CAREER: Imaging the global patterns and drivers of the ocean's biological carbon pump

Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)

This Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award aims to lay a foundation of integrated research, education, and outreach in oceanography. The overall scientific goal is to illuminate the patterns and drivers of the ocean’s biological carbon pump through a global hydrographic scale study of marine particles and zooplankton. In collaboration with the US Repeat Hydrography program, this project will use in situ imaging technology to determine the total abundance, size distribution, and functional groups of particles and mesozooplankton along seven global ocean transects. This study is designed to test fundamental hypotheses related to the presence and nature of regionalized particulate matter hotspots, the global patterns of zooplankton activity and vertical migration and their effects on the biological pump, and the linkages between satellite derived parameters and the patterns of flux and flux attenuation through the mesopelagic.

The project will provide a graduate student with training and applied experience in observational oceanography through direct participation in research cruises and participation in the planned research and outreach activities. The research approach and products of this CAREER project will be shared widely with the public through the production of a new aquarium exhibit at the Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC) that focuses on the microscopic world of particles and plankton in the ocean, and more generally on the science of oceanography.

Development of a Carbon Seaglider for ocean acidification monitoring and inorganic carbon process studies

Funded by the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP)/Office of Naval Research (ONR)/National Science Foundation (NSF)

PI: Claudine Hauri, UAF International Arctic Research Center; Co-PI: Andrew McDonnell UAF College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences

The oceanic reservoir of carbon dioxide is large, dynamic, spatially variable, and of critical importance to Earth?s climate, biogeochemical cycles, and the health of marine ecosystems. At present, the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) is vastly undersampled throughout the oceans. This is due to conventional sampling approaches that rely primarily on discrete water sample collections from dedicated research cruises, underway measurements of surface ocean properties from transiting vessels, or time series measurements from in situ sensors on fixed moorings. This sparse sampling coverage greatly limits the understanding of the spatial and temporal variability of carbon dioxide, the processes that control its cycling, and how its accumulation in the ocean impacts marine life via ocean acidification. The researchers will develop a Carbon Seaglider that will, for the first time, be capable of autonomously measuring pCO2 at high resolution throughout the water column. Once available to the community, the Carbon Seaglider will advance the understanding of regional and global carbon cycling, ocean productivity, ocean acidification, and the ocean?s role in mitigating climate change. The Carbon Seaglider could also be applied to remote monitoring of the chemical habitat of CO2-sensitive organisms and thereby refine the understanding of ecosystem responses to ocean acidification. Enhanced monitoring of subsurface waters is also important to advance the early warning system for shellfish hatcheries and fishermen.

The researchers will develop an autonomous Carbon Seaglider by integrating a robust, proven and highly accurate pCO2 sensor (Kongsberg CONTROS HydroC CO2) into a highly capable, state-of-the-art autonomous coastal underwater glider (Kongsberg Seaglider C2). The primary products of this project will be a proven, science-ready pCO2-sensing Seaglider that is commercially available for a variety of ocean observing missions. This Carbon Seaglider will be accompanied by all of the software packages and operational documentation necessary to ensure user-friendly operation and high-quality data products. The new Carbon Seaglider will for the first time provide the ability to autonomously conduct high-resolution and adaptively sampled pCO2 measurements throughout the water column and across large range of spatial and temporal scales. Successful completion of this project will advance the Carbon Seaglider system to its final form and one that is proven to work effectively and reliably under a wide range of environmental conditions. This involves the final integration of these proven components into a fully functional system, optimization of its performance and operation, and rigorous developmental testing, evaluation, and operational demonstration during scientific mission. The proposed science mission in glacial meltwater affected Prince William Sound challenges both the pCO2 sensing capabilities (i.e. dynamics and variations) as well as the glider platform? capability (i.e. strong currents and density gradients). If these demonstration experiments are successful, it would prove that the Carbon Seaglider can be used for a variety of other scientific and monitoring missions, most of which would involve operations in much less demanding environments.

Northern Gulf of Alaska: Long Term Ecological Research (NGA-LTER)

Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)

In the northern Gulf of Alaska Long Term Ecological Research study area, the biological community is highly productive. The lower levels of the food chain (phytoplankton and zooplankton) support the iconic fish, crabs, seabirds, and marine mammals of Alaska. Large increases in phytoplankton during the spring and sustained production during the summer support zooplankton that transfer energy up the food chain. Substantial amounts of this organic matter also sink to feed animals on the sea bottom.

Our research team investigates the features, mechanisms, and processes that drive NGA ecosystem production and foster its resilience.

This site is a member of the U.S. LTER Network.

Members of the Network are accessible through the LTER Site Portal.

Northern Gulf of Alaska Marine Ecosystem Monitoring

Funded by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust

This project will involve the construction and deployment of a marine ecosystem observatory on the Northern Gulf of Alaska's outer continental shelf. The year-round autonomous measurements will provide unprecedented views into the mechanistic workings of this region's carbon pump and the relations between major ecosystem components. A bottom-anchored mooring will provide year round measurements enabling the monitoring of ocean acidification, changes to the shelf's nutrient and carbon cycles, and how changing wind, waves, and currents affect the biology and its habitat.

ASGARD: Arctic Shelf Growth, Advection, Respiration and Deposition Rate Experiments

Funded by the North Pacific Research Board (Arctic Integrated Ecosystem Research Program)

The McDonnell Group is part of a team from the University of Alaska Fairbanks that will use the icebreaker Sikuliaq and a series of year-round moorings to study the oceanography and lower trophic levels in the northern Bering and southern Chukchi Seas. The focus of this work will be to study the undersampled winter and spring seasons and how processes at this time of year sets the conditions as the ice retreats northward across the region and biological productivity ramps up with increasing light levels. Cruises will take place in May/June of 2017 and 2018.

Chukchi Ecosystem Observatory

North Pacific Research Board (Long Term Monitoring Program)

LINK TO PROJECT WEBSITE HERE

The McDonnell Group is part of a consortium of investigators, institutions, and funding agencies that is maintaining a year-round moored ecosystem observatory in the NE Chukchi Sea.

Marine particle dynamics in the northern Gulf of Alaska

Funded by the National Science Foundation (Chemical Oceanography)

The focus of the of this project is to make new, broadly informative discoveries with regard to the function of the ocean’s biological carbon pump and our ability to quantify and monitor its strength and efficiency at high spatial and temporal resolutions. In addition, this project will provide the first quantitative and mechanistic study of sinking particle fluxes in the northern Gulf of Alaska by working in conjunction with the ongoing Seward Line Long-term Observational Program (LTOP). The project includes two years of observations in the northern Gulf of Alaska. By combining moored time-series sediment traps with a new in situ camera system, we are investigating the temporal the changes in particle size distribution and their relationship to the downward particle flux.