Winter 2010 The Portal Official Newsletter of the Northern Gulf Institute NGI Activates Gulf of Mexico BP Research Projects Only multi-state research institute awarded NGI research is underway to address regional impacts from the Deep- water Horizon oil spill. The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative awarded funds to NGI, the only multi-state regional research institu- tion to receive funding from BP for independent university research. Quickly allocating part of its ten million dollar award, NGI funded fast- track high-priority studies with researchers who were in the field to continue critical monitoring and assessment activities in areas affected in the Gulf region. NGI will distribute the remaining initial funds using a peer-reviewed selection process for collaborative research with a focus on observing and understanding regional impacts on coastal eco- systems and society. The initial award funded nine research institutions who adapted exist- ing activities and resources for oil impact studies. Research activities focus on sampling, assessment, and modeling of oil and dispersants and the organization and distribution of data to support on-going and fu- IN THIS ISSUE ture research needs. Details for these nine studies are available on the NGI website (see projects with ―BP‖ in their project number) http:// www.northerngulfinstitute.org/research/research.php. NGI Research Direction and Structure 2 Interns Contribute to NGI Research 2 Student Spotlight 4 Research Spotlight 4 Conference & Workshop Support 5 Regional Highlights 6 Deepwater Horizon incident site activity as seen by NGI scientist NGI Council Meetings 7 Steven Lohrenz on Mississippi National Guard flight, June 26, 2010. Photo credit: Steven Lohrenz, Chair, Department of Marine News Around NGI 8 Science, The University of Southern Mississippi Welcome Aboard 10 Research institutions receiving initial funding were Mississippi State Save the Date: 2011 NGI Conference 11 University, University of Mississippi, University of New Orleans, Harte Research Institute, Louisiana State University, The University of South- Letter from Director 12 ern Mississippi, Jackson State University, Dauphin Island Sea Labora- tory, and Florida State University. www.NorthernGulfInstitute.org NGI Research Direction and Structure efforts on the Ecosystem Data Assembly Center project. Impacts on ecosystems provide focus for research At the end-of-summer Internship Summit, the students described their work and what they learned: The NGI Council of Fellows recently endorsed a long- Carina Lopez-Cabrera studied nitrogen in water and term research direction and structure. Research is or- learned how to identify entry points in the watershed. ganized around three overlapping project clusters of Using her work, she prepared a technical paper for the ―Observe,‖ ―Understand,‖ and ―Apply.‖ The cluster 2010 Society of Hispanic Engineers conference. teams will address the fundamental hypothesis: Natural Breawna Kirkpatrick analyzed water samples col- and anthropogenic perturbations significantly impact the lected along beaches and inland rivers for the Mississippi Northern Gulf of Mexico ecosystem structure, function, and Department of Environmental Quality. Alex Cruz- processes. The three-cluster approach provides an over- Benitez gathered samples from sea grass beds in Flor- all framework to organize NGI’s research for Years 6-10 ida’s Big Bend region to determine differences among as well as current and future Deepwater Horizon Oil organic species that look similar. Templeton Tisdale Spill research. used the Phytoplankton Monitoring Network database to identify trends for harmful algal blooms. Two NGI Fellows serve as leads on each cluster team. Each team includes representation from each NGI insti- tution as well as one member from the other teams. This approach fosters both cross-cluster coordination I experienced different facets of NOAA that I and inter-institution collaboration. The broad purposes wouldn’t have otherwise considered. I now for the research clusters are to conduct regional obser- have an increased understanding of NOAA’s roles and responsibilities and highly recom- vations of northern Gulf ecosystems; synthesize the ob- servations to improve holistic understanding of ecosys- mend this program to students interested in working for NOAA—Jason James tem impacts; and develop applications and sampling pro- tocols that support an ecosystem approach to manage- ment. Regional management needs provide an overall Jason James prepared a digital image collection for focus for all three areas. This approach provides a uni- NCDDC from images taken with an AUV-mounted fied program direction that addresses various aspects of camera system. The pictures were from 2009 sea trials the above hypothesis