April 2023 News from SoMAS

From left to right: Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis, Peggy Gelfond, honorees Robert J. Maze and Laurie Landeau, and Rich Gelfond, Stony Brook Foundation chair and CEO of Imax Corporation at the 2023 Stars of Stony Brook Gala.

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

More than 500 guests gathered on April 11 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City to honor Laurie Landeau, VMD, MBA, and Robert J. Maze, PhD, at the 24th Stars of Stony Brook Gala.

Congratulations to the SoMAS winners of the 2022-2023 SUNY Chancellor’s Awards! Dominique Barone and Tom Wilson both received awards for Excellence in Professional Service, Tara Rider received the award for Excellence in Teaching, and Kevin Reed received the award for Excellence in Faculty Service.

Thank you for joining us at Earthstock, the week-long celebration of Earth Day at Stony Brook University! Carl Safina kicked off the week with a great keynote, and student work was highlighted at the research poster session, an art exhibit, and the alumni panel. And we had a great day on the academic mall showcasing all of the elements that make our campus great. President McInnis shared a great message with the community to celebrate the day, as well!

The 2023 winners of the Graduate School Awards for students, faculty, and staff have been announced, representing the very best of Stony Brook. The Graduate School received many impressive applications, all deserving of these awards, which made the committee’s work very challenging. The Dean’s Award for Excellence in Service by a Graduate Program Director (GPD) was awarded to SoMAS Graduate Program Director Jackie Collier!

Congratulations to Dr. Brad Peterson, who has been promoted to Full Professor, and to Dr. Chris Gobler, who is now a SUNY Distinguished Professor.

Dr. Sara Hamideh has received an award from the SUNY Research Seed Grant Program, NIH Resubmission and NSF Revised Submission Support Awards for the project “Coastal Planning for Equitable Adaptation And Population Transition” (COPE-ADAPT), in the amount of $40,000.

Dr. David Taylor led a group from the Farmingville Historical Society on a nature hike through the Farmingville Hills County Park. He noted that “we have a beautiful island. Let’s do our part to remind people of that and get them outside to see it.”

Congratulations to Kellianne Ticcony, who is the recipient of the 2023 Jeffrey Eng Memorial Scholarship, which honors the memory of Stony Brook University student Jeffrey Eng and supports students studying in the area of environmental science.

Dr. Michael French has received a new award from NSF (Physical and Dynamical Meteorology), in support of his project, “A Doppler Radar Climatology of Updraft Proxy Characteristics in Supercells, in the amount $440,962, for the period 4/15/23 – 3/31/26.

• The project concerns the use of weather radar signatures to estimate the size and tilt of an important storm feature, the storm updraft, within severe thunderstorms. The updraft is an area of rapidly rising air that is transported aloft to form clouds and eventually precipitation. The updraft contributes to every hazard that a storm produces, notably large hail and tornadoes. Past work has provided evidence that larger storm updrafts produce stronger tornadoes and larger hail compared to storms with smaller updrafts. In addition, studies have hinted that storm updrafts that are vertically upright, as opposed to tilted, are also more likely to produce tornadoes. Unfortunately, it is difficult to directly observe and measure characteristics of the storm updraft. However, upgrades performed to the U.S. radar network have introduced new options to track features that serve as a proxy for the updraft. In this project, the researchers use the size and tilt of this radar feature as an estimate for those same characteristics in the updraft in more than 100 actual storm cases to better determine how closely linked updraft size and tilt are to tornado and hail occurrence. The researchers also will determine if the weather conditions feeding into the storm are linked to the size and tilt of the updraft. The project objectives ultimately aim to provide forecasters with new tools that may help them alert the public to storms that are about to produce strong tornadoes and/or very large hail. The storm type being studied is the supercell thunderstorm, which generally produces the strongest tornadoes and largest hail. To estimate the size and tilt of supercell updrafts, the researchers use a novel algorithm that automates detection and area of a dual-pol radar signature, the Z DR column, which forms when an updraft lofts rain and small hail above the freezing level. Those data will be used in tandem with traditional radar analyses to identify links between updraft proxy characteristics, the near-storm environment, and hazard production in large numbers of supercell cases. Specifically, this project seeks to (i) determine a firm link between midlevel updraft area, low-level updraft area, and tornado and large hail occurrence, (ii) quantify the degree to which updraft vertical alignment is necessary for tornado production, (iii) the near-storm environmental controls, if they exist, on both updraft size and alignment, and (iv) combine the results from (i) and (ii) with data of another dual-pol radar signature, the Z DR -K DP separation vector, to optimize known predictors of tornado formation and peak tornado intensity for possible operational use. In addition, depending on project results, the ability to accurately assess these characteristics and their potential use in nowcasting of hazardous weather will be explored.

