This Major Research Instrumentation award to the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) funds the acquisition of an automated water sampling array to enhance the scientific response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and its effects on coastal ecosystems in Louisiana. The array consists of six automated telemetry capable ISCO water samplers with data loggers that are fully integrated with YSI sondes and Turner Designs Cyclops Oil Fluorometers. The combination of sensors with the water samplers permits automated sample triggering when oil fluorescence increases above a programmed threshold. The remote sampling will allow better temporal and spatial resolution as to when the estuarine environments are impacted and the short and long term impacts of the oil on ecosystem processes that range from biogeochemical cycling to composition and distribution of phytoplankton, zooplankton and larvae that reside in these critical coastal ecosystems. An expected result of this investment, through the NSF-RAPID mechanism, is timely and critical information to inform policy and remediation efforts in response to the oil spill. The sensor array will also be incorporated into the LUMCON educational activities. Results from the studies will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journal publications, though participation at regional and national scientific meetings and through planned regional outreach meetings with affected citizens.
Equipment for water quality monitoring related to the Macondo oil spill were acquired and a system was developed for real-time transmission of temperature, salinity, photosynthetically available radiation, turbidity, chlorophyll a fluorescence, oil fluorescence and phycocyanin concentration. The importance of phycocyanin is that it is a chemical indicator of an algal bloom that potential generates toxins that are harmful to aquatic and human health. The ability to detect the oil or the potential toxins is a valuable tool in research and identification of harmful substances in the water. Water samplers were triggered once a day for thirty days. The sampler, associated YSI-sonde and phycocyanin probe generated transmitted data on the condition of Lake Pontchartrain during the beginning of the diversion of Mississippi River water into the lake through the Bonnet Carré Spillway, in an effort to prevent flooding to the City of New Orleans. The data documented the decline in salinity, a quite variable chlorophyll a record, and an increase in the concentration of pycocyanin. This indicated that more of the chlorophyll a biomass was in the form of cyanobacteria, including potential toxic genera, in Lake Pontchartrain. The response was not as dramatic as in the Mississippi River diversion in 1997 when measurable toxins were generated in the lake and a recreational advisory was posted. This project provided training to two research technicians that had not had any prior exposure to monitoring equipment and sampling protocols. The sampling array will continue to be used by LUMCON and LSU collaborators for similar instances as the oil spill and the documentation of increase in cyanobacteria resulting from Mississippi River diversions into oligohaline brackish lakes. These areas of research will continue as potential research topics for REU students, additional research projects of graduate students, and in the graduate and undergraduate courses offered by LUMCON to Louisiana universities. The results of the pycocyanin experiment have been shared with the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. The equipment, associated environmental monitoring sondes, and oil and pycocyanin probes demonstrated the importance of continuous monitoring and collection of water samples with relevance to pollution such as oil spills and potential human health issues related to cyanobacterial blooms. The deployment and generation of real-time data from the systems developed has proven a successful means for collection of data for students to supplement their thesis projects.
