VIMS Professor Honored with Mehta Award

Award Presentation: Ashish Mehta (L) presents the JJ Mehta award to VIMS Professor Carl Friedrichs during the 2013 INTERCOH Conference.

Photo by Marjy Friedrichs.

By David Malmquist

Professor Carl Friedrichs of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science was recognized with the J.J. Mehta Award during the 12^th International Conference on Cohesive Sediment Transport Processes in Gainesville, Florida on October 23^rd. Friedrichs accepted the award following his keynote lecture to conference participants.

The INTERCOH conference – now held every two year – provides a platform for scientists and engineers from around the world to share knowledge concerning the dynamics of muds and other fine-grained sediments. Better understanding of the erosion, transport, and deposition of these sediments—ubiquitous in estuaries and ports worldwide—is key for global efforts to improve water clarity, keep shipping channels open, and clean up chemical contaminants, which preferentially adhere to the tiny grains.

The Mehta Award, which carries a plaque and a prize of US $3,000, is named in memory of Jayant J. Mehta by his son Ashish J. Mehta—a professor in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida and INTERCOH co-founder. The elder Mehta was a pioneer in the inception and growth of India’s petrochemical industry.

This is only the second time the Mehta Award has been given. The first honoree was Dr. Pierre Le Hir of Ifremer (French Research Institute for Exploration of the Sea) at the INTERCOH 2011 meeting in Shanghai, China.

The 2013 Mehta Award honors Friedrichs for his “outstanding achievements in research and teaching.” Dr. Larry Sanford, a professor at the University of Maryland and member of the Mehta Award Committee, says “The award especially honors Carl’s contributions to our understanding of how tidal flats form, the dynamics of gravity flows, and the behavior of sedimentary particles. His interests span a wide range of topics and often have a strong interdisciplinary flavor.”

Friedrichs says, “I’m honored to be recognized by my peers, and look forward to continued collaborations to better understand the unique properties and behaviors of cohesive sediments in coastal ecosystems worldwide.”

Joining Sanford on the Mehta Award Committee were professors Han Winterwerp of Deltares, Inc., an applied research institute headquartered in the Netherlands; and Bill McAnally of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Mississippi State University.

In their formal citation, the award committee writes

“Carl’s papers, many authored with his students and colleagues, have been frequently cited for novel observations on the transport of flocs in estuaries especially where turbidity maxima occur, and the physics of coastal cross-shelf sediment transport. In 2000, Carl started a new outreach and mentoring program called SEDIMENT (Science Education Inspired through MENToring). Through this program high school and undergraduate students pair with graduate students and faculty mentors in team research projects addressing interdisciplinary processes involving sediment dynamics, such as sedimentation in marshes and seabed mixing by benthic biota. Carl is a popular teacher who is able to convey fundamental learning of fluid flow and sediment transport mechanics.”

Sanford adds that “Carl’s often simultaneous use of field observations, analytical modeling, and numerical modeling effectively combines the strengths of these approaches and results in a broad perspective that specialists seldom attain. His commitment to including sediment-transport studies in real-time environmental observatories points the way to future advances in our field.”

Since arriving at VIMS in 1993, Friedrichs has published more than 70 peer-reviewed research articles, including seminal work on wave-supported gravity flows and the use of acoustic instruments to measure the velocity at which sedimentary particles settle to the bottom following suspension by tides, currents, and waves. He has also advised 18 graduate students, served on numerous other graduate student committees, and mentored many undergraduate and high school students interested in environmental research. He received a White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2000, and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award that same year. He is also the recipient of the Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence from William & Mary (2010), an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (2008), and numerous other awards.

Excerpted from: http://www.vims.edu/newsandevents/topstories/friedrichs_mehta_award.php

VIMS Research Helps Improve Estimates of "Dead Zone" Size

Low levels of dissolved oxygen significantly impact marine organisms and communities.

By David Malmquist

Gauging the size of the low-oxygen “dead zone” that afflicts Chesapeake Bay each summer is both difficult and important—difficult due to the extent and variability of the problem, and important as a bellwether of Bay health.

Now, a study led by researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science offers an improved method for estimating the dead zone’s magnitude and duration, one in which fewer field observations could provide a more accurate and efficient means to measure the long-term progress of Bay restoration efforts.

The study is authored by VIMS post-doctoral research associate Aaron Bever, VIMS professors Marjy Friedrichs and Carl Friedrichs, Malcolm Scully of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Lyon Lanerolle of NOAA. It  appeared online on October 3 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans.

Dead zones form when excess nutrients from human activities enter coastal waters and help fertilize blooms of algae. When these algae die and sink to the bottom, they provide a rich food source for bacteria, which in the act of decomposition consume dissolved oxygen from surrounding waters. Reducing nutrient inputs through improved farming practices, sewage upgrades, and other means is a main focus of Bay restoration efforts.