 

In case you missed it, Stony Brook University has been selected as the Anchor Institution for the New York Climate Exchange! Be sure to check out the FAQ on The Exchange website for answers to questions regarding the construction, the research that will be done on Governors Island, and when and what times of educational opportunities will be available there!

Latest News Features

• SBU Celebrates Being Selected as Anchor of ‘The Exchange’
• Four SBU Students Awarded Prestigious NSF-GRFP Fellowships
• SBU Selected to Anchor New York Climate Exchange
• SOMAS Professor Receives Prestigious NSF Undergraduate Education Grant
• Scientists Study Ice Formation in the Atmosphere
• Prestigious Montana Workshop Awaits Aspiring Student Writer
• Stars of Stony Brook Gala Raises $2.1M for Scholarships – Annual Event Honors Laurie Landeau and Robert Maze
• Your Life’s Work in 180 Seconds: The 3MT Challenge

 

Latest Publications

Silvers, L. G., Reed, K. A., & Wing, A. A. (2023). The Response of the Large‐Scale Tropical Circulation to Warming. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 15(3), e2021MS002966.

Cahill, B. V., McCulloch, K. L., DeGroot, B. C., Bassos-Hull, K., & Ajemian, M. J. (2023). Breaking bags and crunching clams: assessing whitespotted eagle ray interactions with hard clam aquaculture gear. Aquaculture Environment Interactions, 15, 59-71.

Roberts, K. E., Stepanuk, J. E. F., Kim, H., Thorne, L. H., Chong-Montenegro, C., & Nye, J. A. (2023). Developing a subseasonal ecological forecast to reduce fisheries bycatch in the Northeast US. Progress in Oceanography, 103021.

Mages, Z., Kollias, P., Zhu, Z., & Luke, E. P. (2023). Surface-based observations of cold-air outbreak clouds during the COMBLE field campaign. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 23(6), 3561-3574.

White, M.E., T.B. Nguyen, I. Koester, M.C. Lardie Gaylord, J.M. Beman, K.L. Smith, A.P. McNichol, S.R. Beaupré, and L.I. Aluwihare (2023), Refractory dissolved organic matter has similar chemical characteristics but different radiocarbon signatures with depth in the marine water column, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, doi:10.1029/2022gb007603.

Shipley, O. N., Matich, P., Hussey, N. E., Brooks, A. M., Chapman, D., Frisk, M. G., … & Gallagher, A. J. (2023). Energetic connectivity of diverse elasmobranch populations–implications for ecological resilience. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 290(1996), 20230262.

Knopf, D. A., Wang, P., Wong, B., Tomlin, J. M., Veghte, D. P., Lata, N. N., … Aller, J. Y., … & Wang, J. (2023). Physicochemical characterization of free troposphere and marine boundary layer ice-nucleating particles collected by aircraft in the eastern North Atlantic. EGUsphere, 2023, 1-35.

Rucker, H. R., Ely, T. D., LaRowe, D. E., Giovannelli, D., & Price, R. E. (2023). Quantifying the Bioavailable Energy in an Ancient Hydrothermal Vent on Mars and a Modern Earth-Based Analog. Astrobiology.

Song, J., Tong, G., Chao, J., Chung, J., Zhang, M., Lin, W., … & Zhu, W. (2023). Data driven pathway analysis and forecast of global warming and sea level rise. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 5536.

Boorboor, S., Kim, Y., Hu, P., Moses, J. M., Colle, B. A., & Kaufman, A. E. (2023). Submerse: Visualizing Storm Surge Flooding Simulations in Immersive Display Ecologies. arXiv preprint arXiv:2304.06872.

