Featured Scientists: Robert "Bob" Arnone and the OWX Lab!

Before we return back to our corresponding labs, and start to process our samples, we have one more post from one of our collaborators! Dr. Bob Arnone was part of the land-support team which guided our survey with satellite updates and oceanographic analyses of daily conditions. The GOM is a very large and dynamic ecosystem and we can use all the help we can get! Bob and two post-doctoral researchers (Brooke Jones and Inia Soto) prepared a blog post to share some of their work at the University of Southern Mississippi. I hope you enjoy it and next year, we encourage our collaborators to do joint posts like this one to share their land based work as well!

Robert Arnone and Brooke Jones in the OWX showing the cruise track
of the Nancy Foster in the Gulf of Mexico and the daily ocean conditions

"We are Prof. Robert Arnone, Dr. Brooke Jones, and Dr. Inia Soto from the University of Southern Mississippi, Division of Marine Science, Stennis Space Center. Our Ocean Weather Laboratory (OWX) was able to work with the researchers aboard the Nancy Foster during the RESTORE Bluefin tuna survey (NF1704) this past May and early June 2017. We provided daily updates on relevant ocean conditions while we followed the ship's cruise track as well as abnormal conditions that might affect the research results. Many of the ocean products we provided are new, and working with the Foster cruise allowed us to compare the observations from our lab with ship observations. Our goal is to demonstrate that our daily ocean products can provide the Foster a better understanding of sampling for Bluefin tuna. We want to continue to work with the research group to optimize our products and the packages we provide.

"The OWX Laboratory was established to characterize the daily ocean conditions and abnormal events in the Gulf of Mexico. Our focus is to assemble products from satellite remote sensing ocean color data, sea surface temperature, and several physical ocean circulation models to define ongoing ocean activity. Our daily products include the ocean bio-optical properties of chlorophyll-a, turbidity, water clarity, phytoplankton absorption, and particle back-scattering and physical oceanographic conditions (temperature, salinity, currents, mixed layer depth). The OWX Laboratory research is focused on the understanding of the interactions between the oceanographic conditions and the ecosystem. New OWX products also include weekly dynamic "anomalies" which can help us identify abnormal physical or biological conditions that are occurring so possible bio-physical oceanographic events can be identified in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Ocean Weather Laboratory at USM with various screens visually monitoring ocean conditions using Google Earth

"The daily OWX Laboratory products provided locations to the Foster for adaptive sampling to help support optimum data collection and understand how Bluefin tuna are responding to changing bio-physical conditions, as well as identify events such as harmful algal blooms, flooding events, coral reef mortality, and others that may be occurring in the Gulf of Mexico.

"The OWX Laboratory visually displays animated ocean properties in several monitors using Google Earth. These tools provide capability to integrate ship tracks and observed data with satellite and model data so we can coordinate with ship operations.

"The videos below show Google Earth animations of the OWX Lab's animated daily products of the nowcast bio-physical processes (Chlorophyll, currents, and salinity) and the dynamic abnormal ocean conditions with the ship track for the Nancy Foster Bluefin tuna survey for the week (May 22-27, 2017)."

We love to share our collaborators' research, especially when the OWX Lab's main focus is to provide new capabilities for ship sampling so that optimum data can be collected and related to the changing ocean conditions. We hope that the daily OWX products can be used for fisheries applications very soon!

Featured Scientist: Rachel Thomas

Today on the blog, we have a guest post from Rachel Thomas, learn about her research objectives during this survey in the Gulf of Mexico!

Rachel takes the CTD down to 2500m in the Gulf of Mexico!

My name is Rachel Thomas and I’m a PhD student at Florida State University studying the marine nitrogen cycle with the Knapp Lab.

Filtering sea water

On this cruise, I am looking at the concentrations of nitrate, a nutrient required by primary producers, found in the upper 300 meters of the water column. Water samples are prepared using a colorimetric technique that will turn the water varying degrees of pink, depending on concentration, and analyzed at a certain wavelength. I am also collecting water samples from various depths ranging from a depth of 2500 meters and 3 meters below the surface. These samples will be taken back to FSU where we will look at the different nitrogen isotope signatures found in the water parcel.

Rachel examines nitrate concentrations

Think of an isotope signature as a fingerprint, where each source of nitrogen has its own unique fingerprint. By comparing the known signatures of each source to our water parcel, we will be able to determine where the nitrogen is coming from.

Collecting water from the CTD rosette 

It is important to understand where these nutrients are coming from to fuel primary producers in order to better understand how changes in nutrient sources will affect the GOM productivity.

Featured Scientist: Meet Jason!

Today's featured scientist is Jason Mostowy - read on for more about his cruise and future goals!

