Project Overview

Research highlights from published research:

• Organism associations in the plankton. This research studied hundreds of lobster phyllosoma (larvae) using ISIIS images and found that 30% of phyllosoma were attached to at least one gelatinous organism, with a higher probability of association correlated with increased salinity and distance from shore. As phyllosoma get further from shore, gelatinous zooplankton tended to be more abundant, so a gelatinous “host” may provide a steady food supply in the more oligotrophic waters offshore. This study highlights the complexity of interactions among different zooplankton and larvae, and similar interactions may influence the life histories of other species, hindering our ability to forecast ecosystem level processes until the population level consequences of species interactions are fully understood.
• Ecology and behaviour of holoplanktonic scyphomedusae and their interactions with larval and juvenile fishes in the northern Gulf of Mexico. This study highlighted the patch characteristics of Pelagia noctiluca (a venomous scyphomedusa) medusae in relation to fine-scale biological and physical variables on the nGOM shelf. We found that sharp changes in salinity were associated with Pelagia aggregations, and these patches were negatively correlated with several zooplankton taxa, indicating that Pelagia can potentially have a top-down impact on zooplankton abundances. In addition, larval and juvenile fishes between 0.6 and 2.0 cm aggregated underneath the bell of some Pelagia medusae during the daytime only, even within hypoxic waters.
• In-situ observations of novel reproductive strategies in fish. ISIIS sampling captured previously unobserved evidence of larval fish inside of a gelatinous matrix. This is the first field observation of its kind (this matrix would have been destroyed with net- based sampling). This unique life history strategy could effectively reduce mortality of the earliest life stages while they advect through the predation-risky areas of the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGOM) shelf.
• Functioning of Coastal River-Dominated Ecosystems and Implications for oil spill response. CONCORDE field and modeling efforts in 2015–2016 focused on defining the influence of freshwater input from river plumes in the nGOM. In situ observations, combined with field-deployed and simulated drifters, show considerable variability in the spatial extent of freshwater influence that is related to wind direction and strength. Increased primary production and particle abundance (a proxy for secondary production) was observed during the spring when nGOM shelf waters were becoming stratified. Zooplankton and marine snow displayed intense vertical and horizontal patchiness during all seasons, often aggregating near the halocline. Simulations of a neutrally buoyant tracer released offshore of the Mississippi Bight showed surface advection of low tracer concentrations onto the inner shelf under high river discharge, high stratification, and variable wind conditions compared to almost no advection onto the inner shelf under low discharge, negligible stratification, and generally northeasterly winds. The interconnectedness of environmental variables and biological activity indicate that multiple factors can affect the transport of oil and the resulting ecological impacts.
• Trophic interactions around a phytoplankton thin layer. This work highlights that similarly-sized mesozooplankton distribute differently under a strong physical convergence that drove the formation of the layer, and that surface converge and shear were likely responsible for generating the layer. Convergent features are quite common in the western Mississippi Bight, so thin layer generation could be a regular occurrence, important to the biology in this region.
• Effects of freshwater diversion via the Bonnie Carré Spillway (BCS) on local shelf circulation, planktonic distributions, and potential contaminant transport pathways in the Mississippi Bight. This study revealed that the BCS waters remain within the estuarine lakes and sounds, where winter wind patterns mixed the waters and prevented BCS waters from flowing onto the shelf. These results highlight that the 2016 wintertime BCS opening resulted in muted effects on the sounds and shelf because of its short duration and uncharacteristically early release.

Research highlights from ongoing research

• Seasonal stratification in coastal waters of the central northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) plays a critical role in the distribution and abundance of mesozooplankton by generating a mosaic of different environments and habitats for different taxa to utilize. Habitat partitioning in the gelatinous zooplankton community during the stratified seasons (summer and spring) is remarkable, and spatial overlap among different taxa is low, suggesting avoidance of competition for resources. These patterns contrast with the ones observed in well-mixed conditions. In addition, diversity (total number of taxa) in the gelatinous zooplankton community during spring and summer (stratified conditions) is higher than that in the fall (well-mixed conditions). These results highlight the critical role the physical structure of the water column can play not only in the distribution of and habitat use of plankton, but also in plankton diversity. This unprecedented dataset can also help in assessing potential exposure rates of plankton to oil and other pollutants.
• In coastal areas of the central northern GoM where seasonal stratification leads to bottom water hypoxia (Mississippi Bight), the relation between gelatinous zooplankton and hypoxia is taxon-dependent. While some taxa occupy different habitats within normoxic waters, others are found exclusively within hypoxic waters, suggesting adaptation to low-oxygen conditions. These unprecedented findings emphasize the need for high resolution sampling to a better understanding of ecosystem-wide impacts of hypoxia in the nGoM shelf.
• In-situ imaging systems can also provide uprecedented, detailed information on species interactions. Ongoing research highlights the potential use of in-situ imagery (ISIIS data) in the study of ecological interactions (e.g., parasitism, predation, commensalism, etc) within the plankton.
• Taxon-specific, high-resolution distribution and abundance of larval fish in the GoM shelf during different seasons. This study provides an unprecedented understanding of the role of oceanographic structure in driving distribution and abundance of fish larvae.

