Category Archives: Climate Science

RSMAS Alum Jennifer Jurado Named “Champion of Change”

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Dr. Jennifer Jurado has been recognized as a “Champion of Change” by the Obama administration. Jennifer, who is the director of the Natural Resources Planning and Management Division in Broward County, was one of 12 people nationwide nominated for this honor. She was recognized by the White House as a ‘Climate Resilience Leader’ for her efforts in South Florida. Whitehouse Ceremony

Jennifer began doing research with Professor Gary Hitchcock while an undergraduate, and went on to complete her Ph.D. on Harmful Algal Blooms in his laboratory. In 2012, Jurado was recognized by the Florida Engineering Society – Broward County Chapter for Outstanding Service to the Profession. More recently, she has played a key role in the adoption of a four-county South Florida Regional Climate Change Compact and in the formulation of a Regional Climate Action Plan. Jennifer also helped to launch a multi-county initiative to address sea level rise and other regional consequences of climate change.
Jennifer Jurado
Congratulations to Jennifer for truly making a difference!

2013 Sea Secrets Lecture Series – Mark Your Calendar for the Season!

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Screen shot 2013-01-10 at 3.06.34 PMThe Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science and the Ocean Research and Education Foundation have teamed up once again to host distinguished scientists and explorers as part of the 2013 Sea Secrets lecture series.  The events are free and open to the public. Programs take place in the Rosenstiel School Auditorium, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway on Virginia Key, Fla. beginning with a reception at 5:30 p.m., followed by the lecture at 6:00 p.m.

 

Wednesday, January 16, 2013
BIMINI HOAX: THE TRUTH ABOUT ATLANTIS
Eugene A. Shinn, Professor, University of South Florida College of Marine Science & UM Alumnus

The mysterious rock megaliths off the island of Bimini in The Bahamas have interested geologists and New Age thinkers for more than 50 years. Some believe the stones are remnants of the lost city of Atlantis, while geologist have alternative ideas. Geologist Gene Shinn has been involved in the heated controversy over these megaliths since the 1970s when he headed up the US Geological Survey field station on Fisher Island. Gene majored in biology on a music scholarship at the University of Miami, while at the same time becoming a national spearfishing champion, underwater-explosives expert and photographer. His dynamic presentation will illustrate why New Agers feel so strongly about the megaliths origin. The adventure is also described in his upcoming memoir, Bootstrap Geologist.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013
RATIONAL COMEDY FOR AN IRRATIONAL PLANET
Brian Malow, Earth’s Premier Science Humorist (self-proclaimed)

Plunge into marine science with comedian Brian Malow.  From coral reefs to the Marianas Trench, plankton to whales, photosynthesis to climate change, he will discover the lighter side and bring it to the surface. Malow has been featured in Nature, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, and in programs such as The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson and NPR’s Science Friday with Ira Flatow. He has also performed to rave reviews for NASA, JPL, NIST, NSF, AAAS – and many other acronyms.  He creates science videos for Time Magazine’s website and is a contributor to Neil deGrasse Tyson’s radio show.  Currently working in science communications at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Malow is widely acclaimed for his workshops and presentations which help train scientists to become better speakers.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013
THE HUMAN FACTOR: OUR IMPACT ON EARTH’S FINAL FRONTIER
Charles Fisher, Professor of Biology, Pennsylvania State University

Considered by many to be the planet’s final frontier for exploration, the deep sea is home to a wealth of mineral, oil and gas deposits that mankind’s ever- increasing population will need in the future. Biologist Chuck Fisher has been studying the communities that live around natural oil and gas seeps in the deep Gulf of Mexico, and those that live on deep sea hydrothermal vents since their discovery about 30 years ago. This pioneer in the field is an expert on the amazing evolutionary adaptations of giant tubeworms and other strange animals to the extreme, often toxic environments of undersea volcanoes and oil seeps. With the first deep sea mining of hydrothermal vents scheduled for 2013, and drilling in the Gulf moving into deeper and deeper water, much of Fisher’s research is now addressing the ecology of these poorly known communities and their resiliency to human impacts.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013
CHOREOGRAPHING OCEAN CONSERVATION
Tierney Thys, National Geographic Explorer

