Marine Heatwaves in the Chesapeake Bay

Prolonged events of anomalously warm sea water temperature, or marine heatwaves (MHWs), have major detrimental effects to marine ecosystems and the world\u27s economy. While frequency, duration and intensity of MHWs have been observed to increase in the global oceans, little is known about their potential occurrence and variability in estuarine systems due to limited data in these environments. In the present study we analyzed a novel data set with over three decades of continuous in situ temperature records to investigate MHWs in the largest and most productive estuary in the US: the Chesapeake Bay. MHWs occurred on average twice per year and lasted 11 days, resulting in 22 MHW days per year in the bay. Average intensities of MHWs were 3°C, with maximum peaks varying between 6 and 8°C, and yearly cumulative intensities of 72°C × days on average. Large co-occurrence of MHW events was observed between different regions of the bay (50–65%), and also between Chesapeake Bay and the Mid-Atlantic Bight (40–50%). These large co-occurrences, with relatively short lags (2–5 days), suggest that coherent large-scale air-sea heat flux is the dominant driver of MHWs in this region. MHWs were also linked to large-scale climate modes of variability: enhancement of MHW days in the Upper Bay were associated with the positive phase of Niño 1+2, while enhancement and suppression of MHW days in both the Mid and Lower Bay were associated with positive and negative phases of North Atlantic Oscillation, respectively. Finally, as a result of long-term warming of the Chesapeake Bay, significant trends were detected for MHW frequency, MHW days and yearly cumulative intensity. If these trends persist, by the end of the century the Chesapeake Bay will reach a semi-permanent MHW state, when extreme temperatures will be present over half of the year, and thus could have devastating impacts to the bay ecosystem, exacerbating eutrophication, increasing the severity of hypoxic events, killing benthic communities, causing shifts in species composition and decline in important commercial fishery species. Improving our basic understanding of MHWs in estuarine regions is necessary for their future predictability and to guide management decisions in these valuable environments

Mobility of meso-scale morphology on a microtidal ebb delta measured using remote sensing

Argus video-images Ebb tidal deltas usually consist of several large lobes of sediment separated by channels in which the bulk of the tidal exchange takes place. The purpose of this paper is to describe and quantify the migration pattern of bedform features associated with an ebb-tidal delta using a new remote video sensing method during a 23 day experiment at New River Inlet (North Carolina). To quantify the migration rates, a Lagged Least Squares Algorithm(LLSA)was developed that found the vector rate for which the suite of lagged images were most similar, computed on a tile by-tile basis. Our observations revealed a complex set of bedform features that migrated in a circular pattern with movement in offshore regions being away from the inlet mouth and toward the shore while nearshore migration was back toward the inlet. 60% of the wavelength variability of these features is at scales that are smaller than the coherent channel and swash bar structures but much longer than megaripples, i.e., between 10 and 100 m. We\ud have chosen to call these bed form features of meso-scale morphologies. The mean migration rate of these features was found to be 1.53 m/day ± 0.76 m/day. 72% of estimated rates were greater than 1.0 m/day, 31% were larger than 2.0 m/day, and the maximum rate was around 3.5 m/day, averaged over 23 days. Alongshore\ud averages of cross-shore migration rates showed a node at 110 m from the shoreline that separates migration away from the inlet from migration toward the inlet (near the shore). The circular pattern of migration appeared to be consistent with expected residual flow of an ebb-tidal delta system

Saildrone: Adaptively Sampling the Marine Environment

From 11 April to 11 June 2018 a new type of ocean observing platform, the Saildrone surface vehicle, collected data on a round-trip, 60-day cruise from San Francisco Bay, down the U.S. and Mexican coast to Guadalupe Island. The cruise track was selected to optimize the science team’s validation and science objectives. The validation objectives include establishing the accuracy of these new measurements. The scientific objectives include validation of satellite-derived fluxes, sea surface temperatures, and wind vectors and studies of upwelling dynamics, river plumes, air–sea interactions including frontal regions, and diurnal warming regions. On this deployment, the Saildrone carried 16 atmospheric and oceanographic sensors. Future planned cruises (with open data policies) are focused on improving our understanding of air–sea fluxes in the Arctic Ocean and around North Brazil Current rings

Anthropogenic influences in a lagoonal environment: a multiproxy approach at the valo grande mouth, Cananéia-Iguape system (SE Brazil)