Observation Group Summary:

The guiding question addressed by the CONCORDE team was: How do the complex fine- scale biological, chemical and physical structure and processes in coastal waters dominated by pulsed-river plumes control the exposure, impacts and ecosystem recovery from offshore spills like the Deepwater Horizon release of 2010?

 The three objectives of the program to address this question were:

1)  Characterize the distribution of planktonic organisms at relevant spatial and temporal scales as forced by the complex nearshore physical environment and generating the setting for sub-surface ODS exposure.

2) Characterize the complex 4-D physical, geochemical, and bio-optical fields influenced by pulsed river discharge to understand potential 3-D pathways of ODS to the coast and mechanisms for enhanced interactions of ODS with plankton and suspended sediment. This will determine fate and toxic exposure, and be used to inform synthetic biophysical-ecotoxicological models.

3) Generate a synthetic model that incorporates fine-scale 4-D biophysical processes within an ecotoxicological framework to guide exposure sampling reflective of DWH, yet will be portable to future spills impacting similar river-dominated coastal ecosystems.

The Observations Group, working with the Plankton and Modeling Groups, led a number of studies that addressed these objectives and the guiding question. The direct riverine input into the Mississippi Bight is substantial and on average sums to approximately 44% of the Mississippi River discharge (Dzwonkowski et al., 2018*), which impacts stratification, hypoxia and the distribution of phytoplankton and zooplankton (Greer et al., 2019*) and hence can affect exposure to toxins that are transported on and settle within different density surfaces. Parra et al., 2019* showed that diel migration of zooplankton on the shelf in the Mississippi Bight changes on daily to seasonally timescales in response to various forcing factors, and this would be associated with changing exposures in the presence of toxins in the water column.

One of the motivating questions of CONCORDE was why, despite the large freshwater discharge, oil and oil-dispersant mix was transported into the Mississippi Sound and oiled the Mississippi coastal beaches. Cambazoglu et al., 2020* documented a dramatic example of transport from the shelf into the sound, and inhibition of offshore riverine freshwater transport, due to sustained wind forcing from the east-southeast that lead to elevated sea level that persisted until the remnants of a tropical storm flushed the water offshore. Dzwonkowski et al., 2017* examined the effects of the subsequent offshore flushing on the shelf and showed that such an event occurring during the low-flow season with vertical mixed shelf waters, created a low-salinity, higher nutrient layer near the surface where enhanced phytoplankton and zooplankton was found.

Although the Mississippi River plume can under be driven to the east (e.g., Walker 2003), Sanial et al., 2020* determined that Mississippi River water discharged from the mouth of the river only provides a small fraction of the freshwater east of the delta - at least when the Bonnet Carré Spillway that diverts Mississippi River floodwaters into Lake Pontchartrain and then into the Mississippi Sound, is not opened. An entirely new result was that a significant amount of freshwater input in the Mississippi Bight is due to submarine groundwater discharge (SGD), which impacts the biogeochemistry of the ecosystem (Ho et al., 2019*). These results indicate that to fully understand the functioning of the marine ecosystem in the western Mississippi Bight it is imperative to know the extent of SGD, and its associated effects on stratification and biogeochemistry.

During the CONCORDE period of performance, the Bonnet Carré spillway was opened 5 times: 2016, 2018, twice in 2019 and 2020. Jones and Arnone, 2018*, Parra et al., 2020* examined the effects of some of these openings on the MSS and MSB. The effects of freshwater diversions on local shelf circulation, planktonic distributions, and potential contaminant transport pathways was examined in Parra et al., 2020*, wherein it was shown that the early January 2016 opening resulted in much different effects on the MSS than those that occur later in the year.

