Introduction
The coastal ocean covers 200 nautical miles offshore and onshore of the
coastline, including the lower atmosphere above and the upper crust below
plus the biotic inhabitants. Hence, it includes the Exclusive Economic
Zone (basically, over the continental margin) and the "coastal strip"
where the majority of the human population resides and further congregates.
The numerous disciplines involved include Physical Oceanography, Meteorology,
Applied Marine Physics, Marine Chemistry, Atmospheric Chemistry, Marine
Geology, Marine Geophysics, Marine Biology, Fisheries Science, Marine
Resource Economics and Law, and Coastal Policy. Research is often conducted
in a multidisciplinary fashion and on an international basis. The education
and research emphasizes in situ and remote sensing, and numerical and
statistical modeling.
An urgent need exists to advance the understanding of how the costal
ocean functions as a combined, interacting physical-chemical-ecological
system in order to estimate its response to climate and global change
on one hand, and to improve the scientific basis for sustainable development
on the other hand. The coastal ocean is rich in living and non-living
natural resources, transfers materials between the continents and the
open ocean basins, and is subjected to multiple (often conflicting)
uses. Societal problems and research topics exist on the local, regional,
and global scales. A large number of career opportunities exist in basic
and applied scientific and engineering research, environmental monitoring
and modeling, environmental studies in industry, and environmental management
at all levels of government.
Graduate degree programs are administered by the six disciplinary
(actually, multidisciplinary in most cases) divisions, each of which establishes
its own degree requirements. However, students are welcome to choose
electives in other divisions. Each division has evolved a coastal option
or track and some examples of relevant courses are presented below.
Generally, a student’s academic program is tailor-made to meet
his/her needs and interests and accommodates his/her academic background.
Research is the "coin of the realm" for graduate education
and some examples are offered below, too.
Sample Coastal Courses
- Division of Applied Marine Physics
- Satellite Oceanography: physics and principles of remote sensing
of the ocean processes including orbital mechanics, radiative
transfer, passive and active microwave sensing and antenna theory;
descriptions and applications of visible, infrared, and microwave
sensors and examples of observations using current algorithms
and analysis techniques.
- Coastal Ocean Circulation: the dynamics of wind-driven, buoyancy-driven,
and tidally-driven flows; design of modeling and observing systems
for the coastal ocean
- Estuary Dynamics: water motions in estuaries, lagoons, and inlets;
shallow water waves and tides; dynamical classifications; mixing
concepts
- Division of Marine Affairs and Policy
- Coastal Zone Management: analysis of issues and conflicts in
coastal zone management; e.g., zoning and planning, coastal and
beach protection, ecosystem protection, federal flood insurance
program, adaptations to sea level rise, coastal pollution from
land-based sources, and tourism impacts
- Coastal Law and Policy: examines the authority of governmental
entities for making decisions affecting the coastal zone; explores
issues of shoreline use and development
- Division of Marine and Atmospheric Chemistry
- Principles of Marine and Atmospheric Chemistry: introduction
to physico-chemical properties and relationships of ocean and
atmosphere, methodology of studies
- Environmental Photochemistry: principles of photochemistry and
their application to understanding sunlight-initiated processes
near the sea surface.
- Marine Physical Chemistry: physical-chemical principles applied
to the marine environment, based on thermodynamics and rate processes.
- Marine Biochemical Cycles: roles of bacteria in the transformation
of compounds in the marine environment, and their functions in
the carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus cycles and the transformation
of metals.
- Groundwater Modeling: computational modeling of groundwater
flow and contaminant transport; analyze interactions between physical,
chemical, biological, geological, and hydrological processes
- Division of Marine Biology and Fisheries
- Biology and Ecology of Mangroves: mangroves as a dynamic interface
between terrestrial and marine ecosystems and how they modify
coastal environments, includes taxonomy, physiology, nutrition,
and water relations
- Ecology and Physiology of Coral Reef Systems: reefs from geological,
biological, and ecological perspectives as integrated systems;
physiology of scleractinian corals and their symbionts, as well
as reef community nutrient cycling, productivity, and food webs.
- Current Applications of Ecological Theory: ecological theory
as applied to stress ecology, methodologies for evaluation stress
responses and ecological management, general systems theory, and
human/environmental interactions
- Population Modeling and Management of Tropical Marine Fisheries:
quantitative studies of recruitment, growth, and survivorship
in coastal marine populations of fish, shellfish, marine mammals,
and sea turtles; mathematical and computer-based simulation models
of exploited populations; control theory and decision analysis;
and concepts of allocation and management institutions
- Division of Marine Geology and Geophysics
- Geospatial Modeling/Programming: use of aerial photography and
other remotely sensed data as input into geographical information
systems; processing, interpretation, and analysis of satellite
imagery, aerial photography and raster-based GIS data
- Geological and Environmental Remote Sensing: basic physics of
remote sensing; major remote sensing techniques used in aircraft
and satellite platforms, including IR and near IR, optical and
microwave systems
- Sedimentation: origin, dispersal, and accumulation of sediments;
processes and agents that influence sedimentation and the character
of sedimentary deposits in major marine and non-marine sedimentary
environments
- Division of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography
- Physical Oceanography: ocean general circulation, its dynamics
and water mass formation; "ocean weather" (eddies, fronts,
and meandering jets); regional oceanography; mathematical methods
and problem solving
- Introduction to Atmospheric Science: thermodynamics of dry and
moist processes; elementary dynamical meteorology; weather systems;
structure and mechanics of the general atmospheric circulation
- Waves and Tides: dynamics of long (shallow water) gravity waves;
tidal dynamics of the Earth-Moon-Sun system; topographically trapped
and scattered waves
- Air-Sea Interaction: surface fluxes of momentum, heat, moisture,
and salt in the mesoscale ocean-atmosphere system; vertical distribution
of energy sources and sinks; forced upper ocean dynamics; Langmuir
cells; role of surface waves on mixed layer dynamics
Examples of Faculty and Student Coastal Research
- Division of Applied Marine Physics
- Remote sensing of currents, waves and winds in the coastal regions
using Ocean Surface Current Radar (OSCR). These data are used
to understand shoaling characteristics of the directional properties
of waves and the spatial/temporal evolution of the wave field.