Khajehei, S., & Hamideh, S. (2023). Post-Disaster Recovery Challenges of Public Housing Residents: Lumberton, North Carolina After Hurricane Matthew. Urban Affairs Review

Latest Seminar Videos

• Chris Gobler, Southampton Lecture Series 2023-04-04 “State of the Bays 2023: Love Where You Live“
• Michael Wilberg, OSAC 2023-04-09 “Modeling Oyster Dynamics and Ecosystem Services in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland“
• Hamid Kamangir, TAOS 2023-04-12 “Is Attention All We Need For The AI Environmental Modeling“
• Oliver Shipley, OSAC 2023-04-14 “From Molecules to Ecosystems – Intrinsic Chemical Tracers Reveal the Hidden Lives of Animals“
• Ning Lin, TAOS 2023-04-19 “Hurricane Hazards and Risk in a Changing Climate“
• Kerri Pratt, OSAC 2023-04-21 “Observations & Modeling of Wintertime Chlorine Chemistry: Connections to Snow & Road Salt“

Press highlights continue below the photos.

Latest Press Headlines

Aquaculture Magazine: Does current shellfish culture gear curb ‘crunching’ rays?

• “These habitat associations could expose these sensitive animals to other risks, although we are just beginning to understand them and admittedly have a lot more to learn,” said Brianna Cahill, corresponding author, an FAU Harbor Branch marine science and oceanography graduate, and a research technician at Stony Brook University.

Democratic Underground/Inside Climate News: Hurricane Ian Assessment: Costliest Storm In Florida History @ $109 Billion In Damages

• One preliminary study concluded that human-induced climate change increased Hurricane Ian’s rainfall rates by more than 10 percent, according to researchers at Stony Brook University and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Also ran in World-Energy.

Vicksburg Post: Laurie Landeau, VMD, MBA, and Robert J. Maze, PhD, to Be Honored at 24th Annual Stars of Stony Brook Gala on April 11 at Stars of Stony Brook Gala

• With proceeds benefiting student scholarships at Stony Brook University, this year’s Gala will celebrate Landeau and Maze‘s meaningful impact on the University and marine environments. Through their deep knowledge and passion, the couple drives big ideas to address the most pressing real-world issues affecting water quality, fisheries, aquatic animals and ecosystems. Also ran in News Blaze.

WSHU (NPR LI): Survey finds many of Long Island’s bays lack enough oxygen

• Dr. Chris Gobler, professor at Stony Brook’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, said that’s because of increased nitrogen pollution in Long Island waters. When combined with rising temperatures, it promotes the growth of toxic algal blooms that consume oxygen in the water. Gobler believes upgrading septic systems is the answer, but it will take time.

Times Beacon Record: Making Democracy Work: Reducing waste should be a regional effort

• A conference held recently (by the Evan R. Liblit Memorial Scholarship Committee) at Stony Brook University with speakers on waste to energy efforts, large scale organics management, and funding through the Inflation Reduction Act, ended with a roundtable of four of the town supervisors in Suffolk County and a representative from the NYS Department of Energy Conservation who welcomed the attendance of the town supervisors and commented on the unusually large number of people in attendance, showing a growing concern with the issue of waste reduction.

LongIsland.com: Legislator Anker Recognizes New York Sea Grant Researchers

• Kathleen has taught several courses at Stony Brook University, and has been awarded 10 grants to further her research. Elizabeth Hornstein is a Sustainable and Resilient Communities Extension Professional with NYSG, based at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY.

Newsday: ‘Recruitment’ key to boosting New York’s oyster population

• “Mortality is very high on these younger stages, but that’s why females spawn tens of millions of eggs,” said Michael Doall, associate director for Bivalve Restoration & Aquaculture at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. “So those survivorship curves look bad, Doall said, “but that’s just a part of nature.”

James Lane Post: Sea To Soil Summit

• The first annual Sea to Soil Summit at Stony Brook Southampton University will be held on Friday, April 21. The event is hosted by Shinnecock Kelp Farmers, Stony Brook University Food Lab, The Montauk Seaweed Supply Co, Lazy Point Farms, Gobler Laboratory, and School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University.

Yahoo News/Kansas City Star: Births, deaths and a viral video: KC Zoo’s penguin exhibit draws acclaim and scrutiny

• Heather Lynch, a professor of ecology and evolution at Stony Brook University, visited KC’s penguin exhibit once, years ago, to help conduct research on dialects in penguin colonies in captivity. She calls the exhibit pretty typical.