We need to tap all of our creative talents to help conserve our vital ocean resources. With this in mind, National Geographic Explorer, Tierney Thys, works closely with photographers, dancers, filmmakers, gamers and other artists to help infuse quality science and conservation messaging into their work. In addition to conducting her own research on the giant ocean sunfish Mola mola, this scientist and ocean conservationist is: the writer/ producer for Stories from the Sea–an award-winning TEDed web series; the lead science advisor for the renowned dance troupe, Capacitor’s, Okeanos Project and; Daily Explorer in AnimalJam.com, an online world for 6-9 year olds with 6 million registered players. She served as Director of Research for the acclaimed Strange Days on Planet Earth PBS documentary series on global environmental change. In this media rich presentation, this TED braintrust member will present examples of what has and hasn’t worked, and discuss the value of reaching both the heart and mind to move conservation issues forward.

Winners of the University of Miami’s 2013 Underwater Photography Contest will be announced after the lecture and winning images will be on display at the Rosenstiel School library.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
DUST, CLOUDS AND CLIMATE:  WHAT WE CAN’T SEE CAN HURT US
Amy Clement, Professor of Meteorology & Physical Oceanography at UM

Gases, cloud droplets and dust exist all around us. This often-invisible ‘stuff’ in the atmosphere plays a major role in driving changes to our climate. The greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, for example, has a well-known warming effect on the climate and will continue to raise the planet’s temperature for the foreseeable future. Cloud and dust particles reflect and absorb radiation, which can alter the rate of climate change, but there are large uncertainties in how dust and clouds will change in the future. The implications are global, but they can have major consequences for life here in South Florida by affecting how fast the sea level rises. Award-winning climate scientist Dr. Amy Clement will discuss the current state-of-the-art science that is focused on studying these gases and particles, how we detect them and most importantly, how we can evaluate their impacts.

NOTE: This year the series will offer attendees the opportunity to become a Sea Secrets VIP when they reserve a seat for the entire season. $500 for two seats or $300 for one seat will guarantee premium seating, plus a personalized plaque on an auditorium seat and a VIP dinner. Donations go toward the renovation of the Auditorium and are tax-deductible. For more information, please contact Susan Gerrish at sgerrish@rsmas.miami.edu.

Sea Secrets is sponsored by The Shepard Broad Foundation, The Charles N. and Eleanor Knight Leigh Foundation and Southern Wine & Spirits, and organized by UM Professor Emeritus Robert N. Ginsburg.

RSMAS Professor Lisa Beal Visits Cape Town School

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IMG_9044RSMAS Professor Lisa Beal was in Cape Town, South Africa in Oct. 2012 for the AGU Chapman Conference on the Greater Agulhas System. The conference was the first of its kind on the African continent and the first conference wholly dedicated to the Agulhas System, which has recently been suggested to play an important role in global climate change (Beal et al., Nature, 2011).
While in Cape Town, she and NOAA scientist Dr. Meghan Cronin visited a science class at the Sophumelela Secondary School to talk about oceans role in the climate system and the Agulhas current that helps shape the regional climate in South Africa.

The Agulhas Current flows as a fast and narrow stream along the east coast of South Africa and is the western boundary current of the south Indian Ocean subtropical gyre. The Greater Agulhas System comprises the sources and influences of the Agulhas current, including its leakage of Indian Ocean waters into the Atlantic south of Africa.
The Chapman Conference was highly multi-disciplinary, including research into the fisheries and ecosystems, coupled ocean-atmosphere processes, water masses and dynamics, and past and future states – through paleoceanography and modeling – of the Greater Agulhas System.
Dr. Beal was one of four lead conveners of the conference, along with Will de Ruijter from University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, Arne Biastoch from GEOMAR Kiel in Germany, and Rainer Zahn from University of Barcelona in Spain.
Click here to read more about Dr. Beal’s research on the Agulhas current.
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The disappearing of the largest lake in the Middle East

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U5The world’s third largest hypersaline lake, Urmia Lake is located 1267 meters above sea level in a closed continental drainage basin in northwestern Iran. The lake and its associated wetlands are home to 27 species of mammals, including the endangered Mesopotamian Fallow Deer, 212 species of birds, 41 reptiles and 7 amphibians. High levels of salinity – 200 ppt, which is 5.5 times more than average seawater – limits the fauna and flora that can survive within the lake. The most dominant flora is a green algae and the only marine zooplankton is a unique brine shrimp; Artemia urmiana, which plays a key role in the lake’s food chain, in particular as the primary source of food for migratory birds such as flamingos.