My name is Jason, I graduated from the University of  Miami in 2015 with a B.S. in Biology/Marine Science, and I've been working as a research tech in the FORCES Lab since 2013.

Larval lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles)
Image credit: FORCES

My main work for the lab involves processing the zooplankton samples we collect on cruises like this one - meticulously removing fish larvae and other target organisms, fitting the results into our considerable database, and dissecting larval fish for otoliths (earstones, used for ageing studies), gut contents, or genetic analysis projects. I'm also currently working on a project to characterize the larval distribution of the highly invasive Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles) in the tropical western Atlantic. Gaining a better understanding of the early life ecology of this harmful species will help scientists better predict levels of lionfish population replenishment, which in turn can be used to determine where and how often lionfish removal efforts should be performed.

Jason sorts through plankton search for tunas

Jason rinses down the Bongo-90 with
Sarah and Lulu during night shift

This is my third year sailing aboard the Foster. I love working in the field, especially the many perks that come with going to sea - the chances to practice and expand my scientific skill set, the opportunities to get to know other scientists from a variety of disciplines, the stewards rescuing me from my unfortunate cooking for a few weeks, etc. It's been a long cruise for me; I first embarked way back on April 13th, and by the time we reach port on June 2nd I'll have spend 35 of the last 48 days at sea!

This fall - after what I hope will be a commensurately long and relaxing stint on solid ground over the summer - I plan to start graduate school where I will continue to study the factors that mediate the distribution and survival of larval fish in the GOM and Caribbean.

Featured Scientist: Tom Kelly

Today we learn about Tom who shares his insights into the infamous sediment trap! Here is his blog post. (Read previous guest posts here!)

Tom and the incubation system

My name is Thomas Kelly and I am a PhD Candidate at Florida State University in the Plankton Ecology and Biogeochemistry Lab. One of the principal tools that I use in my research is called a sediment trap. A sediment trap collects marine particles and organisms as they sink through the water column. You can think of a sediment trap as an underwater rain gauge that collects sinking plankton instead of falling rain drops.

Since most of the biological growth occurs where light is plentiful (i.e. photosynthesis), the majority of marine organisms live within the surface layers of the oceans. But as these organisms die, get broken up, or defecate, particles settle out of the surface layer and into the deeper ocean. Our sediment traps are placed in between these layers and can tell us about what kind and how quickly carbon, nutrients, and other material leaves the surface ecosystem.

Tom and Mike deploy the sediment trap

The deployment of the sediment trap is really quite straightforward and will typically take a bit over an hour. The whole assembly consists of a long rope that extends from the surface all the way down to the depth of the last sediment trap frame (Pictured to the left), about 650 (210m) feet. At the bottom we place 60 lbs (27 kg) of weights and at the top a set of buoys. For the Bluefin Tuna Cruise the sediment trap frames are placed at approximately 150, 400, and 600ft (50, 120, and 200m) of water depth so that we can measure how the sinking of particles changes with depth.

Onto the frame we attach a set of tubes filled with extra salty seawater so that any particles that sink into them will stay in the tube rather than being mixed out again (the denser fluid will stay inside the tube just like a glass of water will stay inside a cup). Besides that, the tubes are also spiked with formaldehyde to kill anything that tries to eat the sinking material and a baffle at the top to reduce turbulence around the top of the tube.

Tom plots his next filtration experiment

After 3-5 days of drifting, the sediment trap is ready to come aboard and be processed. In general, each of the sampling tubes is filtered and frozen for later processing on land where we can look at such things as the carbon and nitrogen content. Some of the specialized aspects that we can look at from the sediment traps include the size classes of the particles collected, the source of the material collected, and the quantity of various metals and nutrients within the material. Ultimately the sediment trap provides invaluable information about how the ecosystem looses energy and material to the deeper water column.

Featured Scientists: LaTreese Denson and Sennai Habtes!

Today we'd like to introduce you to two collaborators that we've had the pleasure of working with for many years, LaTreese Denson and Sennai Habtes! 

LaTreese first teamed up with the FORCES lab in the summer of 2009 when she completed her Hollings Scholar internship in Miami. We were thrilled when she returned to Miami last year to start her PhD at the UM Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS), funded by the NOAA LMRCSC Fellowship! 

LaTreese shared with us about herself: "Since this is my first year, I currently take classes and experiment with data (e.g., fish abundance, environmental indices, etc ) and different population estimation models to help figure out what I will be using for my dissertation. At this point I basically sit inside all day and read. On the cruise, I am hoping to get more experience with data collection methods for the ecology of larval fish so that I have a better understanding of the quality of the data that is available for my population models. I also just want to be outside/at-sea.

