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Winter 1998
Science for Solutions
NOAA COASTAL OCEAN PROGRAM
Project NEWS Update
Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms
(ECOHAB) Research Program Underway
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coastal
Ocean Program, National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency,
and Office of Naval Research are jointly sponsoring the Ecology and Oceanography
of Harmful Algal Bloom (ECOHAB) research program. Harmful algal blooms, commonly
called "red tides" or HABs, are a serious economic and public health
problem throughout the world. In the U.S., one of the most serious HAB problem
is paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), a potentially fatal neurological disorder
caused by human ingestion of shellfish that accumulate toxins as they feed on
dinoflagellates of the genus Alexandrium. These organisms can cause
human illness and death due to PSP, repeated shellfish harvest quarantines,
and the mortality of fish and marine mammals. This phenomenon, which affects
thousands of miles of U.S. coastline and numerous fisheries resources, has expanded
dramatically in the last two decades, especially in the Gulf of Maine.
As part of the ECOHAB program, researchers will address fundamental
issues regarding Alexandrium blooms in the Gulf of Maine: 1) the source
of the Alexandrium cells that appear in the fresh water plumes in the
western Maine coastal current (WMCC); 2) Alexandrium cell distribution
and dynamics in the eastern Maine coastal current (EMCC), and 3)linkages among
blooms in the WMCC, the EMCC and on Georges Bank. Utilizing a combination of
numerical modeling, hydrographic, chemical, and biological measurements, moored
and drifting current meters, and satellite imagery, we will characterize the
structure and variability of the major Alexandrium habitats in the Gulf
of Maine. Other components of the ECOHAB program include a regional study in
the Gulf of Mexico (Gymnodinium breve), and targeted research projects
are also being initiated in California (Pseudo-nitzschia), Alaska (Alexandrium),
Long Island (brown tide Aureococcus), Chesapeake Bay (Prorocentrum
minimum) and Guam (macroalgal overgrowth).
A primary goal of ECOHAB research is to develop the means to
predict bloom development, persistence, and toxicity. Once we have a clear understanding
of how physical and biological processes interact to promote HAB development,
reliable models can be developed that can identify systems potentially susceptible
to these outbreaks . This will foster rapid responses by monitoring agencies
and health departments. Further, identification of bloom favorable conditions
will also permit management of specific environmental conditions to reduce bloom
impacts.
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From the Director's Desk......
This past summer, the toxic microbe, Pfiesteria or related
species, killed thousands of fish in the Chesapeake Bay. Thirty-nine people
suffered health effects ranging from shin rashes to memory loss, and the commercial
and recreational fishing industries suffered severe economic hardships. NOAA
responded immediately to this crisis by allocating funds for fish lesion assessment
and by participating in Maryland's Technical Advisory Committee. With a focus
on the longer term, COP led other Federal agencies, on behalf of the White House,
in drafting the "National Harmful Algal Bloom Research and Monitoring
Strategy," focusing initially on Pfiesteria. Implementing this
National Strategy can not happen soon enough as similar outbreaks have been
confirmed in Delaware, Florida, and most dramatically in North Carolina where
billions of fish have been killed in incidents dating back to 1989.
However, Pfiesteria is but one of many species of toxic
algae collectively known as "harmful algal blooms" (HABs). Historically
uncommon, HAB impacts are becoming more prevalent and severe. While scientists
struggle to identify the causes of individual HABs, a common factor that seems
to support many HAB events is excess nutrients, primarily from nonpoint sources.
Excessive nutrients are not only a likely contributor to HABs, but also a significant
factor in coastal eutrophication. A recent NOAA study found that 51% of the
Nation's estuaries exhibit hypoxic conditions (dissolved oxygen < 2mg/l)
each year and 30% become anoxic. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the northern
Gulf of Mexico.