Sustained harmful algal blooms are uncommon in the western Mississippi Bight and Karenia Brevis blooms, when they occur, are advected from the Florida panhandle. Soto et al., 2017* implicated high river discharge, with associated nutrient loading, in the enhanced persistence and extent of a Karenia Brevis bloom in the Mississipi Sound in 2015 that was advected westward from the Florida panhandle, relative to a similar event in 2007. In this case river input enhanced a toxic phytoplankton bloom in the Mississippi Sound originating offshore, rather than protecting it from contamination.

Model Group Summary:

The atmospheric forcing fields for the CONCORDE model derive from a meteorological reanalysis carried out by the modeling group. The development of this atmospheric reanalysis product leveraged a number of two-dimensional meteorological, oceanographic and remote sensing data products. A key aspect of these surface forcing conditions consists of having a high-fidelity vector wind field that accurately represents direction, magnitude and diel variability. Assessment of these 2-D wind fields is being carried out with meteorological observations from in place infrastructure throughout the coastal Mississippi region. To address a gap in the available observational assets, CONCORDE installed a weather station on a NAVAID buoy northwest of Ship Island (30.23° N, -88.98° W) on 21 October, just prior to the consortium’s fall field campaign.

Upon completing the CONCORDE model implementation, our validation effort proceeded to draw from the wealth of observational data gathered by the consortium members. These data include physical drifters, glider and ship-based CTD measurements, and moored time series. Model drifter and dye release experiments were initiated to to identify ODS propagation pathways between the MS Bight and the estuarine waters of MS Sound and Mobile Bay. The focal point for these experiments is the TS Patricia impact period and the spring cruise studies of the Mobile Bay plume, in support of the current analyses of the CONCORDE team. Comparison of synthesis model physical fields under two surface forcing products have been performed. The two forcing products are the 10 km North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) and the 1 km CMA, where the latter resolves diurnal sea breeze forcing. Analysis of these two solutions to assess impact on estuarine exchange dynamics was initiated.

Comparison of the physical and biogeochemical fields for model experiments where lower resolution atmospheric forcing (N. American Regional Reanalysis (NARR)) is applied vs. when CMA forcing is applied, reveal the importance of resolving the diurnal sea breeze for accurately capturing estuarine – inner shelf exchanges. This has significant implications to the seasonal evolution of planktonic species in the CONCORDE domain. Once the circulation component of the CONCORDE model system was well-established the model group then proceeded to setup initial implementation of the sediment transport component of the model in collaboration w/ Travis Miles (Rutgers co-PI). WaveWatch III forcing field was being applied to realistically represent sediment resuspension dynamics in the shallow water areas of the CONCORDE model domain (i.e., MS Sound).

The initial conditions for sediment model were developed utilizing the United States Geological Survey (USGS) usSEABED database. Model runs were conducted with and without the presence of waves to identify the effects of the waves on sediment resuspension along the western corridor during the first week of April 2016. This period (04/01 to 04/05) corresponded to a resuspension event observed by the Scanfish and In Situ Ichtyoplankton Imaging System along the western sampling corridor during the Spring cruise.

High-resolution (1-hourly) model output for the three main CONCORDE field campaigns (fall 2015, spring 2016, summer 2016 field campaign periods), as well as the supplemental Bonnet Carré Spillway cruise (January 2016), were generated and shared with the CONCORDE members in early 2017. These highly resolved circulation fields proved to be crucial for providing environmental context for the analysis of the in situ biogeochemical and planktonic observations.

The high-resolution model solutions, forced by unfiltered, 24-hr filtered and 36-hr filtered CMA, were analyzed to identify how these different wind forcing conditions influence exchange fluxes through the inlets of Mississippi Sound. These experiments reveal the impact of the diurnal sea-breeze on material exchange through these inlets. We found that elimination of the coastal diurnally reversing coastal sea breeze was a critical element, as the low passed filtered CMA forced model solutions are largely identical to the model solutions obtained when the much coarser NARR wind forcing was applied.

