Frequently Asked Questions about LaTTE
1. What
does LaTTE stand for?
2. What is the basic objective of the LaTTE research?
3. Why was New York Harbor selected as the research site?
4. When is the LaTTE research occurring?
5. Who is involved in the LaTTE research?
6. Why is the LaTTE research important?
7. How do the scientists in the COOL room and those out on
the ocean working together?
8. What is an Ocean Observing System?
9. What is different about an Ocean Observing System from
traditional ocean research?
10. What kind of technology are scientists using to
do the LaTTE research?
11. How will scientists "tag" a piece of the ocean?
12. What will scientists do with the LaTTE data?
13. What about the acronym LaTTE?
Lagrangian Transport and Transformation Experiment or LaTTE for short. The Lagrangian refers to Joseph-Louis Lagrange, an 18th-century French mathematician who developed formulas for studying the motion of fluids while following their flow. The LaTTE experiment involves the study of the Hudson River Plume flowing into the NY-NJ Harbor. The experiment is being conducted by a group of scientists from 6 research institutions around the nation. The experiment is being led by Dr. Robert Chant from the Institute of Marine & Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University.
2. What is the basic objective of the LaTTE research?
LaTTE will improve scientists ability to predict the flow associated with the Hudson River Plume. The Hudson River plume is a mix of river water and substances such as nutrients, contaminants, plants, and organisms that flow into the ocean at a rate of 500 billion gallons per day. The interactions occur in the estuary (defined as a semi enclosed body of water where freshwater from the river and land is mixing with saltwater from the ocean). At the conclusion of the LaTTE project in 2008, scientists will be able to share important knowledge about plume and ocean interaction in one of the most urbanized areas in the world. The scientists have 4 basic objectives:
1. To determine the rate at which the Plume mixes and the effect of the wind, tides, and temperature on the structure of the Plume.
2. To measure the amounts of contaminants (such as metals from industry along the River and from the atmosphere) and nutrients (runoff from agriculture, residential and corporate lawns, wastewater and stormwater treatment) and how they change within the Plume.
3. To identify the species of phytoplankton, their growth, and the response of the animal plankton or zooplankton. This is important because we want to understand how contaminants move through the food web.
4. Use the results of the study to fine-tune computer models that will help us make good environmental decisions about the Harbor region. Examples might include things like predicting where and when there may be oxygen problems that can kill fish and close beaches. Another outcome may be predicting potentially dangerous algae blooms along the coast and making decisions about sewage disposal. By the end of this decade, we should be able to make predictions about the river and ocean behavior that begin to approach today's weather forecasting abilities. That's important because, like weather, the condition of the ocean not only contributes to health and safety, but to the economy. When you total up all the fishing, recreation and tourism, New Jersey's coastal economy is said to generate more than $100 billion in economic benefits per year.
3. Why was New York Harbor selected as the research site?
The New Jersey - New York Harbor is arguably one of the most complex, most contaminated, and least understood estuaries in the nation. The harbor sits in the most densely populated metropolitan area in the nation. The estuary covers some 770 square kilometers, and over 88,000 hectares of tidal wetlands and 600 miles of shoreline. It provides recreational opportunities including fishing, boating, and swimming to its 20 million residents, and at the same time supports a world class port for both passengers and cargo. The Harbor supports extensive commercial and recreational fisheries while also acting as a repository for municipal and industrial effluents, for storm runoff from the vast metropolitan area, and for the disposal of dredged material. All this combined makes for an exciting study site and the potential for the LaTTE research to contribute to a greater understanding of the economically and aesthetically important New York - New Jersey estuary system.
4. When is the LaTTE research occurring?
RIGHT NOW... May 3- 7, 2004. The study will continue for the next four years ending in 2008. Each spring the scientists will be conducting dye studies in the Harbor region in an effort to know the contents and fate of Hudson River water after it reaches the Atlantic Ocean.
5. Who is involved in the LaTTE research?
This project represents the cutting edge of how science is done in the 21st century. Instead of the traditional single discipline approach where a single subject is studied in isolation, this project engages biologists, chemists, and physical oceanographers all working together to understand the whole NY-NJ Harbor system. The principle investigators involved in this project are Drs. Robert Chant, John Reinfelder, Scott Glenn, Oscar Schofield, John Wilkin, Bob Houghton, Bob Chen, Meng Zhou, Mark Moline, Paul Bissett, Tom Frazer. They are from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - New Brunswick Campus, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Florida Environmental Research Institute, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo, and the University of Florida - Gainsville. Visit our COOL cards @ www.coolclassroom.org to learn more about the scientists involved in this study.