The Cananéia-Iguape system, SE Brazil, consists of a complex of lagoonal channels, located in a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Biosphere Reserve. Nevertheless, important environmental changes have occurred in approximately the last 150 yrs due to the opening of an artificial channel, the Valo Grande, connecting the Ribeira de Iguape River to the lagoonal system. Our objective is to assess the historical record of the uppermost layers of the sedimentary column of the lagoonal system in order to determine the history of environmental changes caused by the opening of the artificial channel. In this sense, an integrated geochemical-faunal approach is used. The environmental changes led significant modifications in salinity, in changes of the depositional patterns of sediments and foraminiferal assemblages (including periods of defaunation), and, more drastically, in the input of heavy metals to the coastal environment. The concentrations Pb in the core analyzed here were up to two times higher than the values measured in contaminated sediments from the Santos estuary, the most industrialized coastal zone in Brazil.O sistema Cananéia-Iguape (Sudeste do Brasil), consiste em um complexo de canais lagunares localizados no interior de uma Reserva da Biosfera (assim definida pela UNESCO). Não obstante, variações ambientais importantes ocorreram nos últimos 150 anos, devido à abertura de um canal artificial, o Valo Grande, conectando o Rio Ribeira de Iguape ao sistema lagunar. O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar a história das variações ambientais no sistema lagunar, causadas pela abertura do canal artificial, através da análise das camadas superiores da coluna sedimentar de um testemunho coletado no sistema. Neste sentido, uma abordagem integrada, envolvendo variações geoquímicas e faunísticas foi utilizada. As variações ambientais ocorridas apontam para mudanças drásticas na salinidade, nos padrões de sedimentação, nas associações de foraminíferos (incluindo períodos azóicos) e, mais drasticamente, no aporte de metais para o sistema costeiro. As concentrações de Pb no testemunho coletado indicam valores duas vezes maiores do que os medidos em sedimentos contaminados do estuário de Santos, situado na zona costeira mais industrializada do Brasil.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Saildrone: adaptively sampling the marine environment

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2020. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 101(6), (2020): E744-E762, doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0015.1.From 11 April to 11 June 2018 a new type of ocean observing platform, the Saildrone surface vehicle, collected data on a round-trip, 60-day cruise from San Francisco Bay, down the U.S. and Mexican coast to Guadalupe Island. The cruise track was selected to optimize the science team’s validation and science objectives. The validation objectives include establishing the accuracy of these new measurements. The scientific objectives include validation of satellite-derived fluxes, sea surface temperatures, and wind vectors and studies of upwelling dynamics, river plumes, air–sea interactions including frontal regions, and diurnal warming regions. On this deployment, the Saildrone carried 16 atmospheric and oceanographic sensors. Future planned cruises (with open data policies) are focused on improving our understanding of air–sea fluxes in the Arctic Ocean and around North Brazil Current rings.The Saildrone data collection mission was sponsored by the Saildrone Award, an annual data collection mission awarded by Saildrone Inc., and the Schmidt Family Foundation. The research was funded by the NASA Physical Oceanography Program Grant 80NSSC18K0837 and 80NSSC18K1441. The work by T. M. Chin, J. Vazquez-Cuerzo, and V. Tsontos was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Piero L.F. Mazzini was supported by California Sea Grant Award NA18OAR4170073. We thank CeNCOOS for providing the HF radar data in the Gulf of the Farallones. Jose Gomez-Valdes was supported by CONACYT Grant 257125, and by CICESE. Work by Joel Scott and Ivona Cetinic was supported through NASA PACE. The work by Lisan Yu was supported by NOAA Ocean Observing and Monitoring Division under Grant NA14OAR4320158

Dynamics of sandbars and sandspits associated to the caravelas river mouth (BA)