Her research: "I am interested in modeling fish populations and the effect oceanography may have on their dynamics. Modeling fish populations and estimating their abundance is like putting together one of those insane 1000 piece puzzles with a three year old. The pieces might be everywhere or even missing, there is probably a lot of jamming of miss match pieces together and you won't finish it as soon as you thought but eventually you get close to putting the edges of the puzzle together. In the end its great because even those small steps are huge when you consider the magnitude of the problem."

We love LaTreese's passion and curiosity for marine science! Be sure to check out her personal blog as well, where she's currently sharing her own experiences on the Nancy Foster!

Dr. Sennai Habtes has been an honorary member of the FORCES lab since 2009 when he participated in the Spring SEAMAP plankton survey, and then throughout his PhD studies on larval bluefin tuna. He is now an Assistant Research Professor of Biological Oceanography at the Center for Marine and Environmental Studies (CMES) at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI).

Read more about Sennai's research! "As a professor at UVI, my time is split evenly between research, teaching, and running the Coastal Oceanography lab for UVI-CMES. My research falls primarily within the fields of fisheries oceanography and zooplankton ecology and is focused on using time series data to study patterns in, and impacts to marine organisms in tropical and subtropical regions. This often requires the development and analysis of data products from satellite, airborne and in-situ oceanographic sensors to understand large marine ecosystems at synoptic spatial and longer temporal scales. Here at UVI I am interested in studying the physical processes and environmental variability in coastal and pelagic ecosystems surrounding the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, and to determine how these factors affect the abundance and distribution of marine organisms. In particular I am interested in larval fish and zooplankton, which are important life stages for most commercial and recreational fisheries. This information can be used to develop better tools for ecosystem based management and fisheries decision support systems. The Coastal Oceanography Lab or “Ocean Lab,”  is involved in a range of oceanographic research activities surrounding the USVI, including management of two coastal ocean buoy systems which are part of the CARICOOS buoy network, deployment and recovery for a host of oceanographic sensors used in conjunction with marine research for the Virgin Islands Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (VI-EPSCoR), and a time-series of zooplankton and oceanographic data used as part of an ecosystem analysis project within Brewers Bay, on St. Thomas. In addition I teach courses on Ecological Research Methods for the Masters for Marine and Environmental Studies program at UVI and a course in oceanography for the undergraduate BS/BA programs in Marine Biology and Environmental Sciences for UVI."

Goals for this cruise: "Beyond simply getting to interact with the cool and amazing scientists in the FORCES lab at NOAA SEFSC and Physical Oceanography Division at NOAA AOML, I am collecting zooplankton in conjunction with the surveys on larval reef fish to understand how oceanographic conditions affect patterns in zooplankton abundance, distribution, and community composition. In addition this data can be used to understand over time if there are changes in Caribbean zooplankton communities and to asses how this may impact larval fish habitat suitability and survival."

Sennai is excited for the waterspout that came near the ship!

We are grateful for the time we've had with LaTreese and Sennai, and look forward to collaborating with them for many years to come!

Featured Scientist: Catalina "Cati" Mena Oliver

Although we are starting to sample in the eastern Caribbean, today's blog features a 'leg 2' participant: Cati! 

Picoplankton and the microbial food web (from Johnson and Lin, 2009)

Processing plankton samples

Catalina Mena Oliver (Cati) joined us in Cozumel back in May to specifically sample picoplankton during Leg 2. Catalina is a PhD student from the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (Oceanographic Centre of  Baleares - Larval Ecology Group), and she is developing her Doctoral Thesis studying the base of the planktonic food web with special interest in the bacterioplankton communities (picoplankton). 

Dynamic oceanographic currents of the western MED
(Balbin et al 2014)

Picophytoplankton (~0.2 to 2 µm) are the smallest autotrophic organisms on Earth and in stratified oligotrophic regions (like the Mediterranean and the Caribbean) can be a key component as biomass source. During our survey we aim to link the community of primary producers to eddy structures, since these communities can be highly influenced by mesoscale dynamics and by changes in resource supply. The phytoplankton size structure and the relative contribution of the different phytoplankton size fractions in terms of carbon biomass strongly affect the carbon transfer and the ecosystem functioning.

Cati shares her research with the science team

Cati shared with our blog: “I am very grateful to FORCES Lab from SEFSC-NOAA to give me the opportunity to participate in the Nancy Foster survey and I hope we could continue this collaboration in the future. The results obtained will help us to assess if the ecosystem is supported by a microbial food web, dominated by the picophytoplankton fraction, which might be crucial as food source not only for bluefin tuna larval ecology but also for other many species”.
We enjoyed to have Cati aboard and hope that she will sail again with us! We look forward to sharing her results in the future with you our loyal reader! 

Trying on the safety suit! (Cati is a LOBSTER)