Latte Background 2005

2006 Lagrangian Transport & Transformation Experiment
LaTTE
1 May - 10 May 2006
(Last updated on 05/03/2006)

	Gliders
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	HF Radar (CODAR)
	Ship Location Tracking
	Ocean Model Forecast
	Ocean Model Validation
	Daily Avg. River Discharge
	Wave Forecast
	Weather Forecast
	Weather Model
	Quick Ship Links
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	Map Tools - MapServer
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NOAA/PORTS NY Harbor
NJ Coastal Monitoring Network
Stevens Urban Ocean Observatory
Stevens NY/NJ Harbor Estuary
NOAA/National Data Buoy Center
NWS Mount Holly Forecast Office
NWS Marine Forecast
iWindSurf.com Tides Info
LINK TO LaTTE 2005
LINK TO LaTTE 2004

LATTE BACKGROUND

The principle investigators involved in this project are Drs. Robert Chant, John Reinfelder, Scott Glenn, Oscar Schofield, John Wilkin (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - New Brunswick Campus,) Bob Houghton (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory), Bob Chen, Meng Zhou (University of Massachusetts-Boston), Mark Moline (California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo), Paul Bissett (Florida Environmental Research Institute), Tom Frazer (University of Florida - Gainsville).

Basic objective of the LaTTE project is to quantify mixing and the rate that biological and chemical processes transforms material in a buoyant coastal current, including:

Biological production rates and community composition,
Zooplankton community response,
Bioavailability and bio-accumulation of metals, and
CDOM photobleaching rates.

Link these rates to wind forced changes in the structure of the plume.

Background Information

LaTTE is a coordinated program of field and numerical experiments to examine processes that control the fate and transport of nutrients and chemical contaminants in the Hudson River plume, a plume that emanates from one of the nation’s most urban estuaries -- the New York/New Jersey Harbor complex. Urban estuarine plumes represent a major pathway for the transport of nutrients and chemical contaminants to the coastal ocean. However, the fate and transport of this material is controlled not only by the plumes dynamics but also by biological and chemical processes that are coupled to the dynamics of the plume. By conducting a series of dye experiments featuring continuous underway chemical and biological sampling with a state-of-the-art towed vehicle within the well sampled framework of an operational ocean observatory, we will be able to distinguish between physical processes that transport/mix material in a buoyant plume from biological and chemical transformation processes. This will allow us to quantify biological and chemical interactions in a Lagrangian perspective, and provide a means to assess their importance in determining the fate and transport of nutrients and chemical contaminants in a buoyant plume.

The program will contrast the response of physical, biological, and chemical processes in the plume during upwelling and downwelling conditions. We hypothesize that the cross-shelf transport of material is determined not only by Ekman transport and diapycnal mixing, but also by biological and chemical processes all of which differ between upwelling and downwelling conditions.

In particular, we will quantifiably relate biological production rates, the bioavailability and bio-accumulation of metals, and chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) photobleaching rates in the plume, to the physical characteristics of the plume, such as plume thickness, optical depth, and mixing rates.

An ocean observatory will aid the interpretation of the dye study by placing the Lagrangian surveys in context with shelf-wide observations from satellite imagery, surface currents and subsurface hydrography. The observatory will be augmented by a cross shelf array of moored instruments that provide data to characterize dynamics of the plume. Assimilation of data from the observatory and process study into a physical 3-D model will provide a high resolution and realistic hindcasts of the coastal ocean during the field experiments. The proposed work will pioneer the assimilation of dye-tracer data into a 3-D coastal circulation model and will guide future efforts to assimilate tracers into circulation models that possess more complex sources and sinks. Model hindcasts will be used to interpolate observations in space and time for interpretation and test turbulent and biological parameterizations used in the model.

Our study will address the geographic extent and biological impact of plume contaminants along the New Jersey coast and Middle Atlantic Bight. Results will improve our ability to predict the fate and transport of contaminants and the rate that they enter the base of the food chain in the coastal ocean. Episodic nutrient inputs from the plume may be to linked nearshore phytoplankton blooms that may be linked to recurrent low dissolved oxygen levels in this region (Figure 1). Results could guide future strategies for sewage disposal in the region. Finally, quantification of contaminant uptake into the base of
the coastal ocean food chain is the first step in predicting contaminant bioaccumulation into higher tropic levels.

This program will provide traditional research and thesis opportunities for a state-funded Ph.D. program and NOAA-funded undergraduate internships. Moreover, it will provide focus for the first 5 years a new Masters in Operational Oceanography program initiated in 2002 by project PI’s. Finally, ongoing collaboration with the Mid-Atlantic Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE) will be strengthened by adding components on biological and chemical processes in buoyant river plumes. COSEE integrates oceanographic research and education programs to audiences that includes, coastal managers, K-12 teachers and students--especially underrepresented groups in the marine science.