LUMCON operates the state owned oceanographic research vessel Pelican. This vessel has sailed throughout the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. east coast and Caribbean in support of a wide variety of science research projects sponsored by NSF, U.S. Navy, NOAA, and other Federal and State Agencies. Seagoing research scheduled for 2018 will cover a wide range of scientific disciplines such as ocean acidification, hypoxia and benthic community energy processes.
The work supported by R/V Pelican for NSF has been peer-reviewed, each with unique intellectual?s merits. Wei-Jun Cai's research aims to further the understanding of the processes influencing ocean acidification in coastal waters subject to eutrophication and hypoxia both in the Gulf of Mexico and river-dominated shelf ecosystems globally. Craig McClain's Wood Falls project is to test changes in carbon availability and the impact on marine biodiversity. The research will reveal much about wood-fall biomes in the deep sea, one of the least studied systems in the ocean. The impact of the rate of carbon uptake on ecological processes which has been rarely evaluated will be examined. Jason Sylvan RAPID research data from this project will allow managers to predict current and future storm events which are likely to induce reef mortality due to freshwater accumulation, by tracking of low salinity water masses. This research will provide unprecedented resolution on how hurricanes and other extreme storms events may trigger cascading interactions among water chemistry intimately resulting in coral reef decline. Kelly Robinson's RAPID research will examine how plankton in the NW GOM respond to large floodwater plumes associated with Hurricanes. This project will investigate the short and mid-term effect of Harvey on plume on planktonic community composition and trophic interactions in that system. Building earlier data and from historical datasets in the region, plankton assemblages, abundance and food web interactions will be assessed after the event. Kristen Thyng aims to get a better understanding of how Galveston Bay will respond to the extreme freshwater forcing event of Harvey. Measuring the quantification of residence time of FW in the Bay, identification and characterization of the salinity structure of the plume will assist in establishing the time scales require to reintroduction of salt into the Bay. This study will allow for a more accurate prediction of baroclinic circulation, which controls transport and fate of pollutants introduced into the flood waters.
Jason Sylvan will synergize with NSF REU programs at Boston University and Texas A&M University, providing transformative research experiences for undergraduates. One post-doc,4 graduate students, a technician and 5 undergraduates will be involved in all aspects of the research. Scientist from FugroGeos and Wood Hole Group will study currents and large ocean gyres in the Gulf of Mexico that breaks off from the northern LOOP current and travel westward toward the Texas coast. The results will benefit the operators of production facilities worldwide. Summer cruises will have a MATE sea-going intern working alongside an R/V Pelican Marine Technician. Other long-term studies have used the Pelican to characterize and evaluate important fisheries resources in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The NOAAfunded SEAMAP cruises have used the Pelican for 25 years to survey bottom fish resources from the Mississippi River to the Texas-Louisiana border. Another NOAA program under the leadership of Nancy Rabalais at LUMCON has used the ship for the last 28 years to survey large areas of hypoxic bottom waters in the Gulf of Mexico in order to better understand the impact this phenomenon has on the local commercial and non-commercial marine resources in this region. The Pelican has been involved in a number of marine education and public outreach activities throughout the region. The NOAA Hypoxia cruises of Nancy Rabalais continue to provide access to the Gulf of Mexico for media representatives and serve as a platform for graduate students conducting their research. Campbell will invite students to participate in a hypoxia cruises which will study the physical and biogeochemical processes that control and maintain the hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
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.