RSMAS_scientistsAlthough the unique and fragile environment of Urmia Lake is protected under the United Nations Ramsar Convention and registered as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve location, the lake and its surrounding wetlands have been subject to extensive disturbances since the early 1980s. One of the main developments that severely impacted the lake’s environment was construction of the dyke-type “Kalantari” highway to connect two major cities across the lake. As a consequence, natural water circulation, sedimentation pattern and evaporation rates have been significantly altered and high levels of heavy metal contaminants have been introduced to the lake environment.

Lake UrmiaOur study of the elemental distribution patterns in the lake’s sediments reveals high mercury contamination near the Kalantari highway. Moderate mercury contamination is also detected in the main rivers that supply water to the lake, indicating progressive human development in the Lake’s catchment basins. Another major anthropogenic disturbance comes from excessive damming on the Urmia Lake’s tributaries and poor water management in their watershed areas. As a result, the lake’s water level has dropped by as much as 9 meters over the last two decades. The lake has also been losing water to enhanced evaporation in its southern “sub-basin” due to construction of the Kalantari highway.

IMG_8204Covering an area of 5000 km2, Urmia Lake is one of the largest bodies of water in west Asia and plays a crucial role in conditioning regional climate. Rapid shrinkage of the lake not only changes climate conditions in northwest Iran, but it also has a transboundary climatic effect on the neighboring countries such as Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia.  Decreasing the lake’s surface area leads to expansion of salt planes with high albedo and affects the thermal balance of the atmosphere above the lake. Freshly exposed salt planes become new point-sources of toxic slat aerosols into the atmosphere, and can cause serious agricultural and health complications across the region. While enhanced global climate change cannot be ruled out as a contributor to higher evaporation rates at Lake Urmia, it is clear that anthropogenic sources have played a far more significant role in the graduate demise of the largest continental lake in the Middle East. The fate of Lake Urmia and the demand for saving it has increased tension between people and state authorities in a way that an environmental disaster has turned into a national security concern (“The Guardian” September 5, 2011).

600px-Urmia_lake_1984_to_2011Another important aspect of our research is the study of abrupt climate change in the history of the Lake Urmia. Long-term climate data can be used to assess the natural trends in regional climate and their effect on the lake’s water and sedimentary regime. During September of 2012, in collaboration with the Iranian National Institute for Oceanography, we conducted a field campaign in Urmia National Park and collected more than 20 meters of split cores from different locations around the Lake.  The preliminary results of our study has revealed possible abrupt variations in past climate condition of the region, but the severity of such variability and its impact on Lake Urmia is the subject of our ongoing investigation.

By: Assistant Professor Ali Pourmand and graduate student Arash Sharifi of the Division of Marine Geology and Geophysics at RSMAS

 

School Visit to Cape Town’s Sophumelela Secondary School Introduces Ocean Currents to Students

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Thanks to the efforts of Juliet Hermes and Thomas Mtontsi of the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) Drs. Meghan Cronin (NOAA) and I visited Mr. Ndemane’s science class at Sophumelela Secondary School in the township of Phillipi on the Cape Flats outside of Cape Town, South Africa this past October 2012.

During the presentation we introduced ocean currents to the learners, in particular the Agulhas Current, and discussed their impact on sea surface temperature (SST) and climate. I annotated ocean currents on blow-up globes to donate to the students as fun learning tools.

The high school students were clearly engaged and one learner stood up and thanked us for meeting with them and encouraging them to be scientists. Another learner from the SAEON program came up afterwards to ask for advice on a science fair project on climate change.

The class is involved in the NOAA Adopt A Drifter program (ADP), whereby three pairs of drifters were deployed in the Agulhas Current. Data from these drifters contribute to the NOAA Global Drifter Program (GDP), a component of the Global Ocean Observing System, and can be viewed at http://www.adp.noaa.gov/track_drifting_buoys.html.

I hope to see these learners again next February, when they have been invited to visit the R/V Knorr while she is in Cape Town, on the way to the final scientific cruise of the Agulhas Current Time-series experiment.

