Bigelow Laboratory For Ocean Sciences

PURPOSE: BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES SEEKS A $12,202,740 GRANT FOR THE INNOVATION AND EDUCATION WING PROJECT, EXPANDING THE MAIN LABORATORY BUILDING IN EAST BOOTHBAY, MAINE TO MEET INCREASED DEMAND FOR THE ORGANIZATION'S TRANSFORMATIVE OCEAN SCIENCE EDUCATION INITIATIVES AND TO CONTINUE GROWTH IN ITS INNOVATION WORK TO ADDRESS GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUES AND SUPPORT THE REGIONAL AQUACULTURE AND BIOTECH ECONOMY.ACTIVITIES TO BE PERFORMED: THE NEW WING WILL CONTAIN CLASSROOMS, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE COLLABORATION SPACE, LABORATORIES, AS WELL AS NEW ADDITIONS TO CAMPUS INCLUDING BIGELOW'S FIRST TEACHING LABS AND A 300-PERSON FORUM THAT WILL BE A RESOURCE FOR THE BROADER COMMUNITY IN THE REGION. THESE FUNDS WILL MATCH A GIFT CHALLENGE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT POSED BY THE HAROLD ALFOND FOUNDATION.EXPECTED OUTCOMES: FACILITIES IN THE NEW WING WILL ALLOW BIGELOW TO EXPAND ITS SERVICES TO MARINE RESOURCE MANAGERS IN MAINE AND AROUND THE US, WHICH CURRENTLY INCLUDE MONITORING FOR SHELLFISH TOXINS THROUGH BIGELOW ANALYTICAL SERVICES, SUPPORTING THE GROWING AQUACULTURE SECTOR THROUGH ITS CENTER FOR SEAFOOD SOLUTIONS, AND COLLABORATIVE OPPORTUNITIES WITH THE GROWING BLUE BIOTECHNOLOGY SECTOR THROUGH ITS CENTER FOR ALGAL INNOVATION.INTENDED BENEFICIARIES:THE LABORATORY INTENDS TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE ENGAGED BY COMMUNITY OUTREACH FROM ITS CURRENT LEVEL OF 1,130 ANNUALLY TO OVER 1,800 WITH THE NEW WING. THIS INCLUDES GENERAL VISITORS TO CAMPUS AND PARTICIPANTS IN SCIENCE OR COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCES HOSTED. THE FORUM AND OTHER PUBLIC GATHERING SPACES IN THE NEW WING WILL ALLOW BIGELOW TO HOST LARGER AUDIENCES IN A WORLD-CLASS PRESENTATION SPACE. THE LAB PLANS TO ADD TWO NEW PROFESSIONAL COURSES AND WORKSHOPS IN THE NEAR TERM THAT UTILIZE THE NEW WING, INCLUDING A CRYOPRESERVATION COURSE. BIGELOW'S POPULAR PUBLIC "CAF-SCI" SPEAKER SERIES, FOR EXAMPLE, ATTRACTS HUNDREDS OF ATTENDEES ON SUMMER TUESDAY EVENINGS, BOTH IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL. THESE AND OTHER LARGE EVENTS CURRENTLY TAKE PLACE IN A GLASS-LINED CORRIDOR KNOWN AS THE "COMMONS". THE NARROW WIDTH, SUN EXPOSURE, AND POOR ACOUSTICS OF THE COMMONS HAVE PROVEN UNSUITABLE FOR THE SERIES AND DOES NOT SUPPORT THE HIGH QUALITY OF BIGELOW SCIENCE OR SCIENTIFIC PRESENTATIONS. THE COMMONS IS ALSO A CENTRAL THOROUGHFARE FOR THE LAB, PRECLUDING HOSTING WORKSHOPS OR SMALL CONFERENCES IN THE SPACE DURING BUSINESS HOURS.WITH THE ADDED CLASSROOM AND EDUCATIONAL LABORATORY SPACES TO BE BUILT, STUDENTS WILL BE MAJOR BENEFICIARIES OF THIS WING. PROGRAMS SUCH AS BIGELOW'S "SEA CHANGE," ONE OF THE TOP RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADUATES IN MARINE SCIENCE IN THE COUNTRY, WILL BE ABLE TO SERVE TWO TO THREE TIMES THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS. WITH THE NEW WING, BIGELOW WILL HIRE A DEDICATED EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR AND MAKE USE OF THE TWO NEW, 20-PERSON CLASSROOM SPACES ON A REGULAR BASIS. BIGELOW CONTINUES TO WORK WITH COLLEGES TO IDENTIFY WAYS TO FUND EXPANDED OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS AT BIGELOW. IN THE LONG TERM, IT IS EXPECTED THAT THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS IN THE LABORATORY'S HIGH TOUCH EXPERIENTIAL PROGRAMS WILL DOUBLE FROM THE CURRENT 350 TO 700 ANNUALLY, EDUCATIONAL PARTNERS WILL GROW FROM 7 TO 15, AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS OPERATED ANNUALLY WILL GROW FROM 22 TO 36.SUBRECIPIENT ACTIVITIES: NONE

BIGELOW CENTER FOR OCEAN HEALTH: APPLYING SYSTEMS MICROBIOLOGY TO OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS

RII TRACK-2 FEC: SINGLE CELL GENOME-TO-PHENOME: INTEGRATING GENOME AND PHENOME ANALYSES OF INDIVIDUAL MICROBIAL CELLS IN COMPLEX MICROBIOMES

A CENTER FOR OCEAN BIOGEOCHEMISTRY AND CLIMATE CHANGE: ADDRESSING THE ROLE OF PLANKTON IN OCEAN AND CLIMATE CHANGE

E-RISE RII: MAINE ALGAL RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE AND ACCELERATOR -MATERIALS FROM MACROALGAE ONE CAN SEE AND MICROALGAE THAT ONE CANNOT SEE ARE FOUND IN CONSUMER PRODUCTS AS DIVERSE AS FOODS, PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS, AND FLIP FLOPS. BECAUSE ALGAE TAKE UP GREENHOUSE GASES, USING THEM TO CREATE DIVERSE PRODUCTS IS CLOSER TO CARBON-NEUTRAL THAN TRADITIONAL MANUFACTURING PROCESSES AND THEREFORE HELPS TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE. THESE ALGAE-BASED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ARE ALL PART OF A BLUE ECONOMY THAT IS FREQUENTLY MENTIONED IN PUBLIC DISCOURSE. THE ?BLUE ECONOMY? IS RAPIDLY EXPANDING AS IT CAN PROVIDE FOR NUMEROUS OPPORTUNITIES FOR CREATING SOCIALLY-CONSCIOUS START-UP BUSINESSES. A FUNDAMENTAL CHALLENGE TO ADVANCING ALGAE IN THE BLUE ECONOMY IS IDENTIFYING HOW TO CONNECT AND SUPPORT CONTINUING INTERACTIONS BETWEEN RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, BUSINESS TRAINING/CREATION ENTITIES, AND INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING. THIS CHALLENGE IS PARTICULARLY PROBLEMATIC IN MAINE WHERE THESE ENTITIES ARE SPREAD OVER A LARGE, SPARSELY POPULATED AND AGING STATE. THE MAINE ALGAL RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE AND ACCELERATOR (MARIA) PROJECT TACKLES THIS CHALLENGE. MARIA AIMS TO STRENGTHEN THE CAPABILITIES OF ALGAE-RELATED RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE IN MAINE. BIGELOW LABORATORY?S NATIONAL CENTER FOR MARINE ALGAE, A PUBLIC ALGAE RESOURCE SINCE 1981, AND MOUNT DESERT ISLAND BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY WILL LEAD COLLABORATIONS WITH THE MARIA TEAM TO ENHANCE THE SCIENCE AND ENTREPRENEURIAL TRAINING, AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS OFFERED THROUGH UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND, COLBY COLLEGE AND SOUTHERN MAINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE. THIS COLLABORATION WILL INCLUDE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW PROGRAMS ON ALGAE BIOLOGY, USE OF ALGAE IN BIOTECHNOLOGY, AND SUPPORT OF HANDS-ON INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES. WORKING WITH KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY?S OFFICE OF EDUCATION INNOVATION AND EVALUATION, MARIA WILL DEVELOP A COORDINATED OUTREACH PROGRAM THAT INTEGRATES DIVERSE PARTICIPANTS AND CONTINUALLY EVALUATES TO IMPROVE RECRUITMENT AND ENGAGEMENT WITH ALGAL FOCUSED INITIATIVES. LASTLY, MARIA PROVIDES A FRAMEWORK TO CONNECT THE RESOURCES OF THE MAINE CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURS, GULF OF MAINE VENTURES, AND THE MAINE TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE WITH STUDENTS, RESEARCHERS AND ENTREPRENEURS TO ACCELERATE THEIR CREATIVE IDEAS INTO THE BLUE ECONOMY. THIS PROJECT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO SIGNIFICANTLY ADVANCE SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE IN ALGAL PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY, SERVING AS A MECHANISM FOR MAINE TO PROMOTE THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION IN THE USE OF ALGAE IN AGRICULTURE, AQUACULTURE, PHARMACEUTICALS, AND FOOD SYSTEMS. THE DIVERSITY OF MICROALGAE AND MACROALGAE STRAINS HOUSED IN THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR MARINE ALGAE COLLECTION CONSTITUTES A HUGELY PROMISING YET INADEQUATELY EXPLORED AND UNDERUTILIZED RESOURCE. THIS PROJECT WILL ENHANCE THE EXISTING ALGAE-RELATED RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE IN MAINE TO BUILD A STATE-OF-THE-ART ALGAL RESEARCH CENTER. THIS NEW RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE WILL INCLUDE INSTRUMENTS THAT ALLOW RESEARCHERS TO EXAMINE, IN GREAT DETAIL, THE VAST METABOLOMIC PHENOTYPE AND GENOTYPE OF INDIVIDUAL ALGAL CELLS. THIS DETAILED DATA WILL STREAMLINE THE EXPLORATION OF ALGAE'S COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL, FROM INDIVIDUAL CELL-LEVEL ANALYSIS TO PRODUCT OPTIMIZATION AND EVENTUAL SCALING. ADDITIONALLY, THE MARIA PROGRAM WILL ESTABLISH A COLLABORATIVE NETWORK OF EXPERTS IN MAINE IN A DIVERSE RANGE OF ALGAE-RELATED FIELDS, AS WELL AS RELEVANT STAKEHOLDERS AND END-USERS THAT WILL SERVE AS AN INTELLECTUAL RESOURCE TO PROMOTE THE INNOVATION OF USE-INSPIRED ALGAE PRODUCTS AND ITS DEVELOPMENT INTO A MARKET-READY PRODUCT. MERGING DIVERSE EXPERTISE, BUILDING A CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE, INCLUDING BIOPROSPECTING IN A SINGLE CELL LEVEL TO STATE-OF-THE-ART GENETIC TRANSFORMATION INSTRUMENTATION, AND LINKING DIFFERENT DATA SOURCES, ARE ESSENTIAL FOR THE ACCELERATOR TO STIMULATE ALGAL INNOVATION AND FOSTER THE TRANSFORMATION OF COMMERCIALLY VIABLE FINDINGS INTO MARKET-READY PRODUCTS RELATED TO HERITAGE INDUSTRIES, AQUACULTURE AND AGRICULTURE, AND EMERGING SECTORS, ALGAE PRODUCTS, BIOCHEMICALS AND HEALTHY AGING, AS WELL AS OTHER SCIENTIFIC AND ECONOMIC SECTORS BEYOND THE FOCUS OF THIS PROPOSAL, THAT ARE CENTRAL TO THE MAINE ECONOMIC INNOVATION ACTION PLAN. MARIA IS DEEPLY FOCUSED ON WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, AND INSTITUTES A SERIES OF COMPREHENSIVE TRAINING PROGRAMS TARGETING UNDERGRADUATES AND CAREER TRANSITIONERS, EQUIPPING THEM WITH ENTREPRENEURIAL, TECHNICAL SKILLSETS AND HANDS-ON PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE NECESSARY TO START AND SUSTAIN NEW ALGAE INNOVATION-BASED VENTURES IN MAINE. BY DEVELOPING A STRATEGIC COLLABORATION WITH LOCAL FARMERS AND ALGAL COMPANIES, RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS WITH COMPLEMENTARY STRENGTHS AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, MARIA WILL CREATE A SUSTAINABLE ACCELERATOR NETWORK UNIQUELY SUITED TO TRANSLATE ALGAL SCIENCE INTO THE STATE, REGIONAL, AND NATIONAL ECONOMY. THIS PROJECT IS FUNDED BY THE NSF EPSCOR RESEARCH INCUBATORS FOR STEM EXCELLENCE (E-RISE) RII PROGRAM. THE E-RISE RII PROGRAM SUPPORTS THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF SUSTAINABLE BROAD NETWORKS OF INDIVIDUALS, INSTITUTIONS, AND ORGANIZATIONS THAT WILL TRANSFORM THE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) RESEARCH CAPACITY AND COMPETITIVENESS IN A JURISDICTION WITHIN A FIELD OF RESEARCH ALIGNED WITH THE JURISDICTION?S SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PRIORITIES. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

NSF CONVERGENCE ACCELERATOR REAL-WORLD CHEMICAL SENSING APPLICATIONS: INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO MONITOR METHANE EMISSIONS FROM LIVESTOCK USING AN ADVANCED GRAVIMETRIC MICROSENSOR -THE U.S. DAIRY INDUSTRY MAKES A SUBSTANTIAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE COUNTRY?S ECONOMY. YET, THE INDUSTRY FACES THE CHALLENGE OF BALANCING THE INCREASING DEMAND FOR MILK PRODUCTION TO FEED A GROWING POPULATION WITH THE NEED TO MAINTAIN ENVIRONMENTAL RESILIENCE. METHANE PRODUCTION BY RUMINANT LIVESTOCK IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS IN THE INDUSTRY, AND AN INCREASING NUMBER OF OPTIONS, PARTICULARLY FEED ADDITIVES, HAVE EMERGED TO MITIGATE METHANE EMISSIONS. THIS PROJECT WILL GENERATE AN END-TO-END SERVICE THAT DIRECTLY MEASURES THE ON-FARM METHANE EMISSION LEVELS FOR INDIVIDUAL COWS AND DAIRY HERDS AND USES THAT INFORMATION TO ESTABLISH FINANCIAL RETURNS TO FARMERS AND PROCESSORS. THIS WILL CREATE MONETARY INCENTIVES TO IMPLEMENT METHANE REDUCTIONS, RESULTING IN ENHANCED ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESILIENCE FOR DAIRY PRODUCERS. ADDITIONAL BROADER IMPACTS INVOLVE EARLY-CAREER SCIENTISTS IN SENSOR DEVELOPMENT, ENGAGEMENT OF FIFTH-GRADE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN EXISTING ON-FARM PROGRAMS, AND THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

EQUIPMENT: EQUIPMENT: MRI: TRACK 2, ACQUISITION OF A HIGH-THROUGHPUT WORKFLOW FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SINGLE CELL GENOMICS -A SINGLE CELL IS THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL UNIT OF BIOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION. IDENTIFYING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ITS GENOMIC BLUEPRINT AND FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS PROVIDES THE ULTIMATE RESOLUTION IN MICROBIOLOGY. HOWEVER, OBTAINING SUCH INFORMATION IS CHALLENGING, WHICH IMPEDES FOUNDATIONAL DISCOVERIES AND BIOTECHNOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS FROM THE VAST DIVERSITY OF UNCULTIVATED MICROBIAL LIFE ON EARTH. THIS PROJECT UPDATES AND ENHANCES AN ANALYSIS SYSTEM FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SINGLE-CELL GENOMICS (ESCG), A METHOD PIONEERED AT BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES FOR SEQUENCING INDIVIDUAL UNCULTIVATED MICROBIAL CELLS AND CONNECTING THEIR GENETIC INFORMATION TO PHYSICAL TRAITS. THE UPDATED SYSTEM WILL REDUCE ANALYTICAL COSTS AND ENABLE THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW METHODOLOGIES TO ANALYZE THE GENOMES OF CELLS SHED BY ANIMALS AND PLANTS, WHICH HOLD THE POTENTIAL TO INFORM THE HEALTH OF THE STUDIED POPULATIONS AND FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE HOW SPECIES-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH IS CONDUCTED, ENABLING NEW FORECASTING TOOLS. THESE NEW RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES WILL BE SHOWCASED IN SYMPOSIA, WORKSHOPS, COURSES, POSTDOCTORAL TRAINING PROGRAMS, AND UNDERGRADUATE INTERNSHIPS. THE PIS HAVE REQUESTED INSTRUMENTATION THAT FORMS AN INTEGRATED WORKFLOW FOR STUDIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL SINGLE-CELL GENOMES AND PHENOMES. THE REQUESTED INSTRUMENTATION WILL BE INTEGRATED INTO AN ESCG WORKFLOW INSTRUMENT THAT MEETS THE MRI REQUIREMENT FOR ?COMPONENTS THAT WHEN COMBINED SERVE AS A SINGLE RESEARCH INSTRUMENT?. THE NEW INSTRUMENTATION COMPRISES A STATE-OF-THE-ART FLUORESCENCE-ACTIVATED CELL SORTER, ACOUSTIC LIQUID HANDLERS, A ROBOTIC PLATE READER, AND PLATE SEALERS. IT TAKES ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES AS INPUTS AND PRODUCES MULTIPLEXED SINGLE-CELL SEQUENCING LIBRARIES AND CELL PHENOTYPE MEASUREMENTS AS OUTPUTS. THIS NEW SYSTEM WILL BE INTEGRATED INTO EXISTING WORKFLOWS FOR GENOMIC AND PHENOTYPIC PROFILING OF MICROBIAL CELLS, LEADING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW CAPABILITIES FOR CHARACTERIZING EXTRACELLULAR NUCLEIC ACID-CONTAINING PARTICLES, SUCH AS VIRUSES, AND CELLS SHED FROM EUKARYOTIC ORGANISMS. THE ACQUIRED INSTRUMENTATION ENABLES A COMPREHENSIVE OVERHAUL OF THE ANALYTICAL WORKFLOW, INTRODUCING NEW CAPABILITIES, SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCING COSTS, AND ENSURING SUSTAINABLE MAINTENANCE. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

NEW COMPETITIVE COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT WITH BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES, DE-FOA-0002989 ((SEA CO2) CONTROL #2989-1519 PROJECT TITLE: ''MONITORING, REPORTING AND VERIFICATION OF ZOOPLANKTON-MEDIATED EXPORT PATHWAYS FOR CARBON SEQUESTRATION'' WITH THIS PROJECT, THEY WILL DEVELOP A REGIONAL BIOGEOCHEMICAL MODEL THAT INCLUDES VERTICAL TRANSPORT OF CARBON VIA DVM AND OVM. USING OPTICAL DATASETS FROM EIGHT UNIQUE LOCATIONS, WE WILL GENERALIZE RELATIONSHIPS OF VERTICAL MIGRATION BEHAVIOR WITH ZOOPLANKTON SIZE AND TRANSPARENCY. THESE RELATIONSHIPS WILL BE USED TO IMPLEMENT A 1-D ZOOPLANKTON CARBON TRANSPORT MODEL THAT WILL INFORM DVM AND OVM PARAMETERIZATIONS IN A REALISTIC 3-D REGIONAL PHYSICAL BIOGEOCHEMICAL MODEL IDEALLY SUITED FOR MCDR APPLICATIONS (ROMS-MARBL).

