Here’s the News and Press for November featuring faculty and staff at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences!
Dr. Joe Warren has received an award from ONR, via Norwegian University of Science and Technology, in support of the project “Relationship between blue, fin, and beaked whales and their prey in Southern California”, in the amount $170,646, for the period 11/1/21 – 9/30/23.
PROJECT ABSTRACT
The Southern California Bight (SCB) is a highly productive system due to seasonally strong upwelling conditions, which attract diverse megafauna including a large variety of cetaceans. We propose deployment of two acoustic moorings in the SCB between October 2021 and October 2022. The moorings will consist of a passive acoustic recorder and two active acoustic systems. The passive component is a bottom mounted High-frequency Acoustic Recording Package (HARP) to record signals from both baleen whales and beaked whales. The active systems will provide estimates of euphausid and other plankton abundance in surface waters, and backscatter from squid and other deep water fauna. We will couple mooring data with net tows and synoptic ship-based echosounder surveys to evaluate contribution of different plankton taxa to the backscatter signal. The relationship between cetaceans and their prey will be investigated from this temporally extensive data set by applying the generalized additive modeling framework. In addition to the prey metrics from the active acoustic data, environmental data from in situ SeaBird microCATs and oceanographic variables available from a 3D ocean circulation model available for Southern California, remotely sensed surface variables, and a number of temporal variables, such as time-of-day, month, season, and year on the distribution of these whales will be used in model development. These models will provide information on functional relationships between these cetaceans and their prey.
Press Highlights
CBS 2 New York: Concerns Over Water Quality In Parts Of Middlesex County Due To PFOA Levels
- “These standards are in place to protect human health,” said Chris Gobler, director of the Center for Clean Water Technology at Stony Brook University.
BNN Bloomberg: Yacht Full of Climate Scientists Plots Giant Sea Gate to Save Manhattan
- “Don’t underestimate the destruction, dislocation, and human misery that climate change and rising seas will bring in the decades ahead,” said Malcolm Bowman, a professor of oceanography at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. He serves as chair of New York New Jersey Storm Surge Working Group, the organization that hosted the boat ride. The group includes engineers, architects, scientists, and city planners in the region. Also ran in gCaptain, BNN Bloomberg, Bloomberg Quint, Coastal News Today, Daily Mail, Claims Journal, What’s New 2Day, Mogaz News, Newsfeeds Media, This Is Money, the Mail on Sunday, NNY360,
The Jefferson Exchange: Restoring Paradise, with an emphasis on education and health care
- Sara Hamideh and Payel Sen from Stony Brook University talk about their research, and the recommendations for rebuilding in a community with considerable lingering social vulnerabilities.
Mount Desert Inslander: NOAA awards $2M in climate-related lobster research
- Stony Brook University in New York will develop a simulation study to gauge the impacts of climate-induced changes to a lobster’s life and alternative management regulations.
Loveland Reporter-Herald: CSU to lead NASA study of tropical thunderstorms
- Colorado State University atmospheric science professor Susan van den Heever will help lead a $177 million NASA study of the behavior of tropical thunderstorms….City College of New York, Stony Brook University and Texas A&M University researchers will also participate in the mission.
Greeley Tribune: CSU to lead NASA study of tropical thunderstorms
- City College of New York, Stony Brook University and Texas A&M University researchers will also participate in the mission.
Coastal Review Online: Duke to study offshore wind energy’s effects on marine life
- In addition to Duke University, the other partners on WOW include the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Rutgers University, the University of St. Andrews, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Syracuse University, the Pacific Northwest National Lab, TetraTech, Scientific Innovations, the New England Aquarium, Florida State University, the Biodiversity Research Institute, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Southall Environmental Associates, and Cornell University.
City College of New York: CCNY joins $177 million NASA mission to study thunderstorms in the tropics
- Stony Brook University and Texas A&M are the other university partners involved in the project.
Times Beacon Record: SBU’s Lesley Thorne tracks long-finned pilot whales north amid warming
- Amid increases in ocean temperatures caused by global warming, long-finned pilot whales have moved the center of their range to the north, according to a 25-year study Lesley Thorne, Assistant Professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University and Janet Nye, Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences and Adjunct Professor of SoMAS, recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.
AZO CleanTech: Study Offers First Comprehensive Database of China’s Marine Conservation
- A new study by an international team of scientists led by Ellen Pikitch, PhD, of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS), provides the first comprehensive and publicly available database of area-based marine conservation in China’s waters.
Cornell University: Hochul names Cornellians to NYS climate assessment project
- Ecosystems workgroup: Garrett Boudinot, research associate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Carrie Brown-Lima, director of Cornell’s New York Invasive Species Research Institute, and a senior extension associate in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment; and Rebecca Shuford ‘94, director of the New York Sea Grant program, a cooperative program between Cornell and Stony Brook University, will serve as a technical workgroup members. Also ran in the National Tribune and Mirage News
Fuentitech: Techniques for measuring cell-to-cell variation in growth rate can impact many areas
- Researchers at the School of Marine Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) at Stony Brook University, led by Dr. Gordon T. Taylor, demonstrate that Raman microspectroscopy can accurately measure cell-to-cell variation in the growth rate of the grown bacterium E. coli. Did. In bouillon medium. They validated Raman-based methods for independent traditional population-based spectroscopic and mass spectrometric measurements. Also ran in Gamers Grade and Phys.org,
Across New Mexico Patch: LI Storm Chaser ‘A Little Nervous’ Staying Ahead of Tornado
- Stony Brook University Atmospheric Sciences program student Mark Doucet has made a hobby out of chasing down Mother Nature. Also ran in Across Tennessee Patch, Across Maryland Patch, Across Virginia Patch, American Online News and many other outlets.
