News and Press from SoMAS

Here’s the latest news and press from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University!

Dr. Marat Khairoutdinov has received a new award from Brookhaven Science Associates, in the amount $64,851, for the performance period 6/1/21 – 9/15/21, in support of the project “Advancing Atmospheric Prediction Capabilities in Urban Areas for Energy Resiliency and National Security.”

Background
Urban areas represent an extreme interface between economic activity, population dynamics, infrastructure, and energy demand. Extremes in weather and climate conditions (e.g., heat waves, air pollution, flash flooding) can push the urban system to terra incognita and a cascading failure of critical infrastructures (e.g., energy supply, transportation, water treatment). Despite its importance, considerable gaps exist in the prediction capabilities of urban-landscape modeling across spatial-temporal scales, especially during extreme conditions. This research project will address critical knowledge gaps through:

• Data-driven evaluation of high-resolution simulations of the New York City (NYC) urban environment using unique, urban-scale datasets acquired by the Center for Multiscale Applied Sensing (CMAS);
• Demonstration of this predictive capability for advancing understanding of NYC climate vulnerabilities to heatwaves, and for development of fast aerosol dispersion models for emergency response in the context of national security.

The work consists of three main activities: (1) Use unique CMAS observations to test a high-resolution urban model, and then apply the model to (2) Examine localized (street-level) stresses for heat waves, and (3) Analysis of factors important to development of fast models for emergency response of aerosol dispersion.

News12: Stony Brook researchers: Sugar kelp could help cleanup Long Island’s waterways

• “Right now, on Long Island there’s truckloads of fertilizers being dumped on golf courses and lawns and that nitrogen finds its way into our coastal waters fueling these algae blooms,” says Mike Doall, of Stony Brook Southampton. “Well, what if we grow sugar kelp and other seaweeds and that sucks this nitrogen out of the water and then we take these seaweeds and convert it into fertilizer?”

Wired: This Evolutionary Gift May Protect Coral From Climate Change

• Karine Kleinhaus, who researches corals at Stony Brook University, says it is crucial to understand how these corals operate at the cellular level. “These amazing corals are going to be among the last to survive” to the end of the 21st century, she says. “We need to figure out what they are doing, what’s going on, how they do it.” Also ran in Jioforme and UniverseSmartPhone.

Phys.org: Life on Earth may be carbon-based, but another element matters, too

• After landing his first faculty position at New York’s Stony Brook University in the late ’70s, Capone turned his attention to the open ocean, and in the decades since, he has led many research cruises to locations throughout the globe and conducted extensive research on the physiology, ecology and biogeochemical impact of open ocean diazotrophs.

Shelter Island Reporter: Researchers launch pilot study to learn more about seal population now inhabiting local waters by Chris Paparo

• This past winter, the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society (AMSEAS) partnered with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Rhode Island, Marine Mammals of Maine, Northeast Fisheries Sciences Center and staff at the Marine Sciences Center of Stony Brook University to perform a pilot study that would explore the feasibility of conducting health assessments as well as a behavioral study of harbor and grey seals that inhabit the waters of southern New England and New York.

News12: Toxic mahogany tide algae bloom shows up on Long Island earlier than expected

• Stony Brook University’s Dr. Chris Gobler says upgrading septic systems is one of the main ways of attacking the root cause of the bloom. “There are studies done at Stony Brook University that link water quality to home value, so in fact if you do make an improvement in water quality … the price of the home can be higher,” says Gobler.

Newsday: Incentive spurs plans to grow kelp for reducing nitrogen in waters

• At a presentation Thursday at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine Sciences, Christopher Gobler, a professor who operates Gobler Laboratory at the Southampton center, said the funding program would be New York’s first to offer nitrogen credit payments for kelp cultivation.

Long Island.com: Sugar Kelp Project Seeks to Clean Up Long Island Waters

• A local environmental group and Brookhaven Town constables recently harvested their underwater plants for analysis at Stony Brook University marine sciences labs.

