International marine science research projects : second inventory of international projects at Sea Grant institutions, 1990

This inventory of marine science projects at Sea Grant institutions was completed in order to gauge the level and enhance a database of U.S./foreign collaboration in international marine research initiated at U.S. Sea Grant institutions. The inventory was done by the International Marine Science Cooperation Program at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Sea Grant Office. The first inventory of projects with international components at Sea Grant institutions was done in 1984-85 by the International Program. This second inventory continues in the tradition of the first to "take the pulse" of international interest at Sea Grant institutions. The pulse is very active despite the lack of direct funding accorded the formal Sea Grant International Program at the national level. Of the 122 projects at Sea Grant institutions, however, only 29 were directly funded in part or entirely by Sea Grant. The inventory analyzes data from 122 interntional projects initiated at 20 Sea Grant institutions by profiling and explicating the extent of project foreign locations, sources of funding, areas of expertise for principal investigators, and contacts at foreign and U.S. agencies and institutions. It presents one-page summaries of the 122 projects along with indexes by geographic location, funding source, PI discipline, PI name, and keywords. In addition, this report compares the data from the 1989-90 inventory with that of the 1985 inventory.This work is the result of research sponsored by NOAA, National Sea Grant College Program Offce, Departent of Commerce, under Grant No. NA90-AA-D-SG480, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Sea Grant Project Number E/L-1

Ship and satellite bio-optical research in the California Bight

Mesoscale biological patterns and processes in productive coastal waters were studied. The physical and biological processes leading to chlorophyll variability were investigated. The ecological and evolutionary significance of this variability, and its relation to the prediction of fish recruitment and marine mammal distributions was studied. Seasonal primary productivity (using chlorophyll as an indication of phytoplankton biomass) for the entire Southern California Bight region was assessed. Complementary and contemporaneous ship and satellite (Nimbus 7-CZCS) bio-optical data from the Southern California Bight and surrounding waters were obtained and analyzed. These data were also utilized for the development of multi-platform sampling strategies and the optimization of algorithms for the estimation of phytoplankton biomass and primary production from satellite imagery

Fish assemblages in a small temperate estuary on the argentinian coast: spatial variation, environmental influence and relevance as nursery area

The effects of different environmental variables on the fish community structure were evaluated in a small temperate estuary. The biological and environmental data were collected bimonthly between 2007 and 2009 along the main estuarine axis. Multivariate analyses were applied (CLUSTER, SIMPER, CCA) to determine the spatial structure of fish community and to estimate the environmental influence on it. A total of 48 species of “teleost” fishes were observed, with the families Characidae and Sciaenidae presenting the largest number of species, 90% of the catches being juveniles. The fish community was overwhelmingly dominated by one species (Micropogonias furnieri, 88.9%), and only four species contributed more than 1% of total catch (Odontesthes argentinensis 5.4%, Brevoortia aurea 1.1%, Paralonchurus brasiliensis 1.1%, and Mugil platanus 1.0%). Estuarine and freshwater stragglers dominated in number of species, followed by freshwater migrants and marine migrants. Three areas with different fish assemblages, with distinctive species and functional guilds, were defined along the main axis. The occurrence and spatial spread of these areas were linked to spatial variation in salinity, which was consistently influenced by discharge from the Río de la Plata and local precipitation. The results highlight the importance of shallow environments as nursery areas and permit emphasis on their susceptibility to environmental changes.Foram avaliados os efeitos das diferentes variáveis ambientais na estrutura da comunidade de peixes em um pequeno estuário temperado. Dados biológicos e ambientais foram obtidos bimestralmente entre 2007 e 2009, ao longo do eixo principal do estuário. Análises multivariadas foram aplicadas (CLUSTER, SIMPER, CCA) para determinar a estrutura espacial da comunidade de peixes e para estimar a influência ambiental sobre ela. Um total de 48 espécies de "teleósteos" foi observado, com as famílias Characidae e Sciaenidae apresentando o maior número de espécies e sendo 90% das capturas formada por juvenis. A comunidade de peixes foi altamente dominada por uma só espécie (Micropogonias furnieri, 88,9%) e quatro espécies contribuiram com pouco mais de 1% cada para o total das capturas (Odontesthes argentinensis 5,4%, Brevoortia aurea 1,1%, Paralonchurus brasiliensis 1,1% e Mugil platanus 1,0%). Retardatários estuarinos e de água doce dominaram em número de espécies, seguidos por migrantes de água doce e marinhos. Ao longo do eixo principal foram definidas três áreas distintas, cada uma apresentando assembleias de peixes com espécies e guildas funcionais distintas. A ocorrência e abrangência espacial dessas áreas estiveram ligadas à variação espacial na salinidade, que consistentemente foi influenciada pela descarga do Rio da Prata e pela precipitação local. Os resultados destacam a importância dos ambientes rasos como áreas de berçário e permitem enfatizar sua susceptibilidade às mudanças ambientais.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Analysis of coastal upwelling and the production of a biomass

The coastal upwelling index derived from weather data is input to a set of coupled differential equations that describe the production of a biomass. The curl of the wind stress vector is discussed in the context of the physical extent of the upwelling structure. An analogy between temperature and biomass concentration in the upwelled coastal water is derived and the relationship is quantified. The use of remote satellite or airborne sensing to obtain biomass rate production coefficients is considered

Relationships between chlorophyll density and ocean radiance as measured by U2/OCS: Algorithms, examples and comparison

An ocean atmosphere radiative transfer process computation method which is suitable for determining lower boundary ocean albedo and other radiation components from spectral measurements of upwelling radiance taken from a high altitude platform is described. The method was applied to a set of color scanner data taken from slope water of the South Atlantic Bight to determine the influence of cholorophyll-a pigments in the sea on the ratio of upwelling radiance to down welling irradiance as a function of wavelength. The resulting chlorophyll concentrations are compared with measurements made by ships stationed along the flight path

Remote sensing of coastal wetland vegetation and estuarine water properties

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Insights into west Antarctica's geology and late pleistocene ice sheet behaviour from isotopic sedimentary provenance studies

A fundamental question in Antarctic glaciology and climate change research is whether the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) has experienced complete or partial disintegration during the late Pleistocene. Direct geological evidence for its past evolution is scarce, preventing improved predictions on its future behaviour. To this end, I investigated the provenance of late Pleistocene (1.1 Myrs) to modern detrital marine sediments deposited off West Antarctica using strontium and neodymium isotopic compositions of fine-grained (150μm) hornblende and biotite grains. Bedrock characteristics inferred from the sedimentary records can ultimately be tied to the location of eroding ice through time, and hence constrain ice dynamics in a novel way. My key findings are as follows: 1) isotopic and geochemical fingerprints of seafloor surface sediments in the Pacific sector of West Antarctica are varied enough to distinguish different ice drainage sectors on the continent and interpret the results in terms of varying subglacial geology and sediment transports pathways 2) the provenance of glaciogenic detritus delivered by the Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers, which drain the WAIS into the Amundsen Sea, are significantly distinct from each other and reveal little to no provenance change since the Last Glacial Maximum 3) the sediment eroded by the WAIS in the Amundsen Sea area fluctuated in composition in pace with eccentricity between 1.1 and 0.2 Ma, but lacks evidence for substantial retreat from the modern ice margin 4) the sediment eroded during the peak of the last interglacial (~130 ka) suggests a significant retreat or even ‘ungrounding’ of the WAIS its Amundsen Sea sector. Overall, my new data show the promise of the approach chosen. Future work, from additional locations and using complementary methods, such as multivariate analysis, is needed to derive a more complete history of the WAIS.Open Acces