ACCELNET-IMPLEMENTATION: CRUSTAL OCEAN BIOSPHERE RESEARCH ACCELERATOR (COBRA)

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: UNTANGLING THE DEEP GENEALOGY OF MICROBIAL DARK MATTER

LSCBR: THE PROVASOLI-GUILLARD NATIONAL CENTER FOR CULTURE OF MARINE PHYTOPLANKTON

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: BIOGEOCHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL CONDITIONING OF SUB-ANTARCTIC MODE WATER IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN

DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF AN IMAGING CELL SORTER FOR INTEGRATED SINGLE CELL GENOME AND MORPHOLOGY ANALYSES

CARBON CYCLING WITHIN COASTAL CONTINENTAL MARGINS IS FUNDAMENTALLY IMPORTANT TO THE GLOBAL CARBON CYCLE. COASTAL OCEANS CONTRIBUTE ABOUT 1/3 OF THE TOTAL MARINE PRODUCTIVITY ACROSS THE GLOBE (OR ABOUT 16 PG (1PG =1E15G)). THEY RECEIVE ABOUT 1PG FROM TERRESTRIAL DISCHARGE VIA RIVERS. THEY CONTRIBUTE ABOUT HALF OF THE TOTAL GLOBAL OCEAN NEW PRODUCTION (3.6PG). THESE ARE BIG NUMBERS YET WE STILL DO NOT KNOW WHETHER COASTAL MARGINS ARE NET SOURCES OR SINKS FOR CARBON. THERE ARE FOUR COMPONENTS OF THE CARBON CYCLE PARTICULATE ORGANIC CARBON (POC) PARTICULATE INORGANIC CARBON (PIC) DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON (DOC) AND DISSOLVED INORGANIC CARBON (DIC). THE FIRST THREE CARBON FRACTIONS (POC PIC AND DOC) CAN BE ESTIMATED USING OPTICAL PROXIES WHILE THE FOURTH (DIC ASSOCIATED WITH OCEAN ACIDIFICATION) IS BEST MEASURED CHEMICALLY. THERE ARE FEW COASTAL TIME SERIES THAT ASSESS ALL OF THESE COMPONENTS. THIS PROPOSAL IS A SUCCESSOR PROPOSAL FOR THE GULF OF MAINE NORTH ATLANTIC TIME SERIES (GNATS) AN 18-YEAR TRANSECT TIME SERIES ACROSS THE GULF OF MAINE (GOM) USING FERRIES SMALL RESEARCH VESSELS AND GLIDERS TO MEASURE ALL FOUR PARTS OF THE CARBON CYCLE. DURING SEVERAL ANOMALOUSLY WET YEARS GNATS DOCUMENTED SOME FUNDAMENTAL SHIFTS IN THE GOM SUCH AS SIGNIFICANT DROPS IN PRIMARY PRODUCTION (ASSOCIATED WITH POC AND PIC PRODUCTION) AND THE APPEARANCE OF UNEXPECTED HIGHLY SCATTERING PARTICLES<0.2UM DIAMETER (HENCE DOC) WELL OUT TO SEA. WE HAVE ALSO OBSERVED WINTER DIC CONCENTRATIONS ACROSS THE GOM LOW ENOUGH THAT THE ENTIRE GOM CAN SHOW LOW ARAGONITE SATURATION VALUES<1.6 LEVELS THAT ARE KNOWN TO BE INHIBITORY TO CALCIFICATION BY CERTAIN MARINE ORGANISMS. HERE WE ARE PROPOSING TO (A) CONTINUE THE GNATS FOR THREE YEARS WITH EIGHT CRUISES PER YEAR (SIX ABOARD A COMMERCIAL FERRY AND TWO ABOARD A SMALL RESEARCH VESSEL) FOCUSING ON THE FOUR PARTS OF THE GOM CARBON CYCLE (B) FURTHER VALIDATE SATELLITE OCEAN-COLOR SENSORS FOR RADIANCE AND OTHER PRODUCTS IN THIS COMPLEX OPTICAL ENVIRONMENT (C) MAKE GNATS INTO AN EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATORY BY TESTING A RANGE OF HYPOTHESES ON CHANGING PRODUCTIVITY AND THE SOURCE OF SUBMICRON SCATTERING PARTICLES (D) CONSTRUCT CARBON CYCLE MODELS OF THE GOM BASED ON BIOGEOCHEMICAL FLUXES AND ALLOMETRIC SCALING PERFORMING MODEL INTERCOMPARISON AND HYPOTHESIS TESTING USING THE MODELS AND (E) CONTINUE A COLLABORATION IN WHICH WE ARE DEPLOYING AN ABOVE-WATER LIDAR (LIGHT DETECTION AND RANGING) FROM THE GNATS ASSESSING THE LIDAR'S ABILITY TO PROFILE OPTICAL PROPERTIES DEEPER THAN ONE OPTICAL DEPTH. WE INCLUDE PREVIOUS RESULTS DEMONSTRATING THAT WE CAN TRACK WATER MASSES USING TEMPERATURE AND SALINITY THEN DOCUMENT CO-VARYING CHANGES IN POC (BASED ON AN OPTICAL PROXY TO PARTICLE BACKSCATTERING) OXYGEN AND CHLOROPHYLL IN THESE WATER MASSES; THESE ALLOW THE ESTIMATION OF NET PRIMARY PRODUCTION (NPP) AND NET COMMUNITY PRODUCTION. WE ALSO SHOW HOW ALLOMETRIC SCALING MODELS CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THESE ESTIMATIONS. WE ARE REQUESTING FUNDS TO UPGRADE ONE OF OUR SLOCUM GLIDERS TO CARRY A SUNA NITRATE SENSOR THAT WILL ALLOW US TO MORE ACCURATELY ESTIMATE NITRATE DEPLETION AND NPP. THESE GLIDER RESULTS WILL ALLOW US TO BETTER DISCERN AND QUANTIFY WHETHER THE GOM IS A NET SOURCE OR SINK FOR CARBON. ALONG WITH A WHOLE HOST OF ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES GNATS PROVIDES CRITICAL INSIGHTS ABOUT THE MAJOR PROCESSES AFFECTING ALL ASPECTS OF THE CARBON CYCLE IN THIS TEMPERATE COASTAL REGION: CHANGES IN PRODUCTIVITY HYDROGRAPHY PHYTOPLANKTON FUNCTIONAL GROUPS LAND-SEA CARBON TRANSPORT CAUSED BY MAJOR RIVERINE FLOOD EVENTS AND DROUGHTS PLUS POTENTIAL CHANGES DUE TO OCEAN ACIDIFICATION. SUCH RESULTS WILL PROVIDE INSIGHTS TO OTHER TEMPERATE COASTAL ZONES AROUND THE GLOBE. SIMPLY PUT A SUSTAINED COMBINED MEASUREMENT AND MODELING APPROACH SUCH AS THE KIND WE ARE PROPOSING HERE IS THE OPTIMAL WAY FOR NASA TO PREDICT CHANGES TO ALL FOUR PARTS OF THE MARINE CARBON CYCLE AS A FUNCTION OF LONG-TERM CLIMATE CHANGE IN THIS COMPLEX COASTAL Z

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION: INFLUENCE OF OCEAN ACIDIFICATION ON BIOTIC CONTROLS OF DMS EMISSIONS

CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE ECOSYSTEM OF THE ARABIAN SEATHE RECENT TREND OF DECLINING WINTER AND SPRING SNOW COVER OVER EURASIA IS CAUSING

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: REDTOL -- PHYLOGENETIC AND GENOMIC APPROACHES TO RECONSTRUCTING THE RED ALGAL (RHODOPHYTA) TREE OF LIFE

PROVASOLI-GUILLARD NATIONAL CENTER FOR CULTURE OF MARINE PHYTOPLANKTON

MICROBIAL COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AND EXPRESSION OF FUNCTIONAL GENES INVOLVED IN THE SEASONAL CYCLING OF DMSP IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE GREAT SOUTHERN COCCOLITHOPHORE BELT

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE O-BUOY NETWORK OF CHEMICAL SENSORS IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION - EFFECTS OF OCEAN ACIDIFICATION ON EMILIANIA HUXLEYI AND CALANUS FINMARCHICUS; INSIGHTS INTO THE OCEANIC ALKALINITY AND BIOLOGIC

UNLOCKING THE MYSTERIES OF PLASTID ORIGIN THROUGH COMPARATIVE GENOMIC ANALYSIS OF TWO PAULINELLA SPECIES

SINGLE CELL GENOME SEQUENCING OF UNCULTURED PROKARYOTES FROM THE SOUTH ATLANTIC MESOPELAGIC

ROLE OF FE-OXIDIZING BACTERIA IN METAL BIO-CORROSION IN THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

THE GOAL OF THIS WORK IS TO SUPPORT THE PARTICULATE INORGANIC CARBON (PIC) ALGORITHM WITHIN THE SUOMI NATIONAL POLAR-ORBITING PARTNERSHIP (SUOMI NPP

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ORCC: CLIMATE AND ADAPTATION DEFICITS: MECHANISMS OF RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE BY THE ENDANGERED NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE -A RAPID CLIMATE SHIFT IN THE GULF OF MAINE IN 2010 CAUSED AN ABRUPT REDISTRIBUTION IN THE ENDANGERED NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE (EUBALAENA GLACIALIS), LEADING TO CHANGING FORAGING PATTERNS, HIGHER MORTALITY RATES DUE TO VESSEL COLLISIONS AND ENTANGLEMENT IN FISHING GEAR, AS WELL AS A DROP IN THE CALVING RATE. THIS DECLINE IN POPULATION SIZE AND HEALTH HAS TRIGGERED THE INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE TO RE-CLASSIFY RIGHT WHALE CONSERVATION STATUS FROM ENDANGERED TO CRITICALLY ENDANGERED. THE CASE OF THE RIGHT WHALE ILLUSTRATES THE ECOLOGICAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF A LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF HOW AN ORGANISM RESPONDS TO CLIMATE CHANGE. SUCH RAPID REDISTRIBUTIONS HAVE PREVIOUSLY BEEN UNPREDICTABLE, AS RIGHT WHALE MONITORING AND MODELING EFFORTS ARE FOCUSED ON KNOWN AND ACCESSIBLE HISTORIC HABITATS. THIS PROJECT DEVELOPS A NEW MODELING FRAMEWORK TO INTEGRATE NOVEL RIGHT WHALE DATA WITH TRANS-BOUNDARY PREY SURVEYS TO UNDERSTAND ADAPTATION, IDENTIFY POTENTIAL HABITATS OUTSIDE REGULAR MONITORING REGIONS, AND PREDICT CHANGES TO RIGHT WHALE DISTRIBUTION IN FUTURE DECADES. MODEL RESULTS WILL GUIDE THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF PROTECTIVE POLICIES ADMINISTERED BY FEDERAL AGENCIES AND PROVIDE THEORETICAL SUPPORT FOR EXPANDING DYNAMIC MANAGEMENT EFFORTS. PROJECT SYNTHESIS WILL BE APPLIED IN ORGANIZATIONS INCLUDING THE ATLANTIC LARGE WHALE TAKE REDUCTION TEAM AND THE REGIONAL WILDLIFE SCIENCE COLLABORATIVE FOR OFFSHORE WIND. A PUBLICLY-AVAILABLE DATA SCIENCE LESSON PLAN WILL BE DEVELOPED TO TEACH SPATIAL ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES AND ENGENDER DISCUSSION ON CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT. THIS PROPOSAL SEEKS TO UTILIZE ROBUST RIGHT WHALE AND ZOOPLANKTON MONITORING DATA TO BUILD A NEXT-GENERATION SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODEL TO EXPLAIN AND PREDICT RIGHT WHALE FORAGING DECISIONS AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS. THE RESEARCH WILL TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THERE ARE MEASURABLE THRESHOLDS OF PREY DENSITY THAT CAUSE INDIVIDUAL ANIMALS TO UTILIZE OR ABANDON A FORAGING SITE. HOWEVER, THESE PREY DENSITY THRESHOLDS MAY VARY DEPENDING ON ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS SUCH AS PREY SPECIES, SITE, AND SEASON, OR BY DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS SUCH AS RIGHT WHALE AGE AND REPRODUCTIVE STATUS. USING CONSECUTIVE SIGHTINGS OF IDENTIFIED INDIVIDUALS, AN INDIVIDUAL MOVEMENT MODEL WILL BE DEVELOPED TO UNDERSTAND FORAGING DECISION-MAKING AND ESTIMATE PREY DENSITY THRESHOLDS ACROSS THIS RANGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES. THIS MODEL WILL BE COUPLED WITH GENETIC ANALYSIS OF RIGHT WHALE FECAL SAMPLES TO IDENTIFY PREY TAXA AND PREY RATIOS IN DISTINCT HABITATS AND FORAGING SEASONS. PREY THRESHOLDS WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO A PREY PATCH MODEL SPANNING THE NORTH ATLANTIC TO CHARACTERIZE THE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL OCCURRENCE OF SUITABLE FORAGING HABITAT. THEN A NEXT-GENERATION SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELING FRAMEWORK WILL BE USED THAT DRAWS ON BEHAVIORAL THRESHOLDS RESOLVED FROM THE INDIVIDUAL MOVEMENT MODEL AND PREY PATCH OCCURRENCE MODELS PARAMETERIZED BY PREY CONTENT IN THE FECAL SAMPLES. THIS MODELING FRAMEWORK WILL PROVIDE NEW PREDICTIVE CAPACITY FOR DETERMINING WHEN RIGHT WHALES MAY SHIFT FORAGING PATTERNS AND WHICH HABITATS ARE SUITABLE FOR BECOMING A NOVEL FORAGING HOT SPOT. MODEL RESULTS WILL BE USED TO QUANTIFY THE BIOENERGETIC AND ANTHROPOGENIC COMPONENTS OF THE CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECT ON RIGHT WHALE POPULATIONS. THIS AWARD WAS CO-FUNDED THROUGH THE GEO/OCE BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY PROGRAM AND THE BIO/IOS ORGANISMAL RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

OCEAN'S DARK ENERGY: GLOBAL INVENTORY OF CHEMOAUTOTROPHS IN THE APHOTIC REALM

ALTHOUGH COASTAL WETLANDS AND ESTUARIES ARE KNOWN TO PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN CARBON SEQUESTRATION AND MOBILIZATION, IT IS UNCLEAR WHETHER THE COAST

GNATS-THE GULF OF MAINE NORTH ATLANTIC TIMED SERIES: INTEGRATING TERRESTRIAL AND OCEAN CARBON CYCLES

THE ONGOING CHANGES IN THE CIRCULATION OF THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC ARE WITHOUT QUESTION IMPACTING ITS MARINE ECOSYSTEMS YET OUR QUANTITATIVE UNDERSTANDING OF SUCH ECOLOGICAL CHANGE(S) REMAINS MEAGER. A FUNDAMENTAL CHALLENGE IS TO PREDICT WHETHER NET PRIMARY PRODUCTION (NETPP) IN THIS REGION WILL INCREASE OR DECREASE UNDER CHANGING NORTHERLY AND SOUTHERLY ADVECTIVE FLOWS. HERE WE SUGGEST THAT THE BALANCE WILL DEPEND ON REGIONAL BOTTOM-UP DRIVERS (E.G. STRATIFICATION NUTRIENT AND LIGHT AVAILABILITY COMMUNITY COMPOSITION) AND TOP-DOWN DRIVERS (E.G. GRAZING). . A GROWING UNDERSTANDING OF THE SURFACE AND DEEP OVERFLOWS COUNTERFLOWS AND RECIRCULATION PATTERNS WITHIN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC IS EMERGING THAT INDICATES STRONGER INFLUENCES OF THE ATLANTIC SURFACE WATER (AW) AND ARCTIC-ORIGIN WATER (ARW) ON EACH OTHER AND ON THE AVERAGE CIRCULATION PATTERNS WITHIN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT. WE DEFINE THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC AS THE REGION ENCOMPASSED BY THE GREENLAND-ICELAND-NORWEGIAN (GIN) IRMINGER AND LABRADOR SEAS WHERE WARMER AND SALTIER AW LADEN WITH NUTRIENTS PLANKTON AND DETRITUS MOVES NORTH IN MULTIPLE BRANCHES INTO THE LABRADOR SEA INTO THE GIN SEAS AND EVENTUALLY INTO THE ARCTIC OCEAN. FRESHER AND COLDER ARW WITH SEA ICE LOW NUTRIENTS LOW PLANKTON AND HIGH COLORED DISSOLVED ORGANIC MATTER MOVES SOUTHWARDS ALONG THE EDGE OF THE EASTERN GREENLAND AND WESTERN LABRADOR SEAS AND INTO THE N. ATLANTIC. . HERE WE WILL FOCUS ON THE BALANCE OF NETPP IN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC AS AFFECTED BY (I) ADVECTIVE LOSSES AND GAINS WITHIN THIS REGION AT LARGE-SCALES INTERACTION WITH RESPECT TO BOUNDARY CONDITIONS IN THE TEMPERATE N. ATLANTIC AND ARCTIC OCEANS; (II) LATERAL AND VERTICAL EXPORT PRODUCTION WITHIN SUB-REGIONS OF THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC AT INTERMEDIATE SCALES; AND (III) ADVECTIVE AND LOCAL PROCESSES CONTROLLING NETPP IN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC REGION. OUR QUESTIONS INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: . (Q1) WHAT BOTTOM-UP (PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL) FACTORS CONTROL THE NETPP LEVELS IN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC WHERE AND WHEN? (Q2) WHAT ARE THE CONTROLS OF SEASONAL AND SUB-SEASONAL VARIABILITIES AND TRENDS IN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC? (Q3) WHAT IS THE BALANCE BETWEEN LOCAL AND ADVECTED NETPP IN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC DURING THE GROWTH SEASON? . WE PROPOSE TO USE A HIERARCHY OF MODELS INCLUDING A FULL 3D COUPLED BIOGEOCHEMICAL-PHYSICAL MODEL AT REGIONAL SCALE (SINMOD) AND A SPECIALIZED 1D SATELLITE OCEAN COLOR MODEL FOR PHYTOPLANKTON NETPP (UQAR-TAKUVIK) BOTH OF WHICH ARE EXCEPTIONALLY WELL TUNED TO HIGH LATITUDES. MODEL SIMULATIONS WILL BE DONE IN CONCERT WITH MINING HISTORICAL FIELD AND SATELLITE DATA TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE TEMPORAL EVOLUTION OF NETPP AND ITS PHYSICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CONTROLS OVER AN AVERAGE ANNUAL CYCLE IN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC. . OUR RESULTS WILL SHED LIGHT IF THE MAGNITUDE OF NETPP WILL INCREASE OR DECREASE DUE TO ENHANCED STRATIFICATION (WARMER AW OR FRESHER ARW CONDITIONS LESS NUTRIENTS) AND GRAZING (IMMIGRATING OR RETURNING ZOOPLANKTON). ALTERNATIVELY LESS SEA ICE IN FRAM STRAIT AND THE GREENLAND SEA MAY RESULT IN MORE AND EARLIER OPEN WATERS AND LESS STRATIFICATION THAT MAY LEAD TO HIGHER NETPP VALUES AS HAS BEEN PREDICTED NORTH AND EAST OF SPITSBERGEN. A NORTHWARDS SHIFT IN NETPP DUE TO ENHANCED AW ADVECTION IS EXPECTED. . OUR PROJECT RESPONDS TO THE ROSES 2015 A.3 OBB (AMENDED) ACTIVITY 2.3 RESEARCH IN SUPPORT OF THE GALWAY STATEMENT: NORTH ATLANTIC-ARCTIC OCEANOGRAPHIC PROCESSES BY FOCUSING ON THE EXCHANGES ACROSS AND PROCESSES WITHIN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC AND THEIR EFFECT ON NETPP IN A REGION LOCATED NORTH OF THE NASA-SPONSORED EXPORTS SELECTED N. ATLANTIC FIELD SITE WITH A TEAM OF CANADIAN DANISH NORWEGIAN AND US RESEARCHERS. OUR PROJECT WILL OPENLY SHARE ALL FIELD DATA ASSEMBLED AS WELL AS PROMOTE RESEARCHER MOBILITY BY INCLUDING A POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW AND A PART-TIME GRADUATE STUDENT BOTH OF WHOM WILL GAIN INTERNATIONAL NETWORKING AND EXPERIENCE.

NNA: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INTERACTIONS OF THE MICROBIAL IRON AND METHANE CYCLES IN THE TUNDRA ECOSYSTEM

EPIDEMIOLOGY AND SPATIAL ECOLOGY OF A TROPICAL CORALLINE FUNGAL DISEASE IN THE FACE OF OCEAN WARMING AND ACIDIFICATION

MERHAB19: DEVELOPING A MACHINE LEARNING-BASED, HIGH RESOLUTION, PREDICTIVE CAPACITY FOR MONITORING PARALYTIC SHELLFISH TOXINS ALONG THE GULF OF MAINE COASTLINE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: SURFACE EXCHANGE OF CLIMATE-ACTIVE TRACE GASES IN A SEA ICE ENVIRONMENT DURING MOSAIC

SCIENCE DATA ANALYSIS: INTEGRATING THE MODIS PIC PRODUCT INTO THE CLIMATE DATA RECORD THIS PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THE SCIENCE DATA ANALYSIS OF THE MODIS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: SEASONAL BLOOM DYNAMICS: SYNECHOCOCCUS-GRAZER INTERACTIONS AS A MODEL SYSTEM

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INDIVIDUAL BASED APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING KRILL DISTRIBUTIONS AND AGGREGATIONS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE BERMUDA ATLANTIC TIME-SERIES STUDY: SUSTAINED BIOGEOCHEMICAL, ECOSYSTEM, AND OCEAN CHANGE OBSERVATIONS AND LINKAGES IN T

PURSUIT: LIFE-HISTORY PATTERNS, SYSTEMATICS, AND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF WIDESPREAD BUT CRYPTIC PATESCIBACTERIA -AN ASTOUNDING REVOLUTION IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE ON EARTH HAS TAKEN PLACE SINCE THE TURN OF THE 21ST CENTURY, SHAKING THE TREE OF LIFE AND OUR VIEW OF EVOLUTION. IT INVOLVES ADDING NEW BRANCHES TO THE TREE OF LIFE THROUGH THE DISCOVERY OF PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN GROUPS OF ARCHAEA AND BACTERIA ? LIFE?S SMALLEST YET MOST ABUNDANT CELLS. THIS PROJECT ADVANCES FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE EVOLUTIONARY PATTERNS AND FUNCTIONAL ROLES OF TWO ABUNDANT YET LARGELY UNSTUDIED LINEAGES OF BACTERIA: PATESCIBACTERIA AND CHLOROFLEXOTA. THESE CRYPTIC MICROBES THRIVE IN MARINE SEDIMENTS, ONE OF THE LARGEST AND LEAST UNDERSTOOD MICROBIAL HABITATS, WHERE CHEMICAL CYCLING OCCURS THAT AFFECTS THE GLOBAL OCEAN. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO DISENTANGLE WHY THESE LINEAGES ARE SO PREVALENT, THEIR TRUE PLACE IN THE EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF LIFE ON EARTH, AND HOW THEY FUNCTION. THE RESEARCH WILL ALSO SHED LIGHT ON WHY SOME OF THESE LINEAGES HAVE RESISTED CULTIVATION, WHICH IS NECESSARY TO REALIZE THEIR BIOTECHNOLOGY POTENTIAL. THESE STUDIES WILL CONTRIBUTE THOUSANDS OF HIGH-QUALITY SINGLE-CELL GENOMES REPRESENTING NOT ONLY PATESCIBACTERIA AND CHLOROFLEXOTA, BUT ALSO OTHER 'MICROBIAL DARK MATTER' LINEAGES TO THE BROADER SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY. THROUGH MENTORED RESEARCH AND FIELD WORK OPPORTUNITIES, STUDENT RESEARCHERS WILL BE TRAINED IN -OMICS, SYSTEMATICS, AND BIOGEOCHEMISTRY RESEARCH TECHNIQUES, LEADING TO ENHANCED MICROBIOLOGY EXPERTISE WHILE ADVANCING DISCOVERY. THIS PROJECT LEVERAGES NEW SINGLE-CELL AND METAGENOMIC TECHNOLOGIES FOR STUDYING MICROBIAL CELLS THAT PREVAIL IN NATURE BUT RESIST LABORATORY CULTIVATION. SINGLE-AMPLIFIED GENOMES AND METAGENOME-ASSEMBLED GENOMES OF PATESCIBACTERIA AND CHLOROFLEXOTA WILL SIGNIFICANTLY EXPAND OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR PHYSIOLOGY AND THE EVOLUTIONARY FORCES DRIVING THEIR DELINEATION. THESE LINEAGES SHARE A LAST COMMON ANCESTOR, ARE DISTRIBUTED GLOBALLY, AND OFTEN CO-OCCUR IN THE SAME ANOXIC REGIONS OF MARINE SEDIMENTS; HOWEVER, THEIR METABOLISMS AND PHYSIOLOGIES CONTRAST STARKLY. AS PATESCIBACTERIA APPEAR TO LACK THE CAPACITY FOR CELLULAR RESPIRATION, WE HYPOTHESIZE THEY PRIMARILY GENERATE ENERGY THROUGH FERMENTATION. MEANWHILE, CHLOROFLEXOTA HAVE FLEXIBLE METABOLISMS AND CAN HARNESS A RANGE OF REDOX REACTIONS INVOLVING REDUCED SULFUR COMPOUNDS AND, POTENTIALLY, MORE EXOTIC HALOGENATED COMPOUNDS. EMPLOYING COMPARATIVE PHYLOGENOMICS, THE TRUE EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF PATESCIBACTERIA AND CHLOROFLEXOTA WILL BE UNCOVERED. THE ANALYSIS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL AND METABOLIC TRAITS OF INDIVIDUAL, UNCULTURED CELLS WILL GROUND-TRUTH GENOME-BASED FINDINGS AND EXPLAIN THE DISTRIBUTION AND CO-EXISTENCE OF THESE WIDESPREAD YET ENIGMATIC ORGANISMS WITHIN ANOXIC MARINE SEDIMENTS. THIS PROJECT USES INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES TO ISOLATE SINGLE MICROBIAL CELLS AND CHARACTERIZE THEIR METABOLIC TRAITS, LINKING PHYSIOLOGIES WITH EVOLUTIONARY PATTERNS AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES. THIS PROJECT IS CO-FUNDED BY THE SYSTEMATICS & BIODIVERSITY SCIENCE AND BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY PROGRAMS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

