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Welcome to our first issue!
Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Ocean Observing and Modeling Group's newsletter! OOMG is the research group led by Dr. Ruoying He in the Dept. of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences at North Carolina State University. We study various facets of physical oceanography, including coastal circulation dynamics, physical-biogeochemical interactions, air-sea interactions including hurricanes, remote sensing, numerical modeling and data assimilation, and coastal observing systems. For details of our current and past projects, a list of publications, funding sources, opportunities with our group, and links to our interactive forecasts and satellite analyses, visit our web page. We hope you find this monthly newsletter interesting and informative. If you have been forwarded this copy and would like to receive it directly, please email us (see Contacts below). You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in the footer of this message.
Current members of OOMG are Dr. Ruoying He (PI), Dr. Zuo (George) Xue (research assistant professor), Dr. Yizhen Li (post doc), Dr. Zhigang Yao (post doc), Dr. Austin Todd (post doc), Dr. Yi Xu (post doc), Dr. Wendy Woods (research associate), Jennifer Warrillow (lab manager), Joseph Zambon (PhD candidate), Yanlin Gong (PhD student), Xiangming Zeng (PhD student), Dr. Tianyu Zhang (visiting scholar), and Taylor Shropshire (undergrad research assistant). Dr. Ping Zhai (post doc) and Wei Zhang (web master) will join us in August.
Deep sea is lively at cold seep
Funded by NSF, a group of researchers from Duke University, NCSU, and University of Oregon just finished an intensive deep sea survey in the Gulf of Mexico with sophisticated ocean observing technology including the deep sea submersible Alvin. The objective of this research is to advance understanding of connectivity in the deep sea using taxa found at cold seeps, from which variability in oceanographic circulation, life histories, and genetics will be quantified. Research activities included mooring recoveries and deployments, cold seep sampling, MOCNESS plankton sampling, AUV Sentry high resolution mapping, CTD casts, XBT deployments, and hydrophone surveys.
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OOMG director Ruoying He (also a co-PI of this project) made his first Alvin dive, voyaging to 2500 m (8202 ft) deep. Photos taken during the cruise and his Alvin dive can be viewed here.
"Diving in Alvin was a very exciting experience. The entire dive was ~8 hours. It took ~3 hours round-trip from the ocean surface to the bottom. We observed and took samples at the ocean floor for 5 hours. While I had read about the deep sea marine ecosystem, I was still completely blown away when I saw the myriad of marine life in the pitch dark, freezing cold environment at the bottom of the Gulf, nearly two miles below the surface. This reminds me how essential observations are for understanding our ocean," Ruoying said.
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Physical oceanography seminar begins
The Triangle Physical Oceanography series of virtual seminars is an informal collaboration among physical oceanographers at North Carolina universities. The plan is for scientists and students from NCSU, UNC, UNCW, and Duke University to present 30 minute talks about their latest presentations, research projects, field work, or new ideas. Each presentation will be followed by a 30 minute discussion among participants, and all seminars will be broadcast virtually from each institution.
This series will provide a great opportunity to generate discussion and collaboration between our universities and to strengthen our individual programs through communication across the region.
To view the calendar of upcoming seminars through our website: click here --> follow the link on the bottom right to "Triangle Physical Oceanography virtual seminar calendar". To be added to the e-mail list for this group, contact Dr. Austin Todd at actodd@ncsu.edu
NCSU Postdoc Research Symposium
Drs. Austin Todd and Yizhen Li represented OOMG at the NCSU Postdoc Research Symposium on 13 May 2014. Austin presented the poster “Age and residence time of terrestrial source water in the Western Atlantic Ocean,” co-authored with Ruoying He. Yizhen presented the poster “Seasonal ensemble prediction of the red tide blooms in the Gulf of Maine,” co-authored by Ruoying He, Dennis McGillicuddy, and Donald Anderson. Details of the Symposium can be found here. Sixty post docs from diverse fields presented, representing NCSU, UNC, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, NC).
