increased safety monitoring of bridges. This paper presents a wireless sensor network (WSN) - based solution developed to measure micro-vibrations of a bridge pier. Test measurement values are converted with the use of the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) method to obtain natural frequencies. Scouring depth of the pier is estimated with the use of a Finite Element Method model. WSN is used to collect the signal and to test data transmission stability in …

A New Fuzzy Dea Model For Solving The Mcdm Problems In Supplier Selection, Chi-Mao Tsai, Hsuan-Shih Lee, Guo-Ya Gan

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Supplier selection is a crucial task in supply chain management, and good supply chain management is essential to a company's ability to develop sustainably and gain the trust and satisfaction of its customers. In modern supply chain management, supplier selection often takes the form of a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. Thus, to solve this problem, this study formulated a novel fuzzy MCDM model, which is based on the fuzzy data envelopment analysis model. This novel approach can transform the linguistic variables of assessment criteria into well-founded quantitative data for calculation. Moreover, our approach can effectively discriminate between decision-making units (both …

Evaluation Of The Human Discomfort Caused By Ship Vibrations, Laurentiu Picu, Eugen Rusu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The present work analyzes the subjective responses of people exposed to transient vibrations caused by systems with a single degree of freedom. In this context, the main objective of the research was to identify the main effect of vibrations on people's well-being at work (in particular on vessels crew) and to discover those frequencies that lead to the greatest discomfort. In order to achieve this goal, 12 laboratory experiments were carried out involving ten male subjects in good health, aged between 28 and 42. The variables of the vibratory system considered are: acceleration (4.8 ÷ 8.6 m/s¡2), amplitude (1 ÷ …

Application Of Physically Based Semi-Distributed Hec-Hms Model For Flow Simulation In Tributary Catchments Of Kaohsiung Area Taiwan, Fiaz Hussain, Ray-Shyan Wu, Kai-Chun Yu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Hydrologic modeling is a commonly used tool to understand the rainfallerunoff processes of gauged and ungauged catchments for proper quantitative estimation of water resources availability. In the present study, an attempt is made to simulate surface runoff using a physically based semi-distributed hydrological (HEC-HMS) model for four local-scale tributary catchments of Kaohsiung area Taiwan. The input physical parameters of the model were calculated and preprocessed in HEC-GeoHMS based on digital elevation model (DEM), land use, soil and hydro-meteorological data. The model performance was satisfactory with Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) ¼ 0.51 to 0.86 and the coefficient of determination (R2) ¼ …

Evaluating Key Factors Of Container Shipping Lines From The Perspective Of High-Tech Industry Shippers, Chien-Lung Hsu, Tien-Chun Ho

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Because of the changes in customers' needs and demands created by the development of container transport in the 1960s, the global container transport business has become increasingly competitive. With the high-tech industry ranged with one of the few competitive industries in Taiwan from 2002, container shipping lines have been forced to implement innovative operating patterns to meet the evolving demands of the high-tech industry shippers. This study conducts a survey questionnaire of domestic high-tech industry shippers to explore the different factors affecting their selection of container shipping lines, evaluating the key influencing factors by maritime marketing's 4C framework: customer needs, …

Beach Topography Surveying Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Photogrammetry Technology, Hui-Ming Fang, Kuan-Tsung Chang, Sung-Shan Hsiao, Shih-Peng Chiang

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The mechanisms of in situ topography changes must be identified for spatial planning in coastal areas. In this study, the authors used in situ direct measurement methods and indirect remote-sensing technologies to develop a method for beach topography surveillance. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have advantages of high portability and mobility and low operating altitude. Therefore, a UAV was equipped with a lightweight camera and a positioning system that comprised a global positioning system and an inertial measurement unit. Aerial photogrammetry and aerial triangu-lation methods were adopted for matching image feature points to obtain the corresponding topographic points in the sand. …

Hydro-Morphodynamics Of Sandy Coastal Embayments, Shamim Murshid

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the hydro-morphodynamics of two major components of a sandy coastal environment: tidal inlets and embayment shorelines. In the first study, I focused on the evolution of inlet geometry by compiling and analyzing a database with 226 inlets worldwide with a special attention given to their width to depth ratio (or aspect ratio). I found that the aspect ratio has a weak dependency on tidal range and wave height, and they lie in different ranges for three types of tidal inlets: engineered, natural single-thread, and natural compound. I also developed a 2D hydro-morphodynamic model of an idealized barrier-inlet …

Investigating The Impact Of Meteoric Diagenesis On The Geochemistry Of Carbonate Eolianites, Eleuthera And Water Cay, The Bahamas, Graham S. Bonnot

LSU Master's Theses

The geochemical signatures imparted in major, minor, and trace elements, combined with light isotopes, suggest promising applications regarding the stabilization of meteorically altered limestone eolianites. Previous high-resolution studies have indicated that elements associated with carbonate diagenesis such as Mg and Sr can be valuable proxies for salinity and aragonite dissolution, respectively. In addition to testing these proxies, the analyses of several temperature-, diagenetic-, bioactive-, and redox-sensitive elements were evaluated using laser ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to identify additional indicators during carbonate diagenesis. Two geochemical drivers of U were identified; (1) aragonite dissolution similar to Sr and (2) oxidation …

Prospects For Gulf Of Mexico Environmental Recovery And Restoration, Denis A. Wiesenburg, Bob Shipp, F. Joel Fodrie, Sean Powers, Julien Lartigue, Kelly M. Darnell, Melissa M. Baustian, Cam Ngo, John F. Valentine, Kateryna Wowk

Faculty Publications

Previous oil spills provide clear evidence that ecosystem restoration efforts are challenging, and recovery can take decades. Similar to the Ixtoc 1 well blowout in 1979, the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill was enormous both in volume of oil spilled and duration, resulting in environmental impacts from the deep ocean to the Gulf of Mexico coastline. Data collected during the National Resource Damage Assessment showed significant damage to coastal areas (especially marshes), marine organisms, and deep-sea habitat. Previous spills have shown that disparate regions recover at different rates, with especially long-term effects in salt marshes and deepsea habitat. Environmental recovery …