BACTERIA THAT UTILIZE IRON-OXIDATION (FE-OXIDIZING BACTERIA (FEOB)) AS THEIR PRIMARY ENERGY SOURCE ARE ABUNDANT AND DIVERSE, DESPITE BEING CONSTRAINE

DIMENSIONS: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: BIOLOGICAL CONTROLS ON THE OCEAN C:N:P RATIOS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: DYNAMIC SIMILARITY OR SIZE PROPORTIONALITY? SENSORY ECOLOGICAL ADAPTATIONS OF EUCHAETA TO VISCOSITY

ICBR: CAPACITY: BIOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS: PROVASOLI-GUILLARD NATIONAL CENTER FOR MARINE ALGAE AND MICROBIOTA (NCMA) -AN AWARD IS MADE TO BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES TO SUPPORT THE STRATEGIC OPERATION OF THE PROVASOLI-GUILLARD NATIONAL CENTER FOR MARINE ALGAE AND MICROBIOTA (NCMA). THE NCMA CURATES A GLOBALLY-UNIQUE ALGAL GENETIC RESOURCE AND DISTRIBUTES ABOUT 1,000 ALGAE STRAINS EACH YEAR TO STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS, RESEARCH COMMUNITIES, AND COMPANIES WORLDWIDE. THESE USERS WORK WITH ALGAE TO INVESTIGATE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS IN BIOLOGY AND GLOBAL PROCESSES, AND TO DEVELOP USE-INSPIRED BIOTECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS FOR THE BLUE ECONOMY AND IMPROVED AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES FOR SOCIETAL BENEFIT. THROUGH ITS PARTNERSHIP WITH THE EDUCATIONAL NON-PROFIT THE ALGAE FOUNDATION, NCMA?S CULTURES ENRICH THE EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC LITERACY OF MORE THAN 50,000 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE U.S. EACH YEAR. NCMA OFFERS TWO EXPERT PROFESSIONAL TRAINING SHORT COURSES ON ALGAL CULTURING TECHNIQUES AND MARINE HARMFUL ALGAE TAXONOMY, TRAINING ABOUT 25 PROFESSIONALS IN THE ALGAL WORKFORCE EACH YEAR. NCMA, THROUGH THE GENETIC DIVERSITY IT MAINTAINS, GIVES USERS A GENOMIC AND BIOCHEMICAL ?COMPASS? TO DISCOVER NEW MEDICINES, DEVELOP NEW BIOENERGY ALTERNATIVES, IMPROVE AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES, AND VALIDATE EARLY-WARNING TOOLS FOR HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS. THIS PROJECT WILL: (1) BROADEN THE BIODIVERSITY OF NCMA?S HOLDINGS IN RESPONSE TO NATIONAL RESEARCH NEEDS UNDER NSF DATA-SHARING RULES; (2) DEVELOP A ROBUST KNOWLEDGE INFRASTRUCTURE COMPRISED OF DETAILED AND VALIDATED BIOCHEMICAL DATASETS FOR NCMA ALGAL STRAINS; (3) EXPAND HIGH-THROUGHPUT CRYOPRESERVATION TECHNIQUES, PROTECTING IRREPLACEABLE STRAINS FOR FUTURE INNOVATION; (4) SEQUENCE UNRESOLVED STRAINS TO STRENGTHEN NATIONAL ALGAL GENETIC REFERENCE LIBRARIES IN SUPPORT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS; AND (5) CONTINUE TO TRAIN THE NEXT GENERATION OF THE ALGAL WORKFORCE THROUGH UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS AND SHORT PROFESSIONAL COURSES. INVESTING IN NCMA FORTIFIES U.S. LEADERSHIP IN MARINE SCIENCE, ACCELERATES BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE BLUE ECONOMY, AND DELIVERS UNMATCHED RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE TO UNIVERSITIES, STARTUPS, AND FEDERAL AGENCIES. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

I PROPOSE A SERIES OF BIOLOGICAL AND BIO-OPTICAL OBSERVATIONS TO ADDRESS THE ROLE OF CALCIFIERS IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN (AO). THE BIOGEOCHEMICAL PROVINCE

SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIABILITY IN CHLOROPHYLL PRIMARY PRODUCTION AND CARBON EXPORT IN THE BERING

AUTOCHTHONOUS PRIMARY PRODUCTION IS THE MAJOR SOURCE OF ENERGY FOR THE ARCTIC OCEAN (AO)ECOSYSTEM. IN THE LAST DECADE, IT APPEARS THAT NET PRIMARY PR

I PROPOSE TO PROVIDE CALIBRATION/VALIDATION DATA FOR REFINING THE MODIS PARTICULATE INORGANIC CARBON

COCCOLITHOPHORE MIXOTROPHY

REU SITE: BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE IN THE GULF OF MAINE AND THE WORLD OCEAN

IDENTIFICATION OF PHOTOHETEROTROPHIC MICROORGANISMS IN TEMPERATE FRESHWATER LAKES

THIS PROPOSAL DEALS WITH THE MODIS ALGORITHM FOR PARTICULATE INORGANIC CARBON ("PIC" OR SUSPENDED CALCIUM CARBONATE). THE ALGORITHM WORKS BY DERIVING

NSF CONVERGENCE ACCELERATOR (L): INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO MONITOR METHANE EMISSIONS FROM LIVESTOCK USING AN ADVANCED GRAVIMETRIC MICROSENSOR. -THE LIFETIME OF METHANE IN THE ATMOSPHERE IS RELATIVELY SHORT COMPARED TO OTHER MAJOR GREENHOUSE GASES; HENCE, REDUCING ITS EMISSION REPRESENTS A RAPID OPTION FOR SLOWING DOWN GLOBAL WARMING. METHANE PRODUCTION FROM DAIRY AND BEEF CATTLE IS A CONSIDERABLE COMPONENT OF ANTHROPOGENIC EMISSIONS AND MULTIPLE ON-FARM STRATEGIES, INCLUDING FEED-ADDITIVES, ARE BEING DEVELOPED TO REDUCE THIS SOURCE. THE PROJECT AIMS TO APPLY NOVEL MICROSENSOR TECHNOLOGY TO QUANTIFY THE EMISSION OF METHANE FROM INDIVIDUAL COWS. WHEN LINKED TO CUSTOM-DESIGNED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS, THIS WILL ALLOW ESTIMATION OF METHANE EMISSIONS AT THE WHOLE-HERD SCALE. THIS WILL ENABLE FARMERS TO MONITOR AND VALIDATE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF METHANE-REDUCTION APPROACHES AND PROVIDE THE INFORMATION REQUIRED TO ACCESS TO CARBON CREDIT MARKETS, AN ESSENTIAL ECONOMIC INCENTIVE FOR ADOPTION OF THE EMISSION-REDUCTION APPROACHES. EFFECTIVE MITIGATION OF METHANE EMISSIONS FROM AGRICULTURE, WILL BENEFIT SOCIETY AS A WHOLE BY ATTENUATING GLOBAL WARMING. THROUGH AN EXPANDING PARTNERSHIP OF COMPLEMENTARY EXPERTISE, THE PROJECT AIMS TO PROGRESS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A FUNCTIONAL, ROBUST, EAR-TAG MOUNTED, METHANE MICROSENSOR THAT IS SUFFICIENTLY SENSITIVE AND SELECTIVE TO QUANTIFY CONCENTRATIONS IN THE VICINITY OF A COW?S MUZZLE, WHERE MOST ENTERIC METHANE IS EMITTED. PRELIMINARY TRIALS ON A WORKING DAIRY FARM ARE AIMED AT OPTIMIZING SENSOR DEPLOYMENT TIMES, DATA RECOVERY AND INTERPRETATION STRATEGIES AND TO VALIDATE THE MEASUREMENTS THROUGH INTERCOMPARISON WITH ESTABLISHED, SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTATION. ADDITIONAL PARTNERSHIPS WILL BE ESTABLISHED TO DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT DATA PROCESSING AND INTERPRETATION SYSTEMS THAT INTEGRATE WITH EXISTING ?SMART AGRICULTURE? TECHNOLOGY. INITIAL ENGAGEMENT WITH EXPERTS IN CARBON ACCOUNTING WILL BE CONSOLIDATED DURING THE SECOND PHASE OF THE PROJECT TO ESTABLISH METHODOLOGIES THAT EFFECTIVELY UTILIZE THE MICROSENSOR TECHNOLOGY AS THE BASIS FOR FARM-SPECIFIC EMISSIONS REDUCTION QUANTIFICATION. THE OVERARCHING GOAL IS TO TRANSITION AN INNOVATIVE MICROSENSOR TECHNOLOGY FROM PROTOTYPE TO COMMERCIAL READINESS FOR APPLICATION IN THE DAIRY AND BEEF INDUSTRIES AND INTEGRATION IN CARBON CREDIT MARKET PRACTICES; WITH THE INTENTION THAT IT WILL BE AN INTEGRAL TOOL IN THE VALIDATION AND PROMOTION OF MITIGATION STRATEGIES AIMED AT REDUCING ENTERIC METHANE EMISSIONS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

THIS PROJECT WILL CONTINUE THE GULF OF MAINE NORTH ATLANTIC TIME SERIES (GNATS) WHICH IS A 35+YEAR, NASA-CENTRIC, FIELD PROGRAM THAT CROSSES THE GULF

PACE OCEAN COLOR VALIDATION IN AN OPTICALLY COMPLEX SHELF SEA

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE BERMUDA ATLANTIC TIME-SERIES STUDY: SUSTAINED BIOGEOCHEMICAL, ECOSYSTEM AND OCEAN CHANGE OBSERVATIONS AND LINKAGES IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC (YEARS 36-40) -LONG-TERM OBSERVATIONS OF OCEAN PHYSICS, BIOLOGY, AND CHEMISTRY ACROSS DECADES PROVIDE A POWERFUL LENS FOR UNDERSTANDING THE RESPONSE OF THE OCEANS TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE. THIS AWARD WILL CONTINUE THE BERMUDA ATLANTIC TIME-SERIES STUDY (BATS) RESEARCH PROGRAM, WHICH BEGAN IN 1988, FOR ANOTHER FIVE YEARS. OBSERVATIONS AT THE BATS SITE PROVIDE CRUCIAL INFORMATION FOR UNDERSTANDING THE OCEAN?S ROLE IN THE GLOBAL CLIMATE SYSTEM AND THE RESPONSE OF THE OCEAN CARBON SYSTEM AND MARINE ECOSYSTEMS TO CLIMATE PERTURBATIONS. THE RESEARCH GOALS OF THE BATS PROGRAM CONTINUE TO BE TO IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE TIME-VARYING COMPONENTS OF THE OCEAN CARBON CYCLE AND RELATED ELEMENTS OF INTEREST (SUCH AS NITROGEN, PHOSPHORUS, AND SILICA) AND TO IDENTIFY THE PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL, AND ECOSYSTEM PROPERTIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS VARIABILITY. THE BATS PROGRAM HAS SUBSTANTIAL AND DIVERSE BROADER IMPACTS, CONTRIBUTING TO THE FIELD OF OCEAN SCIENCES BY PROVIDING HIGH-QUALITY OCEAN OBSERVATIONS AND A FRAMEWORK IN WHICH OTHER RESEARCHERS CAN CONCEIVE AND TEST HYPOTHESES. IN ADDITION, THE RECENT ACQUISITION OF THE BERMUDA INSTITUTE OF OCEAN SCIENCES BY THE GLOBAL FUTURES LABORATORY OF ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY PROVIDES NEW AVENUES FOR EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES AND INNOVATION. IN THE SUBTROPICAL GYRE OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN, WARMING, SALINIFICATION, DEOXYGENATION, OCEAN ECOSYSTEM CHANGES, AND ACIDIFICATION HAVE ACCELERATED THEIR RATE OF CHANGE. FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES REMAIN ABOUT UNDERSTANDING PRESENT AND FUTURE OCEAN FUNCTION, PREDICTION, AND MODELLING. AN OVERARCHING QUESTION FOR THE BATS PROGRAM IS: WILL OCEAN BIOGEOCHEMISTRY AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING CONTINUE TO CHANGE IN RESPONSE TO THE ACCELERATION OF OCEAN WARMING, SALINIFICATION, STRATIFICATION, DEOXYGENATION AND ACIDIFICATION? WITH THIS QUESTION IN MIND, THE SUSTAINED GOALS FOR THE BATS PROGRAM ARE: 1. QUANTIFY THE ROLE OF OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE COUPLING AND CLIMATE VARIABILITY ON AIR-SEA EXCHANGE OF CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) AND CARBON EXPORT TO THE OCEAN INTERIOR; 2. DOCUMENT TRENDS AND CONTROLS OF THE FOLLOWING: (A) THE INTERANNUAL TO DECADAL SCALE VARIABILITY IN CARBON AND NUTRIENT CYCLES AND THEIR COUPLING IN THE SURFACE AND DEEP OCEAN VIA THE REDFIELD RATIO PARADIGM; AND, (B) BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITY STRUCTURE IN THE OLIGOTROPHIC NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN IN RESPONSE TO LOW-FREQUENCY CLIMATE VARIABILITY; 3. QUANTIFY THE RESPONSE OF PLANKTONIC AND MICROBIAL COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION AND IMPACT ON BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES (INCLUDING NEW AND EXPORT PRODUCTIVITY) TO VARIABILITY IN SURFACE FLUXES (E.G., HEAT, FRESHWATER AND MOMENTUM) AND PHYSICAL PROCESSES (E.G., MESOSCALE EDDIES, ROSSBY WAVES, INTERNAL WAVES); 4. FACILITATE DEVELOPMENT, CALIBRATION AND VALIDATION OF NEXT-GENERATION OCEANOGRAPHIC SENSORS, TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES; 5. GENERATE DATASETS THAT CAN BE USED BY EMPIRICISTS AND MODELERS TO TEST NEW HYPOTHESES ABOUT NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN BIOGEOCHEMISTRY AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING; 6. USE BATS CRUISE, INFRASTRUCTURE, LABORATORY AND ANALYTICAL EXPERTISE, AND DATA TO IMPROVE DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION (DEI), EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR BATS STAFF, STEM-LITERATE STUDENTS, AND FUTURE OCEANOGRAPHERS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

MICROBIAL SYSTEMS IN THE BIOSPHERE: UNRAVELING THE LIFESTYLES OF DOMINANT FRESHWATER FE-OXIDIZING BACTERIA

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: REVEALING RNA VIRUS AND HOST POPULATION DYNAMICS ACROSS MARINE OXYGEN MINIMUM ZONES -WARMER OCEAN TEMPERATURES ARE LEADING TO EXPANDING OXYGEN LOSS WITHIN EARTH?S OCEANS, NEGATIVELY IMPACTING GLOBAL FISHERIES. MICROBIAL PROCESSES EXACERBATE OCEAN DEOXYGENATION AND IN LOW OXYGEN CONDITIONS FACILITATE THE PRODUCTION OF GASES, INCLUDING NITROUS OXIDE AND METHANE, THAT CAN HAVE FEEDBACKS ON ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEAN CHEMISTRY. DESPITE THE SIGNIFICANT ROLE OF MICROBES, LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT CONTROLS ON MICROBIAL PROCESSES WITHIN OXYGEN-DEPLETED MARINE WATERS, INCLUDING THE IMPACT OF VIRAL INFECTION. SUCH INFORMATION IS CRITICAL TO ACCURATELY FORECAST THE IMPACT OF OCEAN DEOXYGENATION. THIS PROJECT UNCOVERS PREVIOUSLY UNDISCOVERED POPULATIONS OF RNA VIRUSES PRESENT AND ACTIVE WITHIN MARINE OXYGEN-DEPLETED SYSTEMS AND CONNECTS THEM TO HOSTS THROUGH LEVERAGING A ONE-OF-A-KIND COLLECTION OF MICROBIAL AND VIRAL SAMPLES SOURCED FROM THREE OF THE LARGEST MARINE OXYGEN-DEPLETED SYSTEMS ON EARTH. THE PROJECT INCORPORATES IMMERSIVE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS INTO THE RESEARCH WORKFLOW THROUGH UNDERGRADUATE INTERNSHIPS LEADING TO CO-AUTHORSHIP ON SCIENTIFIC MANUSCRIPTS AND PRESENTATIONS AT SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCES. STUDENT INTERNS ARE GAINING VALUABLE EXPERIENCE CARRYING OUT RESEARCH THAT INVOLVES LEARNED SKILLS IN CODING, DATA SCIENCE, GENOMICS AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, SKILLS REQUIRED FOR FUTURE CAREERS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY AND FORECASTING. THIS PROJECT APPLIES STATE-OF-THE-ART COMPUTATIONAL WORKFLOWS AND DEVELOPS NEW TECHNIQUES TO DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE RNA VIRUSES WITHIN A MULTIDIMENSIONAL SAMPLE COLLECTION ORIGINATING FROM RESEARCH EXPEDITIONS TO THE EASTERN TROPICAL NORTH PACIFIC, EASTERN TROPICAL SOUTH PACIFIC AND THE BAY OF BENGAL. IDENTICAL SAMPLING PROTOCOLS WERE FOLLOWED TO COLLECT NUCLEIC ACIDS FROM THE VIRAL, MICROBIAL AND PARTICLE/EUKARYOTIC SIZE FRACTIONS FROM 6 TO 12 DEPTHS FROM THE OXYGEN-DEPLETED WATER COLUMNS AT TWO STATIONS PER EXPEDITION. RNASEQ DATA SETS DERIVED FROM THESE SAMPLES ARE USED FOR RNA VIRUS DISCOVERY AND CHARACTERIZATION. METAGENOME ASSEMBLED GENOMES, SINGLE AMPLIFIED GENOMES AND 18S AND 16S RRNA LIBRARIES FROM THE SAME LOCATIONS ARE USED TO IDENTIFY BACTERIAL, ARCHAEAL AND EUKARYOTIC POPULATIONS. RNA VIRUSES ARE THEN CONNECTED TO POTENTIAL HOSTS USING SEVERAL DIFFERENT COMPUTATIONAL APPROACHES. THE PROJECT THEN MAPS RNA VIRUS AND HOST DISTRIBUTIONS ACROSS DEPTHS, BETWEEN SIZE FRACTIONS AND ACROSS GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS. WITH THIS APPROACH, THE PROJECT 1) DISCOVERS RNA VIRUS DIVERSITY IN PREVIOUSLY UNEXPLORED LOCATIONS, 2) IDENTIFIES UNIVERSAL TRENDS IN RNA VIRUS DIVERSITY AND DYNAMICS IN RELATION TO POTENTIAL HOST POPULATIONS, 3) IDENTIFIES NOVEL VIRUS-HOST INTERACTIONS, AND 4) COMPARES TRENDS ACROSS GEOGRAPHICALLY DISTANT LOW OXYGEN SYSTEMS TO IDENTIFY RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN RNA VIRUSES, MICROBIAL HOSTS AND SHIFTING BIOGEOCHEMICAL CONDITIONS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE BERMUDA ATLANTIC TIME-SERIES STUDY: SUSTAINED BIOGEOCHEMICAL, ECOSYSTEM, AND OCEAN CHANGE OBSERVATIONS AND LINKAGES IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC (YEARS 31-35).

