Going for the Green

This lesson will help students understand how primary production varies at different times of the year in the ocean over the southeastern U.S. continental shelf. Students will use satellite imagery to obtain information on chlorophyll concentration at selected locations in the Earth's oceans, explain the relationship between chlorophyll concentration and primary production, and describe seasonal variations in primary production off the southeastern coast of the United States. Students will also be able to describe the potential significance of observed variations in primary production to biological communities. Educational levels: Intermediate elementary, Middle school

Toward accurate CO_2 and CH_4 observations from GOSAT

The column-average dry air mole fractions of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane (X_(CO_2) and X_(CH_4)) are inferred from observations of backscattered sunlight conducted by the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT). Comparing the first year of GOSAT retrievals over land with colocated ground-based observations of the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON), we find an average difference (bias) of −0.05% and −0.30% for X_(CO_2) and X_(CH_4) with a station-to-station variability (standard deviation of the bias) of 0.37% and 0.26% among the 6 considered TCCON sites. The root-mean square deviation of the bias-corrected satellite retrievals from colocated TCCON observations amounts to 2.8 ppm for X_(CO_2) and 0.015 ppm for X_(CH_4). Without any data averaging, the GOSAT records reproduce general source/sink patterns such as the seasonal cycle of X_(CO_2) suggesting the use of the satellite retrievals for constraining surface fluxes

Benthic trophic interactions in an Antarctic shallow water ecosystem affected by recent glacier retreat

The western Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing strong environmental changes as a consequence of ongoing regional warming. Glaciers in the area are retreating rapidly and increased sediment-laden meltwater runoff threatens the benthic biodiversity at shallow depths. We identified three sites with a distinct glacier-retreat related history and different levels of glacial influence in the inner part of Potter Cove (King George Island, South Shetland Islands), a fjord-like embayment impacted since the 1950s by a tidewater glacier retreat. We compared the soft sediment meio- and macrofauna isotopic niche widths (delta C-13 and delta N-15 stable isotope analysis) at the three sites to investigate possible glacier retreat-related influences on benthic trophic interactions. The isotopic niches were locally shaped by the different degrees of glacier retreat-related disturbance within the Cove. Wider isotopic niche widths were found at the site that has become ice-free most recently, and narrower niches at the older ice-free sites. At an intermediate state of glacier retreat-related disturbance (e.g. via ice-growler scouring) species with different strategies could settle. The site at the earliest stage of post-retreat development was characterized by an assemblage with lower trophic redundancy. Generally, the isotopic niche widths increased with increasing size spectra of organisms within the community, excepting the youngest assemblage, where the pioneer colonizer meiofauna size class displayed the highest isotopic niche width. Meiofauna at all sites generally occupied positions in the isotopic space that suggested a detrital-pool food source and/or the presence of predatory taxa. In general ice scour and glacial impact appeared to play a two-fold role within the Cove: i) either stimulating trophic diversity by allowing continuous re-colonization of meiofaunal species or, ii) over time driving the benthic assemblages into a more compact trophic structure with increased connectedness and resource recycling

Look At That Bump

In this activity, students focus on the physical and chemical processes associated with the Charleston Bump, a series of rocky scarps, mounds, overhangs, and flat pavements that rise from more than 700 m at the surface of the Blake Plateau to within 400 m of the sea surface. They will be able to describe how the Charleston Bump affects the flow of water in the Gulf Stream, describe the potential biological significance of effects induced by the Charleston Bump, and use satellite imagery to obtain information on chlorophyll concentration at selected locations in the Earth's oceans. Students will also describe the chemical processes that produce the rock-like surface of the Charleston Bump as well as how the Charleston Bump affects the flow of water in the Gulf Stream. In addition, students will be able to describe the potential biological significance of effects induced by the Charleston Bump on the Gulf Stream and the chemical processes that produce its rock-like surface. Educational levels: Middle school

Broadening the Scope of Nanopublications

In this paper, we present an approach for extending the existing concept of nanopublications --- tiny entities of scientific results in RDF representation --- to broaden their application range. The proposed extension uses English sentences to represent informal and underspecified scientific claims. These sentences follow a syntactic and semantic scheme that we call AIDA (Atomic, Independent, Declarative, Absolute), which provides a uniform and succinct representation of scientific assertions. Such AIDA nanopublications are compatible with the existing nanopublication concept and enjoy most of its advantages such as information sharing, interlinking of scientific findings, and detailed attribution, while being more flexible and applicable to a much wider range of scientific results. We show that users are able to create AIDA sentences for given scientific results quickly and at high quality, and that it is feasible to automatically extract and interlink AIDA nanopublications from existing unstructured data sources. To demonstrate our approach, a web-based interface is introduced, which also exemplifies the use of nanopublications for non-scientific content, including meta-nanopublications that describe other nanopublications.Comment: To appear in the Proceedings of the 10th Extended Semantic Web Conference (ESWC 2013