Known as the "dead zone", an area roughly the size
of New Jersey becomes hypoxic each summer off the Louisiana coast. This zone
doubled in size to 7000 square miles after the "Great Mississippi River
Flood of 1993", and has not diminished appreciably. Scientists participating
in the COP's Nutrient Enhanced Coastal Ocean Productivity study determined that
the cause of the hypoxic zone was the nutrient loading from the Mississippi
and Atchafalaya Rivers. Many of those scientists are participating in the integrated
assessment of the causes and consequences of Gulf hypoxia under the auspices
of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The problems associated with nonpoint source pollution into
coastal waters are many - coastal eutrophication and HABs are increasing, resources
are being detrimentally impacted, human health is threatened, and coastal economies
are suffering However, the answers as to how to best mitigate the impacts of
nonpoint are unclear. Currently, there are only fragmented research and management
policies that are addressing the problem. What is needed is a comprehensive
research and management approach to address coastal non-point source pollution,
harmful algal blooms, and eutrophication.
In this Issue
Letter from the Director .................................. 2
COP Projects Develop New Technologies ...... 3
COP Project Coordinator Profile .................... 3
Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Assessment ............... 4
Fisheries Oceanography Studies
Near Completion .............................................. 5
COP-NSF Study Begins in the Great Lakes ...... 6
Project Notes ................................................... 7
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COP Projects Develop New
Technologies
Coastal Ocean Program projects have developed a number of new
and innovative models, methodologies, and technologies that have greatly improved
resource managers' ability to manage our Nation's coastal resources. Several
new technologies and methodologies have been developed from COP's fisheries
oceanography studies. The South Atlantic Bight Recruitment Experiment and Northwest
Atlantic GLOBEC Program developed an Optical Particle Counter and Video
Plankton Recorder, respectively. These devices allow real-time observations
of individual plankton species while underway which improves both sampling accuracy
and efficiency. Bering Sea Fisheries Oceanography Coordinated Investigations
(BS-FOCI) used a P-3 Orion aircraft, which proved to be a highly effective oceanographic
platform, to estimate phytoplankton concentrations using color remote sensing
equipment. BS-FOCI adapted a dual frequency hydroacoustic analytical
procedure that pioneers visualization of the spatial and temporal distributions
of juvenile fish and their prey.
In the area of coastal water quality, a mass balance Water
Quality Model, developed from the Nutrient Enhanced Coastal Ocean Productivity
study, estimates how changing nutrient inputs from the Mississippi River plume
effect phytoplankton and dissolved oxygen concentration in the inner Gulf of
Mexico shelf region. In the Chesapeake Bay, a sampling protocol that estimates
atmospheric deposition of nitrogen to the Bay's surface waters was developed
as part of the Atmospheric Nutrient Input to Coastal Areas (ANICA) study. Deposition
rates to the bay surface are estimated through the use of instrumented Chesapeake
Bay Observing System buoys. Also developed from ANICA was the Regional
Acid Deposition Model (RADM). Though developed for acid rain applications,
the RADM model was successfully applied to improve estimates of atmospheric
nitrogen deposition to the Chesapeake Bay watershed and (continued on page 4)
COP Project Coordinator Profile
Sue Banahan coordinates four projects for NOAA's Coastal Ocean
Program: Complexity and Stressors in Estuarine Systems (COASTES), the Brown
Tide Research Initiative, Coastal Remote Sensing, and the Pacific Northwest
Coastal Ecosystem Regional Study (PNCERS). COASTES is a study of the cumulative
effects of nutrient and toxic element enrichment on the Patuxent River Estuary,
MD. Another regional study is the Pacific Northwest Ecosystem Region Study (PNCERS)
which begins its first year of investigations into the critical processes affecting
the living resources in estuarine and coastal ecosystems.
BTRI supports a series of research studies focused on understanding
the causes of brown tide blooms in the shallow embayments of Long Island, NY.
One of Susan's longer term responsibilities has been in COP's remote sensing
element. She works with her counterparts at the National Environmental Satellite,
Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) and the NOAA Coastal Services Center
to support research to advance the applications of remote sensing technology
to monitoring and management of the coastal environment.