THIS PROPOSAL IS TO ASSESS NPP AND NPOESS (WHICH HAS NOW BECOME THE JOINT POLAR SATELLITE SYSTEM, JPSS) FOR DERIVATION OF PARTICULATE INORGANIC CARBO

PARTICULATE INORGANIC CARBON (PIC) IS ONE OF THE FOUR FUNDAMENTAL COMPONENTS OF THE GLOBAL OCEAN CARBON CYCLE. THROUGH THE PROCESS OF CALCIFICATION MARINE ORGANISMS PRODUCE PIC AS WELL AS CARBON DIOXIDE. UPON DEATH PIC-PRODUCING PHYTOPLANKTON SINK

REU SITE: BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE IN THE GULF OF MAINE AND THE WORLD OCEAN

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ECOLOGY OF MICROBIAL MATS AT SEAMOUNT ASSOCIATED FE-RICH HYDROTHERMAL VENT SYSTEMS

MRI: ACQUISITION OF EQUIPMENT FOR MICROBIAL SINGLE CELL GENOMICS RESEARCH

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NNA RESEARCH: GLOBAL CHANGES, LOCAL IMPACTS: STUDY OF GLACIAL FJORDS, ECOSYSTEMS AND COMMUNITIES IN GREENLAND

NANOPARTICLES AND OCEAN OPTICS

I PROPOSE TO MAINTAIN THE ALGORITHM FOR PARTICULATE INORGANIC CARBON (PIC; OTHERWISE KNOWN AS CALCIUM CARBONATE). TO DATE, THE PIC ALGORITHM HAS BEEN

22-EXO22-0056 PILOT STUDY: ACTIVE-LIFE DETECTION TECHNOLOGIES AND LINEAGE-RESOLVED MICROBIAL PROCESS RATES IN AN OCEAN WORLD ANALOGSUBSURFACE ECOSYSTEM

ROLE OF LATENT VIRUS INFECTION IN MARINE PHYTOPLANKTON

US GEOTRACES GP17-OCE AND GP17-ANT: PARTICULATE AND BIOGENIC TRACE ELEMENTS IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC AND SOUTHERN OCEAN

MICROBIAL ACTIVITY IN THE CRUSTAL DEEP BIOSPHERE

A CHANGING CLIMATE IMPLIES A SHIFT IN THE MAGNITUDE OF KEY ENVIRONMENTAL PROPERTIES SUCH AS TEMPERATURE, PRECIPITATION, AND PRODUCTIVITY. IT ALSO OFT

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SIZE AND THE BALANCE BETWEEN CARBON ACQUISITION MODES IN MIXOTROPHIC PROTISTS -MICROPLANKTON IN AQUATIC SYSTEMS HAVE TRADITIONALLY BEEN CATEGORIZED AS PHYTOPLANKTON OR ZOOPLANKTON. HOWEVER, A GROWING BODY OF RESEARCH HAS DOCUMENTED THAT A SUBSTANTIAL PORTION OF PLANKTON BELONGS TO A THIRD GROUP, MIXOTROPHS, THAT CAN USE BOTH PHOTOSYNTHESIS AND PREY INGESTION TO OBTAIN RESOURCES NECESSARY TO MAINTAIN GROWTH. BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHERS HAVE A POOR UNDERSTANDING OF MIXOTROPHS? ACTIVITY AND THEIR ROLE IN THE AQUATIC FOOD WEB DUE TO THE METHODOLOGICAL CHALLENGES OF STUDYING THEM. IN THIS PROJECT, THE INVESTIGATORS ARE ASSESSING HOW MIXOTROPHS? CELL SIZE RELATES TO THEIR DEPENDENCE ON PHOTOSYNTHESIS AND PREY INGESTION FOR NUTRIENT ACQUISITION. AMONG PHYTOPLANKTON, SIZE IS CONSIDERED A ?MASTER TRAIT? BECAUSE IT IMPACTS METABOLIC PROCESSES, GROWTH RATES, CELLULAR COMPOSITION, AND NUTRIENT UPTAKE KINETICS. WHILE SIZE HAS BEEN USED TO CONSTRAIN MIXOTROPHIC ACTIVITY IN SOME NUMERICAL MODELS, THE FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CELL SIZE AND THE BALANCE OF NUTRIENT ACQUISITION MODES HAS NOT YET BEEN EMPIRICALLY ESTABLISHED. AS PART OF BROADER IMPACTS, ALL PROJECT INVESTIGATORS ARE PARTICIPATING IN AN OCEAN CARBON AND BIOGEOCHEMISTRY (OCB) MIXOTROPHY WORKING GROUP. THE PROJECT TEAM INCLUDES EARLY CAREER INVESTIGATORS AND IS PROVIDING TRAINING TO A POSTDOCTORAL SCIENTIST, GRADUATE STUDENT, AND MULTIPLE UNDERGRADUATES THROUGH AN ESTABLISHED RESEARCH EXPERIENCE FOR UNDERGRADUATES (REU) PROGRAM. FINALLY, EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH INCLUDES COLLABORATION WITH A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR SCIENCE TEACHERS, PROVIDING EXPERIENTIAL SCIENCE CURRICULA AND EQUIPMENT KITS FOR TEACHING OCEAN SCIENCE IN THE CLASSROOM AND OUTDOORS. MIXOTROPHS OBTAIN CARBON FROM PHOTOSYNTHESIS AND INGESTION SIMULTANEOUSLY BUT THE CONTRIBUTION FROM EACH NUTRIENT MODE TO AN INDIVIDUAL ORGANISM IS RARELY MEASURED SIMULTANEOUSLY. LESS IS KNOWN ABOUT HOW THE CONTRIBUTION OF EACH NUTRIENT MODE DIFFERS BETWEEN SPECIES AND OR WITH CHANGES IN GROWTH-LIMITING FACTORS. THE INVESTIGATORS ARE CONDUCTING INCUBATION EXPERIMENTS WITH EIGHT SPECIES OF MIXOTROPHS TO MEASURE THE PROPORTION OF CARBON OBTAINED FROM BOTH NUTRIENT ACQUISITION MODES ACROSS A RANGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS. USING CUTTING-EDGE ISOTOPIC LABELLING METHODS, THE INVESTIGATORS ARE ASSESSING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CELL SIZE AND TROPHIC STRATEGY AMONG MIXOTROPHS, WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR NEW, GENERALIZED UNDERSTANDING OF CARBON TRANSFER AND TRANSFORMATION IN MARINE ECOSYSTEMS. A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MIXOTROPH SIZE AND THEIR TWO NUTRIENT MODES COULD TRANSFORM BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHERS? UNDERSTANDING OF MIXOTROPHS AT THE CELLULAR AND COMMUNITY LEVELS, IMPROVE THE ACCURACY OF OCEAN ECOSYSTEM MODELS, AND ENABLE MORE ACCURATE PREDICTIONS OF HOW PLANKTON COMMUNITIES AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLING WILL BE ALTERED WITH CHANGING OCEAN CONDITIONS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

MRI: ACQUISITION OF GENOME SEQUENCERS FOR BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES

CSBR: LIVING STOCKS: PROVASOLI-GUILLARD NATIONAL CENTER FOR MARINE ALGAE AND MICROBIOTA

MERHAB: TRAINING COURSE ON THE IDENTIFICATION OF HARMFUL ALGAE IN UNITED STATES MARINE WATERS

IMPLICATIONS OF OCEAN ACIDIFICATION ON CARBON EXPORT IN A SIMPLIFIED PLANKTONIC FOOD CHAIN: EXPERIMENTS USING ACARTIA AND PLEUROCHRYSIS

USING REMOTE SENSING TO UNDERSTAND CARBON FLOW AND ITS TRANSFORMATIONS FROM UPLAND ECOSYSTEMS INTO THE COASTAL OCEANTHIS PROPOSAL IS A FOLLOW-ON TO

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: REVEALING THE CHANGING TROPHIC NICHES OF LARGE HERBIVOROUS FISH ON MODERN CORAL REEFS USING AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH -GLOBALLY, CORAL REEFS ARE EXPERIENCING HUMAN-INDUCED DISTURBANCES WITH GROWING INTENSITY AND PACE. CORAL RECOVERY AFTER A DISTURBANCE IS SHAPED, IN PART, BY WHETHER GRAZING HERBIVORES PREVENT HARMFUL ALGAE FROM BLOOMING AND TAKING OVER THE REEF. THIS IMPORTANT GRAZING ACTIVITY IS CARRIED OUT BY A DIVERSE GROUP OF CO-EXISTING HERBIVOROUS FISH SPECIES, SUCH AS PARROTFISHES AND SURGEONFISHES, WHICH COLLECTIVELY CONTROL ALGAE AND THEREBY FACILITATE CORAL RECOVERY. HOWEVER, THE SPECIFIC TYPES OF ALGAE THAT MANY OF THESE FISH FEED ON IS LARGELY UNKNOWN. IT IS ALSO UNKNOWN IF THE FEEDING BEHAVIORS OF THESE HERBIVORES ARE CONSTANT, OR INSTEAD DEPEND ON REEF CONDITION SUCH AS LOSS OF CORAL. MORE DETAILED STUDIES OF HERBIVORE DIETS ARE NEEDED TO UNDERSTAND HOW THESE SPECIES CO-EXIST, AS WELL AS WHICH SPECIES HAVE UNIQUE ROLES AND UNDERPIN KEY ECOSYSTEM PROCESSES ON MODERN REEFS. THE AIMS OF THIS PROJECT ARE THUS TO (A) DEFINE THE FEEDING BEHAVIORS AND DIETS OF HERBIVOROUS FISHES ON HEALTHY CORAL REEFS ? USING BOTH TRADITIONAL AND CUTTING-EDGE TECHNIQUES ? TO BETTER QUANTIFY RESOURCE PARTITIONING AMONG THESE HERBIVORES, AND (B) DETERMINE WHETHER AND HOW THE FEEDING ECOLOGY OF EACH HERBIVORE SHIFTS WITH CHANGING REEF CONDITIONS. TO ACCOMPLISH THESE OBJECTIVES, THE RESEARCH TEAM IS FOCUSING ON CORE MEMBERS OF THE CORAL REEF HERBIVOROUS FISH ASSEMBLAGE AND QUANTIFYING THEIR FEEDING ECOLOGY ON REEFS THAT RANGE FROM MINIMALLY IMPACTED TO HEAVILY DEGRADED. BY REVEALING HIDDEN ASPECTS OF HERBIVORE FEEDING, AS WELL AS WHICH HERBIVOROUS FISHES SERVE UNIQUE ECOLOGICAL ROLES, THIS PROJECT STANDS TO RESHAPE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF CORAL REEF ECOLOGY. MORE BROADLY, THIS PROJECT IS: (1) CROSS-TRAINING A DIVERSE GROUP OF UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS IN CUTTING-EDGE SCIENTIFIC METHODS, (2) AUGMENTING PUBLIC DATA REPOSITORIES TO FOSTER SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY ACROSS THE WIDER SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY, (3) SHARING RESULTS WITH RESOURCE MANAGERS TO ENHANCE DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES, AND (4) INCREASING PUBLIC SCIENCE LITERACY AND ENGAGEMENT VIA THE CO-DEVELOPMENT OF VISUAL ART. ON CORAL REEFS, MANY HERBIVOROUS FISH SPECIES CO-EXIST AND EXERT STRONG IMPACTS ON BENTHIC COMMUNITIES VIA TOP-DOWN CONTROL OF A DIVERSE ALGAL ASSEMBLAGE. HOWEVER, RESOURCE PARTITIONING AMONG THESE SPECIES IS NOT FULLY UNDERSTOOD AND THE EXTENT OF NICHE OVERLAPS THAT EXIST AMONG HERBIVOROUS FISHES REMAINS UNKNOWN. IT ALSO REMAINS UNKNOWN HOW THE FEEDING ACTIVITIES AND DIET (I.E., THE ?TROPHIC NICHE?) OF EACH HERBIVORE SHIFTS IN RESPONSE TO CHANGING ECOSYSTEM CONTEXT, SUCH AS THE LOSS OF CORAL. BROAD, HIGHER-RESOLUTION STUDIES ARE THUS NEEDED TO UNDERSTAND HOW THESE SPECIES CO-EXIST, AS WELL AS WHICH SPECIES ARE FUNCTIONALLY UNIQUE AND UNDERPIN KEY ECOSYSTEM PROCESSES ON MODERN REEFS. THE RESEARCHERS? PRELIMINARY WORK SHOWED THAT DNA METABARCODING OF GUT CONTENTS, A CUTTING-EDGE TOOL, VASTLY IMPROVES NICHE DESCRIPTIONS FOR HERBIVOROUS FISHES. THIS TECHNIQUE ILLUMINATES FINE-SCALE DIFFERENCES AMONG SPECIES, THUS COMPLEMENTING PREVIOUS APPROACHES THAT, ALBEIT COARSER, QUANTIFY THE NICHE AT LARGER SCALES OF SPACE AND TIME. THE AIMS OF THIS PROJECT ARE TO (A) DEFINE THE TROPHIC NICHES OF KEY HERBIVOROUS FISHES ON HEALTHY REEFS ? USING A COMBINATION OF FIELD OBSERVATIONS, TRADITIONAL DIET TRACING METHODS, COMPOUND-SPECIFIC ISOTOPES, AND HIGH-RESOLUTION DNA METABARCODING OF GUT CONTENTS ? TO BETTER QUANTIFY THE TYPES AND DEGREE OF TROPHIC NICHE PARTITIONING IN SUCH ECOSYSTEMS, AND (B) DETERMINE WHETHER AND HOW HERBIVORE NICHES SHIFT WITH CHANGING REEF CONDITION. TO MEET THESE OBJECTIVES, THE RESEARCHERS ARE CHARACTERIZING THE TROPHIC NICHES OF KEY MEMBERS OF THE CORAL REEF HERBIVOROUS FISH GUILD (VIA THE AFOREMENTIONED METHODS) AT NUMEROUS STUDY SITES THAT SPAN A GRADIENT OF REEF CONDITION. BY QUANTIFYING HERBIVORE NICHE OVERLAPS ON HEALTHY REEFS, SPECIES-LEVEL NICHE EXPANSIONS OR CONTRACTIONS AS A FUNCTION OF REEF DECLINE, AND RESULTANT IMPACTS TO TOTAL TROPHIC NICHE BREADTH, THIS RESEARCH IS RESHAPING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF LARGE CONSUMERS ON CORAL REEFS, WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGING FISHERIES AND REEF PROCESSES SIMULTANEOUSLY. MORE BROADLY, THIS STUDY PROVIDES NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE NICHE ? A FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPT IN ECOLOGY THAT UNDERLIES TOPICS RANGING FROM SPECIES COEXISTENCE TO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION. THIS PROJECT IS JOINTLY FUNDED BY THE BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY PROGRAM AND THE ESTABLISHED PROGRAM TO STIMULATE COMPETITIVE RESEARCH (EPSCOR). THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE ROLE OF IRON-OXIDIZING BACTERIA IN THE SEDIMENTARY IRON CYCLE: ECOLOGICAL, PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL IMPLICATIONS

ICBR: CAPACITY: BIOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS: PROVASOLI-GUILLARD NATIONAL CENTER FOR MARINE ALGAE AND MICROBIOTA (NCMA) -ALGAE HAVE BEEN A NATURAL SOURCE OF FOOD, FEEDS AND FERTILIZERS FOR COASTAL COMMUNITIES FOR MILLENNIA. MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGY USES OF ALGAE IN HUMAN SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN RAPIDLY EXPANDING IN SCOPE AND DIVERSIFYING IN APPLICATION OVER THE PAST FEW DECADES, IN NO SMALL PART DUE TO THE MAINTENANCE AND AVAILABILITY OF ALGAE CULTURE CENTERS. THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR MARINE ALGAE AND MICROBIOTA (NCMA) AT BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES IS A PUBLIC RESOURCE WHOSE MISSION IS TO PROMOTE, SUPPORT, AND ENABLE THE USE OF ALGAE FOR FOUNDATIONAL RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS. FOR NEARLY FOUR DECADES, THE NCMA HAS PROVIDED THIS UNIQUE RESOURCE FOR RESEARCHERS, STUDENTS AT ALL LEVELS, EDUCATORS AND COMPANIES WORLDWIDE, ALL INTERESTED IN WORKING WITH MICROALGAE TO INVESTIGATE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS IN BIOLOGY, GLOBAL PROCESSES AND BIOTECHNOLOGY. THIS NEW RESEARCH FUNDING WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE NCMA IN ITS MISSION, AND IMPORTANTLY EXPAND THE VALUE OF ITS ALGAE HOLDINGS BY SUPPORTING THE COMPILATION OF NEW AND EXISTING DATA AND INFORMATION ABOUT EACH OF THE ALGAE STRAINS IT HOLDS. PROFESSIONALLY CURATED MICROALGAE CULTURE COLLECTIONS, FROM WELL-RESPECTED SOURCES SUCH AS NCMA, ARE ESSENTIAL TO SUPPORT BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN THE UNITED STATES. THE NCMA IS ONE OF A SMALL NUMBER OF CULTURE COLLECTIONS FOCUSED ON ALGAL BIODIVERSITY, AND THE ONLY ONE IN THE U.S. WITH A PRIMARY FOCUS ON MARINE MICROALGAE. THE NCMA CURATES ~2,800 DISTINCT MICROALGAL AND ~1600 MACROALGAL STRAINS ISOLATED FROM AROUND THE WORLD, WITH MANY OF THE ALGAE IN THE NCMA COLLECTION BEING UNIQUE AND REPRESENTING AN IRREPLACEABLE GENETIC RESOURCE. THE SPECIFIC SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT ARE TO 1) MAXIMIZE CURATED BIODIVERSITY OF MARINE MICROALGAE, AND EXPAND MACROALGAE STRAIN HOLDINGS; 2) EXPAND HIGH-THROUGHPUT CRYOPRESERVATION CAPABILITIES IN ORDER MEET THE INCREASING NEEDS OF A DIVERSIFIED USER BASE; 3) GENERATE PHENOTYPIC TRAIT DATA FOR NCMA STRAINS, NAMELY PHOTOHETEROTROPHIC GROWTH CAPABILITIES AND QUANTIFIED TOXIN CONTENT; AND 4) CONTINUE TO EXPAND OUR EDUCATION/WORKFORCE PORTFOLIO. STUDYING CURATED ALGAE FROM THE NCMA COLLECTION PROVIDES A GENOMIC, PHYSIOLOGICAL AND/OR EVOLUTIONARY COMPASS; IT ESSENTIALLY POINTS EXTERNAL RESEARCHERS IN A DIRECTION THAT ALLOWS THEM TO DEVELOP THE APPROPRIATE HYPOTHESES, MODELS OR DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS TO INVESTIGATE THEIR QUESTIONS IN NATURE. BEYOND CURATING ALGAE, THE NCMA CURATORS AND RESEARCHERS GENERATE ESSENTIAL RESEARCH DATA ON THE CHARACTERIZATION OF ITS COLLECTION (E.G., GROWTH RATES AND CAPABILITIES, BIOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION, ETC.) CREATING GREAT VALUE TO THE BROADER SCIENTIFIC AND ENTREPRENEURIAL COMMUNITIES, AND ENABLING RAPID PROGRESS IN THIS FIELD. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

