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August 7, 2006

Highlights

  • Fred Grassle, Norb Psuty, and Eric Powell were invited to give testimony before a joint hearing of the New Jersey Senate and Assembly Environment Committees on August 4th, 2006. The hearing was held at the Dover Township Municipal Building in Toms River. Among the topics covered were beach erosion and fisheries management. Kirk Moore wrote a piece on beach erosion which appeared in the Asbury Park Press, "Experts urge swift action to bolster beaches" and the Courier-Post, "Eroding sand poses crisis for beaches." Zach Patberg also wrote about beach replenishment, with a focus on Long Beach Island for the Press of Atlantic City, "Hearing points out LBI's storm vulnerability."
  • Peter Rona was elected a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America "For application of acoustics to geophysical imaging."
  • The COOL group deployed a glider as part of the Pacific fleet RIMPAC efforts off the Hawaiian islands. The glider successfully flew in these challenging waters (surviving tourist kidnapping and a probable shark attack). This effort complements Glider deployments offshore New Jersey where a Rutgers and OSU glider have been patrolling even through tropical storm Beryl. To follow the glider adventures in real-time go to the Glider web site http://marine.rutgers.edu/cool/auvs/ and then click on "active" under the deployment menu item. Several more gliders (4+) and one in California will be deployed this week. Great work, and long hours, for the glider team.
  • The US Coast Guard has contributed buoys (SLD&B = self locating data marker buoys) which were deployed last week. You can view there transport at http://marine.rutgers.edu/~sage/uscg_drifters.gif. The Coast Guard is using the buoys and Rutgers CODAR maps to develop the new generation search and rescue tools.
  • New satellite products are now available at the COOL remote sensing web page. Using the Advanced Processing Software, new standard products include absorption by phytoplankton and detritus, and particle backscatter. These products are processed in real-time so hopefully it will assist other Rutgers scientists. Go to http://marine.rutgers.edu/cool/sat_data/?nothumbs=0.
  • The IMCS Classic papers web page is now up and running. The goal is that this web page will provide a resource for the graduate students to have easy access to classic papers that have shaped oceanography! Go to: http://marine.rutgers.edu/pubsclassics/index.htm
    If you have some suggestions of some great papers (we mean the really really great ones) send them onto Oscar Schofield, oscar@marine.rutgers.edu.
  • Alan Robock appeared on CNN on July 13, on the Lou Dobbs Tonight show. He participated in a discussion on global warming.

Meetings Attended

  • Peter Rona presented the keynote talk, "Frozen Fire and Volcanoes of the Deep Sea," about Rutgers research on gas hydrates on the continental margin off NY-NJ and on hydrothermal vents at ocean ridges at the National Marine Educators Association 2006 Annual Meeting on July 19 in New York.
  • Fred Grassle attended the Encyclopedia of Life meeting in Woods Hole, July 9-13, 2006.
  • As a Project Subcommittee member of the Water Environment Research Foundation, Qizhong (George) Guo attended the "stormwater solids" project progress meeting in Denver, Colorado from July 27 to 28, 2006.
  • Kay Bidle, Assaf Vardi, Matt Johnson, and Dave Gruber attended the Gordon Research Conference on Marine Microbes (23-28 July 2006) at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine. Kay, Assaf, and Matt presented the following posters:
    • "Two roads to ruin: assessing the mechanistic interaction between programmed cell death and viral infection in the coccolithophorid, Emiliania huxleyi" (Kay Bidle)
    • "A stress surveillance system based on calcium and nitric oxide in marine diatoms" (Assaf Vardi)
    • "Retention of functional prey nuclei by the marine ciliate Myrionecta rubra" (Matt Johnson)
  • Peter Rona and Karen Bemis presented their work on acoustic and optical imaging for quantification of seafloor hydrothermal flow at the NSF Ridge Program Endeavour Integrated Study Site Data Integration and Planning workshop at the University of Washington in Seattle 24-27 July. They also met with engineers at the Applied Physics Lab-UW to work on a collaborative proposal to connect the imaging sonar to the NEPTUNE Regional Cabled Observatory on the Juan de Fuca Ridge.
  • Alan Robock attended the WMO Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2006, Panel Review Meeting, Les Diablerets, Switzerland, June 19-23, 2006. He served as an author of Chapter 6 and reviewer of the entire book.
  • Oscar Schofield and colleagues made the following presentations:
    • Schofield, O. and Tommy Dickey. Monaco eulerian observatory. (International Atomic Agency, Monaco)
    • Schofield, O. H-GOES risk reduction using optical gliders. (Monterey Bay, California)
    • Kirkpatrick, G. J., Moline, M. A., Lohrenz, S. E., Schofield, O. (2006) Phytoplankton community composition observed by autonomous underwater vehicle. International Conference of Harmful Algal Blooms (Copenhagen, Denmark)
    • Schofield "Rutgers Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences: Partnership opportunities with the Liberty Science Center" to the Executive Board of the Liberty Science Center, 7/26/06
  • Scott Glenn and Janice McDonnell presented the "U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy Final Report" to the Earth Teachers Workshop in Tuckerton, New Jersey.
  • Alan Robock delivered an invited presentation, "Volcanic Eruptions and the Environment: The Historic Record" at the Euroscience Open Forum, Munich, Germany, July 15-19, 2006.

