Ocean Science Lecture Series - Audio

About the Lecture As part of the Florida Shelf Edge Exploration (FLOSEE II) cruise, two Spray gliders operated by Harbor Branch’s Ocean Visibility and Optics Lab in collaboration with Bluefin Robotics were deployed for several months at Pulley Ridge. These glider deployments allowed large scale measurement of water quality parameters above the coral reef and the surrounding waters in support of the cruise objectives. About the Speaker Dr. Fraser Dalgleish is an Assistant Research Professor with Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University. He holds a B.Eng in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from The University of Edinburgh (UK), and an M.Sc in Ocean Engineering and Ph.D. in Ocean Engineering, both from Cranfield University (UK). He joined Harbor Branch over six years ago and established the Ocean Visibility and Optics Laboratory in 2006. Over the last ten years, his research and development activities have focused on the application of lasers and unmanned marine vehicles to develop new undersea robotic imaging and networking capabilities. The longer term goal of this work is to further develop and apply these novel approaches to operational oceanography to provide otherwise unobtainable data products and other new capabilities to marine scientists. For the last two years, he has been chair for the Underwater Imaging Committee of the Marine Technology Society.

About the Lecture Scientists look to the seagrass in the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) to measure the health of the lagoon. When seagrass thrives, so does the lagoon; when water quality diminishes, so does seagrass. Field monitoring of seagrass has been conducted in the IRL twice a year since 1994 by regional agency staff and collaborators and is coordinated by the St. Johns River Water Management District. A positive trend in IRL seagrass coverage has been the story over the past 17 years. Seagrass coverage has increased by over 24,000 acres (31%) and the total bed width (transect length) has increased by 80 m (36%), which is concurrent with an increase in seagrass depth limits by 0.3 m (23%). However, what appeared to be a functioning, balanced estuary has tipped into a spiraling decline following an unprecedented phytoplankton bloom. The “super bloom” of 2011 managed to undo all positive trends in less than one year. Questions now focus on the recovery of the system. . . if? . . . when? and. . . how long? About the Speaker Lori Morris, received her B.S. in Geology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and her M.S. in Marine Science from College of William and Mary - Virginia Institute of Marine Science. She has 20 years of experience involving the monitoring and restoration of seagrasses in the Indian River Lagoon (IRL). Ms. Morris is responsible for the overall management of 100 fixed seagrass transects throughout the IRL system along with other flora and fauna species. Ms. Morris also manages the solar light or Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) data collected as a component of the IRL water quality and seagrass monitoring networks. The data are required for quantifying and assessing relationships among seagrass, light, and water quality. She has succeeded in standardizing the sampling protocols among all entities participating in PAR measurements and in seagrass monitoring in Florida. She has authored or co-authored over 25 peer-reviewed publications and has presented at numerous professional conferences and public meetings.

About the Lecture Engineers at Harbor Branch have developed two unique sensor systems that prevent manatees from being injured in flood control gates and navigation locks. Join Larry Taylor, Project Manager for the Manatee Protection Systems Program since 1997, as he describes these innovative solutions and the successful installations at 18 flood gates and 8 boat locks. About the Speaker Larry Taylor is Coordinator, Research Programs/Services in Harbor Branch’s Ocean Technology Program. He has an A.S. in Electronics Technology from Indian River State College. Larry came to Harbor Branch in 1982 and worked for a decade with engineers Bob Tusting and Frank Caimi on diverse projects such as our pioneering work with underwater lasers, structured illumination, electrical stimulus samplers, and optical systems for measuring bioluminescence. In 1994-1995, Larry worked under Andy Clark with engineer Pat Turner to design the prototype for the Manatee Piezo-Electric Detection (PED) Sensor System for vertical lift gates. In 1996, the first complete sensor system was installed at Structure S-26 on the Miami Canal. Larry and Pat next designed and demonstrated the Manatee Piezo-Electric Copolmyer (PECOP) Sensor System for navigation locks. By the end of 1997, Larry had inherited the program management duties for providing these two unique systems to South Florida Water Management District, Army Corps of Engineers, and Florida Department of Environmental Protection. He formed a dedicated Manatee Protection Systems Team. Together they have built and installed systems along the southeast coast of Florida and around Lake Okeechobee with contracts totaling more than six million dollars.

About the Lecture The global ocean ecosystem is essential to the quality of life on the continents. The oceans are very complicated, changing rapidly and unpredictably. Sophisticated computational simulations and models of oceanic behavior require immense amounts of carefully crafted data input to become predictive. Novel approaches to working in the oceans in the coming generations have the potential to revolutionize our perceptions (and eventual management) of our entire planet. About the Speaker John Delaney is Professor of Oceanography and holds the Jerome M. Paros Endowed Chair at the University of Washington. Since 1997, he has directed development of the regional cabled ocean observatory in the northeast Pacific Ocean that evolved into the Regional Scale Nodes program within the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative. Delaney’s team will design, install, and operate, for 25-years, an innovative, Internet- connected, full-ocean research infrastructure based on a network of industry-standard submarine fiber-optic cables. This system will provide unprecedented power and bandwidth to allow interactive human telepresence within the oceans connected to thousands of fixed and mobile sensor-robot packages able to detect and respond to energetic, transient events like giant storms, large earthquakes, and erupting volcanoes in major portions of the ocean basin. Dr. Delaney, who joined the University of Washington faculty in 1977, has published nearly 100 scientific publications, and has served as chief scientist on more than 45 oceanographic research cruises, many of which have included the Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin and the Remotely Operated Vehicle Jason. Among his many honors, he is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, and he has served on several NASA Committees charged with defining the nature of missions to Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, suspected to harbor both a liquid ocean and submarine volcanoes.

The Ocean Science Lecture Series provides a forum for the community at large to learn about Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch's most recent discoveries directly from the scientists who made them. John Reed - Deep Water Coral Reefs: Oases of the Ocean: Recent Discoveries and Conservation

The Ocean Science Lecture Series provides a forum for the community at large to learn about Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch's most recent discoveries directly from the scientists who made them. Dennis Hanisak - Shifting Baselines: Water Quality in the Central Indian River Lagoon

For over five centuries, the Sargasso Sea has been a subject of lively debate among explorers and scientists alike. Named for its characteristic brown seaweed Sargassum, the boundary of the Sargasso Sea is now defined by the currents that surround this unique "sea without a shore" - also known as the North Atlantic Central Gyre. Dr. Lapointe will share a number of "secrets" about this mysterious oceanic realm, some of which date back to the historic voyage of Christopher Columbus. He will describe the discovery of Sargassum by early explorers, the phenomenon of the "Bermuda Triangle", and the amazing community of invertebrates and fishes supported by Sargassum "weedlines". Dr. Lapointe will show outtakes of a documentary of the Sargassum community that he and NHK Broadcasting (Tokyo, Japan) collaborated on in 1997. He will close by describing his recent studies of the impacts the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the "essential fish habitat" provided by pelagic Sargassum.

The Ocean Science Lecture Series provides a forum for the community at large to learn about Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch's most recent discoveries directly from the scientists who made them. Jim Masterson - Friends in Low Places: Galapagos 2010 Adventure with the Friends of Harbor Branch

The Ocean Science Lecture Series provides a forum for the community at large to learn about Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch's most recent discoveries directly from the scientists who made them. Semester by the Sea: Training the Next Generation