ASSESSING THE CHEMICAL SPECIATION AND BIOAVAILABILITY OF IRON REGENERATED BY MARINE ZOOPLANKTON

THE OCEANS PLAY A VITAL ROLE IN THE GLOBAL CARBON CYCLE AND RELATIVE TO THEIR SIZE COASTAL WATERS AND CONTINENTAL SHELF SEAS ARE ESTIMATED TO CONTRIBUTE DISPROPORTIONATELY TOWARDS OCEANIC CARBON EXCHANGE AND UPTAKE OF CARBON DIOXIDE. INCREASING LEVELS OF ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE LEADS TO AN INCREASE IN ACIDITY OF COASTAL AND OCEANIC WATERS WHICH CAN POTENTIALLY HAVE A DETRIMENTAL EFFECT ON CALCIFYING PLANTS AND ANIMALS. CARBON CYCLING SUPPORTS THE BASE OF MARINE ECOSYSTEMS HENCE MONITORING CARBON STOCKS AND FLUXES IN SHELF SEAS IS VITAL FOR COASTAL COMMUNITIES AS THESE WATERS ARE OF GREAT ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE IN TERMS OF FISHERIES AQUACULTURE AND TOURISM. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO CHARACTERIZE AND QUANTIFY THE CARBON STOCKS AND FLUXES IN THE GULF OF MAINE A DYNAMIC CONTINENTAL SHELF SEA. WE WILL (1) EVALUATE DEVELOP REFINE AND VALIDATE REMOTE SENSING METHODS FOR MONITORING DIFFERENT FORMS OF CARBON AND CARBON FLUXES AND (2) APPLY THESE METHODS TO SATELLITE IMAGERY TO ANALYZE THE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIABILITY OF CARBON STANDING STOCKS AND FLUXES. SPECIFICALLY THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROPOSAL ARE TO: (1) QUANTIFY THE STANDING STOCKS OF THE FOUR DIFFERENT CARBON POOLS (PARTICULATE ORGANIC CARBON PARTICULATE INORGANIC CARBON DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON DISSOLVED INORGANIC CARBON) VIA REMOTE SENSING METHODS AND WITH WELL-CONSTRAINED ERRORS (2) EXTEND SATELLITE SURFACE MEASUREMENTS TO DETERMINE EUPHOTICINTEGRATED STANDING STOCKS WITH QUANTIFIED UNCERTAINTIES FOR THE DIFFERENT CARBON POOLS (3) UNDERSTAND AND QUANTIFY THE DIFFERENT CARBON FLUX TERMS AND THEIR ASSOCIATED ERRORS VIA REMOTE SENSING METHODS AND (4) CHARACTERIZE THE ABILITY OF THE GULF OF MAINE TO ACT AS A NET CARBON SOURCE OR SINK VIA REMOTE SENSING OBSERVATIONS. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT WILL BE ACHIEVED BY USING IN SITU STANDING STOCK AND RATE OBSERVATIONS FROM THE GULF OF MAINE NORTH ATLANTIC TIME SERIES (GNATS) AS A MEANS TO EVALUATE AND DEVELOP REMOTE SENSING METHODS FOR CARBON STANDING STOCKS AND ASSOCIATED FLUXES. WE WILL LEVERAGE THE GNATS PROGRAM DATA TO PROVIDE WELL-CONSTRAINED UNCERTAINTIES ON THE CARBON MONITORING PRODUCTS. GNATS IS A UNIQUE COASTAL TIME SERIES WHICH HAS BEEN RUNNING SINCE 1998 MEASURING ALL PARTS OF THE CARBON CYCLE. WE WILL APPLY THE VALIDATED REMOTE SENSING METHODS TO SATELLITE DATA FROM 1997 TO PRESENT (SPANNING THE CONTINUOUS OCEAN COLOR SATELLITE RECORD). TO CALCULATE CARBON STANDING STOCKS WE WILL DEVELOP A METHOD TO EXTEND THE SATELLITE SURFACE MEASUREMENTS TO DEPTH. WE WILL USE SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS TO ESTIMATE CARBON FLUXES ASSOCIATED WITH: PRIMARY PRODUCTION CALCIFICATION DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON TRANSFER FROM RIVERS-TO-SEA CARBON DIOXIDE AIR-SEA FLUXES AND CARBON EXPORT FROM SURFACE WATERS TO DEPTH. THE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIABILITY OF STANDING STOCKS AND CARBON FLUXES WILL BE ANALYZED TO SYNTHESIZE THE OBSERVATIONS OF DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE CARBON CYCLE AND DETERMINE THE GULF OF MAINE S ROLE AS A NET CARBON SOURCE OR SINK. THE METHODS DEVELOPED IN THIS PROJECT TO CHARACTERIZE CARBON WILL RESULT IN PARAMETERS THAT ARE RELEVANT NOT ONLY TO CARBON MONITORING BUT FOR MONITORING OCEAN ACIDIFICATION AS WELL. COASTAL AND OCEAN ACIDIFICATION IS OF CONCERN IN THE GULF OF MAINE REGION; HENCE WE WILL COLLABORATE WITH STAKEHOLDERS TO ENSURE THE SCIENCE OUTPUTS OF THIS PROJECT ARE WHAT ARE REQUIRED BY THEIR NETWORK OF STATE AND FEDERAL RESOURCE MANAGERS AND INDUSTRY PARTNERS. THIS PROJECT ALIGNS WITH KEY FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE SECOND STATE OF THE CARBON CYCLE REPORT AS WE WILL (1) EXPAND THE GNATS PROGRAM BY CREATING REMOTE SENSING METHODS TO CHARACTERIZE THE EXCHANGE OF CARBON AND EXTEND THIS UNDERSTANDING ACROSS THE WHOLE REGION (2) SYNTHESIZE OBSERVATIONS FROM ALL FOUR CARBON POOLS AND KEY FLUX TERMS EXCHANGING CARBON ACROSS THE SYSTEM AND (3) PROVIDE DATA PRODUCTS ESSENTIAL FOR MONITORING OCEAN ACIDIFICATION A NEED FOR STAKEHOLDERS AROUND THE GULF OF MAINE.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NSFGEO-NERC: THE COLLOIDAL SHUNT AS A CRITICAL NEXUS OF THE OCEAN IRON AND CARBON CYCLES -THE TURNOVER OF ORGANIC CARBON IN THE OCEAN PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN REGULATING THE OCEAN CARBON CYCLE. THE OCEANIC CYCLES OF IRON AND CARBON ARE TIGHTLY COUPLED. THE SUPPLY OF DISSOLVED IRON REGULATES OCEAN BIOLOGY WHILE ORGANIC CARBON IMPACTS THE SOLUBILITY AND BIOLOGICAL AVAILABILITY OF IRON IN SEAWATER. WE STRIVE TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE MECHANISMS AND LINKAGES BETWEEN POOLS OF IRON AND ORGANIC CARBON IN THE OCEANS AND TO PREDICT THEIR SENSITIVITY TO FUTURE ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATIC CHANGES. IN THIS COLLABORATIVE PROJECT, JOINTLY FUNDED WITH THE U.K. NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL, SCIENTISTS FROM THE U.S. AND U.K. WILL COMBINE FIELD DATA FROM THE BERMUDA ATLANTIC TIME-SERIES STUDY (BATS) REGION AND FROM THE EASTERN NORTH ATLANTIC WITH TARGETED EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES AND A STATE-OF-THE-ART OCEAN BIOGEOCHEMICAL MODEL TO BETTER CHARACTERIZE ORGANIC CARBON - IRON LINKAGES AND THEIR ROLES IN PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE CHANGES IN OCEAN BIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY. THE PROJECT WILL SUPPORT THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF UNDERGRADUATE, GRADUATE, AND POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS, AND WILL CONNECT RURAL K-12 AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS WITH THE RESEARCH THROUGH OUTREACH ACTIVITIES. FIELD OBSERVATIONS FROM THE BATS AND CAPE VERDE OCEAN OBSERVATORY REGIONS WILL BE INTEGRATED WITH EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES TARGETING IRON-ORGANIC CARBON INTERACTIONS ACROSS SEASONAL AND SPATIAL GRADIENTS. AN OCEAN BIOGEOCHEMICAL MODEL WILL BE USED TO CONSTRAIN THE PROCESSES THAT MODULATE INTERACTIONS OF IRON WITH DISSOLVED AND PARTICULATE ORGANIC MATTER. SPECIFICALLY, THIS PROJECT WILL EXAMINE THE A ?COLLOIDAL SHUNT? MECHANISM, WHEREBY A PORTION OF THE DISSOLVED IRON POOL IN THE COLLOIDAL SIZE RANGE IS NOT STABILIZED BY COMPLEXATION WITH ORGANIC LIGANDS. THIS IRON INSTEAD FORMS AGGREGATES WITH ORGANIC CARBON TO FORM PARTICULATE MATTER THAT SINKS OUT OF THE UPPER WATER COLUMN. THE RESEARCH WILL FOCUS ON THE ROLE OF DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON AND IRON-BINDING ORGANIC LIGANDS IN MEDIATING THE COLLOIDAL SHUNT, THE ASSOCIATION OF ORGANIC MATTER WITH THUS-FORMED AUTHIGENIC PARTICULATE IRON PHASES, AND THE DISSOLUTION OF THESE PHASES IN THE OCEAN INTERIOR AS A FUNCTION OF OXYGEN. POTENTIALLY TRANSFORMATIVE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS RESEARCH ARE THAT THE COLLOIDAL SHUNT MIGHT VARY IN RESPONSE TO CLIMATE DRIVEN CHANGES IN OCEAN OXYGENATION, AND THAT THIS PROCESS MAY PROVIDE A CONDUIT FOR THE VERTICAL EXPORT OF BOTH PARTICULATE IRON AND ORGANIC CARBON THAT AUGMENTS THE BIOLOGICAL CARBON PUMP IN THE SUBTROPICAL AND TROPICAL OCEANS. THIS PROJECT IS JOINTLY SUPPORTED BY THE GEOSCIENCES DIRECTORATE'S CHEMICAL OCEANOGRAPHY PROGRAM AND THE RESEARCH, INNOVATION, SYNERGIES AND EDUCATION (RISE) DIVISION. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENCY S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF ON AND FROM THE MOON LUNAR ORBIT MARS AND BEYOND. ADVANCE DISCOVERY IN EMERGING FIELDS BY IDENTIFYING AND EXPLOITING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES DEVELOP A DIRECTORATE-WIDE TARGET-USER FOCUSED APPROACH TO APPLIED PROGRAMS INCLUDING EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS SPACE WEATHER PLANETARY DEFENSE AND SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

PURPOSE: EPIZOOTIC SHELL DISEASE (ESD) HAS CONTRIBUTED HEAVILY TO THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND LOBSTER STOCK AND IS A LOOMING THREAT TO THE GULF OF MAINE (GOM) LOBSTER AND THE FISHERMEN THAT RELY ON THEM. THIS DYSBIOTIC DISEASE CAUSES LESIONS ON THE LOBSTER CARAPACE, CAUSING HIGH RISK OF MORTALITY FOR SEVERELY INFECTED INDIVIDUALS, AND LOW ECONOMIC VALUE FOR THE FISHED SURVIVORS, AS THEY ARE ONLY MARKETABLE TO THE CANNING INDUSTRY. SEA TEMPERATURE CONDITIONS THAT FACILITATE ESD ARE PROJECTED TO INCREASE IN DURATION AND SPATIAL EXTENT AS THE CLIMATE CHANGES AND OCEANS WARM. TO INCREASE PREPAREDNESS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS TO THE GOM LOBSTER, IT IS NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND HOW SEASONAL SHIFTS IN SEABOTTOM TEMPERATURES ALTER MOLTING PHENOLOGIES, EPIZOOTIC SHELL DISEASE INCIDENCE AND PROGRESSION, AND DISEASE- AND TEMPERATURE-ASSOCIATED MORTALITY. ACTIVITIES TO BE PERFORMED: USING A TWO-WAY FACTORIAL &QUOT;COMMON GARDEN&QUOT; EXPERIMENT, AUTHORS WILL COMPARE PATTERNS

VIRAL CONTROL OF MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES IN ANTARCTIC LAKES

REU SITE: BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE IN THE GULF OF MAINE AND THE WORLD OCEAN -THE BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES LOCATED IN EAST BOOTHBAY ME, WILL HOST A RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADUATES (REU) SITE FOR THREE SUMMERS (2024-2026). THE PROGRAM, CALLED ?UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE IN THE GULF OF MAINE AND THE WORLD OCEANS?, WILL BRING TEN UNDERGRADUATES TO BIGELOW EACH SUMMER FOR TEN WEEKS. THE GOALS OF THIS REU PROGRAM ARE I) TO PROVIDE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS FROM THE USA WITH MENTORING AND ACCESS TO HIGH-QUALITY, HANDS-ON RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES IN OCEANOGRAPHY AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO UNDERSTAND ITS INTERDISCIPLINARY NATURE, II) IMPROVE THE CAPABILITY AND CONFIDENCE OF STUDENTS TO LEARN INDEPENDENTLY, III) INCREASE THE PARTICIPATION OF UNDERREPRESENTED AND FIRST-GENERATION STUDENTS IN MARINE SCIENCE CAREERS AND IV) HELP TO PREPARE UNDERGRADUATES FOR THEIR PROFESSIONAL CAREERS. STUDENTS WILL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO WORK WITH BIGELOW SCIENTISTS, WHO HAVE EXPERTISE IN TOPICS SUCH AS CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY, MODELING, SATELLITE-OCEANOGRAPHY, GENOMICS, ORGANISMAL AND POPULATION BIOLOGY, FISHERIES AND AIR-SEA GAS EXCHANGE, AND WHO APPROACH BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY AS AN INTER-DISCIPLINARY SCIENCE. BIGELOW?S REU PROGRAM COMBINES GROUP LEARNING AND GUIDED INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH TO HELP STUDENTS ADDRESS SOCIETAL ISSUES CONCERNING THE OCEANS. AS A GROUP, STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN A SAMPLING CRUISE ON THE LOCAL ESTUARY AND ATTEND WEEKLY MEETINGS TO LEARN THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS, SUCH AS HOW TO FORM TESTABLE HYPOTHESES, CRITICALLY EVALUATE DATA, AND PRESENT INFORMATION IN A SCIENTIFIC MANNER TO PEERS AND TO THE PUBLIC. STUDENTS ATTEND AN ETHICS IN SCIENCE DISCUSSION, A LAB SAFETY COURSE WITH RISK ASSESSMENT TRAINING AND A CONCEPT MAPPING WORKSHOP DURING THE EARLY STAGES OF THEIR PROJECT. STUDENTS WILL PARTICIPATE IN PUBLIC OUTREACH THROUGH ATTENDANCE AT BIGELOW?S WEEKLY CAF? SCIENTIFIQUE TALKS (FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC), PARTICIPATION IN THE LAB?S OPEN HOUSE AND FREQUENT PUBLIC LAB TOURS. INDIVIDUAL LEARNING EXPERIENCES INCLUDES MENTOR-GUIDED INDEPENDENT RESEARCH, EXPERIMENTATION AND/OR FIELDWORK, AND COMPILING AND EVALUATING DATA IN A WIDE ARENA OF OCEANOGRAPHIC TOPICS. AS PART OF THEIR PROJECTS, STUDENTS MAY HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SCUBA DIVE, SAMPLE DIRECTLY FROM THE BIGELOW?S PIER OR PARTICIPATE IN RESEARCH CRUISES. FOLLOWING THE PROGRAM, MANY STUDENTS HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO PRESENT THEIR RESEARCH AT INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS OR PUBLISH RESULTS FROM THEIR REU EXPERIENCE. FUNDING PROVIDED SUPPORTS STUDENT STIPENDS, HOUSING AND TRAVEL AND SOME ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS. THE PROGRAM WILL PROVIDE A TOTAL OF THIRTY STUDENTS WITH RESEARCH EXPERIENCE AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF U.S. OCEAN SCIENTISTS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

PHOSPHONATE UTILIZATION BY EUKARYOTIC PHYTOPLANKTON: WHO, HOW, AND WHERE?

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF US GEOTRACES GP17 SECTION: SOUTH PACIFIC AND SOUTHERN OCEAN (GP17-OCE)

LEVERAGING SHIPS OF OPPORTUNITY TO PROVIDE PARTICLE STOCK MEASUREMENTS FOR PACE VALIDATION

PARTICULATE INORGANIC CARBON PRODUCT MAINTENANCE FOR MODIS AQUA AND TERRA

CSBR: LIVING STOCKS: PROVASOLI-GUILLARD NATIONAL CENTER FOR MARINE ALGAE AND MICROBIOTA

NSFGEO-NERC: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: USING TIME-SERIES FIELD OBSERVATIONS TO CONSTRAIN AN OCEAN IRON MODEL

OIL PHOTOOXIDATION BY SUNLIGHT: ROLE OF REACTIVE SPECIES IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF SATURATED AND AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS -WITH SUPPORT FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICAL SCIENCES PROGRAM IN THE DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY AT NSF, CHRISTOPH AEPPLI AT THE BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES WILL INVESTIGATE THE MECHANISM OF SUNLIGHT-MEDIATED TRANSFORMATION OF OIL HYDROCARBONS. THIS IS RELEVANT SINCE PHOTOOXIDATION AFFECTS THE FATE OF OIL AFTER MARINE SPILLS, THEREBY FUNDAMENTALLY ALTERING THE PROPERTIES, COMPOSITION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL FATE OF OIL RESIDUES. THIS PROJECT WILL IMPROVE THE MECHANISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF OIL PHOTOCHEMISTRY BY CONDUCTING A SERIES OF LABORATORY IRRADIATION EXPERIMENTS. THE KNOWLEDGE AND DATA EXPECTED FROM THIS PROJECT WILL IMPROVE OIL SPILL RISK AND DAMAGE ASSESSMENT. THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO TRAIN A POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. FURTHERMORE, RESULTS AND METHODS FROM THIS PROJECT WILL BE IMPLEMENTED IN UNDERGRADUATE COURSEWORK, AND OUTCOMES OF THIS PROJECT WILL BE COMMUNICATED TO THE BROADER COMMUNITY THROUGH OUTREACH PROGRAMS. TO ELUCIDATE THE RELEVANT PATHWAY FOR THE DEGRADATION OF SATURATED COMPOUNDS IS CHALLENGING IN THE COMPLEX MIXTURE OF OIL WITH MULTIPLE CO-OCCURRING COMPETING PATHWAYS. THIS PROJECT WILL USE A STEP-WISE APPROACH WITH SYSTEMS THAT HAVE THREE LEVELS OF COMPLEXITY. FIRST, BASIC MECHANIST QUESTIONS WILL FIRST BE ADDRESSED USING A MODEL OIL CONSISTING OF A WELL-DEFINED MIXTURE OF HYDROCARBONS. SECOND, VARIOUS PHOTOCHEMICAL PATHWAYS WILL BE SYSTEMATICALLY TESTED ON THESE MODEL COMPOUNDS USING SENSITIZERS AND QUENCHERS NATURALLY OCCURRING IN PETROLEUM. LASTLY, THE GAINED KNOWLEDGE WILL THEN BE APPLIED TO THE COMPLEX PROCESSES OCCURRING IN THE COMPLEX MIXTURE OF PETROLEUM, WITH THE AIM TO CONSTRUCT A GENERAL CONCEPTUAL MECHANISM OF RELEVANT OIL PHOTODEGRADATION PROCESSES OF THE VARIOUS SATURATED AND AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS IN OIL. THIS PROJECT WILL EMPLOY AN INNOVATIVE METHOD BASED ON TWO-DIMENSIONAL GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY FOR THE COMPREHENSIVE QUANTIFICATION OF OIL DEGRADATION AND WILL DEVELOP QUANTITATIVE METHODS TO MEASURE THE FORMATION OF OIL PHOTOPRODUCTS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

COUPLING METABOLISM TO MINERALOGICAL SCAFFOLDING FOR UNDERSTANDING NANO-MATERIAL PRODUCTION IN METAL-OXIDIZING BACTERIA

THE COLLABORATIVE O-BUOY PROJECT: DEPLOYMENT OF A NETWORK OF ARCTIC OCEAN CHEMICAL SENSORS FOR THE IPY AND BEYOND

DIMENSIONS: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: AN INTEGRATED STUDY OF ENERGY METABOLISM, CARBON FIXATION, AND COLONIZATION MECHANISMS IN CHEMOSYNTHETIC MICROBIA

GEOTRACES PACIFIC SECTION: CHARACTERIZING BIOGENIC TRACE ELEMENTS ACROSS PRODUCTIVITY AND OXYGEN GRADIENTS IN THE EASTERN SOUTH PACIFIC

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CULTURE OF MARINE PROTOZOANS USING INDUSTRIAL BIOREACTORS

THE ROLE OF PHOTO-GENERATED HYDRATED ELECTRONS IN DETERMINING THE ENVIRONMENTAL FATE OF SHORT-CHAIN CHLORINATED PARAFFINS IN SURFACE WATERS

DIARRHEIC SHELLFISH POISONING SYNDROME IS CAUSED BY THE INGESTION OF TOXINS COMPRISING OKADAIC ACID AND ITS ANALOGUES, PRIMARILY DINOPHYSISTOXIN-1, DINOPHYSISTOXIN-2, WHICH CAUSE SEVERE GASTROINTESTINAL ILLNESS IN HUMANS, WITH POTENTIAL LONGER-TERM TUMOR-PROMOTING ACTIVITY. THERE IS EVIDENCE, FROM SURVEYS OF THE ABUNDANCE OF THE PRIMARY PRODUCERS OF DIARRHEIC SHELLFISH POISONING TOXINS, THE PHYTOPLANKTON DINOPHYSIS, AND FROM MONITORING OF SHELLFISH TOXICITY, THAT OVER THE PAST ~ 20 YEARS THE THREAT OF INCREASING BLOOMS OF TOXIGENIC DINOPHYSIS AND ASSOCIATED DIARRHEIC SHELLFISH POISONING TOXIN CONCENTRATIONS IN SHELLFISH TISSUE, MAY BE INCREASING AROUND THE NORTH AMERICAN COAST. THIS DIARRHEIC SHELLFISH POISONING THREAT NOW EXISTS ON THE WEST, EAST AND GULF COASTS, WHERE BLOOMS OF DINOPHYSIS HAVE ALSO CAUSED SUBSTANTIAL ECONOMIC LOSSES DUE TO THE CLOSURE OF SHELLFISH BEDS AND CESSATION OF HARVESTING. ROUTINE, ACCURATE QUANTIFICATION OF DIARRHEIC SHELLFISH POISONING TOXINS IN SHELLFISH T

FORECASTING PROTOZOAN PARASITES IN THE GULF OF MAINE AND THE RISK OF BIOACCUMULATION OF HUMAN WATERBORNE PATHOGENS IN OYSTERS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: MARINE AEROSOLS IN THE ARCTIC: LINKING SURFACE WATER CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY WITH PRIMARY PARTICLE PRODUCTION

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: HOW AND WHY END TRACKS OCEAN CIRCULATION

OCEAN COLOR REMOTE SENSING OF ZOOPLANKTON: DETECTING SWARMS OF CALANUS IN THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INVESTIGATING THE ECOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE OF IRON STORAGE IN DIATOMS

GEOTRACES ATLANTIC SECTION: CHARACTERIZATION OF PHYTOPLANKTON TRACE METAL QUOTAS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THE PARTICULATE METAL POOL IN THE UPPER OC

BIGELOW LABORATORY MARINE BIOLOGICAL AND OCEANOGRAPHIC COMPUTATIONAL RESOURCES

ACQUISITION OF A CONFOCAL LASER SCANNING MICROSCOPE AT THE BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NAVIGATING THROUGH SPACE IN TURBULENCE TUBES: COPEPOD RESPONSES TO BURGERS' VORTEX

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: DECODING VIRUS LEVIATHANS

ESTABLISHING MARINE ARCHAEAL, BACTERIAL AND VIRAL CULTURE COLLECTIONS TO COMPLEMENT THE CCMP AT BIGELOW LABORATORY

DIVERSITY OF MARINE PROTISTS: SINGLE CELL GENOMICS AND IMAGING FOR TARA OCEANS

REU SITE: BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE IN THE GULF OF MAINE AND THE WORLD OCEAN

COLLAB: FROM STRUCTURE TO INFORMATION IN MECHANOSENSORY SYSTEMS. THE ROLE OF SENSOR MORPHOLOGY IN DETECTING FLUID SIGNALS.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: BIOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL CONTROLS ON DMS PRODUCTION AND EMISSION DURING VOCALS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: REGIONAL VARIATION OF PHYTOPLANKTON DIVERSITY AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL FUNCTIONING IN THE SUBTROPICAL INDIAN OCEAN