Before joining NOAA in fall of 1992, Susan was a research assistant
and manager of the stable isotope laboratory at University of Maryland's Horn
Point Laboratory. While there, she assisted in studies of nitrogen uptake and
remineralization as part of the Chesapeake Bay Land Margin Ecosystem Research
project. Prior to that, Susan was at Texas A & M University, participating
in investigations into the distribution of radioisotopes in the water column
and their use as water mass tracers in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
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New Technologies, cont.
the bay itself, and in defining the Chesapeake Bay airshed.
Research conducted during the Estuarine Habitat Program has
resulted in significant advancement in wetlands restoration capabilities. Seagrass
transplant technology was improved and made more costeffective as a result
of work to characterize the physical attributes and evaluate function of natural
and transplanted seagrass beds in North Carolina and Florida. Micropropagation
and tissue culture techniques have been established for the successful culture
and nursery production of several marine plant species: Ruppia, Spartina,
and Zostera. This effort entailed the stepwise development of growth
media, supplements, and conditions conducive to the growth of meristematic plant
sources. Investigators also found that in vitro propagated Ruppia
maritima showed successful increases in shoot numbers and areal coverage
after one year, suggesting that this species can be propagated in vitro
and used successfully for habitat restoration.
Remote sensing techniques have been used extensively
in COP projects to analyze changes in coastal habitats and for monitoring coastal
environmental conditions. The Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) conducted
change analyses by comparing Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery for emergent
wetlands and adjacent uplands and aerial photography for submerged aquatic vegetation.
A land classification and change detection protocol was developed that
allows users to quickly assess changes in land cover and aquatic habitat over
time. Regional CoastWatch nodes provide region-specific, near real-time
and real-time remote sensing data to registered user groups. For example, the
Southeast CoastWatch node uses a PC-based, on-line system for receiving, displaying,
and manipulating high-resolution, near real-time sea-surface temperature (SST)
imagery from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). This data
was used, for example, to track a severe harmful algal bloom that occurred off
the North Carolina coast in 1987, negotiate a management conflict involving
the flounder fishery, and track protected sea turtles along the east coast.
CENR to Conduct a Gulf of Mexico
Hypoxia Assessment
The Coastal Ocean Program has supported research into the effects
and potential causes of Gulf of Mexico hypoxia over the last several years.
Results from the Nutrient Enhanced Coastal Ocean Productivity (NECOP) Program
have indicated that there is a link between the nutrient content of the Mississippi
River discharge and the hypoxic zone. The Louisiana Hypoxia Management Conference
was held in December 1995 to begin the process of restoring water quality in
the region. Although a Federal response strategy is still in development, two
actions are proposed. The first is an ecosystem/watershed management plan that
identifies near-term "win-win" actions in the basin to reduce excess
nutrient loads. The second is a scientific assessment of the causes and consequences
of hypoxia to guide and refine nutrient load reduction strategies, and to identify
information gaps.
This hypoxia science assessment, coordinated through the White
House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR) and led by NOAA,
will address environmental changes in the system and develop the data and sciencebased
tools needed to formulate water resource policies, improve ecosystem health,
and protect valuable living resources and their habitats in the Mississippi
watershed and Gulf of Mexico shelf area. The assessment will build upon the
outcomes of (continued on page 5)
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CENR Assessment, cont.
the December 1995 Louisiana Hypoxia Management Conference and
efforts that have brought together scientists, managers, and regulators to discuss
the extent, characteristics, causes, and effects of hypoxia in the northern
Gulf of Mexico.
The assessment will include a series of six reports, documenting
the state of knowledge about the causes, consequences, and potential controls
of hypoxia. They will be developed by relevant experts and reviewed independently.
The individual reports will: 1) describe the scope of hypoxia; 2) evaluate the
ecological and economic consequences of hypoxia; 3) identify the sources of
nutrients within the Mississippi/Atchafalaya system; 4) estimate the effects
of reducing nutrient loads; 5) identify and evaluate methods to reduce nutrient
loads; and, 6) evaluate the social and economic costs and benefits for reducing
nutrient loads. Each of the reports will also identify critical additional technical
information needed to fill gaps in our understanding of the problem and refine
future assessments. The leaders of the individual reports include experts from
academia and federal agencies on both the receiving waters of the Gulf of Mexico
and the upper Mississippi River basin. In addition, each team will include specialists
from a wide range of disciplines that are wellsuited to address the complex
issues of the hypoxia problem.
