COASTAL-OCEAN AND ESTUARINE ACIDIFICATION IN LONG BAY, SOUTH CAROLINA: A COMPARISON OF IN-SITU WATER QUALITY MONITORING WITH MEASURED CARBONATE SYSTEM PARAMETERS

One of the major water-quality issues impacting our coast and estuaries is coastal-ocean and estuarine acidification. Due to a relative dearth of data in the southeastern United States it is increasingly difficult to determine the full extent and intensity of this problem. This study provides the first characterization of coastal-ocean and estuarine acidification in Long Bay, SC by attempting to leverage long-term water quality data sets at two coastal-ocean pier sites using in-situ YSI EXO sondes deployed at both the surface and bottom waters along with two estuarine sites sampled by volunteer monitors using Orion star multi-meters. Discrete samples (120) for Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC) and Total Alkalinity (TA) were collected from July 2022 to February 2023 contemporaneously to current routine observations at our four sites using the methods of Reimer et al. (2017). DIC and TA were measured according to Wang and Cai (2004). CO2SYS was used to calculate pCO2, free [H+], pHT, ΩCA and ΩAR. Property-property plots (pHNBS vs. pHT, TA vs. Salinity and pHT vs. Salinity, Temperature and Dissolved Oxygen) were compared using geometric mean regression. Sensor pHNBS measurements were compared to calculated pHT measurements. Data show that DIC and TA peaks coincide with Chl a increases and DO decreases which indicates respiration taking place and adding CO2 into the system (Schulz and Riebesell 2013). Oyster Landing and Rum Gully Creek both had values that fell within the pHT, pCO2, ΩCA and ΩAR thresholds for Eastern Oysters (Gobler and Talmage 2014) and Summer Flounder (Chambers et al. 2014) indicating periodic events where they could be experiencing acidification events detrimental to their development. The estuarine sites showed strong linearity at Oyster Landing and Rum Gully Creek. No strong linear relationships were found between TA and salinity due to a highly dynamic coastal system. Current methodologies used by the volunteer monitoring program, at the estuarine sites, shows pHNBS can potentially act as a proxy for pHT. However, due to the lack of a conservative relationship between TA and salinity more information is needed to identify potential acidification trends. Future studies should be done to obtain more observations and sampling to better identify potential acidification trends (Pimenta and Grear 2018). Due to the highly dynamic nature of these systems future sampling should also include measuring pHT from discrete samples in the laboratory to compare CO2SYS calculated pHT to the discretely measured pHT to help identify areas of error (Dickson et al. 2007, Fassbender et al. 2017). There should be a future focus on the need for better and more holistic data collection (i.e. nutrients, carbonate parameters, water quality parameters, etc.) in order to better understand and describe potential acidification in these estuarine and coastal-ocean systems

Isolated Point Discharges into Coastal Swashes as Nutrient Sources to Coastal Waters

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 discharges are not significant enough to alter primary channel chemistry due to rapid flow rates, and suggest that non-point sources may play a larger role in nutrient loading in the coastal zone

Somalia: Working in High-risk Environments and Fragile States

As the security situation continues to deteriorate in Somalia, humanitarian organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to achieve their desired results. Working conditions for these organizations in Somalia are particularly harsh, even when compared to those in other developing countries. Humanitarian-aid workers must accept these risks as a fundamental requirement of their involvement, and donors must be prepared to take more chances in these environments as well

Climate data system supports FIRE

The NASA Climate Data System (NCDS) at Goddard Space Flight Center is serving as the FIRE Central Archive, providing a centralized data holding and data cataloging service for the FIRE project. NCDS members are carrying out their responsibilities by holding all reduced observations and data analysis products submitted by individual principal investigators in the agreed upon format, by holding all satellite data sets required for FIRE, by providing copies of any of these data sets to FIRE investigators, and by producing and updating a catalog with information about the FIRE holdings. FIRE researchers were requested to provide their reduced data sets in the Standard Data Format (SDF) to the FIRE Central Archive. This standard format is proving to be of value. An improved SDF document is now available. The document provides an example from an actual FIRE SDF data set and clearly states the guidelines for formatting data in SDF. NCDS has received SDF tapes from a number of investigators. These tapes were analyzed and comments provided to the producers. One product which is now available is William J. Syrett's sodar data product from the Stratocumulus Intensive Field Observation. Sample plots from all SDF tapes submitted to the archive will be available to FSET members. Related cloud products are also available through NCDS. Entries describing the FIRE data sets are being provided for the NCDS on-line catalog. Detailed information for the Extended Time Observations is available in the general FIRE catalog entry. Separate catalog entries are being written for the Cirrus Intensive Field Observation (IFO) and for the Marine Stratocumulus IFO. Short descriptions of each FIRE data set will be installed into the NCDS Summary Catalog