PANGAEA information system for glaciological data management

Specific parameters determined on cores from continental ice sheets or glaciers can be used to reconstruct former climate. To use this scientific resource effectively an information system is needed which guarantees consistent longtime storage of data and provides easy access for the scientific community.An information system to archive any data of paleoclimatic relevance, together with the related metadata, raw data and evaluated paleoclimatic data, is presented. The system, based on a relational database, provides standardized import and export routines, easy access with uniform retrieval functions, and tools for the visualization of the data. The network is designed as a client/server system providing access through the Internet with proprietary client software including a high functionality or read-only access on published data via the World Wide Web

Ocean data publication cookbook

This cookbook is an outcome of the 5th session of the SCOR/IODE/MBLWHOI Library Workshop on Data Publication and is posted here by permission of UNESCO.Executive summary: This “Cookbook” has been written for data managers and librarians who are interested in assigning a permanent identifier to a dataset for the purposes of publishing that dataset online and for the citation of that dataset within the scientific literature. A formal publishing process adds value to the dataset for the data originators as well as for future users of the data. Value may be added by providing an indication of the scientific quality and importance of the dataset (as measured through a process of peer review), and by ensuring that the dataset is complete, frozen and has enough supporting metadata and other information to allow it to be used by others. Publishing a dataset also implies a commitment to persistence of the data and allows data producers to obtain academic credit for their work in creating the datasets. One form of persistent identifier is the Digital Object Identifier (DOI). A DOI is a character string (a "digital identifier") used to provide a unique identity of an object such as an electronic document. Metadata about the object is stored in association with the DOI name and this metadata may include a location where the object can be found. The DOI for a document is permanent, whereas its location and other metadata may change. Referring to an online document by its DOI provides more stable linking than simply referring to it by its URL, because if its URL changes, the publisher need only update the metadata for the DOI to link to the new URL. A DOI may be obtained for a variety of objects, including documents, data files and images. The assignment of DOIs to peer-reviewed journal articles has become commonplace. This cookbook provides a step-by-step guide to the data publication process and showcases some best practices for data publication

Understanding the Internet: Model, Metaphor, and Analogy

published or submitted for publicatio

Dockside Shellfish Aquaculture Project, Smith, B

The intent of this project was to train private dock owners and marina personnel how to deploy and maintain “spat collectors” under their docks in an effort to capture commercially important shellfish larvae, scallops and oysters in particular, with a minimum amount of effort and cost. The New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) provided major funding for this phase of the project, with addition funding from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) and the Gulf of Maine Council (GOMC). This year’s effort expands upon the pilot studies that were funded previously by the New Hampshire Coastal Program (NHCP) and the Greater Piscataqua Community Foundation (GPCF). The larvae of most shellfish are free swimming, and can be carried by the tides, currents and wind a great distance. Most of the larvae never survive due to predation and lack of suitable habitat. If it were possible to capture even a small percentage of the larvae within a suitable predator free habitat, the resulting grown out shellfish could be used to enhance the existing beds of wild population shellfish. There are such programs currently being managed, including the Wild Scallop Enhancement Program in Maine and the Oyster Gardening Project on Chesapeake Bay. AERC was able to recruit a number of volunteers, or “Shellfish Stewards”, from the entire seacoast region to join in the project. Although there were challenges, the project was a success. The scallop spat collectors proved to work efficiently with minimal loss over the winter. Lots of shellfish larvae were found growing in the spat bags, with no predators present. Unfortunately, none of the targeted species were found in the bags. The oyster bags did not work as well; only three of the nine bags were covered to date. They may weigh too much, or have fouled too heavily and sank. The bags recovered had lots of shellfish spat growing on them, just no oysters. The next logical step in future efforts with the dockside aquaculture projects would be to consider the options of placing “pre-seeded” collectors onto the sites. AERC attempted to import scallops from the Maine enhancement program last summer as a contingency plan, but the transfer never occurred due to weather and logistical problems encountered at the time. AERC would like to thank our funding agencies for their support and aid in this research. Thanks as well to all of our shellfish stewards who dedicated their dock space, time and effort to help restore an important natural resource. Special thanks to Bill Marshall of the New Castle Conservation Committee, who was instrumental in recruiting our many shellfish stewards in New Castle. Bill also assisted the AERC staff in the deployment phase and was even there to tow us out of the mud during the retrieval operations