MICROBIAL ECOSYSTEM SERVICES ON SEAMOUNTS (MESS) IN THE PAPAHANAUMOKUAKEA MARINE NATIONAL MONUMENT

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ATMOSPHERIC NUCLEATION OF COMPLEX MIXTURES EMITTED FROM MARINE PLANKTONIC COMMUNITIES -THIS PROJECT IS FOCUSED ON INVESTIGATING HOW THE EMISSIONS FROM VARIOUS MARINE PLANKTONIC COMMUNITIES LEAD TO PARTICLE NUCLEATION IN THE ATMOSPHERE AND HOW THESE EMISSIONS MIGHT EVOLVE WITH A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT. PARTICLE NUCLEATION PROVIDES A SUBSTANTIAL FRACTION OF THE SEED PARTICLES FOR FORMING MARINE CLOUDS THAT REFLECT INCOMING SOLAR RADIATION WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY OBSCURING RADIATION-ABSORBING OCEANS. SINCE THE FORMATION AND RATE AT WHICH PARTICLES NUCLEATE INFLUENCE THE BRIGHTNESS AND LIFETIMES OF CLOUDS, QUANTIFYING MARINE NUCLEATION RATES IS IMPORTANT FOR ACCURATELY PREDICTING THE ROLE OF CLOUDS IN CLIMATE CHANGE. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT ARE TO: (1) VERIFY THAT THE NUCLEATION POTENTIAL MODEL CAN QUANTIFY THE NUCLEATION POTENTIAL OF LABORATORY-GENERATED COMPLEX MIXTURES; (2) MEASURE THE NUCLEATION REACTIONS, NUCLEATION POTENTIALS, AND EMISSION PROFILES PRODUCED FROM TANK-GROWN MARINE PHYTOPLANKTON DURING VARIOUS STAGES OF GROWTH; (3) PREDICT THE SEASONAL AND SPATIAL VARIATION IN EMISSION PROFILES, NUCLEATION REACTIONS, AND NUCLEATION POTENTIALS FROM NATURAL MARINE PLANKTONIC COMMUNITIES COLLECTED FROM GULF OF MAINE; AND (4) EVALUATE SPRING AND LATE SUMMER/FALL MARINE EMISSIONS AND ATMOSPHERIC NUCLEATION AT THE GULF OF MAINE AND COMPARE WITH THOSE OBSERVED IN OBJECTIVE 3. THE ULTIMATE IMPACT OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DRAMATICALLY EXPAND NUCLEATION MEASUREMENTS IN DIFFICULT-TO-ACCESS REGIONS WORLDWIDE AND PROVIDE A COMPUTATIONALLY SIMPLE METHOD FOR PREDICTING NUCLEATION RATES IN DIVERSE ENVIRONMENTS AND POINTS IN TIME. IN THE FUTURE, CLIMATE CHANGE MAY CAUSE REGIONS OF THE OCEANS THAT WERE NOT PREVIOUSLY SIGNIFICANT SOURCES OF AEROSOL PARTICLES TO PLAY MORE CRITICAL ROLES IN DETERMINING EARTH'S RADIATIVE BUDGET AND CLIMATE. THE PIS PLAN TO WORK WITH TWO HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS FROM UNDERFUNDED NEIGHBORHOODS OF PITTSBURGH, PA TO DEVELOP A STUDENT-CENTERED, ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND CLIMATE CURRICULUM THAT CAN BE INCORPORATED INTO A SEMESTER-LONG CHEMISTRY CLASS. THE FINAL OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT IS TO INCORPORATE THE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND DATA ANALYSIS OF MEASURED PHYTOPLANKTON EMISSIONS INTO THE ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY MODULE IMPLEMENTED AT TWO LOCAL HIGH SCHOOLS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

RESEARCH FOR FARMING OF KELP AND SEAGRASS

BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES: NEW SEAWEED FIXED-AMOUNT GRANT. CONTROL NUMBER: 1953-1624 TITLE: ''COST-EFFECTIVE AND BENCHMARKED INDUSTRY STANDARDS TO QUANTIFY NUTRIENT BIOEXTRATION BY SEAWEED'' BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES WILL DEVELOP THE PROPOSED TECHNOLOGY TO STANDARDIZE VALUATION OF NITROGEN EXTRACTION BY FARMED SEAWEED USING PRAGMATIC AND BENCHMARKED APPROACHES. TO DATE, ONLY STATE-OF-THE-ART EQUIPMENT AND TESTING FACILITIES EXIST FOR QUANTIFICATION OF NITROGEN CONCENTRATIONS IN SEAWATER, BUT NOT IN ALGAL BIOMASS. WITHOUT STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES OR UNIVERSALLY ADOPTED BEST-PRACTICES, ACCREDIATION FOR NITROGREN REMOVAL BY SEAWEED FROM COGNIZANT AGENCIES IS AT AN IMPASS.

EAGER: PERSISTENT VIRUS INFECTIONS IN MARINE PHYTOPLANKTON

EAGER: MICROENCAPSULATION-BASED GENOMICS OF INDIVIDUAL RNA VIRUSES -THIS PROJECT IS AN OUTGROWTH OF A PROJECT PREVIOUSLY FUNDED BY OTIC TO DEVELOP A METHOD FOR ENVIRONMENT MICRO-COMPARTMENT GENOMICS (EMCG) OF DNA PARTICLES AND IF THIS METHOD IS SUCCESSFUL FOR RNA, IT HAS POTENTIAL IMPORTANT APPLICATIONS NOT ONLY IN MARINE RNA VIRUS RESEARCH BUT ALSO IN PUBLIC HEALTH AND EPIDEMIOLOGY. CURRENT METHODS ARE NOT SENSITIVE ENOUGH TO DETECT SMALL RNA VIRUSES MAKING QUANTIFICATION OF RNA VIRUSES IN MARINE SAMPLES DIFFICULT. METHODS FOR DIRECT QUANTIFICATION ARE NEEDED TO VERIFY THE NUMBERS IN MARINE HABITATS. RNA VIRUSES AND VIRUS-LIKE PARTICLES IN THE OCEAN, PLAY A MAJOR ROLE IN MICROBIAL ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION. THE ABILITY TO ANALYSES OF INDIVIDUAL RNA VIRUSES WOULD POTENTIALLY BE TRANSFORMATIVE IN OCEANOGRAPHY AS WELL AS PUBLIC HEALTH AND EPIDEMIOLOGY. AS A RESULT OF THIS BIGELOW LABORATORY?S SINGLE CELL GENOMICS CENTER (SCGC) WOULD PROVIDE THIS ANALYSIS AS A SERVICE TO THE GLOBAL RESEARCH COMMUNITY. THE PI?S WILL ALSO MENTOR AN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT AND PROVIDE ADVANCED COURSES BIOINFORMATICS OF MICROBIAL SINGLE CELLS AND AQUATIC FLOW CYTOMETRY. THE ROLE OF RNA VIRUSES IS EVEN LESS UNDERSTOOD THAN THOSE OF DNA-CONTAINING EXTRACELLULAR GENETIC ELEMENTS, DUE TO TECHNICAL CHALLENGES. THE PIS HAVE PREVIOUS OTIC FUNDING TO DEVELOP ENVIRONMENT MICRO-COMPARTMENT GENOMICS (EMCG) OF DNA PARTICLES EARLY RESULTS OF THIS PROJECT SUGGESTS THAT A MODIFICATION OF THE EMCG METHODS MAY ENABLE GENOMIC SEQUENCING OF BOTH DNA AND RNA PARTICLES, THUS ADDRESSING THIS PRESSING NEED. THE PIS REQUEST EAGER FUNDING TO DEVELOP A NOVEL, MICROENCAPSULATION-BASED TECHNOLOGY FOR WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING OF RNA VIRUSES FROM THE OCEAN, WITH POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS IN OTHER ENVIRONMENTS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES IN THE TRANSLATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY RESEARCH TO UNDERSTANDING EARLY-LIFE AND THE COEVOLUTION OF LIFE AND THE ENVIRONMENT IS UNTANGLING THE FUNCTIONAL POTENTIAL OF THE VAST SUITE OF UNCULTIVATED MICROORGANISMS THAT REPRESENT THE MAJORITY OF MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES. WHILE RECENT ADVANCES IN DNA SEQUENCING METAGENOMIC AND SINGLE CELL GENOMIC TECHNIQUES HAVE REVOLUTIONIZED THE ABILITY TO UNCOVER GENOMIC INFORMATION FROM THESE GROUPS LINKAGE OF THIS INFORMATION TO FUNCTION IN THE ENVIRONMENT IS TENUOUS. THIS CHALLENGE IS MAGNIFIED IN LOW-ENERGY ANALOG ENVIRONMENTS WHERE MEASURING RATES OF ACTIVITY IS DIFFICULT DUE TO DETECTION LIMITS. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO TACKLE THIS CHALLENGE THROUGH APPLICATION OF NASCENT SINGLE-CELL-LEVEL FLUORESCENT SUBSTRATE LABELING TECHNIQUES THAT IDENTIFY ACTIVE CELLS USING FLOW CYTOMETRIC SORTING AND GENOMIC SEQUENCING IN A RELEVANT ANALOG SYSTEM. THE PROJECT WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SAMPLES-OF-OPPORTUNITY TO BE COLLECTED FROM THE SUBSURFACE ENVIRONMENT OF EARTH S OCEANIC CRUST (AND ICY WORLDS ANALOG) WHERE FLUID-ROCK REACTIONS IN MAFIC ROCKS SUPPORT AN ENERGY-LIMITED CHEMOLITHOTROPHIC ECOSYSTEM. SPECIFICALLY THIS PROJECT WILL LEVERAGE AN NSF-FUNDED EXPEDITION IN 2019 TO SUBSEAFLOOR OBSERVATORIES ON THE EASTERN FLANK OF THE JUAN DE FUCA RIDGE TO ENABLE IN SITU EXPERIMENTATION AND COLLECTION OF PRISTINE SAMPLES. LIVE MICROBIAL CELLS IN THIS HIGH-PRESSURE THERMOPHILIC (64 C) ANOXIC SYSTEM WILL BE SELECTED THROUGH INCORPORATION OF FLUOROGENIC SUBSTRATES INSIDE THE CELL ENABLING SORTING OF THESE CELLS FROM THE BULK COMMUNITY THROUGH FLOW CYTOMETRY. VARIOUS METABOLISMS INCLUDING CARBON MONOXIDE IRON AND SULFUR OXIDATION WILL BE EXPLORED THROUGH ENRICHMENT EXPERIMENTS PATHWAYS OF RELEVANCE TO CONSTRAINING CHEMOLITHOTROPHY ON EXTRATERRESTRIAL TARGETS LIKE EUROPA AND ENCELADUS. PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED WITH SIMILAR SUBSURFACE OCEAN CRUST SAMPLES FROM A DIFFERENT SYSTEM CONFIRM THAT CELLS IN LOW BIOMASS LOW ENERGY SYSTEMS CAN BE LABELED IN THIS WAY AND THAT THESE CELLS ARE AMENABLE TO DOWNSTREAM GENOME SEQUENCING. IF SUCCESSFUL RESULTS OF THIS PROJECT WILL SIGNIFICANTLY ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF THE SPECIFIC FUNCTIONAL POTENTIAL AND VIABILITY OF VARIOUS MEMBERS OF LOW-ENERGY SUBSURFACE ANALOG MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY ARE DOMINANT OR RARE MEMBERS OF THE POPULATION. THIS WOULD ESTABLISH A REVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO CONNECTING PHYSIOLOGY TO GENOMIC INFORMATION WHICH HAS APPLICATIONS BEYOND EXOBIOLOGY. CONFIRMING THE APPLICATION OF THIS METHOD IN A REMOTE ANALOG SYSTEM WOULD IMPACT NASA MISSION INTERESTS SEEKING TO IDENTIFY METHODS FOR BIOSIGNATURE DETECTION AND POSSIBLE SCENARIOS FOR EXPERIMENTATION ON FUTURE ROVERS TO IDENTIFY LIFE. THE PROPOSED PROJECT IS RELEVANT TO SPECIFIC RESEARCH EMPHASES IN THIS SOLICITATION AS WELL AS SEVERAL OF THE MAJOR TOPICS IN THE NASA ASTROBIOLOGY STRATEGY 2015. BY SORTING ACTIVE CELLS FROM OCEAN CRUST ANALOG ENVIRONMENTS AND THEN BEING ABLE TO DIRECTLY LINK CELL PHYSIOLOGY WITH GENOMIC INFORMATION THIS PROJECT DIRECTLY ADDRESSES THE SOLICITATION INTERESTS IN UNDERSTANDING THE PHYLOGENY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF EXTREMOPHILE MICROORGANISMS THAT MAY REFLECT THE NATURE OF PRIMITIVE ENVIRONMENTS AND THE CO-EVOLUTION OF THESE MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES THAT DRIVE THE BIOGEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES IN THESE ANALOG ENVIRONMENTS WHICH IS LIKEWISE DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO THEMES IN THE MAJOR TOPIC CO-EVOLUTION OF LIFE AND THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT . MOREOVER BY FOCUSING ON ENERGY LIMITED ANALOG SYSTEMS RELEVANT TO NASA S INTEREST IN ICY WORLDS THIS RESEARCH DIRECTLY CONTRIBUTES TO THEMES IN THE MAJOR TOPIC EARLY LIFE AND INCREASING COMPLEXITY.

EAGER: ENCAPSULATION AND SEQUENCING OF EXTRACELLULAR DNA

A 'HALO'FOR SHELLFISH AQUACULTURE: DISCOVERING THE PHYTOREMEDIATION POTENTIAL OF FARMED KELP

EAGER: VIRUSES OF THE PROTOZOAN PARASITES PERKINSUS SPP.: ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION

EAGER: A SATURATION APPROACH TO MICROZOOPLANKTON GRAZING RATE DETERMINATION

MODERNIZING THE FLOW AND IMAGING CYTOMETRY CAPABILITIES AT BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES

CHARACTERIZATION OF LARGE AND UNUSUAL NOCTILUCA BLOOMS IN THE NORTHERN ARABIAN SEA AND THEIR ROLE IN

DO SMALL FEMALE LOBSTERS PRODUCE LOWER QUALITY EGGS?

RUI: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: LINKING PHYSIOLOGICAL THERMAL THRESHOLDS TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF LOBSTER SETTLERS AND JUVENILES

EQUIPMENT: MRI: TRACK 1: ACQUISITION OF A DESKTOP SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE FOR AQUATIC MICROBIAL RESEARCH AND EDUCATION -AN AWARD IS MADE TO BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES TO ACQUIRE A PHENOM G6 PROX SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE (SEM) TO ENABLE BIGELOW RESEARCHERS, STAFF AND STUDENTS TO CONTINUE THEIR STUDY OF THE FOUNDATION OF GLOBAL OCEAN HEALTH AND UNLOCK ITS POTENTIAL TO IMPROVE THE FUTURE FOR ALL LIFE ON OUR PLANET. BIGELOW LABORATORY HAS >100 POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS, GRADUATE STUDENTS, UNDERGRADUATE INTERNS, AND WORKING PROFESSIONALS UTILIZING ITS COLLECTIVE RESEARCH TRAINING AND EDUCATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE EACH YEAR, IN PARTICULAR ITS MICROSCOPE FACILITIES THAT THE SEM IN THIS PROJECT WILL AUGMENT. ESPECIALLY, THE SEM WILL BE USED IN THE MARINE HARMFUL ALGAL TAXONOMY COURSE OFFERED ANNUALLY TO ACADEMICS AND HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM PROGRAM MANAGERS. ADDITIONALLY, THE SEM WOULD BE A VALUABLE RESOURCE TO COLLABORATING RESEARCHERS AND TEACHERS AT NEIGHBORING ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS, SPECIFICALLY SOUTHERN MAINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE, PROVIDING NEW OPPORTUNITIES TO THEIR RESEARCH AND STUDENTS. THE SEM WILL ENHANCE RESEARCH CAPABILITIES OF THE EXISTING MICROSCOPY INFRASTRUCTURE AT BIGELOW LABORATORY AND ALLOW BIGELOW SCIENTISTS AND THEIR TEAMS TO CONDUCT CUTTING EDGE RESEARCH IN MANY NEW AREAS. THESE AREAS ARE COMPRISED OF THE FOLLOWING THEMES: 1) INTERACTIONS OF AQUATIC MICROORGANISMS WITH CHEMICAL STIMULI AND THEIR RESPONSE, 2) INTERACTIONS AMONG AQUATIC MICROORGANISMS THAT IMPACT IMPORTANT GLOBAL GEOCHEMICAL CYCLES, 3) IMPROVED TAXONOMIC IDENTIFICATION OF AQUATIC MICROORGANISMS, SPECIFICALLY RESOLVING THOSE THAT ARE HARMFUL FROM THOSE THAT ARE NOT, 4) THE PROGRESSION OF DISEASE IN AQUATIC CRUSTACEANS, AND 5) TRANSLATING KNOWLEDGE OF AQUATIC MICROORGANISMS TO SOCIETAL SOLUTIONS SUCH AS MARINE CARBON DIOXIDE REMOVAL. THIS DIVERSE RANGE OF PROJECTS REFLECTS THE DIVERSE INTERESTS OF BIGELOW SCIENTISTS, WHO ARE MAKING VALUABLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH MISSIONS OF BIGELOW LABORATORY. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

REU SITE: BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE IN THE GULF OF MAINE AND THE WORLD OCEAN

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: IRON STORAGE IN DIATOMS AND N2 FIXING CYANOBACTERIA: MECHANISMS, REGULATION AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL SIGNIFICANCE

THE EARTHS OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS ARE COMPRISED OF A MYRIAD OF PHYSICAL CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES THAT CREATE ADAPTIVE AND RESILIENT ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES. THESE ECOSYSTEMS ARE AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE PLANETS BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES SUCH AS CARBON NITROGEN PHOSPHORUS SILICA IRON ETC. WHICH IN TURN ARE COUPLED TO AND INFLUENCED BY THE PLANETS CLIMATE; THE OCEANS BIOLOGICAL CARBON PUMP IS ONE SUCH CYCLE SEE VOLK AND HOFFERT 1985. THE STRENGTH AND EFFICIENCY OF THE BIOLOGICAL PUMP ARE CONTROLLED BY PARTICULATE ORGANIC CARBON POC PRODUCTION NEAR THE SURFACE AND ITS TROPHIC REMINERALIZATION WITH DEPTH SEE BUESSELER 2007; NEUER 2002 WHICH IS EXTENSIVELY REGULATED BY THE DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF PHYTOPLANKTON FUNCTIONAL TYPES PFTS.WE PROPOSE A BIOOPTICAL LABORATORY STUDY TO DEVELOP A MORE EXTENSIVE PHYTOPLANKTON SPECTRAL LIBRARY THAT WILL BE COUPLED WITH SATELLITE RADIANCE PRODUCTS AND EXISTING TIME SERIES DATASETS OF PFTS TO IMPROVE OUR ABILITY TO OBSERVE AND PREDICT CHANGES IN PFTS IN RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE CONSEQUENT IMPACTS ON THE BIOLOGICAL CARBON PUMP. SPECIFICALLY WE WILL:1. COMPARE PHYTOPLANKTON SPECTRAL SHAPE PFT ALGORITHMS SEE PHYDOTAX PALACIOS 2015 AND HPLC BASED PIGMENT DISTRIBUTIONS OF PFTS WITH DIRECT OBSERVATIONS OF PFT DISTRIBUTIONS AT OCEAN TIME SERIES SITES.2. CONDUCT CONTROLLED LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS FOR EACH MAJOR PFT QUANTIFYING CHANGES IN OPTICAL FINGERPRINTS PIGMENT CONTENT AND CHL A AND POC NORMALIZED PIGMENT RATIOS IN RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE VARIABLES IN MULTI STRESSOR EXPERIMENTS.3. REFINE EXISTING PFT ALGORITHMS BY INCORPORATING NEW MEASUREMENTS OF CHANGES IN OPTICAL PROPERTIES AND PIGMENT CONTENT OF CULTURES GROWN UNDER CONDITIONS REPRESENTATIVE OF FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE.4. RE COMPARE THE ALGORITHMS DERIVED IN TASK 2 AND 3 ABOVE TO THE TIME SERIES OBSERVATIONS TO ASSESS IF THERE IS IMPROVEMENT IN AGREEMENT BETWEEN IN SITU OBSERVATIONS AND SATELLITE PRODUCTS AND THE ABILITY OF THESE NEW ALGORITHMS TO DETECT OBSERVED ECOSYSTEM CHANGES.WE WILL LEVERAGE ACCESS TO THE FACILITIES OF THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR MARINE ALGAE AND MICROBIOTA NCMA AT BIGELOW LABORATORY AND GROW REPRESENTATIVES OF EACH PFT IN SEMI CONTINUOUS CULTURES IN CONDITIONS REPRESENTATIVE OF PRESENT AND FUTURE OCEAN CONDITIONS. MANNINOS GROUP WILL COLLECT A SPECTRAL LIBRARY OF THESE TAXA THAT WILL CONSIST OF HYPERSPECTRAL UV VIS ABSORBANCE AND MULTI SPECTRALAND ANGULAR SCATTERING PROPERTIES AND APPLY RADIATIVE TRANSFER NUMERICAL MODELING TO DERIVE HYPERSPECTRAL UV V IS REFLECTANCE. THIS EXPERIMENTAL SPECTRAL LIBRARY WILL BE USED TO REFINE AND EVALUATE THE PHYDOTAX APPROACH SUCH AS PALACIOS FOR OUR OPEN OCEAN STUDY REGIONS AND OTHER SPECTRAL SHAPE BASED ALGORITHMS FOR RETRIEVAL OF PFTS FROM THE PACE AND OTHER HYPERSPECTRAL AND MULTISPECTRALOCEAN COLOR SENSORS.WE WILL VALIDATE THESE PFT APPROACHES USING DATA FROM THE BERMUDA ATLANTIC TIME SERIES STUDY BATS SITE WHICH HAS A GREATER THAN 20 YEAR RECORD OF MONTHLY OPTICAL SCATTERING ABSORPTION AND REMOTE SENSING REFLECTANCE MEASUREMENTS SUCH AS BERMUDA BIOOPTICS PROGRAM HPLC PIGMENTS SUCH AS LOMAS 2013 AND AN APPROXIMATELY 20 YEAR RECORD OF PFTS FOR PICO AND NANOPHYTOPLANKTON SUCH AS WALLHEAD 2013 AND HAS BEENSHOWN TO EXPERIENCE STRONG VARIABILITY IN SEASONAL FORCING AS WELL AS LONGER TERM CLIMATE OSCILLATIONS FOR EXAMPLE NORTH ATLANTIC OSCILLATION.WE WILL ALSO USE THE ATLANTIC ZONE MONITORING PROGRAM PHYTOPLANKTON TIME SERIES FROM THE SCOTIAN SHELF TO PROVIDE A CONTRAST IN PFT ABUNDANCE AND PHYSICAL REGIME. THESE TIME SERIES WILL ALLOW US TO INVESTIGATE BOTH TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL PATTERNS IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN.THIS PROPOSAL RESPONDS TO SECTION A.3 OCEAN BIOLOGY AND BIOGEOCHEMISTRY SUBSECTION 2.1 RESEARCH IN OCEAN ECOLOGY. SPECIFICALLY IT FITS THE OBJECTIVES OF THE PACE SCIENCE MISSION AND WILL PROVIDE MUCH NEEDED INFORMATION ON IMPROVED PHYTOPLANKTON FUNCTIONAL TYPE ALGORITHMS.

