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February 28, 2007

Highlights

 On March 1, David Bushek will be installed as President of the National Shellfisheries Association for a two year term. The Association celebrates their 100th Annual Meeting next year, April 2008, in Providence, RI. David gets installed at the Aquaculture 2007 Triennial Meeting: Science for Sustainable Aquaculture. During the meeting, he will be chairing the session on Bivalve Mollusc Disease, and his presentations include:
  • "First Report of Perkinsus chesapeaki in Delaware Bay." D. Bushek, B.J. Landau, C. Dungan, E. Scarpa, and I. Burt. Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory, Rutgers University, Port Norris, NJ, USA.
  • "Surveying Oysters in Asia for Parasites and Pathogens in Response to the Proposed Introduction of Crassostrea ariakensis to the East Coast of North America." E. Scarpa, D. Bushek, S. Ford, L. Ragone Calvo, X. Guo, B.J. Landau, K. Reece, G. Brown, J. Moss, R. Carnegie, and E. Burreson. Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory, Rutgers University, Port Norris, NJ 08349.
  • Mike Kennish and colleagues were interviewed by Kirk Moore of the Asbury Park Press on the effects of the high level of nitrogen pollution in Barnegat Bay. Click here to read the article: "Crucial eelgrass disappearing: nitrogen blamed."
  • The RU robotic glider, launched in the waters of the Antarctic, has completed its mission and is brought home. Read about its journey in the Feb. 6, 2007 article,"Rutgers robotic glider wows oceanographers" by Sandy Bauers of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
  • Bridget Wade was interviewed by Patrick Regan for NJN news, "Natural Climate Rhythms" it was broadcast on Wednesday 21st February. To view video, click on the link: http://www.njn.net/newspublicaffairs/science/
  • Peter Rona presented a talk, "Frozen Fire and Volcanoes of the Deep Seas," about discoveries with his colleagues of gas hydrates in the Hudson Canyon region off New Jersey and of hydrothermal processes on ocean ridges, to a packed house as part of the Science on Saturdays program on February 17th at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab.
  • Jim Ammerman presented a seminar entitled: Phosphorus Limitation on the Louisiana Coast: A Tale of Nutrients, Controversy and the “Dead Zone” at the Department of Marine Science of the University of Southern Mississippi on Feb. 1, 2007.
  • Bonnie McCay (Dept. of Human Ecology) was a panelist at the Royal Society of Canada Forum "Are We Killing the Oceans?" at the University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Feb. 22-23rd, 2007.
  • Alan Robock gave an invited talk, "Climatic consequences of nuclear war" at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, New Jersey, February 15, 2007.
  • Tony Broccoli was interviewed and quoted by The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ) in a news article about pioneering climate modeler Syukuro Manabe, February 4, 2007
  • Scott Glenn gave the presentation "Transition to Operational Oceanography In the Rutgers COOLRoom" at the Geology Open House on January 27, 2007.
  • Tony Brocoli gave the following presentations:
    • "Global Warming: Causes and Consequences" at the Delaware Estuary Science Conference, Cape May, NJ, January 23, 2007.
    • "From Ice Age to Greenhouse: What Past Climates Can Tell Us About Future Climate Change" at the Geology
      Open House, Rutgers University, January 27, 2007.
    • "Climate Change: How Will It Affect Us?" at an information session about the Intergovernmental Panel on
      Climate Change Report ("Global Warming: It's Later Than We Think, But It's Not Too Late") at the Nicholas Music Center, Rutgers University, February 13, 2007.
  • Alan Robock gave a lecture on Global Warming to the Sierra Club of Monmouth County, Lincroft, NJ, January 22, 2007. On February 2, 2007, he appeared on Channel 9 News, discussing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report issued that day.
  • The work of A. Robock, L. Oman, G. Stenchikov et al. on the climatic consequences of nuclear war was featured in an article and on the cover of Science News, February 3, 2007. Click here to read the article, Perkins, Sid, 2007: Sudden chill, Even a limited nuclear exchange could trigger a climate catastrophe. Science News, 171, No. 5, p. 72. It is also available at http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070203/bob8.asp

Meetings Attended

  • Jim Ammerman attended the "Summit on Long-Term Monitoring of the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone: Developing the Implementation Plan for an Operational Observation System" on Jan. 30-31 at Stennis Space Center, Mississippi,
    and gave an invited presentation on "New Tools and Technologies."
  • Fred Grassle attended the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) International Committee meeting on Feb. 11 & 12. He also chaired the Census of Marine Life (CoML) Scientific Steering Committee meeting on Feb. 13 and 14. These meetings were held at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama City, Panama.
  • John Reinfelder was one of the organizers of the session "River Plume Dynamics and Biogeochemistry" at the ASLO Aquatic Sciences meeting, February, 2007, Santa Fe, New Mexico. John gave the presentation, "Trace metal accumulation in zooplankton of the Hudson River buoyant plume," Reinfelder, J.R., D.D. Wright, T.K. Frazer, M.A. Moline, and O. Schofield, American Society of Limnology and Oceanography Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2007. In addition, he was co-author of the following talks:
    • Jost, J.M., M.A. Moline, T.K. Frazer, O. Schofield, J.R. Reinfelder, J.A. Connolly, and C. Boland, "Phytoplankton community structure and dynamics within a buoyant river plume," American Society of Limnology and Oceanography Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2007.
    • Chant, R.J., J.R. Reinfelder, T.K. Frazer, R. Houghton, S.M. Glenn, O. Schofield, J. Wilkin, R. Chen, R.F. and M. Zhou. "Circulation and mixing of the Hudson River outflow: Implications for the transport and transformation of terrestrial material into the coastal ocean," American Society of Limnology and Oceanography Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2007.
  • Judith Weis was at the meeting of the National Sea Grant Review Panel in Washington DC during the week of Feb. 19, 2007. Most of the following week, she attended a meeting of the NRC Committee on Desalination, in Tampa FL.