Dye release numerical studies of 3-month duration were conducted with the CONCORDE model for the Spring and Summer 2016 field campaign periods. The initial impetus for these experiments was to develop context for the flushing time of bottom waters in support of the analysis of SGD observations obtained by the consortium team. Further analysis by the model group has revealed that elevated flushing times of bottom waters in the model simulations align with hypoxia hotspots revealed in pre- CONCORDE bottom dissolved oxygen observations. Further pursuit of these flushing time results has revealed a contrast between full CMA and low-passed CMA (i.e., removal of diurnal sea breeze forcing) that is providing critical new understanding of how wind forcing affects bottom hypoxia onset and persistence. We are currently examining variance in the near inertial band in the model currents along the inner shelf to flesh out details of the physical controlling mechanisms for these hypoxia hotspots.

With the more frequent occurrence of river diversion responses by the US Army Corp to reduce flooding hazard of populated areas along the northern Gulf Coast, the western Mississippi Sound marine ecosystem has been subject to more frequent and longer-term ecological stress scenarios. To position our modeling system as a responsive tool for providing guidance to State and regional resource management entities, we are now aggressively moving our modeling capacity to be near real time short-term forecast capable. This has entailed adopting the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) atmospheric model product produced by NOAA-ESRL as a long-term alternative to our CMA product, which is inherently only applicable as a high quality hindcast implementation. HRRR is based on the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model, which is also built in to the COAWST modeling framework that we employ. To fully understand and document how WRF-based meteorological forcing compares to the CMA forcing we relied on for the CONCORDE project, we are preforming a set of twin experiments in the Spring 2016 time frame for which we have all options available for a wind forcing comparison (i.e., CMA, HRRR and direct forcing of our COAWST based model system). The particular focus is to assess how well the diurnal sea breeze is captured in the WRF-driven simulations.

Outreach Group Summary:

CONCORDE Outreach addressed the issue of public trust in science. In addition to presentations to general audiences and internet presence, it targeted two specific audiences, members of the commercial fishing and science teaching communities. All outreach activities were based at the USM Marine Education Center in Ocean Springs, MS, and included excursions to Stennis Space Center and the Port of Gulfport.

Targeted Outreach to the Multi-Ethnic Commercial Fishing Community

Two community recruitment meetings were held March 2016 in Chalmette, LA and Biloxi, MS in association with the Mississippi Coalition of Vietnamese American Fisher Folks and Families (MSCVAFF), Mississippi State University Extension, and the Louisiana Shrimpers Association of South Louisiana. About half were non-English speaking Vietnamese immigrants.

Between March 2016 and April 2017 four training sessions were conducted in English with Vietnamese interpretation. They included explanation of CTD data and its use in CONCORDE, and instruction in use of the YSI CastAway and YSI ProDSS II instruments used by citizen scientists. About 50 fisher folks representing Mississippi and Louisiana fishing communities attended at least one training session. In addition to formal training sessions, educators visited individual fishers dockside to transfer the CTD, provide additional training and collect data sheets. Between October 2016 and October 2017 ten fisher folks collected 63 usable CTD casts (167 casts total) during commercial fishing trips. Many others used water quality kits to collect data for demonstration purposes. A CONCORDE early career scientist showed citizen scientists how their data were used to check performance of project research models. Data that met quality control standards were submitted to GRIIDC as a citizen science dataset.

CONCORDE’s work with the commercial fisher folks transitioned into Building Bridges to Fishing Communities, a NAS Capacity Building Grant to the MSCVAFF and USM. This project engaged fisher folks in an oyster reef monitoring project. CONCORDE scientist participation in the first Building Bridges community meeting provided continuity from one project to the next.

A social scientist conducted evaluation of fishing community outreach through interviews and focus groups with participants. She completed 25 interviews with 18 fishermen, with Vietnamese interpretation as needed. Large improvements in participant trust in science resulted from relationships that developed among fishers and scientists, and transparency in data collection and interpretation. Continued interaction between researchers and fishermen could build trust.

Targeted Outreach to Science Teachers

A total of 55 teachers were engaged in professional development including four workshops designed around disseminating oil spill research and the nature of science. Dozens of CONCORDE researchers developed and completed laboratory, field or classroom interactions.

The AUV Jubilee Teacher Workshop was planned in conjunction with the 2015 collaborative data collection event coordinated by CONCORDE. Ten science teachers from five states were selected to participate July 13th-17th, 2015. Interactions centered on Ocean Weather Lab daily briefings of the Gulf of Mexico glider sampling experience, but also included lectures, equipment demonstrations, laboratory simulations and a full day research cruise aboard the R/V Point Sur. Three additional workshops were held in 2016 and 2020 in collaboration with Mississippi-Alabama Sea grant Consortium to refine and share curriculum developed by teachers in Year 1’s AUV Jubilee workshop.