WSHU-FM: Cash For Kelp: Long Island Groups Create Seaweed Farm Incentive Program To Reduce Nitrogen

• New research from Stony Brook University reveals 10,000 pounds of kelp removed 36 tons of nitrogen from Long Island surface waters.

Sag Harbor Express: Kelp Could Be Environmental Elixir, And Economic Opportunity

• Scientists from Stony Brook University say that a species of seaweed native to the East End coastline may prove to be an important weapon in the first to overcome pollution problems from decades of overdevelopment and negligent environmental policies. Also ran in Southampton Press.

WCBS-TV/WLNY-TV: Early ‘Mahogany Tide’ Algae Bloom In Great South Bay Has Environmental Experts Greatly Concerned

• Until more septic systems are upgraded, Dr. Chris Gobler of Stony Brook University says he has discovered a tool that can be used now.

The Peconic Bathtub: Rebuilding An Ecosystem

• Scientists at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) believe they know why things are improving: Because of the restoration work they’ve spent the past ten years doing.

East End Beacon: This Morning’s Bulletin — 5.28.21

• Like many water bodies across Long Island, the ecosystem of Shinnecock Bay was in serious decline a decade ago, but unlike those other water bodies, that decline has begun to reverse. Scientists at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences believe they know why things are improving: Because of the restoration work they’ve spent the past ten years doing. Read more in our sister publication, The Peconic Bathtub.

Boston Globe: For Carl Safina, books about animals and the natural world

• The author of 10 books teaches at Stony Brook University, hosted the PBS series “Saving the Ocean with Carl Safina,” and is the founding president of the nonprofit Safina Center, which is devoted to conservation.

Newsday: Suffolk issues warning about algae blooms in Lake Agawam, Wainscott Pond

• The blooms were discovered by Stony Brook University, which sampled the water, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services said in a statement.

Southampton Patch: Blue-Green Algae Found In East Hampton, Southampton

• Analysis of surface water samples performed by SUNY Stony Brook confirmed the presence of new cyanobacteria blooms in both water bodies

Innovate LI: Machine Learning Shines in Weather-Forecasting Study

• The study – led be Hyemi Kim, an associate professor in Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences – says highly accurate weather forecasts extending beyond two weeks are possible with the use of machine-learning technologies. Also ran in this edition.

Newsday: Student spending summer in hatchery helping to restore LI shellfish

• Bellew says interns are performing tasks ranging from repairs and maintenance to recording data and using microscopes to inspect algae — a favorite food of shellfish — for contamination. The interns include students from Stony Brook University, the University of South Carolina, McGill University in Canada, and Islip, East Islip and Ronkonkoma high schools, he said.

Newsday: LI’s Craig Allen: A 40-year reign as WCBS Newsradio’s weatherman

• Growing up a few miles away in Massapequa, Craig Allen was weather-obsessed and the South Shore was the perfect place to stoke such an obsession. As a 13-year-old, he apprenticed with Pagano who gave him his first on-air stints; after college (Stony Brook), he launched a weather service with his mentor that fed weather information to radio stations around the country.

Register Citizen: Maritime Aquarium to reveal their palace-like new seal exhibition on World Oceans Day

• Author and ecologist Carl Safina, a professor at Stony Brook University and founding president of the Safina Center, will give a talk about conservation at 3:30 p.m. Also ran in CT Post, New Milford Spectrum, Westport News

Times Beacon Record: SBU’s Kevin Reed, Xiaoning Wu develop idealized ocean, atmosphere model

• If they build it, they will understand the hurricanes that will come. That’s the theory behind the climate model Kevin Reed, Associate Professor at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University, and his graduate student Xiaoning Wu, recently created.

27east/East Hampton Press: 27 Speaks: A Conversation With Dr. Christopher Gobler On East End Water Quality

• In this week’s edition of 27 Speaks, the editors are joined by Dr. Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University for a discussion about East End water quality. Also ran on Sag Harbor Express.

News12: Turning waste into watts a boon for environment by Alum Geoff Bansen