PCMHAB 2017: EXPANDING THE OPTIONS FOR MONITORING OF DSP BY PROMOTING THE ISSC APPROVAL OF LC-MS/MS AND TWO RAPID SCREENING APPROACHES

GEOTRACES ARCTIC SECTION: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLING OF PARTICULATE TRACE ELEMENTS IN THE WESTERN ARCTIC BASIN

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: QUANTITATIVE IMPORTANCE AND TROPHIC ROLE OF NOCTILUCA BLOOMS IN THE ARABIAN SEA

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF PICOCYANOBACTERIA IN THE MARINE SILICATE CYCLE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INVESTIGATION OF PAIRED URANIUM AND CHROMIUM ISOTOPE BEHAVIOR DURING AUTHIGENIC METAL UPTAKE INTO CONTINENTAL MARGIN SEDIMENTS

MRI: ACQUISITION OF A QUADRUPOLE INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA MASS SPECTROMETER FOR RESEARCH AND TEACHING ON MARINE ORGANISMS AND BIOGEOCHEMISTRY

THE PARTICULATE INORGANIC CARBON (PIC; AKA SUSPENDED CALCIUM CARBONATE) ALGORITHM DETECTS THE CONCENTRATION OF PIC (IN MOLES M-3) SUSPENDED IN SEAWATER. PIC IS ASSOCIATED WITH COCCOLITHOPHORES A CLASS OF PRYMNESIOPHYTE MICROALGAE THAT COVERS ITSELF WITH MICROSCOPIC SCALES CALLED COCCOLITHS. THESE CELLS AND ASSOCIATED CALCITE COCCOLITHS ARE UBIQUITOUS IN THE EARTH S OCEANS AND THEY OCCUR AT DENSITIES OF HUNDREDS ML-1 EVEN IN THE MOST OLIGOTROPHIC REGIONS (THE BIOLOGICAL DESERTS ). THEIR DENSE CALCITE COCCOLITHS SERVE AS BALLAST FOR SINKING PARTICULATE ORGANIC MATTER AND AS SUCH THEY ARE A MAJOR DRIVER OF THE OCEAN S BIOLOGICAL PUMP. THE CALCITE ALSO HAS A RELATIVE REFRACTIVE INDEX FAR GREATER THAN MOST OTHER PARTICLES IN THE SEA. THUS THE COCCOLITHS ARE HIGHLY SCATTERING TO VISIBLE LIGHT SUCH THAT THEY CAN BE EASILY SEEN FROM SPACE. THE NASA PIC PRODUCT IS A STANDARD PRODUCT FOR NASA MODIS AQUA AND TERRA AND THIS PROPOSAL IS BEING SUBMITTED TO BOTH AQUA AND TERRA BIENNIAL REVIEW TEAMS. THE ORIGINAL ALGORITHM MAINTENANCE PROPOSAL TO NASA INCLUDED THE STANDARD PIC ALGORITHM AS WELL AS A DIFFERENCING ALGORITHM WHICH AT THE TIME OF THE PROPOSAL SUBMISSION WAS IN EARLY DEVELOPMENT.

MODIS TERRA AND AQUA PARTICULATE INORGANIC CARBON ALGORITHM MAINTENANCE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: HIGH RESOLUTION GLIDER OBSERVATIONS ENABLE REASSESSMENT OF EXPORT PRODUCTION IN THE OLIGOTROPHIC SARGASSO SEA

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: UNDERSTANDING ARCTIC MARINE BIOGEOCHEMICAL RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE FOR SEASONAL TO DECADAL PREDICTION USING REGIONAL AND G

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: SOURCES AND TRANSFORMATIONS OF EXPORT PRODUCTION: A NOVEL 50-YEAR RECORD OF PELAGIC-BENTHIC COUPLING FROM CORAL AND PLANKTON BIOARCHIVES

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: IODP EXPEDITION 336 OBJECTIVE RESEARCH: THE DEEP BIOSPHERE OF YOUNG AND OXIC OCEANIC CRUST

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: FECYCLE I I- NATURAL VARIABILITY IN PLANKTON IRON QUOTAS DURING AN UNAMENDED LAGRANGIAN EXPERIMENT

INTERGOVERNMENTAL MOBILITY ASSIGNMENT

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: A NOVEL APPROACH TO STUDY MONOMETHYLMERCURY IN NATURAL PHYTOPLANKTON ASSEMBLAGES -MERCURY (HG) REMAINS AN IMPORTANT POLLUTANT IN THE OCEAN DESPITE INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS TO LOWER EMISSIONS. WHILE ALL FORMS OF MERCURY ARE TOXIC, MONOMETHYL MERCURY (MMHG) IS ESPECIALLY PROBLEMATIC BECAUSE IT BECOMES HIGHLY CONCENTRATED IN FISH CONSUMED BY HUMANS. GIVEN THE HEALTH IMPLICATIONS FOR PEOPLE IT IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND MMHG CYCLING IN THE OCEAN, BUT THE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT GOVERN MMHG ENTRAINMENT FROM SEAWATER TO THE BASE OF THE FOOD WEB ARE NOT YET SUFFICIENTLY UNDERSTOOD. THIS PROJECT WILL STUDY MMHG IN NATURAL PHYTOPLANKTON AND TEST HYPOTHESES ABOUT THE MECHANISMS AND CONTROLS ON MMHG UPTAKE. THE STUDY WILL OCCUR ON THE SHELF OF THE WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN AND IN ITS ESTUARIES, A REGION OF PRODUCTIVE FISHERIES. SEASONAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL CHANGES IN BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTIVITY AND PLANKTON COMMUNITY STRUCTURE WILL SERVE AS A ?NATURAL LABORATORY? FOR TESTING HYPOTHESES ON THE FACTORS THAT CONTROL MMHG UPTAKE. THE PROJECT WILL PROVIDE TRAINING AND RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH PAID INTERNSHIPS AND SUMMER PROGRAMS FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. TWO GRADUATE STUDENTS, ONE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT AND ONE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND, WILL BE TRAINED. THE TEAM WILL CONDUCT OUTREACH ACTIVITIES IN COLLABORATION WITH THE YALE PEABODY MUSEUM TO SHARE MARINE MMHG SCIENCE WITH A VARIETY OF MUSEUM AUDIENCES. RESEARCHERS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT, WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION, UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND, AND BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES WILL COLLABORATE ON THIS STUDY WITH THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF STUDYING MMHG IN NATURAL PHYTOPLANKTON AND TESTING CURRENT ASSERTIONS THAT CELL SIZE AND DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON CONCENTRATION [DOC] ACT AS MAJOR CONTROLS OVER MMHG UPTAKE IN PHYTOPLANKTON AND INVESTIGATE OTHER MECHANISMS. ADDITIONAL HYPOTHESES THAT WILL BE TESTED INCLUDE: 1) PHYTOPLANKTON THAT EMPLOY HETEROTROPHY TAKE UP MORE MMHG, AND 2) FASTER PLANKTON GROWTH LOWERS CELLULAR MMHG. NOVEL DATA SUCH AS CELLULAR QUOTA, BIOMASS-BASED CONCENTRATIONS, AND VOLUME CONCENTRATION FACTORS FOR MMHG IN PICO, NANO, AND MICROPLANKTON WILL BE OBTAINED THROUGH MMHG ANALYSIS OF SEQUENTIALLY FILTERED PLANKTON, CHARACTERIZED FOR THEIR SIZE AND TAXONOMIC PROPERTIES BY FLOW CYTOMETRY AND IMAGE ANALYSES AND MACHINE LEARNING ALGORITHMS. THROUGH YEAR-ROUND SAMPLING IN ESTUARIES, THE TEAM WILL ALSO INVESTIGATE HOW MMHG CONCENTRATIONS THAT SHOULD BE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PHYTOPLANKTON ARE INFLUENCED BY MMHG BOUND TO NONPLANKTONIC PARTICLES. THE PROJECT RESEARCH WILL LEVERAGE SPRING AND FALL RESEARCH CRUISES AND DATA COLLECTION OF THE NORTHEAST U.S. SHELF LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH (NES-LTER) AND NOAA?S ECOSYSTEM MONITORING (ECOMON) PROGRAMS. MMHG DATA WILL BE SYNTHESIZED STATISTICALLY AND GRAPHICALLY. SOME SPATIAL PATTERNS IN MMHG OF THE PLANKTON WILL BE SHARED AS SURFACE MAPS. DEPTH PROFILES OF UNFILTERED MMHG AND TOTAL HG CONCENTRATIONS WILL ALSO BE STUDIED. THE DATA GAINED THROUGH THIS RESEARCH WILL BE USEFUL FOR COMPARING LABORATORY-DERIVED CONCENTRATION FACTORS AND MODEL-GENERATED PREDICTIONS IN THE STUDY REGION. RESULTS GENERATED IN THIS RESEARCH WILL BE HELPFUL FOR MMHG MODELING EFFORTS, AND THE APPROACH MAY BE ADAPTED TO STUDIES IN OTHER ECOSYSTEMS OR FOR OTHER METALS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: YEAR-ROUND AUTONOMOUS SAMPLING OF METHANE IN ARCTIC LAKES

CALIBRATION OF THE PARTICULATE INORGANIC CARBON ALGORITHM

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ETBC: AMAZON INFLUENCE ON THE ATLANTIC: CARBON EXPORT FROM NITROGEN FIXATION BY DIATOM SYMBIOSES (ANACONDAS)

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: AGENT-BASED MODELING AND OBSERVATION OF INTRA-POPULATION VARIABILITY IN PHYTOPLANKTON

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: MECHANISMS SUPPORTING PERSISTENCE OF A KEY PLANKTON SPECIES DURING CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE NORTHWEST ATLANTIC CONTINENTAL SHELF

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PROCHLOROCOCCUS AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO NEW PRODUCTION IN THE SARGASSO SEA

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: HIGH RESOLUTION BACTERIAL MAT SAMPLER FOR OPERATION WITH DEEP SUBMERGENCE VEHICLES

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: LOIHI SEAMOUNT AS AN OBSERVATORY FOR THE STUDY OF NEUTROPHILIC IRON-OXIDIZING BACTERIA AND THE MICROBIAL IRON CYCLE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: RESPONSES OF ATMOSPHERIC OXIDANTS AND CO2 TO DRAMATIC CHANGES IN ARCTIC SEA ICE

FSML-ENHANCED COOPERATIVE RADIOCHEMISTRY RESEARCH AND EDUCATION AT THE BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES

EAGER: ANT LIA: PERSIST OR PERISH: RECORDS OF MICROBIAL SURVIVAL AND LONG-TERM PERSISTENCE FROM THE WEST ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET -ICE CORES FROM GLACIERS AND ICE SHEETS PROVIDE DETAILED ARCHIVES OF PAST ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS, FURTHERING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF EARTH?S CLIMATE. MICROORGANISMS IN THE WEST ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET ARE BURIED OVER GLACIOLOGICAL TIME AND FORM A STRATIGRAPHY RECORD PROVIDING THE OPPORTUNITY OF ANALYSIS OF THE ORDER AND POSITION OF LAYERS OF GEOLOGICAL EVENTS, WITH POTENTIAL LINKS TO SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE CLIMATE. HOWEVER, MICROBIAL CELLS THAT LAND ON THE ICE SHEET ARE SUBJECT TO THE STRESSES OF CHANGING HABITAT CONDITIONS DUE TO BURIAL AND CONDITIONS ASSOCIATED WITH LONG-TERM ISOLATION IN ICE. THESE PROCESSES MAY LEAD TO A LOSS OF FIDELITY WITHIN THE STRATIGRAPHIC RECORD OF MICROBIAL CELLS. WE KNOW LITTLE ABOUT HOW AND IF MICROORGANISMS SURVIVE BURIAL AND REMAIN ALIVE OVER GLACIAL-INTERGLACIAL TIME PERIODS WITHIN AN ICE SHEET. THIS ANALYSIS WILL IDENTIFY THE VIABLE AND PRESERVED COMMUNITY OF MICROORGANISMS AND CORE GENOMIC ADAPTATION THAT PERMIT CELL VIABILITY, WHICH WILL ADVANCE KNOWLEDGE IN THE AREAS OF MICROBIOLOGY AND GLACIOLOGY WHILE INCREASING FIDELITY OF ICE CORE MEASUREMENTS RELEVANT TO PAST CLIMATE AND POTENTIAL FUTURE GLOBAL CLIMATE IMPACTS. THIS EXPLORATORY ENDEAVOR HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE A TRANSFORMATIVE STEP TOWARD UNDERSTANDING THE ECOLOGY OF ONE OF THE MOST UNDERSTUDIED ENVIRONMENTS ON EARTH. THE PROJECT WILL PARTNER WITH THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE, BOSTON, TO INCREASE PUBLIC SCIENTIFIC LITERACY VIA EDUCATION AND OUTREACH. ADDITIONALLY, THIS PROJECT WILL SUPPORT TWO EARLY-CAREER SCIENTISTS AND TWO UNDERGRADUATES IN INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AT THE INTERSECTION OF MICROBIOLOGY AND CLIMATE SCIENCE. RESULTS FROM THIS PROJECT WILL PROVIDE THE FIRST DNA DATA BASED ON SINGLE-CELL WHOLE GENOMIC SEQUENCING FROM THE ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET AND INFORM WHETHER POST-DEPOSITIONAL PROCESSES IMPACT THE INTERPRETATIONS OF PALEOENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS FROM MICROBES. THE GOALS TO DETERMINE THE TAXONOMIC IDENTITY OF VIABLE AND PRESERVED MICROBIAL CELLS, AND DECODE THE GENETIC REPERTOIRE THAT CONFERS SURVIVAL OF BURIAL AND LONG-TERM VIABILITY WITHIN GLACIAL ICE, WILL BE ACHIEVED BY UTILIZING SUBSAMPLES FROM A ~60,000 YEAR OLD RECORD OF THE WEST ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET DIVIDE (WD) ICE CORE. WD SAMPLES WILL BE MELTED USING THE DESERT RESEARCH INSTITUTE?S ICE CORE MELTING SYSTEM THAT IS OPTIMIZED FOR GLACIOBIOLOGICAL SAMPLING. MICROBIAL CELLS FROM THE MELTWATER WILL BE SORTED USING FLUORESCENCE-ACTIVATED CELL SORTING, AND INDIVIDUALLY SORTED CELLS WILL HAVE THEIR GENOMES SEQUENCED. THE FLUORESCENCE-BASED METHODS WILL DISCERN THE VIABLE (METABOLICALLY ACTIVE) CELLS FROM THOSE CELLS THAT ARE NON-VIABLE BUT PRESERVED IN THE ICE (DNA-CONTAINING). THE GENOMIC ANALYSIS WILL IDENTIFY THE TAXONOMY OF EACH CELL, PRESENCE OF KNOWN GENES THAT CONFER SURVIVAL IN PERMANENTLY FROZEN ENVIRONMENTS, AND COMPARATIVELY ANALYZE GENOMES TO DETERMINE THE CORE SET OF GENES REQUIRED BY VIABLE CELLS TO PERSIST IN AN ICE SHEET. THE OUTCOMES OF THIS WORK WILL EXPAND THE POTENTIAL FOR BIOLOGICAL MEASUREMENTS AND CONTAMINATION CONTROL FROM ARCHIVED ICE CORES. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

OCE-RIG CANARY ON THE CORAL REEF: ECOPHYSIOLOGY OF TROPICAL CRUSTOSE CORALLINE ALGAE ACROSS LATITUDINAL GRADIENTS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: WHAT CONTROLS THE TRANSFER OF DIATOM ORGANIC MATTER TO AGE-0 POLLOCK PREY IN THE BERING SEA ECOSYSTEM?

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: IMPACTS OF THE CHANGING SEASONALITY OF WIND-DRIVEN MIXING ON THE ARCTIC SYSTEM

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PLANT REGULATION OF COMPETITION BETWEEN METHANOGENS AND IRON-REDUCING BACTERIA IN FRESHWATER WETLANDS

EAGER: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EXPLORATORY APPLICATION OF SINGLE-MOLECULE REAL TIME (SMRT) DNA SEQUENCING IN MICROBIAL ECOLOGY RESEARCH

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: IMPACT OF SEA-ICE ON BOTTOM-UP AND TOP-DOWN CONTROLS OF CRUSTACEAN ZOOPLANKTON AND THE MEDIATION OF CARBON AND ENERGY FLOW IN

BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES HAS REQUESTED FEDERAL FUNDING (CONMUNITY FUNDING) IN THE AMOUNT OF $89,000 TO SUPPORT PART OF 2022-2023 ACTIVITIES FOR AN ANNUAL PROGRAM OF MARINE EDUCATION ESTABLISHED THREE DECADES AGO. THROUGH TWO, FREE, WEEK-LONG BLOOM PROGRAMS (&QUOT;BIGELOW LABORATORY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE&QUOT;) OVER THE COURSE OF ONE YEAR, BIGELOW LABORATORY FOR OCEAN SCIENCES: 1) ARMS 10 MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS WITH THE SKILLS AND EQUIPMENT THEY NEED TO GIVE THEIR STUDENTS MORE MEANINGFUL AQUATIC SCIENCE EXPERIENCES IN SCHOOL THROUGH THE BLOOM EDUCATORS PROGRAM, AND 2) INSPIRES 16 MAINE HIGH SCHOOL JUNIORS TO PURSUE STUDIES AND CAREERS IN STEM THROUGH THE KELLER BLOOM STUDENT PROGRAM. THESE ANNUAL PROGRAMS, COLLECTIVELY KNOWN AS &QUOT;THE BLOOMS&QUOT;, STRENGTHEN HOW STUDENTS AND TEACHERS LINK THEIR SCIENCE CLASSROOMS TO REAL WORLD ISSUES LIKE CLIMATE CHANGE, WATER QUALITY, FISHERIES, AND CONSERVATION. BLOOMS HAS REACHED MORE THAN 4,000 HIGH

22-TWSC22-0003 EXPANDING THE OCEAN HACK WEEK COLLABORATIVE MODEL FOR OPEN DATA SCIENCE PROFICIENCY IN OCEANOGRAPHY

THE OVERARCHING OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED FIELD CAMPAIGN IS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON LAND-OCEAN INTERACTIONS IN THE ARCTI

DEVELOPMENT OF 'EYE-IN-THE-SEA' (EITS), AN UNOBTRUSIVE CAMERA SYSTEM USING FAR-RED ILLUMINATION FOR REMOTE IN-SITU OBSERVATION

SWEDEN-US WORKSHOP TO DISCUSS POTENTIAL JOINT-ARCTIC RESEARCH USING THE I/B ODEN

SGER: GIANT VIRUS REGULATION OF COCCOLITHOPHORID DYNAMICS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: COMPLETING NORTH POND BOREHOLE EXPERIMENTS TO ELUCIDATE THE HYDROLOGY OF YOUNG, SLOW-SPREAD CRUST

EXPEDITION OBJECTIVE RESEARCH (IODP EXPEDITION 340): DIAGENESIS IN TEPHRA-RICH MARINE SEDIMENTS AND THE IMPACT OF REACTIVE IRON ON ENHANCED CARBON BU

OPTICAL SIGNALS AND GRADIENTS IN OCEAN COASTAL AND BENTHIC ENVIRONMENTS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GRAZING AND IRON CONTROLS OF DIATOM BLOOMS IN THE ARABIAN SEA

TAS::89 0222::TAS; NEW; TITLE: WORKSHOP: REDEFINING MICROBIAL GENOMICS: THE POWER OF SEQUENCING INDIVIDUAL CELLS; PI: RAMUNAS STEPANAUSKAS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: TESTING LINKAGES BETWEEN PLANKTON COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AND EXPORT OF C, PO, AND TH IN THE SUB-ARCTIC NE PACIFIC: FIELD AND LAB

WE REQUEST SUPPORT FOR A WORKSHOP IN THE EMERGING FIELD OF MICROBIAL SINGLE CELL GENOMICS (SCG). THIS NEW RESEARCH APPROACH IS A POWERFUL TOOL FOR EL