Outreach extended beyond these workshops to include four hour-long presentations made to ~200 educators at meetings and two collaborative presentations with other GoMRI outreach coordinators. Two of the lessons developed through workshops are still being used beyond the classroom of individual teachers who made them. Soto et al 2018 (see publications) was published in an educator practitioner journal. Another is frequently updated and foundational in teacher programs on the nature of science at the USM Marine Education Center. Finally, GoMRI sponsored a dedicated issue of Current, the Journal of the National Marine Educators that is available through the NMEA and on the GoMRI Synthesis webpage.

General Outreach

 Outreach to the public centered on development of the project website con-corde.org. A primary feature of this site is the blog kept during each of the research cruise. Blogs were posted by project educators and early career scientists. Also, CONCORDE produced and facilitated the fifth anniversary seminar series, “Deepwater Horizon: A Scientist’s Perspective,” in collaboration with the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. Project staff delivered four of six presentations in the four-seminar series, which reached approximately 200 adults. Throughout the project researchers and educators presented their work, technology and research vessel, and lessons to audiences in person and via news media. Specific events included World Ocean Day, the National Ocean Sciences Bowl and NOSB Regional Hurricane Bowl. Education staff made five

presentation to scientists and two to research librarians to share results and strategies for building public trust. In addition, CONCORDE outreach staff co-chaired a session at the 2017 GoMOSES meeting centered on informing decision making and engaging stakeholders.

CONCORDE Legacy:
Science Teacher Outreach

Outreach coordinators from GoMRI consortia collaborated to produce a special issue of Current: The Journal of Marine Education, published by the National Marine Educators Association. The GoMRI-sponsored issue, “Special Issue Featuring the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative: Research Resulting from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill,” features synthesis articles on oil spill science and educational resources that educators can use to incorporate oil spill science into their curricula. Editors:

Kastler (CONCORDE), Fillingham (GoMRI Management Team), Beresford (ECOGIG), and Greely (C-IMAGE) served as co-editors and co- authors for the special issue. Additional authors were Bracken (CARTHE), Davenport (ECOGIG), McDonald (ACER), Ellis (GRIIDC), DiNicola (RECOVER) and Conover (CWC). The issue is available to NMEA members at https://www.marine-ed.org/, and to the public at http://education.gulfresearchinitiative.org/special-gomri-sponsored-issue-current-journal- marine-education/. This is part of the synthesis effort of GoMRI and will be archived in the outreach archive.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

1. Kastler, J., Fillingham, K., Beresford, S., Greely, T. editors. 2019. Research Resulting from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill – Special Issue Featuring the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative. Current, The Journal of Marine Education 33 (1) 45 pp.
   
   
2. Greely, T., J. Kastler, S. Beresford, K. Fillingham. 2019. An Underwater Blizzard of Marine Snow. Current, The Journal of Marine Education 33 (1) 17-20.
   
   
3. Beresford, S., J. Kastler, R. McDonald, D. DiNicola, K. Fillingham. 2019. Deepwater Horizon Impacts on Organisms and Habitats. Current, The Journal of Marine Education 33 (1) 21-32.
   
   
4. Bracken, L., D. DiNicola, J. Kastler, S. Beresford, 2019. Technological Advances in Ocean Sciences Resulting from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Current, The Journal of Marine Education 33 (1) 33-41.

CONCORDE Legacy: Early Career Scientists 

The early career scientists that were associated with the CONCORDE consortium were strong contributors to the research productivity, with numerous poster and oral presentations over the six years of our group’s effort. The personal relationships forged through our active early career scientist group’s activity are already clearly a foundational cornerstone for the ongoing professional development of these folks. While they entered into our project with a diverse range of training / expertise, they soon developed an interdisciplinary collaborative capacity that persisted over the entire project and which will serve them well throughout their careers. The students and post-docs that spent some of their formative time as part of the CONCORDE consortium are listed below. All of these folks have landed excellent positions following their time as part of the consortium, and that success is a testament to the guidance and mentorship of the CONCORDE PI group. 