As desembocaduras são ambientes altamente dinâmicos com suas feições sedimentares representando a complexa interação entre as correntes de maré, descarga fluvial, ondas e a batimetria local. Essas feições arenosas possuem uma forte influência na troca sedimentar das regiões costeiras, afetando a estabilidade das regiões adjacentes como as praias e os sistemas estuarinos. O objetivo do presente trabalho é entender a relativa influência dos principais processos que controlam a evolução morfológica dos bancos arenosos e dos pontais arenosos associados a desembocadura do sistema estuarino do rio Caravelas. Este sistema é formado por diversos canais meandrantes conectados com o oceano através de duas desembocaduras, e está localizado em frente ao parcel de Abrolhos no sul da Bahia. Baseado na coleta de dados de duas campanhas de 16 dias no sistema estuarino, o modelo numérico MIKE21-FM (DHI Water \\& Environment) foi aplicado e validado a fim de avaliar quantitativamente os processos que controlam o sistema. Os módulos hidrodinâmico, propagação de ondas e de transporte de sedimentos do modelo numérico foram utilizados neste estudo. O modelo inclui a retroalimentação das mudanças morfológicas nos cálculos da hidrodinâmica, ondas e transporte de sedimentos. Os experimentos numéricos têm como objetivo avaliar a importância relativa das forçantes físicas no ambiente. Foram elaborados dez experimentos numéricos incluindo condições energéticas extremas, alta energia (alta altura de ondas, descargas e maré de sizígia) e baixa energia (pequena altura de ondas, descarga e maré de quadratura) para um intervalo de direções de ondas; e dois períodos adicionais que incluem as condições medidas na coleta de dados (Período 2008 e Período 2007). Imagens de satélites LANDSAT e CBERS também foram utilizadas para observação das mudanças morfológicas do pontal arenoso e da linha de costa adjacente ao longo dos últimos anos. Os resultados para a calibração e validação do modelo numérico aplicado demostraram que na região de interesse e na plataforma interna o modelo consegue reproduzir o padrão da hidrodinâmica de forma adequada. Os resultados mostraram que a morfodinâmica local é controlada pela interação dos principais processos físicos, entretanto a importância relativa de cada um varia ao longo das diferentes regiões do sistema. A morfologia do canal principal e o transporte de sedimentos são controlados pelos fluxos de maré. Os bancos arenosos são também controlados pela maré, porém as correntes geradas por ondas atuando sobre estes bancos, geram um transporte de sedimentos em direção à costa. O pontal arenoso Ilha do Pontal do Sul é influenciado pelas ondas e pela maré. O mecanismo de transporte de sedimentos no pontal deve-se principalmente a corrente de deriva litorânea gerada pelas ondas e a maneira como os sedimentos são depositados e transportados ao longo do pontal deve-se aos fluxos de maré. Pelas imagens de satélites, observou-se que ao longo dos anos, o pontal apresentou uma acresção em seu comprimento, um afinamento da largura e sua extremidade encurvou-se. Este formato do pontal é consequência da corrente longitudinal a qual varia em diferentes escalas de tempo: variação diária devido à maré e variação sazonal devido à mudanças na direção da incidência das ondas.Tidal inlets are highly dynamic environments with their sedimentary features representing the complex interaction of tidal currents, river discharge, waves and the local bathymetry. These sedimentary features have a strong influence in morphological changes of coastal regions, affecting the stability of the adjacent environment such as beaches and estuarine systems. The aim of this study is to better understand the relative influence of the main processes controlling the morphological evolution of sandbars and sandspits associated to the inlet system of the Caravelas estuary. The Caravelas estuarine system comprises several meandering channels connected to the ocean by a double inlet system located in front of the Abrolhos reef in the south of Bahia. Based on the data collected during two 16-day field experiments in the estuarine system, the numerical model MIKE21 FM (DHI Water \\& Environment) has been applied and validated in order to assess quantitatively the processes that control the system. The hydrodynamic, wave propagation and sediment transport modules of the numerical model were used in this study. The model includes the feedback of morphological changes on hydrodynamic, wave and sediment transport calculations. Numerical experiments aiming to assess the relative importance of the physical forcings on the environment include ten sets of boundary conditions. These include the extreme energetic conditions, for high (large wave heights, river discharge and spring tides) and low energy (small wave heights, river discharge and neap tides) under a range of wave directions; and two additional periods that include the measured conditions (2008 period and 2007 period). Satellite images (LANDSAT and CBERS) were also used to observe the morphological changes of the sandspits and adjacent coastline during the last years. The results from the calibration and validation of the numerical model showed that in the region of interest and the inner shelf the model represents the hydrodynamic patterns. Results show that the local morphodynamics is controlled by the interaction of the main physical processes, being however its relative importance variable along the different regions of the system. Tidal flows control the sediment transport and morphology of the main inlet channel. The sandbars that form the ebb-tidal delta are also tide-dominated, although wave driven currents drive an onshore sediment transport component. The sandspit is influenced by waves and tides. The sediment transport along the sandspit is controlled by longshore drift and then redistributed by tidal currents. Satellite images show the sandspit growing in length, and becoming narrower with a recurved tip. The design of the recurved spits that comprise the inlet is a consequence of the wave generated longshore drift which varies at different time scales: a daily cross-shore variation due to the varying water level and seasonally due to variations in the direction of wave incidence

Dynamics of sandbars and sandspits associated to the caravelas river mouth (BA)