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EAGER: SOLVING DARWINS PARADOX: COMBINING EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES TO QUANTIFY ENERGY FLUXES ON CORAL REEFS -CORAL REEFS ARE AMONG THE MOST DIVERSE AND PRODUCTIVE ECOSYSTEMS, BUT THEY ARE LOCATED IN NUTRIENT-POOR TROPICAL OCEANS THAT ARE ILL-SUITED TO SUSTAIN THEIR ICONIC ABUNDANCE. THIS PARADOX HAS PUZZLED SCIENTISTS FOR CENTURIES. WHILE SEVERAL ORGANISMS HAVE BEEN SUGGESTED TO SUPPORT LIFE ON REEFS, WHEN, WHERE, OR WHY THEY EMERGE AS CRITICAL PLAYERS FOR CORAL REEFS IS LARGELY UNKNOWN. THIS PROJECT EXAMINES HOW THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A CORAL REEF SHAPE ITS RELIANCE ON DIFFERENT ORGANISMS TO SUSTAIN ALL THE LARGE FISHES TYPICALLY ASSOCIATED WITH REEFS. BY QUANTIFYING FINE-SCALE FEATURES OF SMALL REEF PATCHES, SUCH AS THEIR TEMPERATURE, WAVE ENERGY, ARCHITECTURE, AND SMALL, HIDDEN SPECIES ASSEMBLAGES, AND COMBINING THESE FINDINGS WITH A DETAILED ANALYSIS OF WHAT LARGE FISHES RESIDING ON THE REEF HAVE EATEN OVER TIME, THIS RESEARCH REVEALS THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH DIFFERENT CORAL REEF ORGANISMS ? FROM MINUTE ALGAE TO CORALS, PLANKTON, SPONGES, MICROSCOPIC INVERTEBRATES, OR TINY FISHES ? TAKE ON IMPORTANT ROLES IN FEEDING LARGER FISHES. USING AERIAL DRONE SURVEYS TO SCALE UP THESE FINE-SCALE PATTERNS TO THE AREA OF AN ENTIRE REEF, THE PROJECT THEN PROVIDES A WHOLE-REEF ESTIMATE FOR THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF DIFFERENT ORGANISMS TO LIFE ON A REEF. IN DOING SO, THE RESEARCH OFFERS A NEW OPPORTUNITY FOR CORAL REEF STEWARDSHIP: IF THE MOST IMPORTANT ORGANISMS FOR CORAL REEF PRODUCTIVITY CAN BE IDENTIFIED RELIABLY FROM A FEW FEATURES, A MUCH MORE TARGETED, CONTEXT-SPECIFIC MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK IS POSSIBLE. FINALLY, THE PROJECT YIELDS TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG, EMERGING REEF SCIENTISTS FROM CORAL REEF NATIONS, AND A PLETHORA OF ATTRACTIVE DIGITAL CORAL REEF MEDIA TO ENGAGE THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND INCREASE AWARENESS OF THE FRAGILITY OF CORAL REEF ECOSYSTEMS. THE MOVEMENT AND STORAGE OF ENERGY UNDERPINS THE FUNCTIONING OF ALL ECOSYSTEMS ON EARTH. THE EXTREME DIVERSITY AND PRODUCTIVITY OF CORAL REEFS, DESPITE THEIR LOCATION IN OLIGOTROPHIC WATERS, HAS LONG GENERATED SUBSTANTIAL INTEREST IN THE ROLE OF DIFFERENT ORGANISMS FOR CORAL REEF ENERGY FLUXES. YET, TO DATE, THESE FINDINGS APPEAR TO BE HIGHLY CONTEXT-SPECIFIC, AND NO GENERAL UNDERSTANDING EXISTS CONCERNING THE ENVIRONMENTAL, STRUCTURAL, OR BIOLOGICAL DRIVERS THAT CAUSE RELIANCE ON ONE OR MORE SOURCES OR PATHWAYS OF PRODUCTIVITY ON CORAL REEFS. AS THE FIRST PROJECT TO COMBINE UNDERWATER DATA LOGGERS, STRUCTURE-FROM-MOTION PHOTOGRAMMETRY, BIOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS, UNDERWATER STEREO-VIDEO, AND COMPOUND-SPECIFIC ISOTOPE ANALYSES OF AMINO ACIDS, THIS RESEARCH INVESTIGATES HOW VARIOUS INTERDEPENDENT ATTRIBUTES OF SMALL REEF PATCHES?SUCH AS WAVE EXPOSURE, RUGOSITY, AND CRYPTOBENTHIC COMMUNITY STRUCTURE?AFFECT THE RELATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS OF DIFFERENT ORGANISMS TO CORAL REEF ENERGY FLUXES. BY INTEGRATING THE RESULTING RELATIONSHIPS WITH AERIAL DRONE SURVEYS AND AN EXPLORATION PROCEDURE BASED ON QUANTITATIVE COLOR PATTERN ANALYSES, THE RESEARCH THEN SCALES UP THE UNCOVERED PATCH-DYNAMICS TO THE AREA OF AN ENTIRE REEF, ULTIMATELY REVEALING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF DIFFERENT SOURCES AND PATHWAYS TO REEF FISH BIOMASS AT THE SCALE OF THE ECOSYSTEM. THIS REVEALS THE POTENTIAL PATHWAYS THAT CAN SUSTAIN CORAL REEFS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL AND STRUCTURAL DRIVERS. IN DOING SO, THE PROJECT OFFERS A MORE GENERAL SOLUTION TO A CENTURIES-OLD QUESTION, WHILE PROVIDING A NEW LENS THROUGH WHICH CORAL REEFS CAN BE MANAGED IN THE ANTHROPOCENE. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

OPTICAL SIGNALS AND GRADIENTS IN OCEAN COASTAL AND BENTHIC ENVIRONMENTS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: IDEAS LAB: LIGHT IN THE DARK: FIBER OPTIC SENSING OF CLIMATE-CRITICAL CARBON CYCLE COMPONENTS AT WATER/ICE-AIR INTERFACES -LAKES PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN REGULATING THE GREENHOUSE GASES THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO EARTH?S CLIMATE, BUT LAKES ARE UNDER AN INCREASING AMOUNT OF HUMAN-INDUCED STRESS AND DISTURBANCE, EXACERBATED BY A CHANGING CLIMATE. MONITORING OF LAKES, ESPECIALLY THOSE THAT ARE ICE COVERED IN WINTER MONTHS, IS CRITICAL TO UNDERSTAND HOW LAKES ARE CHANGING. HOWEVER, IT IS DIFFICULT TO MAKE SUCH MEASUREMENTS BECAUSE OF THE HIGH COST TO INSTALL AND MAINTAIN INSTRUMENTS IN THE LAKE YEAR-ROUND. THIS IDEAS LAB: ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGIES TO ADVANCE UNDERWATER SCIENCES (ETAUS) PROJECT WILL ADVANCE THE FIELD OF WATER QUALITY MONITORING BY DEVELOPING A SENSOR THAT CAN MONITOR MULTIPLE WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR AND FILL THIS KNOWLEDGE GAP. THE GOAL FOR THE SENSOR DEVELOPMENT IS TO SIMULTANEOUSLY MEASURE PARAMETERS THAT ARE SIGNIFICANT COMPONENTS OF MEASURING A LAKE?S INFLUENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE (CARBON DIOXIDE, METHANE), THE HEALTH OF THE LAKE ECOSYSTEM (TEMPERATURE, PH, SALINITY, DISSOLVED OXYGEN), AND THE IMPACTS OF HUMAN INFLUENCE (SALINITY, TEMPERATURE). AN EASY-TO-DEPLOY, COST-EFFECTIVE SENSOR WILL PROVIDE AN IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF ALL LAKE SYSTEMS THAT WILL BETTER INFORM LAKE MANAGEMENT DECISIONS. THE EDUCATION PROGRAMS SUPPORTED BY THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO PROMOTE LEARNING AND DISCOVERY OF WATER QUALITY ISSUES, SCIENCE, AND SOLUTIONS FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS THROUGH THE PARTNERSHIP WITH THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE (MOS) IN BOSTON. THE MOS HAS A FOCUS ON WORKING WITH WOMEN AND GIRLS FROM THE BOSTON COMMUNITY IN ENGINEERING AND A FIELD-LEADING EMPHASIS ON UNIVERSAL DESIGN. THE OVERALL AIM OF THIS PROJECT IS TO INCREASE OUR QUANTITATIVE UNDERSTANDING OF GREENHOUSE GAS CYCLING WITHIN LAKES THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL, MINIATURE, FIBER-OPTIC MULTIPARAMETER SENSOR (FOMS) CAPABLE OF LONG-TERM, UNDER-ICE DEPLOYMENT. A FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE WAVE-MATERIAL/STRUCTURE INTERACTION IN CASCADED HIGH-Q RING RESONATORS WILL BE ACHIEVED TO DEVELOP MINIATURE PHOTONIC SENSORS FOR SIMULTANEOUS MONITORING OF MULTIPLE PARAMETERS WITH HIGH ANALYTE SPECIFICITY AND FAST RESPONSE. THE FOMS WILL BE DEVELOPED TO MEASURE SEVEN PARAMETERS SIMULTANEOUSLY, INCLUDING CO2 AND CH4, AND DEPLOYED ON A STATIONARY MOORING AND MOBILE UNDERWATER ROBOTIC PLATFORMS FOR HIGH TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL RESOLUTION DATA COLLECTION. THE DEVELOPMENT AND CALIBRATION OF THE FOMS WILL BE GUIDED BY A NOVEL MACHINE LEARNING-BASED SENSOR CALIBRATION MODEL THAT WILL HELP TRANSFORM THE FOMS INTO AN INTELLIGENT SENSING SYSTEM, LEADING TO HIGH-FIDELITY ?FINGERPRINT? SENSING THAT CAN ADDRESS HARDWARE VARIATIONS, NOISE IN THE MONITORING ENVIRONMENT, NONLINEARITIES AND UNCERTAINTIES IN THE SENSOR RESPONSE, AND CROSS-TALK BETWEEN THE MULTIPLE SENSOR INPUTS. DATA WILL BE COLLECTED YEAR-ROUND USING THE FOMS ACROSS STATIONARY AND MOBILE PLATFORMS, WHICH WILL PRODUCE FOUR-DIMENSIONAL DATA. DATA ASSIMILATION METHODS WILL BE COMPARED WITH THE GOAL OF PRODUCING A MODELING FRAMEWORK THAT CAN INFORM MEASUREMENT OPTIMIZATION IN FUTURE DEPLOYMENTS. COLLECTIVELY, THE DEVELOPMENT, TESTING, AND USE OF THE FOMS WILL PRODUCE A MEASUREMENT TOOL AND FRAMEWORK FOR A QUANTITATIVE UNDERSTANDING OF GHG PRODUCTION, CONSUMPTION, AND TRANSPORT IN ICE-COVERED LAKES. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

COLLABORATIVE CONFERENCE: A WORKSHOP TO EXPLORE DATA SCIENCE IN OCEANOGRAPHY

THE ONGOING CHANGES IN THE CIRCULATION OF THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC ARE WITHOUT QUESTION IMPACTING ITS MARINE ECOSYSTEMS YET OUR QUANTITATIVE UNDERSTANDING OF SUCH ECOLOGICAL CHANGE(S) REMAINS MEAGER. A FUNDAMENTAL CHALLENGE IS TO PREDICT WHETHER NET PRIMARY PRODUCTION (NETPP) IN THIS REGION WILL INCREASE OR DECREASE UNDER CHANGING NORTHERLY AND SOUTHERLY ADVECTIVE FLOWS. HERE WE SUGGEST THAT THE BALANCE WILL DEPEND ON REGIONAL BOTTOM-UP DRIVERS (E.G. STRATIFICATION NUTRIENT AND LIGHT AVAILABILITY COMMUNITY COMPOSITION) AND TOP-DOWN DRIVERS (E.G. GRAZING). A GROWING UNDERSTANDING OF THE SURFACE AND DEEP OVERFLOWS COUNTERFLOWS AND RECIRCULATION PATTERNS WITHIN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC IS EMERGING THAT INDICATES STRONGER INFLUENCES OF THE ATLANTIC SURFACE WATER (AW) AND ARCTIC-ORIGIN WATER (ARW) ON EACH OTHER AND ON THE AVERAGE CIRCULATION PATTERNS WITHIN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT. WE DEFINE THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC AS THE REGION ENCOMPASSED BY THE GREENLAND-ICELAND-NORWEGIAN (GIN) IRMINGER AND LABRADOR SEAS WHERE WARMER AND SALTIER AW LADEN WITH NUTRIENTS PLANKTON AND DETRITUS MOVES NORTH IN MULTIPLE BRANCHES INTO THE LABRADOR SEA INTO THE GIN SEAS AND EVENTUALLY INTO THE ARCTIC OCEAN. FRESHER AND COLDER ARW WITH SEA ICE LOW NUTRIENTS LOW PLANKTON AND HIGH COLORED DISSOLVED ORGANIC MATTER MOVES SOUTHWARDS ALONG THE EDGE OF THE EASTERN GREENLAND AND WESTERN LABRADOR SEAS AND INTO THE N. ATLANTIC. HERE WE WILL FOCUS ON THE BALANCE OF NETPP IN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC AS AFFECTED BY (I) ADVECTIVE LOSSES AND GAINS WITHIN THIS REGION AT LARGE-SCALES INTERACTION WITH RESPECT TO BOUNDARY CONDITIONS IN THE TEMPERATE N. ATLANTIC AND ARCTIC OCEANS; (II) LATERAL AND VERTICAL EXPORT PRODUCTION WITHIN SUB-REGIONS OF THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC AT INTERMEDIATE SCALES; AND (III) ADVECTIVE AND LOCAL PROCESSES CONTROLLING NETPP IN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC REGION. OUR QUESTIONS INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: (Q1) WHAT BOTTOM-UP (PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL) FACTORS CONTROL THE NETPP LEVELS IN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC WHERE AND WHEN? (Q2) WHAT ARE THE CONTROLS OF SEASONAL AND SUB-SEASONAL VARIABILITIES AND TRENDS IN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC? (Q3) WHAT IS THE BALANCE BETWEEN LOCAL AND ADVECTED NETPP IN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC DURING THE GROWTH SEASON? WE PROPOSE TO USE A HIERARCHY OF MODELS INCLUDING A FULL 3D COUPLED BIOGEOCHEMICAL-PHYSICAL MODEL AT REGIONAL SCALE (SINMOD) AND A SPECIALIZED 1D SATELLITE OCEAN COLOR MODEL FOR PHYTOPLANKTON NETPP (UQAR-TAKUVIK) BOTH OF WHICH ARE EXCEPTIONALLY WELL TUNED TO HIGH LATITUDES. MODEL SIMULATIONS WILL BE DONE IN CONCERT WITH MINING HISTORICAL FIELD AND SATELLITE DATA TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE TEMPORAL EVOLUTION OF NETPP AND ITS PHYSICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CONTROLS OVER AN AVERAGE ANNUAL CYCLE IN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC. OUR RESULTS WILL SHED LIGHT IF THE MAGNITUDE OF NETPP WILL INCREASE OR DECREASE DUE TO ENHANCED STRATIFICATION (WARMER AW OR FRESHER ARW CONDITIONS LESS NUTRIENTS) AND GRAZING (IMMIGRATING OR RETURNING ZOOPLANKTON). ALTERNATIVELY LESS SEA ICE IN FRAM STRAIT AND THE GREENLAND SEA MAY RESULT IN MORE AND EARLIER OPEN WATERS AND LESS STRATIFICATION THAT MAY LEAD TO HIGHER NETPP VALUES AS HAS BEEN PREDICTED NORTH AND EAST OF SPITSBERGEN. A NORTHWARDS SHIFT IN NETPP DUE TO ENHANCED AW ADVECTION IS EXPECTED. OUR PROJECT RESPONDS TO THE ROSES 2015 A.3 OBB (AMENDED) ACTIVITY 2.3 RESEARCH IN SUPPORT OF THE GALWAY STATEMENT: NORTH ATLANTIC-ARCTIC OCEANOGRAPHIC PROCESSES BY FOCUSING ON THE EXCHANGES ACROSS AND PROCESSES WITHIN THE SUBARCTIC ATLANTIC AND THEIR EFFECT ON NETPP IN A REGION LOCATED NORTH OF THE NASA-SPONSORED EXPORTS SELECTED N. ATLANTIC FIELD SITE WITH A TEAM OF CANADIAN DANISH NORWEGIAN AND US RESEARCHERS. OUR PROJECT WILL OPENLY SHARE ALL FIELD DATA ASSEMBLED AS WELL AS PROMOTE RESEARCHER MOBILITY BY INCLUDING A POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW AND A PART-TIME GRADUATE STUDENT BOTH OF WHOM WILL GAIN INTERNATIONAL NETWORKING AND EXPERIENCE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: IDEAS LAB: BLUES: BOUNDARY LAYER UNDER-ICE ENVIRONMENTAL SENSING -GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE IS DRIVING ALL FORMS OF ICE TO MELT FROM THE EARTH?S SURFACE AND CONTRIBUTE TO GLOBAL SEA-LEVEL RISE. WHILE EVIDENCE OF ICE MELT IS WORLDWIDE, SUCH AS DECREASING SEA-ICE EXTENT, LOSS OF ICE SHELVES IN POLAR REGIONS AND A REDUCTION IN ANNUAL LAKE-ICE COVERAGE, ICE MELT RATES ARE POORLY QUANTIFIED, RESULTING FROM LIMITED FIELD DATA AND RELATIVELY COARSE MEASUREMENTS OF ICE THICKNESS. ICE THICKNESS MEASUREMENTS, MADE BY PROPAGATING ACOUSTIC SIGNALS THROUGH THE ICE, DECREASE IN RESOLUTION AS A FUNCTION OF THE ATTENUATION PROPERTIES AND OVERALL ICE THICKNESS. NOVEL ACOUSTIC METAMATERIALS WILL BE USED IN THIS IDEAS LAB: ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGIES TO ADVANCE UNDERWATER SCIENCES?(ETAUS) PROJECT TO DEVELOP A TRANSFORMATIVE TECHNOLOGY TOOL THAT CAN PROVIDE LONG-RANGE, HIGH-RESOLUTION MEASUREMENTS OF ICE THICKNESS AND PROVIDE A NEW MECHANISM TO IMAGE THE INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE ICE. THESE HIGH-RESOLUTION OBSERVATIONS WILL BE USED TO REFINE GLOBAL ESTIMATES OF ICE MELT BY LOOKING AT CHANGES THROUGH TIME. INITIAL TESTING AND DEVELOPMENT WILL BE CONDUCTED IN A LABORATORY SETTING BEFORE VALIDATION ON NATURAL LAKE ICE THAT IS VARIABLE IN ITS ACOUSTIC SIGNAL ATTENUATION PROPERTIES. IN EVERY PHASE, THE DEVELOPMENT AND EXPERIMENTAL DEMONSTRATION WILL BE GUIDED BY NUMERICAL MODELING. THIS DEVELOPED INSTRUMENT WILL BE TRANSFORMATIVE IN TERMS OF SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF ALL FORMS OF ICE WITHIN THE CRYOSPHERE FROM THE ARCTIC TO THE ANTARCTIC. WHILE POLAR REGIONS ARE AT THE FOREFRONT OF CLIMATE CHANGE, THEY ARE ALSO SOME OF THE LEAST ACCESSIBLE AREAS OF THE PLANET AND MAKE IT DIFFICULT FOR THE PUBLIC TO ENGAGE. TO THIS END, NEW EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS WILL BE DEVELOPED WITH THE HELP OF THE EDUCATION AND OUTREACH TEAM AT THE TAHOE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH CENTER, WHICH WILL BE USED TO HELP BROADEN PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN LAKE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING. TO EFFECTIVELY MONITOR AND PREDICT CLIMATE-RELATED CHANGES, A KEY SCIENTIFIC NEED IN ALL DISCIPLINES OF THE UNDER-ICE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY IS TO ACCURATELY MEASURE ICE ACCRETION AND MELT RATES AT THE ICE/WATER INTERFACE, THEN USE THAT INFORMATION TO GENERATE BETTER MODELS OF UNDER-ICE WATER CIRCULATION AND MIXING. HOWEVER, EXISTING TECHNOLOGIES ARE LIMITED BY THEIR IMAGING CAPABILITIES, MEASUREMENT RESOLUTIONS, AND BULKY SIZES, WHICH HINDER THEIR APPLICATIONS FOR SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. TO ADDRESS THESE LIMITATIONS, THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP A NEW METAMATERIAL-ENHANCED ACOUSTIC PHASED ARRAY (MEAPA) SYSTEM AND TO EXPLORE THE APPLICATION OF THIS SYSTEM FOR HIGH-RESOLUTION ESTIMATIONS OF ICE MELT. GRADED INDEX ACOUSTIC METAMATERIALS WILL BE INVESTIGATED TO PROVIDE IMPROVED FOCUSING, BEAM STEERING, AND COLLIMATION PROPERTIES TO ACHIEVE HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGING (SUBWAVELENGTH RESOLUTION) IN THINNER ICE AND TO FURTHER ENHANCE THE DETECTION RANGE OF THE MEAPA SYSTEM IN THICKER ICE. THE DEVELOPED MEAPA SYSTEM WILL BE CHARACTERIZED AND VALIDATED IN LABORATORY AND FIELD SETTINGS. THEN, IT WILL BE USED TO BETTER PARAMETERIZE BOTTOM ROUGHNESS, AND THE DATA WILL BE COUPLED TO BOUNDARY LAYER DYNAMICS OBSERVATIONS OF LAKE ICE IN THREE-DIMENSIONAL HYDRODYNAMIC MODELS. COUPLING THE ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT OF THIS INSTRUMENT WITH THE SCIENTIFIC NEED OF THE POLAR ICE COMMUNITY WILL INFORM SUBGRID PROCESSES OF GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS (GCM) FOR POLAR REGIONS. ULTIMATELY, THIS SYSTEM WILL ENABLE US TO BETTER PREDICT ICE GROWTH AND MELT WITH ACCURATE MODELS AND TO BETTER QUANTIFY MASS GAIN AND LOSS FROM LAKE ICE TO ICE SHELVES IN ANTARCTICA. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

RAPID: SEAMOUNT RESEARCH WITH EYE-IN-THE-SEA

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ATOL: A PHYLOGENETIC AND GENOMIC INVESTIGATION OF THE ALGAL HETEROKONT TREE