Employment Subsequent to CONCORDE Post-Doc

Student Status Subsequent to CONCORDE(GOMRI Scholars in Bold Font)

CONCORDE Legacy:
CONCORDE Modeling System

MBRACE (Mississippi Based Restore Act Center of Excellence) funding renewed for oyster larvae tracking and settlement within the Sound. This multi-faceted project, with collaboration across USM, MSU, U. Mississippi, and Jackson State, serves as the core MBRACE research activity that facilitates and integrates across a broader set of individual PI research projects.

The CONCORDE model is cornerstone of observation / modeling effort to comprehensively characterize the MS Sound / Bight region in Army Corp proposal. Wiggert is co-lead on proposal to USACE-ERDC that leverages the CONCORDE Synthesis model as the centerpiece for an observational / model synthesis system that would be used for developing short term coastal system forecasting.

The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources has funded the USM model group to provide Mid-Breton diversion impact assessment. The goal of this activity is to develop realistic and worst-case impacts on salinity conditions in the Western Mississippi Sound resulting from the planned implementation of the Mid-Breton diversion. The western Mississippi Sound is a key location for productive oyster reefs the condition of which are indicative of the overall health of the region’s marine ecosystem.

2nd Army Corp opportunity submitted for oyster bed establishment / lease (Bay St. Louis

/ Biloxi Bay. Proposed use of model will be for assessing impact on circulation patterns in the two bays when new oyster beds are in place. This project will entail a strategic

assessment of oyster reef restoration methodologies, which is needed to guide future restoration efforts to ensure an acceptable ecological return is realized from such investments.

NOAA - The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) proposes its Hydrographic Science Research Center (HSRC) be designated as a joint ocean and coastal mapping center, as authorized in the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act and the Coastal and Ocean Mapping Integration Act.

Consortium Publications:

Arnone, R., & Jones, B. (2017). Monitoring abnormal bio-optical and physical properties in the Gulf of Mexico. Proc. SPIE 10186, Ocean Sensing and Monitoring IX, 10186, 10186–23.

Arnone, R., Jones, B., & Ladner, S. (2099). Seasonal trends of biophysical ocean properties and anomalies across the Mississippi Shelf. Proc. SPIE 10631, Ocean Sensing and Monitoring X, 10631(10631-1), 1063102.

Arnone, R., R. Vandermeulen, P. Donaghay, H. Yang. (2016). Surface Biomass Flux across the Coastal Mississippi Shelf , SPIE Security and Defense: Proc. SPIE 9827, Ocean Sensing and Monitoring VIII, 98270Z (May 17, 2016).

Arnone, R., Vandermuelen, R., Soto, I., Ladner, S., Ondrusek, M., & Yang, H. (2017). Diurnal changes in ocean color sensed in satellite imagery. J. Appl. Remote Sens, 11(3), 032406.

Cambazoglu, M. K., Soto, I. M., Howden, S. D., Dzwonkowski, B., Fitzpatrick, P. J., Arnone, R. A., et al. (2017). Inflow of shelf waters into the Mississippi Sound and Mobile Bay estuaries in October 2015. J. Appl. Remote Sens, 11(3), 032410.

Coogan, J.; Dzwonkowski, B.; Lehrter, J. (2099). Effects of Coastal Upwelling and Downwelling on Hydrographic Variability and Dissolved Oxygen in Mobile Bay. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, , , . doi:10.1029/2018jc014592

Dykstra, S.L. and B. Dzwonkowski (Accepted 2019) The propagation of fluvial flood waves through a backwater-estuarine environment. Water Resources Research/Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans (Special Joint Issue)

Dzwonkowski, B., Fournier, S., Reager, J. T., Milroy, S., Park, K., Shiller, A. M., et al. (2018). Tracking sea surface salinity and dissolved oxygen on a river-influenced, seasonally stratified shelf, Mississippi Bight, northern Gulf of Mexico. Continental Shelf Research, 169, 25–33.

Dzwonkowski, B., Greer, A. T., Briseño-Avena, C., Krause, J. W., Soto, I. M., Hernandez, F. J., et al. (2017). Estuarine influence on biogeochemical properties of the Alabama shelf during the fall season. Continental Shelf Research, 140, 96–109.

Dzwonkowski, B., Park, K., & Collini, R. (2015). The coupled estuarine-shelf response of a river-dominated system during the transition from low to high discharge. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 120(9), 6145–6163.