Scientists with the Chesapeake Bay Program currently determine the extent of the Bay’s dead zone by lowering oxygen sensors from two research vessels at 30 to 60 sampling stations that are distributed around the Bay. They do so every two weeks during the summer and on a monthly basis during the rest of the year.  They then estimate Baywide oxygen levels by using a computer model to fill-in or “interpolate” values between sampling sites, and to “extrapolate” values into un-sampled areas. The scientists define the dead zone’s overall size as the volume of Bay water with levels of dissolved oxygen below two milligrams per liter. Fully oxygenated ocean water holds 7 to 8 mg/L, with concentrations below 4 mg/L considered unhealthy for fishes and other mobile marine life. Waters with dissolved oxygen levels below 2 mg/L are said to suffer from “hypoxia.”.

Bever and his co-authors note that the Bay Program’s current sampling strategy provides good spatial coverage, and represents “an invaluable long-term dataset for characterizing dissolved oxygen and other water-quality parameters.” Their concern is the time the sampling requires, with oxygen levels in the Bay changing more rapidly than the 7 to 14 days needed to collect data from all the widely dispersed stations.

“The current observations aren’t a real-time representation of the system,” says Bever. “Our study shows that collecting data over a 2-week period could lead to a 25 to 50% uncertainty in estimating the instantaneous volume of summertime hypoxia. That could be larger than the uncertainty due to sampling at discrete stations and interpolating and extrapolating to the entire Bay.”

To reduce the uncertainty generated by protracted sampling, Bever and his colleagues suggest that Bay scientists use a subset of only 13 stations during each research cruise to estimate hypoxic volume.

“We found that sampling fewer stations can actually provide a better estimate of the extent of hypoxia within the Bay,” says Marjy Friedrichs. “Fewer stations means quicker sampling, which is important because oxygen levels in the Bay vary markedly with time as influenced by tides, winds, and other factors.”

Fellow VIMS Professor Carl Friedrichs adds, “Sampling fewer stations more quickly is likely a more efficient strategy for capturing this temporal variability in hypoxic volume.“

The researchers note that their suggested approach could also save funds, particularly important given recent cuts to the Chesapeake Bay Program’s monitoring efforts.

The team conducted their study by using several different 3-dimensional computer models to simulate the seasonal progression of low-oxygen conditions in the Bay, initiating the models with actual measurements of river runoff, nutrient inputs, wind speed and direction, tides, and other factors known to affect oxygen levels in coastal waters. They then sampled the models’ output virtually, noting oxygen levels within the model at the sites actually visited by field crews in Chesapeake Bay during 2004 and 2005.

A final product of the team’s analysis is a nearly three-decade record of improved estimates of hypoxic volume for Chesapeake Bay. This provides a useful baseline for measuring restoration progress and climate-change impacts.

Major funding for this study was provided by the IOOS COMT Program through NOAA with additional funding through NSF Grant OCE-1061564.

Excerpted from http://www.vims.edu/newsandevents/topstories/dead_zone_volume.php.

Research Spotlight: Improving Measurement of Chesapeake Bay's Dead Zone

Highlighting exciting new research from AGU journals

http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2013EO390008

Excellence in Earth Sciences at Two-Year Schools

SAGES 2YC workshop attendee Lynsey LeMay, a double alumna of William & Mary, teaches geology and oceanography courses at Thomas Nelson Community College. (Photo by Joseph McClain)

By Joseph McClain

Dozens of geoscience instructors across the nation gathered at William & Mary recently to discuss ways to enhance student success in earth-science programs at America’s two-year colleges.

The workshop, held July 17-20 on the William & Mary campus, was the latest offering of an collaborative initiative known as SAGE 2YC: Supporting and Advancing Geoscience Education in Two-Year Colleges. 

Lynsey LeMay is an example of the type of instructor that benefits from the content available through SAGE 2YC programming. LeMay is a geology instructor at Thomas Nelson Community College, teaching physical geology, historical geology and oceanography classes. She’s also a double alumna of William & Mary, a 2002 product of the Department of Geology who received an M.S. in 2007 from the university’s School of Marine Sciences at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. She also serves as president of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers Geo2YC Division.

Between sessions at the “Supporting Student Success” workshop, LeMay explained that, like many other two-year college instructors, she has to work to point out the relevance of earth sciences to students at Thomas Nelson. Once the students are enrolled in a class, she often has to deal with another concern.

“One of the issues that comes up a lot is ‘Oh, this is harder than I thought. You guys really use math!’ There is a misconception about the rigor that is required,” she said. “Geology is more than rocks!”

SAGE 2YC uses a combination of workshops and web-based resources; many of the workshop presentations are posted on their website.

Participants in SAGE 2YC workshops discuss topics ranging from how to get students interested in taking geoscience courses to practical suggestions for helping student learn how to learn. “Supporting Student Success,” the William & Mary workshop, featured a number of sessions that focused on classroom skills. Among the presenters were a number of William & Mary faculty, including  Katherine Kulick of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and Cheryl Dickter, Josh Burk and Janice Zeman of the Department of Psychology.

Excerpted from: http://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2013/sage-2yc-excellence-in-earth-sciences-at-two-year-schools221.php