Riverhead Local: Marine biotoxin found in Terry Creek & Meetinghouse Creek triggers temporary ban on shellfish harvesting

• Cornell’s Wildlife Health Program and Dr. Chris Gobler’s lab at Stony Brook University later confirmed that saxitoxin was present in the turtles’ tissues, as well as the corresponding local mussel species in the turtles’ stomach contents. See: Conservation CSI: Cornell researchers solve mystery of mass turtle die-off

East End Beacon: Two Riverhead Creeks & Western Shinnecock Bay Closed to Shellfishing Due to Biotoxin

• “Alexandrium harmful algae blooms typically occur in April and May in New York,” according to an announcement of the closures from the Gobler Laboratory at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, which studies harmful algae blooms. “These are the second and third earliest paralytic shellfish poisoning-induced shellfish bed closures in New York State history, with the earliest occurring on April 4, 2012 in the Mattituck Inlet. Closures are rescinded once shellfish toxin levels are below FDA limits for three consecutive weeks.”

East End Beacon: Hope for Long Island’s Bays

• Dr. Gobler, an Associate Dean of Research at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and Director of Stony Brook’s Center for Clean Water Technology, gave his annual address April 4 at Stony Brook Southampton’s Chancellor’s Hall.

Scientific American: No One Knows How the Biggest Animals on Earth—Baleen Whales—Find Their Food

• To find out, Zitterbart and Owen joined forces with whale biologist Annette Bombosch of Woods Hole; zooplankton researcher Joseph Warren of Stony Brook University; Kei Toda of Kumamoto University in Japan, who developed technology for measuring DMS, and his then graduate student Kentaro Saeki; and oceanographer Alessandro Bocconcelli of Woods Hole, who has helped pioneer the use of sophisticated digital tags to study whales.

Dan’s Papers: FoodLab Bites into Kelp as Food & Fertilizer at Stony Brook Summit

• Stony Brook’s newly expanded FoodLab program is taking a deep dive into the topic of kelp and its future as an important crop on the East End at their upcoming Sea to Soil Summit next Friday, April 21 at the school’s Southampton campus.

Newsday: Ocean-based industries to create 60,000 jobs by 2051: report

• The sector’s growth potential stems from multiple factors, including Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and aquaculture programs from Cornell Cooperative Extension and Suffolk’s Marine Environmental Learning Center.

News12: Tappan Zee Bridge’s legacy lives on off the coast of Long Island

• News12 reporter Nadia Galindo met up with marine ecologist Dr. Bradley Peterson, who is a professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

AOL News/Veranda: 10 Sustainable Wineries That Will Help You Go Green While Drinking Your Red, White or Rosé

• Chemical herbicide-free for its entire 27 years of existence, this Long Island, New York winery saves water by eschewing irrigation. Macari is an industry innovator in the soil space; they joined forces with scientists at Stony Brook University to learn how to make their own kelp-infused compost to act as a natural fertilizer and help rejuvenate the soil.

NYC.gov: Mayor Adams, Trust for Governors Island, Stony Brook University Unveil Transformational Vision for New, Nation-Leading Climate Research, Jobs Hub on Governors Island (press release)

• New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Trust for Governors Island President and CEO Clare Newman, and State University of New York (SUNY) Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis today unveiled the “New York Climate Exchange,” a transformative vision for a first-in-the-nation climate research, education, and jobs hub on Governors Island that will create thousands of permanent jobs and $1 billion in economic impact for the city. Also ran in Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Times Beacon Record: Local researchers share concerns, optimism on Earth Day

• “The extremes are increasing,” said Malcolm Bowman, Professor Emeritus at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University. “It’s part of the prediction of climate science.” Indeed, as the atmosphere becomes warmer, the increase in water vapor raises the amount of rain in a particular storm, added Edmund Chang, Professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University. Chang and other local scientists discussed their concerns and potential cause for optimism amid the approach of the 54th anniversary of Earth Day.

Times Beacon Record: The American bald eagle’s return to Long Island

• Puleston shared his concern with members of the Brookhaven Town Natural Resource Committee (BTNRC), founded in 1966 by a group of environmentally minded individuals that met at an adult marine biology class taught by Art Cooley at Bellport High School. The group included Stony Brook University professors Robert Smolker and Charles Wurster.

TIME: The Case For Making Earth Day a Religious Holiday

• Greenberg teaches in NYU’s Animal Studies Program and is the author most recently of The Climate Diet. Safina holds the Endowed Research Chair for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University and is author of the forthcoming book Alfie and Me.

Newsday: Rising ocean, bay tides could eventually reshape Long Island — and how we live, work and play, experts say

• Each major storm will generate overwashes — waves that cover large areas before receding — and each will take away another layer of sand and sediment, they said. “You don’t see it year to year,” said Henry Bokuniewicz, a professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences who has studied climate change and sea level rise. “But the [home]owner who’s been there for 30 years will suddenly realize it’s not like it used to be.”

