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December 15,
2004
Highlights
- On December 1, 2004, the National Park Service was recognized
for its innovative efforts to restore a portion of a wetland in
Jamaica Bay. Coastal America gave the NPS its 2004 Partnership
Award for this program. Among the partners, Norb Psuty and Jeff
Pace of IMCS, Rutgers University, were acknowledged for their
contributions to collecting field data and developing the Digital
Elevation Model for the wetland reconstruction. Each member of
the partnership received a individualized plaque from Coastal
America and a letter of congratulations from the President of
the United States.
- On December 1, 2004, the UNESCO-Cousteau Ecotechnie Program
in Coastal Resources at Rutgers was officially established. Fred
Grassle represented Rutgers at the signing ceremony held at UNESCO
Headquarters in Paris, with the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro
Matsuura presiding. To see the text of the UNESCO press release
please click on the following: UNESCO-Cousteau
20Chair.pdf
- Oyster aquaculture at the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory
was the topic in features on NJN News (Oct. 15), The Bridgeton
News (Oct. 16) and the Asbury Park Press (Oct. 18). Reporters
from each agency visited the Haskin and Cape Shore facilities
and interviewed Dave Bushek, Greg DeBrosse, John Kreauter and
Ximing Guo about oyster aquaculture programs at Rutgers and its
role in developing sustainable aquaculture programs in NJ.
- Jennifer Francis presented a seminar at the University of Delaware:
Two Decades of Arctic Change: A Perspective from Space. November
4, 2004.
- Lily Young was the Frank Parker Distinguished Lecturer on Monday,
October 25, 2004, in the Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering at Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN. The title
of her talk was, "Microbes as Chemists, the Reduction and
Oxidation of Arsenic."
- Maps of Marina Pumpout locations within New Jersey available
online:
The Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis, Rutgers University
in partnership with New Jersey Sea Grant, NJDEP Fish and Wildlife
and the Marine Trades Association has created an interactive web-site
that shows the location of over 160 marinas that offer pumpout
services to boaters. This Interactive Map Server or IMS allows
any user with an internet connection to view and create a customized
map. Users can zoom in and out, change the spatial extent, toggle
features on and off, and query pumpout sites to find out more
information. This web-site can be accessed through the following
web address: http://www.dbcrssa.rutgers.edu/ims/pumpout/viewer.htm.
This web-site was designed to make finding a pumpout station easier
and less time consuming for boaters. In addition to the GPS location
of each pumpout station this website also provides, the business
name, hours of operation, phone number, largest vessel depth,
depth at pumpout, VHF frequency, fee, and ramp access. Updates
to the IMS site will be made on an annual basis to ensure an accurate
database, although calling ahead to the marina of your choice
will ensure it is fully operational.'
This IMS site was created with financial support from the New
Jersey Clean Vessel Act. Pumping out you boat's holding tank at
a certified facility or into a pumpout boat will help to keep
New Jersey's water clean, and aid in the protection of our fish,
shellfish and wildlife populations. It will also help protect
the health of everyone who enjoys New Jersey's beautiful coastal
and freshwater resources.
For more information on this website, contact Dr. Richard Lathrop
Phone 732 932-1580 email: lathrop@crssa.rutgers.edu
- George Lambert, Joanna Burger, and Michael Gochfeld attended
a dedication event in which Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell (NJDEP)
announced that New Jersey would go to a 5 ppb standard for arsenic
in drinking water effective in 2006 (half the US standard). He
also allowed that as technology improved, the State would consider
going even lower to 3 ppb.
Also announced were model mercury emission standards for powerplants,
smelters, and incinerators calling for reductions of up to 95%
over the next decade. As chair of New Jersey's Mercury Task Force,
Michael Gochfeld was asked to speak in support of the new mercury
regulations. The transcript of Michael Gochfeld's remarks supporting
Commissioner Campbell's announcement of new mercury and arsenic
regulations can be accessed by clicking on the following link:
MERCURY
20REGULATION 20SPEECH 20Nov 204 2020041.pdf
- Alan Robock made a presentation about the AAAS Congressional
Science Fellowship program at a recruiting session for graduate
students.