and helps guide the selection of at sites close to the Deepwater Horizon site and will research projects. contribute to baseline seafloor condition data. Daniel Baker gathered samples in response to the oil spill dur- Summer Interns Contribute to NGI Work ing three research cruises off the coasts of Louisiana and Real. Live. Research. Florida. He used vertical line drops to gather data to help NOAA make decisions about fishing areas. Conducting research that matters was the unifying Rebecca Doss used analysis of fish eggs and larvae theme of this year’s 2010 NOAA-NGI Summer Diver- taken from oiled surface waters to contribute to a sity Internship program where students gained valuable working molecular database. Idrissa Boube conducted experience in field and laboratory settings. Dr. Tina analysis on shrimp to identify means for them to develop Miller-Way and Rachel Nowlin of the Dauphin Island Sea resistance to disease. Lab paired students with research mentors who inte- grated them with NGI projects across the Gulf region. Trent Key participated in the NOAA National Data All interns worked with metadata, contributing to the Buoy Center comparison tests of new and existing sen- NOAA National Coastal Data Development Center sors for waves and currents. He researched quality as- surance in instruments and saw how small flaws can lead to critical monetary and data loses. Reginald Powe learned about various models, parameters, and assump- tions used to predict weather. Hua Wang conducted an assessment of costs, benefits, and tradeoffs of rapid land-building techniques to re- store wetlands. Brenda Babin’s work showed the importance of integrating metadata into all stages of data collection. Dionne Bryant created habitat metadata and addressed issues of missing information. Front Row, L-R: Brewana Kirkpatrick, Brenda Babin, A privilege to work with such a prestigious Idrissa Boube, Rebecca Doss, Reginald Powe, Hua group of people all aiming for a wonderful Wang, Ashley Duckett (HS intern), Carina Lopez- Cabrera. Back Row, L-R: Daniel Baker, Trent Key, cause—Dionne Bryant Alexander Cruz-Benitez, Templeton Tisdale, and Dionne Bryant. Not pictured: Jason James. 2 The Portal - Newsletter of the Northern Gulf Institute www.NorthernGulfInstitute.org Thanks for the summer of my life! Meet the 2010 NOAA-NGI Diversity Summer Carina Lopez-Cabrera Interns and their Research Mentors Brenda Babin, Louisiana State University, Oceanography and Coastal Science. Interned at LSU. Dubravko Justic working with modeling and hypoxia was her mentor. Daniel Baker, University of Mississippi, Marine Biology. In- terned at NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service in Pascagoula, MS. Lisa DeFosse working with fisheries sampling and plankton surveys was his mentor. Idrissa Boube, University of Southern Mississippi, Marine Biology. Interned at the Gulf Coast Research Lab in Ocean Springs, MS. Joe Griffitt working with shrimp gene regulation and Sorting organisms by Particle size analysis of silt disease transmission and resistance was his mentor. and clay for nitrogen yields species from water samples in sea grass Dionne Bryant, Texas A&M, GIS. Interned at the Harte Gathering fish eggs and larvae in oiled surface Research Institute. James Gilbeaut working with data manage- waters off Alabama Coast ment and GIS was her mentor. Carina Lopez-Cabrera , Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, Environmental Engineering. Interned at Mississippi State University. Jairo Diaz-Ramirez working with environmental simu- lations and GIS was her mentor. Alexander Cruz-Benitez, University of Puerto Rico, Biology. Interned at the Florida State University Coastal and Ma- rine Lab. Chris Stallings working with marine ecology was his mentor. Rebecca Doss, Auburn University, Biology. Interned at Dau- phin Island Sea Lab. Frank Hernandez working in fisheries was her Sediment sampling in mentor. Weeks Bay, AL Jason James, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Marine Biology. Interned at the NOAA Office of Coast Survey. Tim Osborn working with data management of deep water imagery was his mentor. Working with data for weather forecasting models Trent Key, Louisiana State University. Environmental Engi- neering. Interned at the NOAA National Data Buoy Center. Analyzing shrimp to learn Chung-Chu Teng working in oceanography and observing systems about resistance to disease was his mentor. Breawna Kirkpatrick, Jackson State University, Meteorol- ogy. Interned at MS Department of Environmental Quality. Melanie Morris working on data management was her mentor. Reginald Powe, University of New Orleans, water pollution and remote sensing. Interned at the NOAA National Weather Service. David Reed working on hydrologic data processing and analysis and GIS mapping was