NASA's climate data system primer, version 1.2

This is a beginner's manual for NASA's Climate Data System (NCDS), an interactive scientific information management system that allows one to locate, access, manipulate, and display climate-research data. Additional information on the use of the system is available from the system itself

Family Satisfaction in Air Force Families as a Function of Family Strengths, Resources and Coping Following Relocation

The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent the level of coping skills, internal resources, social support, perception and pile-up of life events affect Air Force families \u27 adjustments after relocation. The major objectives were threefold: (a) to assess which of the husbands\u27 and wives\u27 strengths and resources contributed to the family\u27s adjustment to the stress associated with permanent change of station moves, (b) to explore whether wives\u27 levels of coping are critical to family adjustment and (c) to determine if the types and/or levels of coping used are significantly different at two points in time after the move. A secondary objective was an exploration through factor analyses of the construct validity for this population of four of the measures used: FACES, Quality of life, Ways of Coping Checklist and Social Support Inventory. Results showed that for the husbands and wives pile-up of life events had a significant inverse relationship to mean Quality of life with Displacement/Denial, FACES and Perception also correlated for the wives. For both husbands and wives, the FACES discrepancy score was significantly correlated with the discrepancy Quality of life score with pile-up and Reframing also correlated for the wives. Controlling for the influence of the moderator variables, pile-up of life events was significantly correlated with mean Quality of Life for the husbands while pile-up and Social Support were correlated for the wives. The wives had pile-up, Reframing, Discrepancy FACES and Self-focused Coping which showed a significant correlation with discrepancy Quality of Life. Wives showed a greater use of several types of coping including Positive Focus, Social Support, Displacement/Denial and Reframing while the husbands showed a greater use of coworkers for social support and Problem-focused Coping. A higher usage of special groups for social support was the only difference found between the individuals who had moved at different points in time. In addition, the results provided further empirical support for the Double ABCX Family Stress Model. Suggestions were made for interventions to help to alleviate the stress of moving for the military family

ANTIBACTERIAL EFFECTS OF SINGLE AND COMBINED CRUDE EXTRACTS OF SYNADENIUM GLAUCESCENS AND COMMIPHORA SWYNNERTONII

Background: Synadenium glaucescens and Commiphora swynnertonii are among the reported plants used traditionally for treatment of bacterial infections. This study reports antibacterial effects of single and combined extracts from leaves, stem and root barks of Commiphora swynnertonii and Synadenium glaucescens. Materials and Methods: Plants were collected from Manyara and Njombe regions in Tanzania. Extraction was done using dichloromethane and methanol. The extracts were assessed for antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis) and Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC) was determined by broth microdilution, while Fractional Inhibitory Concentration (FIC) indices were calculated from MIC values of combined extracts to determine combination effects. Results: Strong antibacterial activities were demonstrated by all extracts of S. glaucescens (MIC 0.011-0.375mg/mL) against Gram-positive bacteria and methanol extracts of C. swynnertonii (MIC 0.047-0.375mg/mL). Synergistic effect was observed when combining methanol extracts of C. swynnertonii stem bark with S. glaucescens leaves against S. aureus (∑FIC 0.5), Other synergistic effects were observed against E. faecalis with dichloromethane extracts of C. swynnertonii stem bark and S. glaucescens stem bark (∑FIC 0.5), and C. swynnertonii root bark and S. glaucescens root bark (FIC index 0.3). For the remaining combinations, mainly additive effects were observed. Conclusion: Synergistic effects on bacteria were observed by combining different plant parts of S. glaucescens and C. swynnertonii suggesting that it could be beneficial to combine such extracts when used for antibacterial purposes