Newsday: As Fire Island inlet closes, fears of bay pollution rise

• Christopher Gobler, director of the New York State Center for Clean Water Technology at Stony Brook University, said water quality in Bellport Bay “could be reversed” with closure of the inlet. Gobler said the expected decline in water quality could damage recreational fishing — bluefish, striped bass and black sea bass are among fish caught there — and some commercial clamming operations in the Bellport area.

News12: Tappan Zee artificial reefs research could be used to enhance offshore wind projects

• The bridge was recycled nearly five years ago to create new a habitat for life in the ocean. A team of marine ecologists from Stony Brook University is diving into how these artificial reefs are impacting ecosystems.

Long Island Herald: Mayor touts the village’s achievements

• To achieve these goals, Kennedy said, he has consulted with environmental experts like Malcolm Bowman, of Stony Brook University, and is set to meet with the head of the Army Corps of Engineers in Washington, D.C., to explore the potential installation of storm surge barrier gates. The gates are structures that could be closed during a storm to block floodwaters, as well as to prevent flooding caused by high tides or storm surges, a frequent problem for Freeport and other South Shore communities.

Green Matters: Sustainable Agriculture

• Green Matters consulted Alyssa Mikesh, a fellow at Stony Brook University’s ecotoxicology lab for this piece.

Newsday: Stony Brook’s real-world laboratory for climate change work

• “To some extent, it makes sense to use the island as a living laboratory, as a demonstration of ways of building and making the coastline more resilient to climate change,” said Kevin Reed, Stony Brook’s associate dean for research, who specializes in climate science and the impacts of extreme weather. “I think it’s a strength of the New York Climate Exchange to use Governors Island to demonstrate those technologies.”

Dan’s Papers: Stony Brook Hosts their First Annual Sea to Soil Summit

• Stony Brook Southampton’s FoodLab hosted its first Annual Sea to Soil Summit, inviting their community to learn about the restorative benefits of kelp and seaweeds. This event placed an emphasis on the positive impact both seaweeds and kelp could have on our soil, seas, and food.

Waste Dive: New York’s Brookhaven Landfill is closing soon. Is Long Island ready?

• “With the closure of the landfill, now I think it’s appropriate to say we’re facing a crisis, another crisis,” said Frank Roethel, a research professor and director of Stony Brook University’s Waste Reduction and Management Institute. “The private sector will move in, and they’ll take as much as they can, and hopefully it’ll be enough to provide some relief, but it’ll be expensive.”

Times Beacon Record: Cinema Arts Centre to screen ‘Radioactive: The Women of Three Mile Island’ April 29

• Never-before-told revelations regarding The Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant accident on March 28, 1979 are the subjects of Stony Brook University Professor Heidi Hutner’s new feature-length documentary “Radioactive: The Women of Three Mile Island.”

Times Beacon Record: SBU’s Michael French chases tornadoes to gather scientific information

• These days, French, who is an Associate Professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University, spends parts of his time traveling to places in the southeast in trucks with unique and emerging instrumentation, typically Doppler weather radar, gathering data about severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.

East Hampton Star: C.C.O.M. Hires Gobler to Study Wastewater Issues

• Concerned Citizens of Montauk announced this week that it has retained Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences to assess Montauk’s wastewater issues.

East Hampton Star: Toxin a Threat to Shellfish West of Here

• Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences told the East Hampton Town Trustees on Monday that “in all these cases, it’s due to the dinoflagellate known as Alexandrium that makes saxitoxin.” This quantity of PSP-induced closures in one season has not happened since 2012, he said. This is of interest “in that that was another year where we had some anomalously warm weather in the winter.”

RussiaNewsNow: Germany Celebrates Fealty to Depopulation Lobby with Shut Down of Nuclear Energy Sector

• Nicholas Fisher, a nuclear expert at Stony Brook University in New York responded to the fear mongering by reminding his readers that “we live on a radioactive planet in a radioactive universe. All life has evolved in the presence of natural radioactivity.”

Adirondack Almanack: Adirondack-area nonprofits welcome new council, board members

• Steve was the only trained geologist elected to the Assembly, and has curated the geologic collection at Stony Brook University. He is also founding director of the Museum of Long Island Natural Sciences.