Meetings Attended
- Sybil Seitzinger attended the Council of Scientific Society
Presidents (CSSP) annual meeting, in Washington, D.C., for ASLO,
Dec. 4-7 2004.
- Costantino Vetriani was an invited speaker to the Fifth Annual
West Point Microbiology Symposium, that was held at the Department
of Chemistry and Life Sciences of the United States Military Academy,
West Point, NY, on November 19, 2004. He presented a talk on the
Microbiology of Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents.
- Dave Bushek and John Kreauter presented research at the 7th
International Conference on Shellfish Restoration in Charleston,
SC, Nov. 18-20. Dave Bushek presented a collaborative project
with NJDEP entitled "Enhancing oyster grounds with spat from
high recruitment sites" and served on an expert panel discussing
"Oyster restoration metrics for assessing ecological function,
sustainability, and success." John Kreauter moderated a session
entitled "Advances in shellfish assessment and management"
during which he presented the paper "A simulation model of
the growth of hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria) with
application to brown tides." John Kreauter's paper was coauthored
by Eric Powell and colleagues from the National Research Council
of Canada and Old Dominion University.
- Dave Bushek attended a meeting at the University of Maryland's
Horn Point Laboratory on October 25, 2004 concerning "Demographic
Modeling of Chesapeake Bay Oyster Populations in support of the
Ecological Risk Assessment" for the proposed introduction
of the asian oyster Crassostrea virginica to Chesapeake Bay. Dave
Bushek attended as a member of the Peer Review Group that was
established to evaluate the development of the EIS.
- Drs. Jamie King (NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office), Kim Reece (VIMS)
and Ryan Carnegie (VIMS) visited the Haskin Lab on November 22
and 23 to coordinate research on the asian oyster Crassostrea
ariakensis in its native range. NOAA has funded several separate
projects and VIMS (Drs. Reece and Carnegie) and Rutgers (Drs.
Guo, Ford and Bushek) will investigate various aspects of the
oysters genetics, ecology and pathology. The meeting was arranged
to coordinate sample collection and maximize research efforts.
- Alan Robock participated in the CAHMDA (Catchment-scale Hydrological
Modeling and Data Assimilation)-II International Workshop on the
Terrestrial Water Cycle: Modeling and Data Assimilation across
Catchment Scales, Princeton, New Jersey, October 25-27, 2004.
- Alan Robock convened a conference session, "Volcanism and
the Earth`s Atmosphere," at the IAVCEI General Assembly,
Pucón, Chile, November 14-19, 2004. The following conference
presentations were made:
- Global Volcanic Forcing for the Last 2000 Years Derived
From Multiple Ice Core Records (with Chaochao Gao, Caspar
Ammann, and Philippe Naveau; presented by Chaochao Gao).
- Interaction of Climate Impacts of Volcanic Eruptions and
ENSO (with G. Stenchikov, V. Ramaswamy, and M. D. Schwarzkopf;
presented by G. Stenchikov).
- Climatic Response to High Latitude Volcanic Eruptions (with
L. Oman and G. L. Stenchikov; presented by L. Oman).
- Climate Model Simulations of the Effects of the 1783-1784
Laki Eruption (with Luke Oman, Georgiy L. Stenchikov, and
Thorvaldur Thordarson).
- Alan Robock presented an invited talk at the University of Chile,
Santiago, November 10, 2004, On "Volcanic Eruptions and Climate."
- Lily Young, Danielle Rhine (Res. Assistant) and Elizabeth Garcia
(graduate student), attended the Annual Meeting of the NIEHS Superfund
Basic Research Program, in Seattle, WA. Two posters were presented:
- Garcia-Dominguez, E., E.D. Rhine, A. Paschal, & L.Y.
Young. Isolation and Characterization of Arsenic Oxidizing
Chemoautotrophic Microorganisms from Soil and Sediments.
- Rhine E.D., E. Garcia-Cominguez, C.D. Phelps and L.Y. Young.
Environmental Microbes can Speciate and Cycle Arsenic.