IMG_9044Lisa Beal, Ph.D. is an associate professor of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography at the University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science and Principal Investigator of the Agulhas Current Time-series experiment http://act.rsmas.miami.edu/


My Month At Sea Sampling Coastal Waters With NOAA

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Before beginning at the Rosenstiel School, I had the opportunity to participate in NOAA’s second Gulf of Mexico and East Coast Carbon (GOMECC-2) cruise through the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) at the University of Miami. After driving to Miami from Massachusetts and moving all of my belongings into storage, I moved on to the RV Ronald H. Brown, which would become my home over the next twenty-four days. We set sail from Miami on 21 July 2012, heading into the Gulf of Mexico to begin sampling and analyzing seawater for its physical and biogeochemical properties. We collected seawater throughout the water column using a 24-bottle rosette along eight transects that were approximately perpendicular to the coast, beginning the first transect near Louisiana and ending with the eighth in the Gulf of Maine on 13 August. In addition to the transects, we also collected surface water samples while in transit between each transect and the majority of the samples collected were also analyzed at sea aboard, keeping us busy during the course of the cruise. Analyses conducted at sea included salinity, oxygen, nutrients, dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and pH, which will be used in conjunction with other parameters that are being measured in land-based laboratories to improve our understanding coastal ocean acidification.

My duties at sea were to collect seawater samples and perform the analysis of the pCO2 for all samples collected along the eight transects and while in transit. In addition to pCO2, I also collected samples for the analysis of total organic carbon (TOC), which I have here at RSMAS and have recently begun analysis in the Hansell Lab. Once I begin analysis, I will investigate TOC’s relationship with the other seawater properties that were measured and also compare TOC concentrations along transects in the Gulf of Mexico with transects on the Atlantic coast. As a result of my participation in the GOMECC-2 cruise, nearly 600 seawater samples were collected for TOC analysis along seven sections and approximately 1,200 seawater samples from all eight sections were analyzed for pCO2 by me and my supervisor, Kevin Sullivan (CIMAS).

The responsibility of collecting and analyzing samples was typically shared by two people, alternately working around the clock on opposite, twelve-hour shifts. For the GOMECC-2 cruise, the majority of the scientists had shifts beginning and ending at 3 o’clock, however, the pCO2 shifts began and ended at 1 o’clock. I had the shift that began at 1 am, which was challenging to get used to and to get back to a normal sleep schedule after the cruise, but during the cruise I couldn’t have been happier with my shift. I was able to overlap with the 3 pm to 3 am shift for a couple hours and get to know that group while sampling from the rosette or while taking a break to gaze at a sky full of stars, highlighted by the glowing Milky Way. It was also nice to get to know the people who I spent the majority of my shift working with while sampling on deck, watching sunrises together or enjoying meals together. My shift was perfect for maintaining high morale over the course of the cruise.

Every morning I woke up it would be dark and I would have my typical breakfast of instant oatmeal, occasionally topping it off with a left over dessert from the day before. I always worked through the 3 o’clock shift change and had an assortment of friendly faces to work with, which made the morning go by extremely fast. Sunrise always marked the middle of my shift, whether I was on deck sampling or taking a quick break to watch the sky brighten with an assortment of colors and feel the warmth that came along with the sun, reminding me that breakfast would soon be served. After breakfast remained a half day of work, which always found ways to surprise me with visits from pods of dolphins or pilot whales, or even schools of sergeant major fish on a detour to the Dry Tortugas National Park that we took before exchanging chief scientists in Miami.

The GOMECC-2 cruise was twenty-four days long and a great opportunity for me to meet scientists and students from universities in the eastern United States, as well as to meet scientists from RSMAS, CIMAS and NOAA. It was also a great opportunity for me to establish myself as a part of the RSMAS family before beginning graduate school, and I look forward to the next opportunity to participate in a NOAA research cruise.

Links

GOMECC-2: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/ocd/gcc/GOMECC2/

CIMAS: http://cimas.rsmas.miami.edu/

RV Ronald H. Brown: http://www.moc.noaa.gov/rb/

ocean acidification: http://www.oar.noaa.gov/oceans/ocean-acidification/

Hansell Lab: http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/biogeochem/

Dry Tortugas National Park: http://www.nps.gov/drto/

Andrew R. Margolin is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Marine & Atmospheric Chemistry Division at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science.