Southampton Press: Scientists Searching For Way To Save Bay Scallops From Climate Change Threat
- A Stony Brook University research team has begun using genetic sequencing to try to identify common traits in the smattering of bay scallops that have survived the latest massacre, which scientists say appears to be caused primarily by climate change and warming waters in the Peconic Estuary, in the hope of being able to help boost the numbers of scallops that will survive in ensuing years. Also ran in Sag Harbor Express.
Western Farmer-Stockman: University leading NASA study of thunderstorms
- The team includes several university partners, including City College of New York, Stony Brook University, and Texas A&M University.
East Hampton Star: Bivalve Burglary in the Bays
- That’s why Christopher Brianik, a Stony Brook University Ph.D. student who helped spawn the oysters, was disappointed to learn that someone had raided both study areas and waded away with thousands of mature triploid oysters over the last several months
Long Island.com: Since 1986, Clams Used in Environmental Program by Babylon Town
- Babylon Town recently announced that it had transplanted thousands of live hard clams into the bay as part of the annual Hard Clam Program. The program began in 1986 to restock a specific area of the Great South Bay that is conducive to spawning. The area, known as Spawner Sanctuary, was picked as a result of a study conducted by Stony Brook on where to place adult clams in specific areas so they will spawn, resulting in a higher incidence of fertilization.
The Atlantic: Climate Change Might Be Driving Albatrosses to Divorce
- The adolescent albatrosses return to their colony single and ready to mingle. They touch down, find a group of like-minded individuals, and start to dance. At first, “it’s kind of like being at a club,” Melinda Conners, a bird biologist at Stony Brook University, told me. Also ran in ExBulletin, Scribd and DNYUZ.
East Hampton Star: To Swap Boats for Oysters
- Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences has been conducting water quality tests at the marina for the past six months, Mr. Nicholas said, and has proposed a comprehensive environmental review of the site before, during, and after the implementation of the oyster farm. This will include an analysis of water as well as insect and plant life, he said.
USA News Hub/The Atlantic: It’s Not You, It’s Climate Change
- At first, “it’s kind of like being at a club,” Melinda Conners, a bird biologist at Stony Brook University, told me. The young hopefuls are seeking a partner that’s both sexy and in sync with their own moves. Also ran in the Democratic Underground.
Carolina Coast Online: Duke University Marine Lab scientist to lead 5-year offshore wind energy study
- According to the study website, a “multi-institution consortium” will be involved in the study, which will span the entire U.S. East Coast. Involved institutions include Stony Brook University.
Smithsonian Magazine: Albatrosses Mate for Life, but Climate Change Has Doubled Their ‘Divorce’ Rates
- “Some of these pairs have potentially been raising chicks for decades … and they’re being broken up by things that were entirely out of their hands,” Melinda Conners, a marine conservation ecologist at Stony Brook University who was not involved in the study, tells the Atlantic.
Southampton Patch: Windmill Lighting, Beloved East End Tradition, Unfolds Friday
- A popular East End holiday tradition will take place Friday as the lighting of the historic windmill at Stony Brook Southampton unfolds. The event will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Stony Brook Southampton student center cafeteria and will include refreshments, music, an alumni-sponsored photo booth, guided windmill tours, and crafts for kids.
Latest Seminars
Daniel Olago, Director of The institute for Climate Change and Adaptation at the University of Nairobi, Kenya speaks to SoMAS at the Oceans, Sustainability, and Atmospheres Colloquium on Friday November 19, 2021 on the topic “Water Security in Africa’s Drylands – A Groundwater Perspective.” Hosted by Josephine Aller.
Dr. Patrick Skinner, a Research Scientist at the (newly renamed) Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations, CIWRO (formerly CIMMS) and the National Severe Storms Lab, spoke to SoMAS at the Topics in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Seminar on Wednesday November 17, 2021 on the topic “Predictability of the 10 August 2020 Midwest Derecho.” Hosted by Michael French.
The Evan R. Liblit Memorial Scholarship Committee Larry Swanson Waste on Wednesday Webinar on November 10, 2021 was “Storm Debris – Is the region ready for a major hurricane?” Moderated by Michael Cahill, and including Chuck Hamilton, Mike Englemann, Ed Barnes, and Patricia DelCol, this webinar focuses on the infrastructure needed to manage waste in the aftermath of a major storm.
Dr. David Taylor, the Faculty Director of Environmental Humanities at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University, spoke to SoMAS on Friday November 12, 2021 at the Oceans, Sustainability, and Atmospheres Colloquium on the topic “Theaters of Engagement: Sustainability in Cuba & the Role of Arts in Environmental Outreach.”
Dr. Hans W. Paerl, the Kenan Professor of Marine and Environmental Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, spoke to SoMAS at the Oceans, Sustainability, and Atmospheres Colloquium on Friday November 5, 2021 on the topic “Mitigating Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms in a Hotter, Hydrologically More Extreme World.” Hosted by Chris Gobler.
Acacia Leakey, the Technical Initiatives Manager from the Turkana Basin Institute in Kenya (https://www.turkanabasin.org/about/) visited SoMAS on Thursday November 4 to present a special seminar “Envisaging a sustainable future at the Turkana Basin Institute”.