- Lily Young served on a multi-investigator program project grant
review panel for NIEHS in Research Triangle Park, NC, Oct. 4-7,
2004. She also attended the SERDP SAB second meeting of the new
fiscal year in Washington DC, October 13-14, 2004.
- Judith Weis was in Long Beach, CA, November 9-10, 2004, at the
meeting of the Marine Leadership Committee of World Wildlife Fund.
- Judith Weis was in Washington. DC, November 16-18, 2004, at
the National Sea Grant Review Panel meeting.
- Lisa Totten attended the SETAC 25th Annual Meeting, Portland,
OR, November 14-18, 2004. The following presentations were made:
- Du, S., Totten, L.A. Identifying source areas of PCBs to
the Camden/Philadelphia atmosphere. (Poster presentation.)
- Rowe, A.A., Totten, L.A., Offenberg, J.H., Reinfelder, J.R.,
Eisenreich, S.J. Air-water exchange of polychlorinated biphenyls
in the Delaware River Basin. (Poster presentation.)
- Rowe, A.A., Totten, L.A., Offenberg, J.H., Sommerfield,
C.K., Du, S., Reinfelder, J.R., Eisenreich, S.J. Accumulation
of PCBs in sediments of the Delaware River Estuary. (Poster
presentation.)
- Wall, S.J., Totten, L.A. A Mobile Platform for Air Toxics
Monitoring in New Jersey, USA. (Poster presentation.)
- Zarnadze, A., Totten, L.A., Eisenreich, S.J. Measurements
of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) in the air and water
of NY/NJ Harbor Estuary. (Poster presentation.)
- Totten, L.A. Importance of atmospheric interactions to PCB
cycling in the Hudson and Delaware River Estuaries. (Poster
presentation.)
- Totten, L.A., Litten, S.P. Mass Balance On PCBs and PAHs
in the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary. (Poster presentation.)
New Grants
- Scott Glenn was awarded $160,681 from Codar Ocean Sensors for
his project, "CODAR HFSWR Superdirective Antenna Technology
Demonstration," (10/1/04-7/21/05).
- Mike De Luca received $184,291 from Mississippi State University
for the Mid Atlantic Bight National Undersea Research Center,
(10/1/04-9/30/05).
- Richard Dunk received a $60,000 grant from PSE&G for his
project, "Rutgers Advanced Meteorological Monitoring and
Forecast System in Support of Energy Reliability," (10/1/04-9/30/05).
- Rob Sherrell received an award of $452,514 from the National
Science Foundation for acquisition of a Laser Ablation High Resolution
Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer, (7/15/04-6/30/06).
Publications
- Francis, J.A., E. Hunter, and C.-Z. Zou, Arctic tropospheric
winds derived from TOVS satellite retrievals. Journal of Climate,
accepted.
- Ma, H. and J.P. Grassle. 2004. Invertebrate larval availability
during summer upwelling and downwelling on the inner continental
shelf off New Jersey. Journal of Marine Research 62(6):
837-865.
- Schofield, O., Glenn, S. M. 2004. On the evolution of coastal
ocean observatories. Journal of Geophysical Research,
109, C12S01, DOI: 10.1029/2004JC002577.
- Glenn, S. M., R. Arnone, T. Bergmann, W.P. Bissett, M. Crowley,
J. Cullen, J. Gryzmski, D. Haidvogel, J. Kohut, M.A. Moline, M.
Oliver, C. Orrico, R. Sherrell, T. Song, A. Weidemann, R. Chant,
and O. Schofield. 2004. The Biogeochemical impact of summertime
coastal upwelling in the Mid-Atlantic Bight. Journal of Geophysical
Research 109 C12S02, DOI:10.1029/2003JC002265.
Undergraduate & Graduate Student News
- Yonghua Chen presented a seminar at NASA/GISS entitled: Cloud
interactions in the Arctic, Nov. 19, 2004.
- The following graduate students of Alan Robock have been admitted
to Ph.D. candidacy: Haibin Li and Thomas Atkins.
- Steve Wall, Archil Zarnadze, Amy Rowe, and Songyan Du all presented
posters at the SETAC National meeting.
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