The six reports, to be completed by summer 1998, will be used
to develop a final integrated assessment that will assist the evaluation of
a series of policy alternatives for decision makers. The integrated assessment,
to be completed in late summer or early fall 1998, will review possible measures
and approaches and, for each, address social and economic costs, identify the
level of government responsible for implementation, evaluate institutional feasibility,
and address potential legal and political considerations.
Fisheries Oceanography Studies Near Completion
In 1991, the Coastal Ocean Program funded two interdisciplinary
Coastal Fisheries Ecosystems projects: the Bering Sea Fisheries Oceanography
Coordinated Investigations (BS-FOCI), and the South Atlantic Bight Recruitment
Experiment (SABRE). The objective of BS -FOCI was to develop an understanding
of stock structure and recruitment variation in Bering Sea walleye pollock.
BS FOCI constructed and applied a coupled multispecies biophysical model (NPZF)
to investigate the production dynamics of the pelagic ecosystem on the Bering
Sea, especially in regards to the early life history stages of walleye pollock.
This model relates the distribution of nutrients, phytoplankton, and zooplankton
to the growth rate of larval fish. Results show that conditions for growth over
the shelf are very different from those over the slope and basin. Larval pollock
on the shelf experience better growth conditions later in the spring, while
over the slope and basin, food supplies are available earlier but in lower abundance.
This work has led to a better understanding of how and why
variable physical and biological processes regulate dynamics of biological production
in upper ocean ecosystems. Given appropriate realtime biophysical oceanographic
data from moorings, ship and satellite observations, this model predicts larval
pollock growth rate. This information is vital to an understanding of the potential
contribution of the year class to the fishery. The NPZF model, when coupled
with models treating larval mortality or juvenile growth and mortality, can
provide predictions of pollock recruitment strength to NMFS to help manage the
resource.
The objective of SABRE was to develop an understanding of the
factors that affect menhaden recruitment variability in the South Atlantic Bight.
Findings from the study are being synthesized and will be reported in a special
(continued on page 6)
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Fisheries Oceanography Studies, cont.
dedicated issue of Fisheries Oceanography in late 1998.
SABRE developed biological-physical models to study the transport of egg and
larval menhaden from offshore spawning areas to estuarine nursery habitats,
the transport of larval menhaden to estuarine nursery areas, and the link between
variation in larval transport and variation in estuarine ingress. Successful
larval transport was predicted to be variable and linked to wind conditions,
intrusion of Middle Atlantic Bight shelf water south of Cape Hatteras, and interactions
between flow and bathymetry. In all, the models reasonably predicted both physical
and biological observations made during SABRE field efforts and reasonably estimated
both the timing and larval age at estuarine ingress into Oregon, Ocracoke, and
Beaufort Inlets.
The modeling effort has provided important insights into the
recruitment dynamics of other winter spawning, estuarine-dependent species (e.g.,
flounder, spot, croaker). The models also highlights the oceanographic links
between the southern Middle Atlantic Bight and northern South Atlantic Bight
and suggests these links could be very important in the larval survival of menhaden,
as well as many other species. Finally, the models provide a bases for assessing
the effect of jetties on near-inlet circulation and larval fish ingress along
the southeastern U.S. coast.
COP Teams with NSF to Study the Great Lakes
Many of the Great Lakes have been strongly influenced by human
activities resulting in habitat loss and excessive loading of nutrients and
contaminants. Over the past few decades, nutrient and contaminant point source
controls have been successful in reducing nutrient overenrichment problems and
improving water and habitat quality. However, the inputs of nutrients to some
regions of the lakes, particularly coastal and bay regions, are still too high
to sustain desirable ecosystems and are now thought to originate predominantly
from uncontrolled and poorly understood nonpoint sources. While oceanographic
in scale (the lakes are large enough to be significantly influenced by the earth's
rotation), the lakes are, at the same time, closed basins in which the influence
of coastal processes are magnified beyond that of most coastal marine systems.