New Grants

  • Glenn, S. University of Washington, "Glider Data Assimilation and Adaptive Sampling for the Littoral Battle Space Fusion and Integration." 1/1/07-9/30/07, ($100,000)
  • Falkowski, P. The Agouron Institute, "How the Nitrogen Cycle Evolved During the Great Oxidation Event." 2/1/07-1/31/08 ($82,800)
  • Grothues, T. New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium, "Sensitivity of Acoustic Telemetry Gate Escapement to Seven User-Defined Variables." 7/1/06-6/30/07, ($3,983)
  • Guo, X. USDA NRAC via University of Maine, "Cross-breeding and field trials of disease-resistant eastern
    oysters." 1/1/07 - 12/31/07, ($15,535)
  • Guo, X., D. Bushek, and S. Ford. NOAA Sea Grant ODRP, "Mapping dermo-resistance genes for
    marker-assisted selection in the eastern oyster." 10/1/06 - 9/30/07, ($118,357)
  • Kennish, M. State of NJ-Department of Environmental Protection and Energy, "Development of Benthic Indicators for Nearshore Coastal Waters of New Jersey." 7/1/06-12/31/07, ($50,950)
  • Wang, Y, X. Guo, G. Debrosse, D. Bushek, S. Ford, R. Karney. NOAA Sea Grant ODRP, "Enhance growth and disease-resistance of the eastern oyster by interstrain hybridization and triploidy." 10/1/06 - 9/30/07, ($137,958)
  • Zavala-Garay, J. University of Miami, "A Study of the MJO_ENSO Problem: Phase II." 6/1/06-5/31/07, ($37,384)

Publications

  • Reinfelder, Y.F., G. Miguez-Macho, C. Weaver, R. Walko, and A. Robock, 2007: Incorporating water table dynamics in climate modeling, Part I: Water table observations and the equilibrium water table. J. Geophys. Res., 113, doi:10.1029/2006JD008111, in press.
  • Rowe, A. A., L.A. Totten, G.J. Cavallo, and J.R. Yagecic. Watershed Processing of Atmospheric Polychlorinated Biphenyl Inputs. Environmental Science and Technology. 2007, In press.
  • Toon, O.B., A. Robock, R.P. Turco, C. Bardeen, L. Oman, and G.L. Stenchikov, 2007: Consequences of regional-scale nuclear conflicts. Science, in press.
  • Uhle M. E., E.L. Sikes*, S.D. Nodder, and C.A. Pilditch, 2007. Sources and diagenetic status of organic matter in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand: Evidence from the carbon isotopic composition of D- and L-amino acids. Org. Geochem., 38, 440-457.
  • Xu, M., C.-P. Chang, C. Fu, Y. Qi, A. Robock, D. Robinson, and H. Zhang, 2006: Steady decline of east Asian monsoon winds, 1969­2000: Evidence from direct ground measurements of wind speed. J. Geophys. Res., 111, D24111, doi: 10.1029/2006JD007337.

Student News

  • Sindia Sosdian was awarded the Schangler Ocean Drilling Fellowship for her shore-based fellowship proposal
    "The mid-Pleistocene-transition: deep sea temperatures and global ice volume from Mg/Ca and d18O in benthic foraminifera." The award is for $28,000 per year to be used for stipend, tuition, benefits, research costs, and travel. The Schlanger Ocean Drilling Fellowship Program offers merit-based awards for outstanding graduate students to conduct research related to the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. Congratulations Sindia!
  • Jackie Taylor, a Master’s student in David Bushek’s lab, received a Graduate Student grant-in-aid from New Jersey Water Resource Research Institute (NJWRRI) for her project titled "Restored oyster reef habitat use by the American eel (Anguilla rostrata) in the lower Delaware Bay."
  • Patricia Ramey a student in Fred Grassle’s lab attended and presented her research entitled “Flumes and marine benthos: a single approach to tackle an array of research questions” at the Northeast Biological Graduate
    Student Conference hosted at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada Feb. 23-25. This work was in collaboration with Dr. Pedro Quijon who is at the University of Prince Edward Island.

Congratulations

  • Hongguang Ma who has spent more than ten years at IMCS as a graduate student and postdoc, started work at the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office at the Oxford Lab last August. His work focuses on fisheries ecosystem modeling in the Chesapeake Bay. He can be reached via email at Hongguang.Ma@noaa.gov. Hongguang would like to extend his gratitude to faculty and staff members (especially Judy), who helped and worked with him during these past few years. Best of luck to Hongguang in his new position!
 On January 27, 2007, Yongping Wang and her husband Xiaodong YU became proud parents of a healthy baby boy. Daniel weighed in at 7 lbs. 15 oz. Congratulations to Yongping, Xiaodong, and older sister Diana!