As desembocaduras são ambientes altamente dinâmicos com suas feições sedimentares representando a complexa interação entre as correntes de maré, descarga fluvial, ondas e a batimetria local. Essas feições arenosas possuem uma forte influência na troca sedimentar das regiões costeiras, afetando a estabilidade das regiões adjacentes como as praias e os sistemas estuarinos. O objetivo do presente trabalho é entender a relativa influência dos principais processos que controlam a evolução morfológica dos bancos arenosos e dos pontais arenosos associados a desembocadura do sistema estuarino do rio Caravelas. Este sistema é formado por diversos canais meandrantes conectados com o oceano através de duas desembocaduras, e está localizado em frente ao parcel de Abrolhos no sul da Bahia. Baseado na coleta de dados de duas campanhas de 16 dias no sistema estuarino, o modelo numérico MIKE21-FM (DHI Water \\& Environment) foi aplicado e validado a fim de avaliar quantitativamente os processos que controlam o sistema. Os módulos hidrodinâmico, propagação de ondas e de transporte de sedimentos do modelo numérico foram utilizados neste estudo. O modelo inclui a retroalimentação das mudanças morfológicas nos cálculos da hidrodinâmica, ondas e transporte de sedimentos. Os experimentos numéricos têm como objetivo avaliar a importância relativa das forçantes físicas no ambiente. Foram elaborados dez experimentos numéricos incluindo condições energéticas extremas, alta energia (alta altura de ondas, descargas e maré de sizígia) e baixa energia (pequena altura de ondas, descarga e maré de quadratura) para um intervalo de direções de ondas; e dois períodos adicionais que incluem as condições medidas na coleta de dados (Período 2008 e Período 2007). Imagens de satélites LANDSAT e CBERS também foram utilizadas para observação das mudanças morfológicas do pontal arenoso e da linha de costa adjacente ao longo dos últimos anos. Os resultados para a calibração e validação do modelo numérico aplicado demostraram que na região de interesse e na plataforma interna o modelo consegue reproduzir o padrão da hidrodinâmica de forma adequada. Os resultados mostraram que a morfodinâmica local é controlada pela interação dos principais processos físicos, entretanto a importância relativa de cada um varia ao longo das diferentes regiões do sistema. A morfologia do canal principal e o transporte de sedimentos são controlados pelos fluxos de maré. Os bancos arenosos são também controlados pela maré, porém as correntes geradas por ondas atuando sobre estes bancos, geram um transporte de sedimentos em direção à costa. O pontal arenoso Ilha do Pontal do Sul é influenciado pelas ondas e pela maré. O mecanismo de transporte de sedimentos no pontal deve-se principalmente a corrente de deriva litorânea gerada pelas ondas e a maneira como os sedimentos são depositados e transportados ao longo do pontal deve-se aos fluxos de maré. Pelas imagens de satélites, observou-se que ao longo dos anos, o pontal apresentou uma acresção em seu comprimento, um afinamento da largura e sua extremidade encurvou-se. Este formato do pontal é consequência da corrente longitudinal a qual varia em diferentes escalas de tempo: variação diária devido à maré e variação sazonal devido à mudanças na direção da incidência das ondas.Tidal inlets are highly dynamic environments with their sedimentary features representing the complex interaction of tidal currents, river discharge, waves and the local bathymetry. These sedimentary features have a strong influence in morphological changes of coastal regions, affecting the stability of the adjacent environment such as beaches and estuarine systems. The aim of this study is to better understand the relative influence of the main processes controlling the morphological evolution of sandbars and sandspits associated to the inlet system of the Caravelas estuary. The Caravelas estuarine system comprises several meandering channels connected to the ocean by a double inlet system located in front of the Abrolhos reef in the south of Bahia. Based on the data collected during two 16-day field experiments in the estuarine system, the numerical model MIKE21 FM (DHI Water \\& Environment) has been applied and validated in order to assess quantitatively the processes that control the system. The hydrodynamic, wave propagation and sediment transport modules of the numerical model were used in this study. The model includes the feedback of morphological changes on hydrodynamic, wave and sediment transport calculations. Numerical experiments aiming to assess the relative importance of the physical forcings on the environment include ten sets of boundary conditions. These include the extreme energetic conditions, for high (large wave heights, river discharge and spring tides) and low energy (small wave heights, river discharge and neap tides) under a range of wave directions; and two additional periods that include the measured conditions (2008 period and 2007 period). Satellite images (LANDSAT and CBERS) were also used to observe the morphological changes of the sandspits and adjacent coastline during the last years. The results from the calibration and validation of the numerical model showed that in the region of interest and the inner shelf the model represents the hydrodynamic patterns. Results show that the local morphodynamics is controlled by the interaction of the main physical processes, being however its relative importance variable along the different regions of the system. Tidal flows control the sediment transport and morphology of the main inlet channel. The sandbars that form the ebb-tidal delta are also tide-dominated, although wave driven currents drive an onshore sediment transport component. The sandspit is influenced by waves and tides. The sediment transport along the sandspit is controlled by longshore drift and then redistributed by tidal currents. Satellite images show the sandspit growing in length, and becoming narrower with a recurved tip. The design of the recurved spits that comprise the inlet is a consequence of the wave generated longshore drift which varies at different time scales: a daily cross-shore variation due to the varying water level and seasonally due to variations in the direction of wave incidence