New Grants

  • Able, K., PI. New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium, Slipping away? What Can Glass Eel Stages Tell Us About the Decline of the American Eel. 3/1/06-2/1/07, ($55,014)
  • Francis, J., PI. NSF, Collaborative Research: Roles of Clouds and Their Accomplices in Modulating the Trajectory of the Arctic System. 1/07-12/09, ($205,170)
  • Francis, J., Co-I. NSF, Collaborative Research: Improving remotely sensed surface fluxes over sea ice. 1/07-12/09, ($154,616)
  • Fugate, D., PI. New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium, Estimation of the Settling Velocity of Suspended Sediment in the Passaic River, NJ. 3/1/06-2/1/07, ($48,740)
  • Glenn, S.M., Schofield, O., Kohut, J., PIs. Department of Defense- Office of Naval Research 2006 "Adaptive Sampling in a Research Observatory During the Shallow Water 2006 Acoustics Experiment." 12/12/05-9/30/07, ($250,000)
  • Glenn, S., PI. University of Washington, ONR Glider Consortium. 1/1/06-12/31/06, ($91,441)
  • Glenn, S., PI. NOAA, Radiowave Oceanography Working Group Workshop. 2/1/06-3/31/06, ($10,000)
  • Kohut, J., PI. New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium, Development of an HF Radar Derived Near-Shore Wave and Current Product: Application to Rip Current. 3/1/06-2/1/07, ($74,176)
  • Schofield, O., Oliver, M., Falkowski, P.G., PIs. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Earth-Sun System Division 2006-2009 "Bioinformatic mapping of ocean biogeochemical provinces." ($491,000)
  • Schofield, O., Glenn, S., Kohut, J., PIs. Department of Defense- Office of Naval Research 2005 "Using Gliders for mine counter measures during the Pacific RIMPAC experiment." ($37,000)

Publications

  • Butman, B., D. Twichell, P. Rona, B. Tucholke, T. Middleton, and J. Robb. Sea Floor Topography and Backscatter Intensity of the Hudson Canyon Region Offshore of New York and New Jersey, U.S. Geological Survey Open-file Report 2004-1441, 2006, CD-ROM.
  • Chen, Y., F. Aires, J.A. Francis, J.R. Miller, 2006: Observed relationships between Arctic longwave cloud forcing and cloud parameters using a neural network. J. Clim., Vol. 19, 4087–4104.
  • Craig, S. E., Lohrenz, S. E., Lee, Z., Kirkpatrick, G. J., Schofield, O., Steward, R. G. (2006). Use of hyperspectral remote sensing reflectance for detection and assessment of the harmful alga, Karenia brevis. Applied Optics. 45(21): 5415-5425.
  • Fennel, K., J. Wilkin, J. Levin, J. Moisan, J. O’Reilly, D. Haidvogel. (2006) Nitrogen cycling in the Middle Atlantic Bight and implications for the North Atlantic nitrogen budget: Results from a three-dimensional model. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 20, GB3007, doi:10.1029/2005GB002456.
  • Gao, C., A. Robock, S. Self, J. Witter, J.P. Steffenson, H.B. Clausen, M.-L. Siggaard-Andersen, S. Johnsen, P. A. Mayewski, and C. Ammann. (2006) The 1452 or 1453 A.D. Kuwae eruption signal derived from multiple ice core records: Greatest volcanic sulfate event of the past 700 years. J. Geophys. Res., 111, D12107, doi:10.1029/2005JD006710.
  • Kato, S., N.G. Loeb, P. Minnis, J. Francis, T.P.Charlock, D.A. Rutan, E.E. Clothiaux, and S. Sun-Mack, Seasonal and Interannual Variations of Top-of-Atmosphere Irradiance and Cloud Cover over Polar Regions Derived from the CERES Data Set, Geophys. Res., Lett., accepted.
  • Kim, Y., K. A. Ashton-Alcox, and E. N. Powell. 2006. Histological Techniques for Marine Bivalve Molluscs: Update. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 27, Silver Spring, MD. 76 pp.
  • Liu, Y., J.R. Key, A.J. Schweiger, and J.A. Francis, 2006: Characteristics of satellite-derived clear-sky atmospheric temperature inversion strength in the Arctic, 1980-1996. J. Clim., in press.
  • Oman, L., A. Robock, G.L. Stenchikov, T. Thordarson, D. Koch, D.T. Shindell, and C. Gao. (2006) Modeling the distribution of the volcanic aerosol cloud from the 1783-1784 Laki eruption. J. Geophys. Res., 111, D12209, doi:10.1029/2005JD006899.
  • Schofield, O., J. Kerfoot, K. Mahoney, M. Moline, M. Oliver, S. Lohrenz, and G. Kirkpatrick (2006), Vertical migration of the toxic dinoflagellate Karenia brevis and the impact on ocean optical properties. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111, C06009, doi:10.1029/2005JC003115
  • Serreze, M.C. and J. Francis, 2006: The Arctic amplification debate. Climatic Change, doi: 10.1007/s10584-005- 9017-y.
  • Serreze, M.C. and J. Francis, 2006: The Arctic on the Fast Track of Change, Weather, 61, 65-69.
  • Shane, P.A., E.L. Sikes, and T.P. Guilderson. (2006) Tephra beds in deep-sea cores off northern New Zealand: implications for the history of Taupo Volcanic Zone, Mayor Island, and White Island volcanoes. Journal of Volcanic and Geothermal Research, 154, 276-290.
  • 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., doi:10.1029/2006JD007337, in press.