6. Why is the LaTTE research important?
The NY-NJ Harbor has endured over a century of human induced impacts including habitat loss and degradation, introduction of toxics, pathogens, floatables, and nutrients to the estuary. These impacts have produced problems that include human use impairments such as fish consumption advisories and intermittent closures of bathing beaches, and ecosystem health and productivity impairments such as declines in fish and shellfish populations. Good research helps us understand and distinguish between natural change and human induced change in an ecological system. Research produces data that informs scientists, coastal managers, and policy makers that assist in informed environmental decision making.
7. How do the scientists in the COOL room and those out on the ocean working together?
The NY-NJ Harbor will serve as an important test bed for how to conduct a scientific research project in a working Ocean Observing System. The scientists in the COOL laboratory will be using information from the Ocean Observing System to create forecasts for the scientists out on the research vessels to use to plan the dye release and data collection part of the experiment.
8. What is an Ocean Observing System?
A collection of instruments that provide long-term, continuous data, often in real-time or near real-time, for the purposes of:
o Detecting and forecasting oceanic components of climate variability
o Facilitating safe and efficient marine operations
o Managing resources for sustainable use
o Mitigating natural hazards
o Ensuring public health and national security
9. What is different about an Ocean Observing System from traditional ocean research?
Coastal Observing Systems are a leap beyond ship-borne technologies and include such tools as:
o Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) or "gliders" silently travel the depths collecting data about temperature, salinity, biological systems, etc.
o Buoys - moored in specific locations to collect data at one spot over time.
o Remote sensing satellites, orbiting 500 miles above, "seeing" ocean temperature variations and transmitting data for colorful Sea Surface Temperature (SST) maps.
o CODAR - Coastal Ocean Dynamics Application Radar, sometimes called Coastal RADAR, translates surface currents and wave heights and frequency into simple graphics on real-time maps. Which way is that water going?
o Meteorological instruments/station to collect weather data, which is intimately linked to ocean data.
10. What kind of technology are scientists using to do the LaTTE research?
LaTTE involves the ongoing use of unmanned submarines, satellites, coastal radar and other technologies. It is funded through a $4.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Gliders, which are small unmanned submarines, will criss-cross the plume along the Jersey coast monitoring plume conditions. A highly computerized device that looks like a bat and dives behind a towboat will be gathering massive amounts of information at high speed. CODAR or coastal radar tracks currents up to 120 miles off shore. Satellites with optical and thermal sensors monitor the plume from high above. Sensors anchored to the ocean floor also will help detect the Plume. For more information about the technologies of LaTTE go to http://marine.rutgers.edu/cool/technology/technology.htm
11. How will scientists "tag" a piece of the ocean?
Scientists will use about 100 gallons of Rhodamine WT, a non-toxic liquid red dye commonly used in water-tracing studies, to mark a piece of the ocean and follow it. The dye is detected optically by monitoring a characteristic reflection. Rhodamine can be detected down to 10 parts per trillion -- or the equivalent of 1/50th of an ounce dropped in an Olympic-size swimming pool. While following the dye patches, the researchers will run many tests to evaluate how how nitrogen, lead, cadmium, mercury and other substances are transported by the plume at different depths and under different conditions. They will study microscopic organisms called phytoplankton and zooplankton, and research how metals and nutrients enter.
12. What will scientists do with the LaTTE data?
Shipboard testing will provide real-time results, allowing scientists to produce computer images of the Hudson River Plume as they travel. Computer models will evolve as test cruises continue through 2006. Analysis of the comprehensive plume model is expected to be completed by 2008. Computer modeling in LATTE will tackle some complex issues, such as turbulent mixing and photosynthesis in microscopic ocean plants. The rotation of the earth will figure in the model because it causes ocean water in the northern hemisphere to turn to the right. This phenomenon, called the Coriolis effect, drives the plume up against the New Jersey coast.
13. What about the acronym LaTTE?
The LaTTE acronym will have special meaning for coffee lovers. One of the chemicals to be monitored in the Hudson River Plume is caffeine -- it passes though sewage treatment plants unchanged, and because it has no oceanic source, it can be used as an additional tracer.