Thus, the Laurentian Great Lakes represent systems dominated by their coastal
nature. Both NSF and NOAA regard the Great Lakes as part of the U.S. coastal
zone and recognize that many features of the Great Lakes can best be studied
using oceanographic methods.
Based on the recommendations from NSF-Coastal Ocean Processes
(CoOP) and NOAACOP Great Lakes workshops, the CoOP Scientific Steering Committee,
and the COP Coastal Ocean Council, an opportunity to submit proposals for a
coordinated five-year study in the Great Lakes was initiated in December 1996
to address the combined interests of NSF and NOAA. Teams of investigators were
encouraged to submit integrated, multiinvestigator, multidisciplinary proposals
of modeling and process studies with the overall goal of improving understanding,
predictability, and management of Great Lakes resources. (continued on page
7) 
Figure 1. Turbidity Plume in Lake Michigan (03/22/96 & 04/01/96) - from
NOAA 12/14 AVHRR Visible band (Channel 1) imagery
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Lake Michigan Study, cont.
The first proposal recommended for joint funding by NSF and
COP will be based in southern Lake Michigan and focus on the annual recurrent
coastal plume that was first documented in the late 1980s (Figure 1). Evidence
suggests that this episodic coastal plume may be the major mechanism for cross-margin
sediment transport in Lake Michigan. While focusing on a particular episodic
process in southern Lake Michigan, the program results will be applicable to
similar events in many coastal areas. In addition to Lake Michigan, a second
study will be centered on the relatively pristine coastal waters of Lake Superior.
With a similar focus on sediment and contaminant transport along the persistent
coastal Keweenaw Current, this study will offer a contrast to the more heavily
impacted waters of Lake Michigan. Preliminary studies began in the Fall of 1997.
Project Notes
GLOBEC Northeast Pacific - U.S. Global Ocean Ecosystem
Dynamics (GLOBEC) is beginning a major program in the Northeast Pacific to study
the effects of climate change on salmon. Researchers involved in NE Pacific
GLOBEC program have adjusted their research strategy for the El Nino conditions
in the Northeast Pacific. This El Nino event, predicted to be one of the strongest
recorded, offers scientists a unique opportunity to study this climate and ecosystem
altering phenomenon. Large sea surface temperature anomalies developed off the
Pacific Northwest coast in May, with temperatures running 3-4E F above normal.
Because of the predicted physical impacts on Northeast Pacific ecosystems, U.S.
GLOBEC is working with NOAA, NASA, NSF, and several universities to accelerate
its sampling to capture this event. Two transects are also being added off northern
California.
Coastal Remote Sensing - The successful launch of the
Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) is welcome news to researchers
funded through the COP/NESDIS Coastal Remote Sensing Science. These projects,
started in 1996, are developing the algorithms (i.e., equations) necessary to
interpret ocean color data collected by SeaWiFS, and other sensors to be launched
in the near future. Prior to the launch, researchers have been making bio-optical
measurements in the coastal waters of southern California, Gulf of Mexico, South
Atlantic Bight, Chesapeake Bay, Gulf of Maine, Bering Sea, and the Great Lakes.
The availability of the high resolution color data from SeaWiFS will allow scientists
to make adjustments to the algorithms that will be used to produce maps of chlorophyll,
water clarity, suspended sediments, and other parameters used to monitor coastal
water quality.
NOPP Project Selection for FY 1998 Underway -
The National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) was created to coordinate
and strengthen oceanographic efforts to advance economic development, protect
quality of life, and promote science education through knowledge of the ocean.
NOAA's administrator Dr. D. James Baker is the vice-chair of the National Oceanographic
Research Leadership Council and COP's Don Scavia is vice-chair of the Interagency
Working Group which has been directed to implement NOPP. Funding available for
FY 1998, to be provided through the Navy's Office of Naval Research, totals
approximately $10M in two general topic areas: Observational Technologies and
Prediction Systems. Proposals were due January 20, 1998.
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