- A nowcast/forecast system is under development for Prince William
Sound, Alaska; it involves a numerical circulation model and real-time
observations; it is being applied to the estimation of oil-spill
trajectories and the simulation of the marine ecosystem.
- Numerous field deployments of novel air-sea interaction spar
(ASIS) buoys to study the variability of surface fluxes for momentum,
heat and moisture in the presence of windsea and swell as well
as strong surface current gradients.
- Studies in the new and unique Air-Sea Interaction Simulation
Tank focus on gas transfer and radar remote sensing in wind conditions
ranging from gentle breezes to hurricanes.
- A real-time forecast system for winds, waves and surge is being
developed to predict the impact of surge (flooding potential)
and waves (erosion potential) along the coastline during hurricane
landfall.
- Division of Marine Affairs and Policy
- Analyses of coastal law & policy; such as, legal and administrative
constraints to aquaculture; regulatory control of beach renourishment;
and public access to beaches.
- Development of management strategies for marine and coastal
protected areas and mangrove/wetlands in Latin America and the
Caribbean.
- Studies of the conflicts between different user groups and authorities
surrounding the designation and implementation of marine reserves.
- Studies of the adaptation of the fisheries sectors in Pacific
South American nations to ENSO climate change.
- Division of Marine and Atmospheric Chemistry
- The nutrient and carbon dioxide system and the chemistry of
trace metals in the water column and sediments are under investigation
in Florida Bay.
- The photochemistry of organic material in natural waters is
studied in coastal regimes, both locally and globally.
- Trace metals are analyzed in Florida Bay, Biscayne Bay, and
the Miami River.
- The carbon dioxide system of the Bahamas is studied to understand
the precipitation of calcium carbonate in the Bahamas Banks.
- Division of Marine Biology and Fisheries
- Coral reefs as geological systems composed of living organisms;
anthropogenic impacts on reefs; responses of reefs to climate
variability; and, the importance of higher trophic levels (coral
reef fishes) to the stability and dynamics of the coral reef ecosystem
- Coastal waters as fisheries nursery habitats for commercially
and recreationally important species; reef fish-habitat association
models for optimizing sampling surveys; and, quantitative principles
for the design of marine reserves.
- Multispecies population and community dynamics of exploited
tropical marine fishes; methodologies for estimating fish stock
spatial abundance; estimating the impacts of commercial and recreational
fishing on the stability and dynamics fisheries; and, coupled
spatial biophysical models of fishery
- Division of Marine Geology and Geophysics
- A rapid assessment protocol has been developed and tested to
assess the condition of a large number of coral reefs throughout
the western Atlantic; it focuses on the corals, fish, and algae;
the data acquired are used for developing hypotheses on regional
trends of reef decline, especially on large spatial scales.
- Remote sensing of shallow tropical water (corals, seagrasses,
and sediments); algorithm development for hyperspectral imagery
- Records of Climate and Anthropogenic Changes in the Coastal
Sediments
- Scleractinian corals and coastal sediments have the potential
of containing long records of environmental change. Changes in
proxy indicators of change within the skeletons or sediments can
be used to ascertain the rate and timing of change and examine
variations in the frequency climatic changes associated with global
climatic phenomenon such as the SOI or NAO, in addition records
of long term changes local or global phenomenon are contained
within the sediments of skeletal structure
- Division of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography
- Remote sensing of coastal currents using Ocean Surface Current
Radar (OSCR). Work in collaboration with scientists at the South
Florida Ocean Measurements Center focuses on combining surface
current measurements with measurements from moorings, ships, and
AUVs to illuminate connections between surface and subsurface
currents.
- Simulations and observations of coastal and atmospheric circulations
ranging from land-sea breezes to the evolution of precipitation
fields in land-falling hurricanes
- Air-sea interaction studies of tropical storms using a combination
of in situ and remote sensing over marginal seas and coastal regimes.
- Influence of wind forcing and off-shore boundary currents on
coastal circulation and exchange
- Effects of freshwater discharge from the Everglades and the
Florida Keys coastal zone on water properties of Florida Bay in
support of the Everglades Restoration Project.
- Observations and modeling of Florida current frontal eddies
on lateral transport and nutrient inputs to the Florida Keys coastal
zone.
- Influence of Gulf of Mexico and coupling on South Florida coastal
water motions and their interactions.
- Turbulence measurements in fresh water plumes that are strongly
influenced by coastal tides.
Last revised: Nov. 15,2000
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