Student News

RIOS and CMER Research Poster Presentations

The 2006 NSF-REU program, Research Internships in Ocean Sciences (RIOS) ended August 4. Students from both RIOS and the NOAA Cooperative Marine Education and Research (CMER) internship program at the NMFS lab at Sandy Hook presented the results of their research in a poster display in the IMCS lobby. The posters were judged by a panel of three: Dr. Sybil Seitzinger (IMCS), Mr. Mike De Luca (IMCS), and Dr. Beth Phelan (NMFS). During the day students had lunch with the judges and heard brief remarks by Dr. Robert Goodman, Executive Dean of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. Another guest at the poster presentation was Dr. Evelyn Erenrich, Director of the RISE program at Rutgers, which co-sponsored one of the RIOS students. Also present were members of IMCS and family and friends of many of the students.

The judges had a difficult task in deciding which of the excellent posters should win the two poster contests. Two CMER students, Lauren Rizzo (Smith College) and Carla Scocchi (URI) received book awards from the CMER program. Lauren Rizzo was mentored by Dr. John Manderson in a project titled “A preliminary study of the movements of pelagic estuarine fishes with special reference to bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix).” Carla Scocchi was mentored by Dr. Chris Chambers in a project titled “Sex-specific growth in weakfish, Cynoscion regalis, in Raritan Bay, New Jersey.”

The winner of the RIOS poster contest was Erica Bodnar of Wittenberg University. Erica was mentored by Ms. Patricia Ramey in a project titled “Polygordius sp.: an ambitious worm.” Erica will represent RIOS at the next annual meeting of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO). The current president of ASLO is Dr. Sybil Seitzinger. Should Erica not be able to attend the meeting, the runner-up, Tiffany Mahan, will attend. Tiffany was mentored by Dr. Liz Sikes in a project titled “Using alkenones to determine paleo-ocean temperature and paleo-circulation over the South Tasman Rise during the last interglacial/glacial/interglacial periods.” Book awards were presented to two students, Rosa Leon-Zayas (University of Puerto Rico/Mayaguéz) and Meg Malone (College of Charleston). The former was mentored by Dr. Lee Kerkhof in a project titled “Assessing the dominant denitrifying bacteria in the Mid-Atlantic Bight sediments.” Meg Malone was mentored by Drs. Ken Able and Tom Grothues in a project titled “Distribution of telemetered smooth dogfish, Mustelus canis, in a southern New Jersey estuary

RIOS 2006 Poster Contest

Mike DeLuca and Sybil Seitzinger present book award to Meg Malone (College of Charleston).

Tiffany Mahan (California State U Sacramento, CA, Mentor: L. Sikes), runner-up of the 2006 RIOS poster contest.

 

Erica Bodnar (Wittenberg U, OH, Mentors: J. Grassle & T. Ramey), winner of the 2006 RIOS poster contest.

 

Many thanks go to all of the RIOS and CMER students, their numerous mentors, and members of the staff who helped to make this a very successful and enjoyable summer. Very special thanks to the poster contest judges for all their hard work on August 4.

RIOS Committee
Jim Ammerman
Mike De Luca
Gary Taghon
Judy Grassle

  • Rosa Leon was interviewed by Gina Vergel of the Home News Tribune. Click here to read about her summer research experience at Rutgers.

Let's Welcome

  • Marina Chong, "I grew up in Vancouver, B.C., and did my undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia. I received my Master's in Chemical Oceanography under Jay Cullen at the University of Victoria, also in British Columbia, and then came to Rutgers to work as a lab researcher/technician for Yair Rosenthal. My current research interests involve trace metal composition of forams, and method development for the analysis of rare earth elements in seawater using the ICP-MS." (Room 211B, ext. 257)
  • Diane Carlino began working for IMCS on August 7, 2006 as the associate director of administration. She comes to us from Baltimore, Maryland where she had been working at Johns Hopkins University for the past 18 years. As director of finance and administration for the Government, Community and Public Affairs division, Ms. Carlino assisted in the development of the division’s strategic plan and oversaw their budget and finance reports and analysis. She had also been involved in all aspects of administration including human resources, operations, IT, project planning and facilities. She is very eager to learn more about IMCS and begin supporting our efforts. (Room 104, ext. 511)