Dzwonkowski, B.; Fournier, S.; Park, K.; Dykstra, S.L.; Reager, J.T. (2018). Water Column Stability and the Role of Velocity Shear on a Seasonally Stratified Shelf, Mississippi Bight, Northern Gulf of Mexico. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 123, 8, 5777-5796. doi:10.1029/2017JC013624

Greer, A. T. (2018). In-Situ Shadowgraph Imaging. mar technol soc j, 52(6), 62–65.

Greer, A. T., Chiaverano, L. M., Luo, J. Y., Cowen, R. K., & Graham, W. M. (In Press/Early Release). Ecology and behaviour of a holoplanktonic scyphomedusa and its interactions with larval fishes described with in situ imaging in the northern Gulf of Mexico. ICES Journal of Marine Science,. fsx168, https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsx168

Greer, A., Shiller, A., Hofmann, E., Wiggert, J., Warner, S., Parra, S., et al. (2018). Functioning of Coastal River-Dominated Ecosystems and Implications for Oil Spill Response: From Observations to Mechanisms and Models. Oceanog, 31(3).

Greer, A.T., A.D. Boyette, V.J. Cruz, M.K. Cambazoglu, B. Dzwonkowski, L.M. Chiaverano, S.L. Dykstra, C. Briseño-Avena, R.K. Cowen, J.D. Wiggert (in press) Contrasting fine-scale distributional patterns of zooplankton driven by the formation of a diatom-dominated thin layer. Limnology & Oceanography (doi: 10.1002/lno.11450)

Greer, A.T.; Brise?o-Avena, C.; Deary, A.L.; Cowen, R.K.; Hernandez, F.J.; Graham, W.M. (2017). Associations between lobster phyllosoma and gelatinous zooplankton in relation to oceanographic properties in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Fisheries Oceanography, 26, 6, 693-704. doi:10.1111/fog.12228

Ho, P., Shim, M.J., Howden, S., Shiller, A. (2019).Temporal and spatial distributions of trace elements (Ba, Cs, Cr, Fe, Mn, Mo, U, V and Re) in Mississippi coastal waters: influence of hypoxia, submarine groundwater, and episodic events in a river-dominated system. Continental Shelf Research 175: 53-69. doi:10.1016/j.csr.2019.01.013.

Jones, B., Arnone, R., (2018) "Anomalous marine biophysical conditions due to 2016 and 2017 wind and flooding events in the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico", Proc. SPIE 10631, Ocean Sensing and Monitoring X, 1063103 (15 May 2018); doi: 10.1117/12.2309889

Lockridge, G., Dzwonkowski, B., Nelson, R., & Powers, S. (2016). Development of a Low-Cost Arduino-Based Sonde for Coastal Applications. Sensors, 16(4), 528.

Parra, S. M., Greer, A. T., Book, J. W., Deary, A. L., Soto, I. M., Culpepper, C., et al. (2099). Acoustic detection of zooplankton diel vertical migration behaviors on the northern Gulf of Mexico shelf. Limnol Oceanogr, .

Parra, S.M., V. Sanial, A.D. Boyette, M.K. Cambazoglu, I.M. Soto, A.T. Greer, L.M. Chiaverano, A. Hoover, M.S. Dinniman (in press) Bonnet Carré Spillway freshwater transport and corresponding biochemical properties in the Mississippi Bight. Continental Shelf Research.

Sanial, V., Shiller, A., Joung, D., Ho, P. (2019). Extent of Mississippi River water in the Mississippi Bight and Louisiana Shelf based on water isotopes. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 226 : 106196; doi: 10.1016/j.ecss.2019.04.030.

Shiller, A. M., Chan, E. W., Joung, D. J., Redmond, M. C., & Kessler, J. D. (2017). Light rare earth element depletion during Deepwater Horizon blowout methanotrophy. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 10389.

Soto Ramos, I., Cambazoglu, M.K., Boyette, A., Broussard, K., Sheehan, D., Howden, S., Shiller, A., Dzwonkowski, B., Hode, L., Fitzpatrick, P., Arnone, R., Mickle, P., Cressman, K. (2018). Adevtion of Karenia brevis blooms from the Florida Panhandle towards Mississippi coastal waters. Harmful Algae, 72, 46-64. DOI: 10.1016/j.hal.2017.12.008