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One of OOMG’s research topics is how transport of fresh water, nutrients, and carbon from major rivers influences downstream coastal circulation, marine nutrients, and carbon budgets. OOMG members Ruoying He and Zuo “George” Xue use coupled physical-biogeochemical modeling to quantify the impacts of land use and climate change on riverine inputs, focusing on the Mississippi/Atchafalaya Rivers, and on the structure and productivity of marine ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico. They are collaborating with scientists at UMass Dartmouth, University of Delaware, and Auburn University to 1) assess the impact of climate and changing land use on terrestrial-ocean fluxes of carbon and nutrients, and their cycling in coastal ecosystems; and 2) develop observational and modeling products to support carbon monitoring. The first topic is funded by NASA’s Interdisciplinary Research in Earth Science program, and the second by NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System program.
Findings are documented in Xue et al. (2013), Tao et al. (2014), and several other manuscripts in preparation.
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OOMG Newsletter inaugurated
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Dr. He's deep sea voyage in Alvin
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Triangle Physical Oceanography seminar begins
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NCSU Post Doc Research Symposium held
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Research Focus on NASA-funded interdisciplinary projects
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Alvin turns 50
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NASA's SABOR begins
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NASA's OCO-2 launched
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Webinars
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Chen, K., R. He, S. Powell, G. G. Gawarkiewicz, A. M. Moore, and H. G. Arango (2014) Data assimilative modeling investigation of Gulf Stream warm core ring interaction with continental shelf and slope circulation, J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 119, doi:10.1002/2014JC009898
Kourafalou V. H., P. De Mey, M. Le Hénaff, G. Charria, C. A. Edwards, R. He, M. Herzfeld, A. Pasqual, E. Stanev, J. Tintoré, N. Usui, A. van der Westhuysen, J. Wilkin, and X. Zhu, 2014. Coastal Ocean Forecasting: system integration and evaluation. Journal of Operational Oceanography, in press.
Li, Y. and R. He (2014) Spatial and temporal variability of SST and ocean color in the Gulf of Maine based on cloud-free SST and chlorophyll reconstructions in 2003-2012, Remote Sensing of Environment, 144(2014) 98-108. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2014.01.019
Nelson, J., R. He, J. C. Warner, and J. Bane (2014) Air-sea interactions during strong winter extratropical storms, Ocean Dynamics, doi:10.1007/s10236-014-0745-2
Tao, B., H. Tian, W. Ren, J. Yang, Q. Yang, R. He, W. Cai, and S. Lohrenz (2014) Increasing Mississippi River discharge throughout the twenty-first century influenced by changes in climate, land use, and atmospheric CO2, Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1002/2014GL060361
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Alvin turns 50!
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Alvin, the world’s oldest deep-sea research submersible, turns 50 this month. Operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Alvin has located a lost hydrogen bomb in the Mediterranean Sea, explored the first known hydrothermal vents, surveyed the wreck of the Titanic, explored the damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, revolutionized our understanding of geology and deep sea life, and enabled the cataloging of hundreds of new species. Read more.
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NASA begins ocean ecology and carbon cycle study
For three weeks beginning in mid-July, NASA researchers will hone their ability to monitor phytoplankton and other particles in the ocean. By coordinating observations from NSF’s R/V Endeavor and NASA’s UC-12 airborne laboratory, the Ship-Aircraft Bio-Optical Research (SABOR) program will attempt to solve the problems associated with measurement of the sea from space satellites. Once accurate measurements of phytoplankton concentration by depth can be obtained, estimates of the amount of atmospheric CO2 absorbed by these primary producers in the ocean can be made. Read more.
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 launched
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), launched July 2, searches for Earth’s sources and sinks of atmospheric CO2. Its mission is to document where these sources and sinks are located and how they change over time, in order to more accurately predict future CO2 changes and their impact on Earth’s climate. OCO-2 will measure concentration changes of less than 1% to create very precise regional-scale maps of CO2 emissions and uptake, as well as measuring solar-induced influorescence, a corollary of CO2 uptake by photosynthesizing plants. Read more.
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OneNOAA Science Seminars
All NOAA's science and climate seminars/webinars have been compiled into one calendar for easy reference. To register for or to present a webinar, see the schedule.
National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center Webinars
The NCCWSC is offering a series of webinars entitled "NCCWSC Climate Change Science and Management" focused on NCCWSC-sponsored projects relating to climate change impacts and adaptations. Details and the schedule are here.
Sea-level modeling webinar recording
A new webinar recording by Thomas Doyle (USGS, Southeast Climate Science Center) is available, entitled "Sea-level Rise Modeling Handbook: Resource Guide for Coastal Land Managers, Engineers, and Scientists." Click here to watch.
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